Another rig and elephant fish session that turned into a solid gurnard mission.

🎣 A Slow Start and a Welcome Catch

I kicked things off with paddle crab baits, hoping for rig or elephant fish — and maybe a bonus gurnard, since they’d been taking paddle crab recently.

Dave turned up soon after, and it wasn’t long before he had a line in the water too. After about half an hour, he had the first strike of the morning and soon pulled in a gurnard — a good sign of things to come.

First gurnard — it went for a paddle crab and crab Fishbites combo

Dave mentioned this was a short cast, so I decided to try one myself. I also replicated his bait setup with a paddle crab and crab Fishbites combo.

Shortly after, while helping Dave send out his first drone bait drop, I noticed my rod with the short cast had hooked up. Not long after, I wound in my first gurnard of the trip — a very fat 47cm specimen.

My first gurnard of the session — decent size at 47cm

This gurnard also went for a paddle crab and crab Fishbites combo.

🚁 Quiet Spell and Drone Flights

The fishing over the next couple of hours went a bit quiet. Dave took his Aeroo Pro drone out for a few bait drops around the 300 m mark, while I sent my DJI Air 3S up for some scenic flights along the beach.

Dave's Aeroo Pro about to take off

Despite the slow fishing, we had some good entertainment from a very friendly seal that kept popping up every now and then.

Friendly seal, probably hoping for a free feed

🥕 A Small Hook Experiment and More Gurnard

Around midday, I decided to try something different and rigged up a couple of small size #3 hooks — much smaller than the 4/0 hooks I usually use for surfcasting. Earlier in the year, I’d caught a flounder in the surf and tied up some traces with #3 hooks specifically for targeting flounder.

Soon after casting them out, something took the bait. It felt like a decent fish, so I was initially a bit confused about what it was. It felt too heavy to be a flounder, and I didn’t expect a bigger fish to bother with such small baits. I got a very welcome surprise when a nice, fat carrot (gurnard) appeared out of the surf.

My second gurnard caught on a size #3 hook with salted mullet

I tried to repeat the experiment and cast out another salted mullet bait on a size #3 hook.

Hoping there were still more gurnard around, I cast out salted mullet on my other rod as well, this time using my usual 4/0 circle hooks. I got quite a surprise when that rod hooked up almost as soon as I’d placed it in the rod holder.

It turned into a bit of a chaotic moment, as a freak wave washed up the beach at the same time and left me ankle-deep in water for a few seconds. I was fairly confident it was another gurnard, thanks to the tell-tale head shakes coming down the line. I was very pleased to land my third gurnard of the session — another solid fish, just under 50cm.

My third gurnard, also caught on salted mullet bait

🌧️ Weather Turns and Surprise Rig

Shortly after midday, more cloud rolled in and a few spots of rain followed. That felt like the signal to wrap up the session, and I was happy to do so with a few fat gurnard already in the catch bag.

After taking off my GoPro chest camera, I started winding in my first rod to pack down. I was a bit surprised to feel a solid fish on the end, and soon after landed a nice rig. A great way to finish the session.

Later on, when I checked the tripod camera footage, I noticed a solid strike that I’d completely missed.

Surprise rig shark at the very end of the session

The day after this session, I had the deep fryer out and enjoyed some deep-fried gurnard and rig. There’s catch-and-cook footage of the fry-up at the end of the YouTube video for this session.

📓 Field Notes

• Location: Canterbury
• Target species: Elephant fish, rig shark, gurnard
• Landed: Gurnard, rig shark
• Conditions: Overcast, light winds, 0.4m swell, coloured water
• Best bait: Fresh paddle crab + crab Fishbites combo, salted mullet
• My gear: Shimano Xitus Pro 13'6" rods (x2), Shimano Ultegra CI4+ 14000 XTC reel, Shimano Ultegra XSD 14000 reel

🎥 Watch the Full Video

The full mission is available on my YouTube channel.

👉 Watch it on YouTube

Got any feedback or questions? Feel free to drop a comment on the YouTube video — I read them all.

— Dan