H ewas one of the initial boats to take the Japanese out Samson Jigging.  I have no doubt youll have a great time.  He has the fishing technology.

Chief I have been out with him a couple of times in the past and to be quite honest it was a bit of a let down he does have a well set up boat  but his mannerism is a bit to be desired and does not always hit the mark when it comes to the fish some of the boys woyld probably suggest saltwater charters or one of the other sponsor there are plenty of boats out there that regulary produce the goods.If you do go with him take a few of your own jigs as he used to charge extra for lost jigs thats what happened to a mate that went out.

Thanks

I have a group of 8 guys at the moment which is about the maximum number we fish on any of our NZ charter boats while drift/jig fishing.

Can anyone suggest a boat where 8 anglers would be the optimal sort of number of guys fishing at once. Not really a fan of fishing on boats with 10+ guys all fishing at any one time as it can be a right pain in the butt when lines get crossed while fighting fish.

We will all be bring all our own gear (I might need to make a forwrd call to the airline making sure the plane can handle a lot of excess weight)  

We are looking to book a 3 day trip at this stage.

Cheers

Give Kim or Deb a ring our new site sponsors.  They do awesome prices during the week and are well worth sussing out.

0437 217 907

Cheers,

Adam

in over 100 trips out with Al I have never seen him charge for lost jigs.

I have only once seen him tell someone to stop fishing and that was after losing 6 jigs and spooling 3 reels, the guy didn't know anything and was too stuborn to ask for help, thats 120 bucks worth of jigs and 900m+ of PE8 braid, he certainly didn't make any money that day!!

Al is the best, all the gear is bling, if you ask he will show you knots, techniques and anything else , don't ring him at the moment he's over at ICAST in the USA, working on the Van Stall stand.

he must be pretty crap for them to get him over for that.

Thanks for the info guys!, yeah a few guys here in NZ have also recommended Shikari too.

Does anyone have a pic of the boat he is currently chartering? I have the Jigging Master dvd when they fished with him, that boat seems to have fairly limited fishing room though? 2 guys each side? hard to tell without ever seeing the boat.

If it is the same boat, would you guys recommend maybe only a group of 6 guys on his boat?

Does anyone know what sort of cost it is to fish with him based on chartering the whole boat not just individual spots. I have sent him an email but I guess I will be waiting for a reply when ICAST is over.

Cheers,

Josh

North star 2 is a 12 m boat, with a near new Cat diesel powering in.

When jigging we limit it to probably 2 on the rear deck and 2 or 3 up front, just ask someone who has fished for Sambo's on one of the big boats when 14 lines ( or more) are all in the water at the same time, TANGLE CITY 10 Sambo's all going different directions means crossed lines, if braid rubs on braid it cuts straight thru then you have lost around 100m of line, 5m of fluro leader , a crane swivel, Owner 11H split ring, owner 400lb ring and a jig with an Owner assist hook on it ( probably close to $50 a pop). when there is one decky and the skipper to just 6 to 8 customers we can spend more time with you and make it more peronal and enjoyable, the boat has a large rear WET deck with runing water so the fish are handled properly with the least amount of harm done to them ( it sadens me when people lift a fish 6 to 8 feet into a boat over the gunnals just by the hook in it's mouth then chucked it back over to hopefully swim away). I help Al out decking occasionally if you do manage to get a booking this year please let me know it's you if I'm on board and we can talk fishing, I would love to get over there chasing those GIANT Tuna one day.

 By the time lunch is called most people can't fish anymore , fighting 100lb fish on PE8 with locked up drags certainly makes a man out of you, after 5 or so fish when we call for lines in ( jig's away) most people find somewhere to hide so they don't have to drop over again, after 10 or so fish most are crying and begging us to not put a rod in their hands. all before lunch.

You only fish one side of the boat or the line goes under the boat and tangles , you fish so the drift takes your line away fron the boat.

Check out my pic's in the photo gallery, most of the one's on a boat are on SHIKARI. As for price I recon he would be one of the cheapest charters running, especially when you are fishing with Van Stall's, Saltiga's, Stella's, blue heavens , accurates, fin nor and the list goes on .

YES I do love jigging , YES I call Al a friend , NO I don't think I'm being biased.

Yeah Al Bevan is a good operator mate, with fish care right at the top of his priority list. The times I've been out with him we've fished 4 on / 4 off. First four jig a sambo, rotate to back of boat, next four drop down immediately or wait for boat to be repositioned.

Plenty of boats follow him (look like a flock of seagulls behind a prawn trawler).

Don't we a wimp though or you'll be wearing the little skirt at the end of the day.

John

Hey just another question guys,

Are there many other species which you guys normally target other than Sambos out with Shikari?

We will be doing a 3 day trip so I was thinking maybe 2 days on Sambos and the 3rd day on something else - Something that can also pull string preferably.

Would prefer to just jig for the whole 3 days too.

Cheers,

Josh

Not much else will reliably pull line that time of year. Better off hitting the sambos every day and relaxing on some reef fish afterwards =)

The fads arn't too far away and you may get into some Dorado's, but it's mainly Sambo's from Nov thru to Feb if it's later in the season you could allways troll around the west end area and pick up Mac's, Yellow tail kings and Tuna, just remember you may have a day or 2 Blown out, last year he only got out 9 days in December, the wind was SHOCKING, no body got out even the 60 footers were in the harbour, nobody wants to be 40km from port with 2m seas on a 2 to 4 m swell.

Before you come send me a pm and I'll let you know how the jigging is going, sometimes there's just lots of 20kg rats around, other times you pull a few 50kg babes out from the schools.

Heres a pic of the boat for you. Theres some better ones on the site somewhere.