She's Back...

[Fish 0]

Owha is back in the Auckland area.

Currently sunning herself on a beach on the north side of Whangaparaoa. Anyone with dinghies in Maharangi, Gulf Harbour or Weiti might want to start following her current location, or just start keeping your dinghy out of the water again. Esp you live aboards. If she eats your dinghy your isolation will be lasting longer than you planned, unless of course your keen to swim ashore....

Serious question, my boy wants to know how she doesn't get a sore tummy from the rubber from all the dinghies she eats... he is very worried about her health.

The minders aren't sure why she is back from Fanga's so soon. They try not to publicise her location as it can cause issues, especially in lock down, but if I hear she has moved around to the south side of Whangaparaoa I'll let you all know

[Ex Veladare 94]

She destroyed a boat in a bag setup in Orakei last week for a launch.

Boat owner was gutted

[Black Panther 1,339]

Stanmore Bay this morning

 

 

[Romany 135]

She probably does not eat the dinghy - rather, just rips it apart? 

Without wanting to re-start that discussion re getting rid of the bloody thing, I personally would feel more at ease if I could know where this animal is at any time.

Does anybody know if DOC has investigated popping a tracker, rather than a cap, in its ass?

 

 

[Fish 0]

2 minutes ago, Romany said:

She probably does not eat the dinghy - rather, just rips it apart? 

You need to think more like a 5 year old Romany, I was telling him about the big apex predator that eats all the sailors dinghies, and that was his response, 'how does she not get a sore tummy?', from someone that has never put any food item of the colour green in his mouth, ever. Note, he wasn't worried about our dinghy...

I may well be back down at the secret location that Blank Panther broadcast to everyone, so can ask the nice lady there why we can't pop a tracker in its arse. I'm wanting to take the kids paddle boarding, which is fairly low risk in knee deep water, but I'm also keen to go for a descent paddle tour around the bays myself, and now the missus is 'unsupportive' of the idea due to the aforemention apex predator. Yes, knowing her location would mitigate a lot of risk.

[Fish 0]

I had a good conversation with the Leopard Seal guy last night. He'd been at Stanmore Bay from 8 am till at least 6 pm (when I left) minding the seal and answering questions. A volunteer on his day off from a regular money paying job.

I did ask him why we don't just pop a tracker in her arse, as a lot of people would appreciate knowing when to lift their dinghies out of the water. He did acknowledge that. On the tracker, its complicated, need a permit, tranquilisers etc, but the main thing is they have a good idea where she is all the time anyway from reports. He did give me a detailed run down of her movements over the last week or so, including how she ate a dinghy of a live aboard in Whangateau last Tuesday...

They do regularly email the marinas when she changes regions or general locations. So they do and are happy to inform people of her location. I have emailed them in the past, when she was up Stillwater, cause I wanted to go paddle boarding, and he was very responsive and helpful by email. If you are genuinely interested, I'd email via the leopardseal.org email on their website. Longer term, I'd propose the various yacht clubs get onto the marina email alert list, and the yacht clubs email their memberships. Certainly Weiti's manager is very proactive with email news, and its a reliable and established way of communicating to the boating community.

They do strongly discourage advertising her exact location. Yesterday they had over 500 people go for a look. Mind you, she was parked on a popular beach in the urban environment. There was a steady stream of cars parking, and people walking down etc, like a crowd heading to a sports game or something, you could tell where she was by following the crowd.

As a note, DoC would not assist. They said if there was a crowd control problem, call the police (as what happened in Stillwater), but they wouldn't deal with it. Being the org responsible for enforcing the law protecting sea mammals, I thought that was poor. There were a lot of dogs on the beach, its a dog walking beach. One guy hadn't seen the leopard seal and asked me if he could walk down the beach, he got confused when I asked him how fast he thought he could run... She is the same colour as sand, and looks like a log or rock when lying there, so it is easy for people to get too close without even realising, or kids trying to run up and 'pat it' etc.

On the risks to water users, there are risks. She does like to follow paddle boarders and kayakers, at about 3 m apparently, which I would find intimidating... She has nudged kayakers in te Atatu, and trying to put her head on the kayak. There was a report of her trying to get into a dingy while someone was in it. You will hear her first, before seeing her, like a dolphin breathing noise. The general advise if approached on the water is to be as boring as possible, so she doesn't want to play with you. i.e. no splashing or arm waving. Sounds like she wants to play, as opposed to acting aggressively, but she has big sharp teeth, and is ugly as...

I'd prefer she wasn't around, but she is a wild animal and can come and go as she pleases, as free as a bird, so she is something we just need to get used to, like it or not. I'll look into a slightly more formal email alert system of her location, via the yacht clubs maybe. In saying that, if she is in the general region, she could turn up anywhere at any time. Plywood dinghies aren't hard to build in stitch and glue, you can even make them nesting so they fit on deck easily, just as practical as an inflatable, but much more durable 

[outoftime 1]

On 8/05/2020 at 1:47 PM, Veladare said:

She destroyed a boat in a bag setup in Orakei last week for a launch.

Boat owner was gutted

That couldn't have been her. She has been in whangarei until recently and then hanging around Whangaparoa. There have been no sightings of her near the city. 

[outoftime 1]

On 8/05/2020 at 1:47 PM, Veladare said:

She destroyed a boat in a bag setup in Orakei last week for a launch.

Boat owner was gutted

That couldn't have been her. She has been in whangarei until recently and then hanging around Whangaparoa. There have been no sightings of her near the city. 

[Black Panther 1,339]

Maybe she has a boyfriend 

[Ex Machina 283]

On 8/05/2020 at 2:06 PM, Black Panther said:

Stanmore Bay this morning

 

 

Cunning work around of the no boating rules going on with that paddleboarder . Is that a seat as well as a gear holder ?

 

 

 

[Fish 0]

I saw him putting it in the water, but I wasn't paying attention to what gear he had. My missus has seen the set up a couple of times, and suggested it to me as something I could try. I initially thought the set up was for towing a kontiki line out, but it actually looks like he fishes off it.

I do like the idea of towing a lure around the rocks etc as I go for my evening paddle. I've been thinking through what gear I'd need. Would be fairly easy to tie a bucket down to the the D rings on the load bungy bit of my board. Maybe screw a bit of PVC pipe on the inside of the bucket for a rod holder. Keep a few bits and pieces I may need in the bucket, and somewhere to put the fish.

I need to check out one of these new top water lure stick bates, to see if they sink too fast or not. I wouldn't want to just snag my lure every 5 secs. I normally just use one of those kilwel hex spinners to target a bit of kahwai. Cheap enough, but I need to look at what speed I'd need to paddle at to keep it up.

The other issue I haven't got my head around yet is what happens if I hook up a kingie . I'm not entirely sure how to manage one of those from a paddle board...

[jim s 33]

31 minutes ago, Fish said:

The other issue I haven't got my head around yet is what happens if I hook up a kingie

The main thing is to have plenty of memory on your Go Pro...

[Ex Veladare 94]

2 hours ago, outoftime said:

That couldn't have been her. She has been in whangarei until recently and then hanging around Whangaparoa. There have been no sightings of her near the city. 

Well the owner was adamant. There is now more than one isnt there?

The bag was shredded

[Ex Machina 283]

1 hour ago, Fish said:

The other issue I haven't got my head around yet is what happens if I hook up a kingie . I'm not entirely sure how to manage one of those from a paddle board

Small boat fishing drogue will slow the tow ! 

[Fish 0]

37 minutes ago, Veladare said:

Well the owner was adamant. There is now more than one isnt there?

The bag was shredded

I asked the LS.org guy that the other day, he said that there were one or two others, but that was circa 2015 / 2016 ish. He had specific details, but fairly sure the other ones never went into the harbour as such, one was sighted sunning itself at Rangitoto. Short story is no, the guy said Owha is the only one around at the moment, and for the last 2 years or so.

[Steve Pope 205]

2 hours ago, Fish said:

I saw him putting it in the water, but I wasn't paying attention to what gear he had. My missus has seen the set up a couple of times, and suggested it to me as something I could try. I initially thought the set up was for towing a kontiki line out, but it actually looks like he fishes off it.

I do like the idea of towing a lure around the rocks etc as I go for my evening paddle. I've been thinking through what gear I'd need. Would be fairly easy to tie a bucket down to the the D rings on the load bungy bit of my board. Maybe screw a bit of PVC pipe on the inside of the bucket for a rod holder. Keep a few bits and pieces I may need in the bucket, and somewhere to put the fish.

I need to check out one of these new top water lure stick bates, to see if they sink too fast or not. I wouldn't want to just snag my lure every 5 secs. I normally just use one of those kilwel hex spinners to target a bit of kahwai. Cheap enough, but I need to look at what speed I'd need to paddle at to keep it up.

The other issue I haven't got my head around yet is what happens if I hook up a kingie . I'm not entirely sure how to manage one of those from a paddle board...

Of course whatever you catch you may have to share it with Opha

[AJ Oliver 154]

On 7/05/2020 at 10:45 PM, Fish said:

, I was telling him about the big apex predator

Hey, now hold on a minute there pardner . . . 

I thought we were the apex predators !! 

[Fish 0]

53 minutes ago, AJ Oliver said:

Hey, now hold on a minute there pardner . . . 

I thought we were the apex predators !! 

ya'll believe anything they say on fox and friends now wont ya?

[Fish 0]

3 hours ago, jim s said:

The main thing is to have plenty of memory on your Go Pro...

I'm sure it would be entertaining, for everyone else watching that is. I don't have a Go Pro, and fear getting one may over capitalise my paddle board. I doubt I'd stay on the board long enough for any good footage.

2 hours ago, 44forty said:

Small boat fishing drogue will slow the tow ! 

Good point. I've never tried wake boarding, but i'm sure a paddle board will go just fine with a kingie in charge, assuming I can get the kingie to go in a straight line that is.

I've got two spare drogues from life rings recently replaced. I did have other concerns, like staying on my board n stuff. I was already assuming I'd need a leash on my rod, and another leash for my paddle (assuming I can't bung it under the bungies, if the bucket is there). I'm starting to think if I need all that stuff I may as well take the dinghy out and go fishing properly.

The other approach is to just go with the super cheap kilwel hex lure, and much like short handed racing with the spinnaker, go for the samurai drop if it all goes pear shaped... I'll just need a knife handy, which wouldn't be hard. I can't believe the price of some of these posh fishing lures, starting at $35 for a cheap one, going up to $200 - it'd be cheaper to by snapper from New World. It would certainly rip your nightee if a big one got away, and took $200 worth of tackle with it. I always thought anything thats shiny and moves works, hence the kilwel hex spinner. I've got (small) kingies on that without evening trying before.

[Steve Pope 205]

A few years ago I had a german on board who had fished all over the world, he had 4 $40.00 lures that you could set for depth etc. 3 never made it back to the surface, Big Kingi's? last one was a big shark that he managed to get to the boat, I cut the line, far to big to attempt to land. expensive for him, but he had a smile a mile wide!!