welshbaz wrote: I've always found that whatipu is easiest to fish over the low tide, access to the rocks is easy and from the beach it is possible to get to the channels. There are many options for places to fish both from the beach and from the rocks. When you get to the beach there is Paratutae island to the left, it's possible to fish on the east and west side of this (if fishing the west side facing the ocean then leave yourself plenty of time on the incoming tide to get back as you do not want to get cut off). The east side facing the harbour has a few spots, all easily accessible about 1-1.5 hours after high tide, the old wharf is the 1st rock ledge you come to, I've seen all sorts come in there but at this time of year I would be targeting early season gurnard. If you go further round the water gets deeper, the currents get stronger and the bottom get snaggier but the chance of catching keeper snapper, kahawai or kingfish increases. To target snaps there I have found that a single hook leger rig cast at least 50m out will get snagged the least. Kings on a live bait under a balloon. Don't fall in around here. It is possible to fish the beach in the bay but it's unlikely you'll catch anything, Beach fishing is much better to the RH side of nine pin either right beside the rock or any spot walking north for about 30 minutes. There is a big channel that runs parallel to the beach for a couple of km's that can be cast into about 2 hours either side of the low, The currents are strong though so a min 4oz breakout sinker will be required, even that will sometimes be like straylining. The other option is to fish off the nine pin rock itself, the sand has really built up around this rock lately which has made access to it much easier. If the tides are not too big I think it's possible to access it at virtually any stage of the tide. From here people tend to cast out big sinkers on running rigs to katch mainly kahawai (I heard a couple of guys caught 14 there last wednesday) or live bait for kings. You can also catch gurnard here during the slack tide when the current has calmed down a little. As Fishing addiction said best bait is mullet, I also find pillie works well out there but it can get munted by small snaps or the current/ swell, have never had much luck with squid. |
loldev wrote: Thinking about heading to whatipu on monday will be my first time trying for a fish on the west coast. Will it be safe there? Looking at the tides High is at 930am and low is at 355pm Just a few questions, when would be the best time for me to go that day? What rig and bait would you use? cheers in advance |
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