Fishing Reports
Eastern Bay of Plenty
Steady, if however slow, improvement in most areas. Fishing, like the weather, has been very sporadic but if you average out all the days' definite improvement can be seen. Farming, like fishing, have a lot of meteorological indicators throughout the year. Both these avocations, as disparate as they may seem, have a lot of similarities.
A farmer friend from Rangataiki Plains revealed a startling statistic recently. Last year at this time his grass temperature at 9am was averaging 15.6 degrees C. This year it's 11.1! That's a big difference and, no doubt, has a lot of ramifications for life at sea as well.
Inshore
While still pretty tough most days, there have been more decent catches of late, terakihi still lead the list on consistency but more snapper are continually showing. Some of these are nice fish, not just "pannies". Word of fish between 4-9 kilos are filtering through more all the while - from Matata all the way through to Te Kaha. Water is clean some days, dirty more often. An algal bloom is in effect over much of the inshore waters. After a long hibernation, surf fishing has improved to everyone's delight. Many species (snapper, kahawai, gurnard) have rewarded these land bound anglers of late. We'll hopefully witness continued improvement as we prance through spring. Offshore
Once again, slight but significant betterment here. While far from their best and quite sporadic, kingfish have taken the spotlight. Most of the fish are ranging from 12-18 kilos but a few larger are being hooked, far fewer landed. Their bite times can be quite specific and shorter than we would like. Some days it's hours, others less than an hour. Still this is much better than only weeks ago - we'll settle for sporadic rather than non-existent anytime! Deepwater fishing continues to be just that with the mid depths (140-250m) very lean. Seems like 330+ metres is the call with 400 even better. Bluenose lead the parade with the occasional bass, true hapuka and gemfish joining in. shallow reef fishing still very productive for those wanting a break from the deep or hiding from the wind. Water colour much improved, almost blue some days. Ranfurly Bank
Wind and swell have kept visits here to a bare minimum. Strong currents have also combined with the other elements to confound most would be exploiters, with drifts approaching three (3) knots on occasion. No hapuka bomb would be big enough to stay down in this extreme situation. The region will no doubt receive more attention as the temperatures warm and weather settles. Summary
We like improvement, even if it is painfully slow in manifesting itself. Like approach the magical physiological point known as Labour Day, things should improve but nothing more than most everyone's outlook. Summer, at least officially, is only a stones throw away. On the realistic side, however, it seems very far away. As long as we stumble forward, we'll get there!
While still pretty tough most days, there have been more decent catches of late, terakihi still lead the list on consistency but more snapper are continually showing. Some of these are nice fish, not just "pannies". Word of fish between 4-9 kilos are filtering through more all the while - from Matata all the way through to Te Kaha. Water is clean some days, dirty more often. An algal bloom is in effect over much of the inshore waters. After a long hibernation, surf fishing has improved to everyone's delight. Many species (snapper, kahawai, gurnard) have rewarded these land bound anglers of late. We'll hopefully witness continued improvement as we prance through spring. Offshore
Once again, slight but significant betterment here. While far from their best and quite sporadic, kingfish have taken the spotlight. Most of the fish are ranging from 12-18 kilos but a few larger are being hooked, far fewer landed. Their bite times can be quite specific and shorter than we would like. Some days it's hours, others less than an hour. Still this is much better than only weeks ago - we'll settle for sporadic rather than non-existent anytime! Deepwater fishing continues to be just that with the mid depths (140-250m) very lean. Seems like 330+ metres is the call with 400 even better. Bluenose lead the parade with the occasional bass, true hapuka and gemfish joining in. shallow reef fishing still very productive for those wanting a break from the deep or hiding from the wind. Water colour much improved, almost blue some days. Ranfurly Bank
Wind and swell have kept visits here to a bare minimum. Strong currents have also combined with the other elements to confound most would be exploiters, with drifts approaching three (3) knots on occasion. No hapuka bomb would be big enough to stay down in this extreme situation. The region will no doubt receive more attention as the temperatures warm and weather settles. Summary
We like improvement, even if it is painfully slow in manifesting itself. Like approach the magical physiological point known as Labour Day, things should improve but nothing more than most everyone's outlook. Summer, at least officially, is only a stones throw away. On the realistic side, however, it seems very far away. As long as we stumble forward, we'll get there!
From 
Pursuit
PursuitReport type: Saltwater
Report date: 28 October 02
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