Fishing Reports

 

The beginning of my last report started with a quip about the wind and yet again it is blowing hard from the south west! Wind aside, there has been some epic fishing in the Gulf over the last fortnight, when the conditions have allowed us to get to the fish. Its funny how people sitting in offices or working on the shop floor say to us “but it’s not windy here” and wonder why we postpone a trip when I’m standing on the water in 40 knots of breeze. Fishing can be quite hard going when the breeze gets up around 30 knots and you have to start looking for fish in more sheltered areas. Trust us we know what we’re doing and would rather have anglers return with good fish and pleasant memories rather than knock them about all day for bugger all and waste their money. But hey, when it’s good it’s real good and it has been awesome. Our regular anglers have been getting into good fish with us the biggest over the past 2 weeks being 7.9kg ( a prize winner at the recent Gulf Harbour Contest). There are some good fish swimming around in the bigger schools and finding these schools is the key. We have been fishing the Tiri Passage and the back of Kawau Island with great success although have found the Kawau area to be under considerable commercial pressure. For example, last Saturday on our way home from Kawau, there was a trawler doing a tow from outside Tiri all the way through to just inside Flat Rock. How long he worked that area for I don’t know but we did find the Snapper in the Tiri area more elusive and in pretty poor condition the next day. I am not saying it was because a trawler sucked up a heap of fish, as the conditions were not good for fishing, in that area on Sunday anyway. But I do wonder. A few other items of note are the breaking of 2 Black Magic hooks in within 10 minutes! An experience angler and regular fisher with us, hooked up on what looked like a pretty decent snapper using a green 5/0 Snapper Flasher, only to have the hook break in the beak about 2 minutes into the fight. Disappointed but not too bummed out, he changed the rig to another of the same but in a smaller size, only to have the same thing happen. Now not a fan of Black Magic he is using another brand. In Black Magics’ defence that would be the first time we have seen that happen twice in a day. The other thing I wanted to tell you, was there are a few more John Dory showing up around the place, in fact we took out the major John Dory prizes in the Gulf Harbour Tournament. We find that a good size yellowtail or even a cod are pretty good live baits for these slim profile stalkers. Remember that you cannot use a small Snapper for a live bait as these must be returned to the water. We target them in high current areas over a bit of foul or around some structure. We only fish for them in the current as we seem to find the bigger ones there. Peter Hunt and Graham Truman both came away with prizes for John Dory well over the 2kg mark. Most of our Snapper lately has been caught on NZ pillies and Lolago squid but thin strips of mullet have responsible for a few decent fish in the slurry also. We get all our bait from the guys at The Bait Station. Don’t just walk in the door and check out the freezers, have a chat with Kevin and Ben about what’s working and what’s not. They are out there doing so they know too. We used a good burley from them the other day, so check that out too. It was the new pure bonito one and it comes in 2 sizes. These guys also sponsor a couple of really good contests every year. Ledger rigs are still the way to go in the deeper water but in a bit closer ,the running rig or a simply strayline rig is working too. Our Flat Rock Special comes out when there is a heap of current and is always deadly. It is a simple variation of a ledger rig that allows you to fish a bigger bait on the bottom. Snapper usually stay closer to the bottom in high current areas as there is less current on the bottom and they don’t have to spend so much energy getting lunch. The other day we had a live yellowtail set on the rig and it was only on the bottom for about 10 mins, before it was scoffed and the line started disappearing from the spool. Big head shakes preceded us dropping what was a pretty good Snapper. Many were caught that day but the biggest were landed with ledger rigs using 5/0-7/0 VMC hooks. We use the Snapper Steelheads and the VMC Recurves, loaded with half Pillies or strip baits like Lolago Squid or Skipjack. One other item that has come to light this week is the support from the Rodney District Council in support of a Marine Reserve at Tiri. What are you thoughts on that one? I will post a new topic in the Briney Bar, on the Discussion Board on this site. Lets hear your reply about closing this area off to anglers and divers. One of the proposals even closes off part of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula as well. We still have a few dates available before Christmas if you’re interested in a day on the water be it just yourself or with your group. Give us a call on 09 4240607 or 0252446346. You can email us at deepsea@clear.net.nz. Damian Clayton- THE CHARTER CONNECTION- Where fishing is catching!

 

From A Charter Connection...

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 20 November 02