Fishing Reports
Eastern Bay of Plenty going Off!!!!!
A long last it looks like we might, just might, have a game season on our hands!
We’ve been fortunate to have generally good fishing and weather much of summer but gamefish have been a tease at best.
Those diehards that have waited all year for the pelagics to arrive in numbers have done it hard until now – read on.
Inshore
The mainstay of the accessible fishery in the EBOP is ticking along nicely. Very steady catches although not as many “hot” sessions as were reported back around the New Year. The diverse reef systems of the Rurimas have fired lately, yielding some nice snapper to 10 kilos along with the numerous pan sized fish. At the other end of the Bay, both Omaio and Te Kaha have been quite consistent in catch rates as well. “Pub Point” has been a lot of fishers favourite lately, judging by the number of boats choosing to anchor there recently. Not much being said about terakihi but this is the time of year to give them a little breather anyway. Plenty of obliging spawning gurnard to take up the slack as well as kahawai and trevally. Offshore
The water colour and clarity at White has improved markedly over the past week. Divers will be particularly impressed with visibility approaching if not more than 100 feet. Temperatures are not overly warm (20 degrees C) but the best of the season thus far. Yellowtail kingfish are biting exceptionally well, especially at the Volkner Rocks. Among the hordes of rats are some nice fish, like the three over 30k’s landed over the past few days. Shallow water bottomfishing has become quite difficult recently with only the odd terakihi and red snapper to reward tryers. Deepwater has been far more productive withy bluenose increasingly figuring in the catch as they approach spawning. Ranfurly Bank
This productive area continues on it’s wining ways with a few twists. The kingis, which have been oversized and keen, seem to have gone into hiding. Lots of 15-20kg fish but few bigger. Bottomfishing is great with plenty of true hapuka and bass with also more bluenose there as well. Some nice sized blues (15-20kg) in some shallow (140m) water can give a good account of themselves, especially on braid. Great Whites are an everyday spectacle in the shallows on the Bank with most seen in the 400 – 600 kg bracket munching on kingis. Some impressive sized makos (120-200k) are also keeping the whites company. Yesterday (8 Feb) a 97kg yellowfin tuna was landed off the boat “Tongaroa” on braid after a 2 hour fight in 140 metres of water off East Cape. While details are sketchy at the time of writing it is easily the largest yellowfin tuna landed on rod and reel in NZ to date. I’m sure more detail concerning this catch will become available in time. What a tuna! Pelagics
These species just became a lot more exciting to write about in the last few days. Tuna and marlin have obliged this past week like they haven’t all season. While most of the YFT are small (13-14kgs) there is the odd fish over 50kgs to keep ones attention. They are spread from Ranfurly Bank to Whale Island but far more numerous as one travels east from Whakatane. The large fish seem to be falling more regularly to live bait with the small ones climbing all over the lures. Several treble and quadruple strikes have been documented. With virtually no yellowfin between the weights of 15 and 50 kilos it begs a burning question. Where are those missing three (3,4 & 5) year classes? Marlin have been around for a while but nothing like they were yesterday (8 Feb). Can’t remember five (5) marlin coming to the weighstation in one afternoon for many years. All these were weighed by women in the Whakatane Sportfishing Clubs annual Ladies Tournament and were topped by two nice ones of 157 and 154 kilos – either of which would be the largest stripee brought into Whakatane in years. Imagine getting a 154k stripee and coming in second!?! Most of these marlin were landed near White Island with one coming from Waihou Bay. Waihou is starting to show some real promise with more boats turning up all the while prior to the “Nationals”. While the blue marlin will probably not show up anything like the numbers of the preceding four years, there should be some fine YFT and stripees turn up with the occasional spearfish for some spice. There will be a lot of effort put in, that’s for sure. Summary
It would appear there may be interesting revelations on the gamefishing scene daily. In many ways, incorporating some of the exciting developments up north, this is truly the beginning of the season – and with only three weeks of “official” summer remaining! If ever there was a case of “watch this space”, it is now. So watch!
The mainstay of the accessible fishery in the EBOP is ticking along nicely. Very steady catches although not as many “hot” sessions as were reported back around the New Year. The diverse reef systems of the Rurimas have fired lately, yielding some nice snapper to 10 kilos along with the numerous pan sized fish. At the other end of the Bay, both Omaio and Te Kaha have been quite consistent in catch rates as well. “Pub Point” has been a lot of fishers favourite lately, judging by the number of boats choosing to anchor there recently. Not much being said about terakihi but this is the time of year to give them a little breather anyway. Plenty of obliging spawning gurnard to take up the slack as well as kahawai and trevally. Offshore
The water colour and clarity at White has improved markedly over the past week. Divers will be particularly impressed with visibility approaching if not more than 100 feet. Temperatures are not overly warm (20 degrees C) but the best of the season thus far. Yellowtail kingfish are biting exceptionally well, especially at the Volkner Rocks. Among the hordes of rats are some nice fish, like the three over 30k’s landed over the past few days. Shallow water bottomfishing has become quite difficult recently with only the odd terakihi and red snapper to reward tryers. Deepwater has been far more productive withy bluenose increasingly figuring in the catch as they approach spawning. Ranfurly Bank
This productive area continues on it’s wining ways with a few twists. The kingis, which have been oversized and keen, seem to have gone into hiding. Lots of 15-20kg fish but few bigger. Bottomfishing is great with plenty of true hapuka and bass with also more bluenose there as well. Some nice sized blues (15-20kg) in some shallow (140m) water can give a good account of themselves, especially on braid. Great Whites are an everyday spectacle in the shallows on the Bank with most seen in the 400 – 600 kg bracket munching on kingis. Some impressive sized makos (120-200k) are also keeping the whites company. Yesterday (8 Feb) a 97kg yellowfin tuna was landed off the boat “Tongaroa” on braid after a 2 hour fight in 140 metres of water off East Cape. While details are sketchy at the time of writing it is easily the largest yellowfin tuna landed on rod and reel in NZ to date. I’m sure more detail concerning this catch will become available in time. What a tuna! Pelagics
These species just became a lot more exciting to write about in the last few days. Tuna and marlin have obliged this past week like they haven’t all season. While most of the YFT are small (13-14kgs) there is the odd fish over 50kgs to keep ones attention. They are spread from Ranfurly Bank to Whale Island but far more numerous as one travels east from Whakatane. The large fish seem to be falling more regularly to live bait with the small ones climbing all over the lures. Several treble and quadruple strikes have been documented. With virtually no yellowfin between the weights of 15 and 50 kilos it begs a burning question. Where are those missing three (3,4 & 5) year classes? Marlin have been around for a while but nothing like they were yesterday (8 Feb). Can’t remember five (5) marlin coming to the weighstation in one afternoon for many years. All these were weighed by women in the Whakatane Sportfishing Clubs annual Ladies Tournament and were topped by two nice ones of 157 and 154 kilos – either of which would be the largest stripee brought into Whakatane in years. Imagine getting a 154k stripee and coming in second!?! Most of these marlin were landed near White Island with one coming from Waihou Bay. Waihou is starting to show some real promise with more boats turning up all the while prior to the “Nationals”. While the blue marlin will probably not show up anything like the numbers of the preceding four years, there should be some fine YFT and stripees turn up with the occasional spearfish for some spice. There will be a lot of effort put in, that’s for sure. Summary
It would appear there may be interesting revelations on the gamefishing scene daily. In many ways, incorporating some of the exciting developments up north, this is truly the beginning of the season – and with only three weeks of “official” summer remaining! If ever there was a case of “watch this space”, it is now. So watch!
From 
Pursuit
PursuitReport type: Saltwater
Report date: 11 February 03
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