Fishing Reports

Happy New Year everyone!

Since our last report in mid December, we have fished nearly everyday with some really good results.

We have pulled Kingfish to 55lbs, Snapper to around the 8kg mark, John Dory – one of which was over 9lb and Gurnard up to ½ a metre long!

Most of our fishing has been (weather permitting) over low foul and horse mussel beds. Occasionally I have came across a school of fish on the way out and have not had to move all day! They are where you find them as they say and if you can get onto a good patch as we did, your fishing will be awesome. Good things don’t last forever and it doesn’t take long for the masses to arrive and slowly clean the place out or put them off the feed with all the extra noise and traffic. It was great while it lasted but the decreasing fish size and all that traffic and nonsense had me searching for a fresh patch and I found it.

As the channels haven’t really kicked in yet except for the odd occasion and evenings I have been spending a bit of time out in the Gulf in some of the deeper water. This past week slowed us down a bit because of the fresh breeze licking around the place and behind Tiri was chosen for its shelter and good foul areas. The occasional good Snapper and a 30lb Kingfish were the highlights but on the whole it was generally slow fishing, throwing back a lot of small fish and getting the occasional hot 20 minute run of better Snapper.

New years Day had us out in the Gulf after a slow start on a favoured patch of foul in the Tiri Channel. This patch showed good sign and had produced the day before but only sporadically and was worth another shot considering the fish we had taken to the local smoke house the day before. We headed out to about 40 –50 m and started searching. No bird activity to speak of and very little sign except for the odd scratch in mid water. The out of the blue – the massive lump of Snapper! What to do? Park on it and proceed to catch fish up to about 6lb. Live baits were set and a big Shark bait deployed as the Snapper came over the side one after another. With sufficient Snapper and Gurnard we packed up and set Rapalas and a small Tuna lure for the tow home.

Only a few miles behind Tiri the Gannets were starting to circle and a fin was sighted. We towed the lures right across the path of a sun bathing Thresher shark and watched in awe as it made plans on the Rapala. No hook up though and we towed on towards the Gannets that were now falling from the sky in the hundreds. No strike on the lures so we opted for the jigs. Chrome was the go and Barracouta and Kahawai were landed and released, as were the Snapper that were feeding under them. Only a few other boats were in on it and seemed to be keeping busy too. A great way to kick off another year!

Preferred baits are NZ Pilchards and Yahoo, the Lolago Squid is available again and has been working well. Fresh Yellowtail Mackerel and Slimy Mackerel are still working well, as is Skipjack and occasionally Mullet. The Flasher rigs are still doing the damage and I made mention of these in our previous report as to which colours are best at the moment.

The evenings have not been fishing that well locally but I must make mention of one particular trip when Alan took a group on TEREHU over to Motuora Island (south of Kawau) and cleaned up in the dark off one small rock. The fish were hanging on the pressure side of the rock, as they do, but wouldn’t feed till it was dark. A long night, but some really nice fish, all around 5kg. Evening fishing around Tiri has been slow on the whole and we look forward to its’ improvement.

We have heaps of available dates over the holidays and during the next month and have kept dates aside for our regulars and casual anglers. If you would like to get out on the water just give us a call on – Boat –025 2446346, Office- 09 4240607 or send us an email to – deepsea@clear.net.nz

Damian- THE CHARTER CONNECTION- where fishing is catching!