Fishing Reports

The water temperature has increased steadily over the last few weeks boosted by a good easterly blow and the associated swell. Out at Little Barrier it was around 21C and increased steadily until we got a high reading of 25C by the time we hit the Tiri Channel on the way home the other day. Speaking of Little Barrier, that is were I am going to start this report.

The Snapper seem to be in less numbers than this time last year out here but we have noticed more Kingfish in closer to the island. Fishing in a depth of 40m, over some low foul the other day, produced small Kingfish in numbers with the bigger ones out of sight and back down the berley trail. It can be hard getting a livie past the “rats” and the value of having a good supply of livebaits, both Mackerel and Kahawai, if you can get them, should not be underestimated. It is an essential part of any anglers’ arsenal when targeting Kingfish. We did have one big fish on for a short time before it decided to wrap the gear around the mid water berley pot and nearly saw the rope in two as we attempted to clear the shambles. Things always happen when you least expect them too. Not much in the way of good size snapper around when we have been there over the last few weeks and I have been finding the offshore reefs and coral a better option.

Simpsons Rock produced Kingfish one after the other the other day. Only problem was they were all a metre or less in length and it was difficult getting a livie down past them. Its suprising what size livebaits these rats will eat. At one stage during our stop on a 50 metre pin, if you had the trace wrapped around your hand when deploying a livebait, you would have got your nails ripped off as the Kingis charged the baits. We even had to pull the Tuna lures out of the water as we were getting hit after hit from the Kingfish lurking around the deeper pinnacles. Great place to fish in calm conditions.

There is a lot of Snapper in the Gulf at the moment and here is where we have been getting them.

The area of humps and hollows, east of Flat Rock has been producing some really good Snapper up to about 6kg in the last fortnight. Just look out for all the Gannets falling out the sky as they work the huge bait schools in this area. Don’t anchor in the Telecom area though. Try a drift through the action as this has been the best way to get on the Snapper. Ledger rigs with cubes of Pilchards or small strips of Squid have working well on the “pannies” and a correctly weighted strayline rig with a half/whole Pilchard has been getting the odd bigger fish if you’ve the patience.

Whangapararoa Bay has been producing Snapper too. In about 20-25 metres seems to be best at the moment and we pulled good numbers of Snapper out of this area when the swell was rolling around the place.

The Tiri Channel has also been producing good numbers of Snapper and small Kingfish. The sizes are down from a week or so ago but Rob on MATANGI is still fishing in here or at least starting the day in the area before moving on. It wasn’t uncommon for us to stay in the one spot all day last week. We collected nearly 400 Snapper from the 3 boats last weekend and although that seems like a lot, the groups we had on board only go fishing once or twice a year. It seems to be the edges of the foul that is holding the Snapper in here. Pilchards and Lolago Squid are the go either on a ledger rig, flasher rig or straylined down a berley trail. Berley can be the difference between a good day and a good haul of Zilch. We supply FREE ice and berley on all our trips.

Keeping your catch cold is very important, especially this time of year. A salt water ice slurry is the best way to evenly keep the fish cold. Top up the slurry with ice as required during the day to ensure the fish are kept cold all day. Laying the fish on just ice alone doesn’t achieve the same quality as it doesn’t cool the fish evenly and can near freeze the fish on one side while the other is open to the air temperature. It also distorts the fish and fish that are all bent in half and half frozen can be hard to fillet with out damaging the fish and it no doubt raises health issues about eating  correctly chilled product. Play it safe and use a slurry. 

The hole off Matiatia Bay on Waiheke produced well a few days ago in the breeze so I ended up back in the area for the weekend just gone. Good numbers of Snapper up to 5kg were coming aboard on a pretty regular basis but I have found the outgoing tide better. Pretty big tides of around 3.5 metres meant using a fair amount of lead but it was worth it. Straylines were working best but we still needed a fair amount of lead to get the baits down. Again it was Squid, Pilchards and Mullet doing the damage.

There has been a fair amount of bird activity around the place too and this is not surprising now that the water has warmed to over 20 C in the Gulf and there is a lot of bait fish around. The shipping lane between Tiri and Rangi’ is holding fish and could well be worth a look. Drift fishing yesterday morning under feeding Gannets produced a few Snapper to get the crew warmed up and perhaps a good berley trail will produce a few better fish.

Watch out for the sharks. There are some big Bronze Whalers out there at the moment and we have lost a few fish to them. We watched a spool get emptied in about 5 seconds the other day compliments to a big “Bronzy”. It had been hanging around for a while and eaten a few Snapper off the gear before it eventually got hooked up on a 6kg outfit.

WAHU, our new 10 metre sport fisher, has been getting a few hours on the clock now. We are nearly through the “teething” process and are spending more and more time, out wider in the Gulf again when the conditions allow. If you would like more info on the boats and what we do or would like to join the “casuals” list and join other like minded individuals on a trip with us, email us at deepsea@clear.net.nzorphone 021 2446346 for Damian or Rachel is in the office on 09 4240607

PS. Keep in mind our 3, 4 or 5 day Great Barrier trips. These can be for fishers and divers alike. One of our Skippers is a fully qualified Dive Instructor and has a huge amount of knowledge and resources available. Hire gear can be arranged too. Most of these trips depart on a Friday and return on a Sunday but you can choose from the available dates to make a trip to suit your schedule. Groups of up to 6 anglers or divers are well catered for with comfortable accommodation, hot showers, good galleys, plenty of storage for gear or dive bottles, modern electronics and of course professional Skippers who are results driven and customer focused.
what are you waiting for?

Cheers
Damian
The Charter Connection – Where fishing is catching!