Fishing Reports

Fishing has been fantastic recently. The snapper have really started to bite hard in the shallows, with most fish having spawned with only the odd fish still full of roe.

MILFORD BEACH
Excellent fishing of the beach in the shallows . The evenings are producing lots of good pan sized snaps - up and over the 35cm mark. Best baits seems to salted bonito fillets cut into long strip baits. Salted bonito is a great bait this time of year - especially with the bait pickers having arrived as well. The bite seems to be best late in the evening as the sun drops low on the horizon. Tide hasn’t been a major issue either with snapper biting on both tides. A good depth seems to be around 7 to 8 metres.
 
KAURI POINT
The strong currents in the foul have been producing good hauls of big fat snapper. The odd kingfish has also been in attendance for those that have been berleying hard.

Big fresh baits of mackerel have resulted in some wicked snapper catches , with plenty of fish up and over the double figure mark.  A live mackerel under a balloon well away from the boat will often result in some serious kingi action -heavy tackle is required to stop these green machines in this foul country.
 
MARTINS BAY
An area I have not fished before, but the reports are of excellent schools of snapper in the shallows. Best rig seems to be the good old flasher rig-either black magic snapper snatcher or Mustad’s NEW demon terakihi flasher rig in size 5/0.  A mixture of pillie cubes or squid pieces , makes a great buffet for these hungry fish. The fishing has been best on the incoming tide, and results have been excellent
 
ZENO ROCK
The Scottsman landed a beaut snapper off here on last report. Well the rock just keeps on producing, excellent snapper are schooling on the edge of the foul with plenty of fish well into the double figure mark. The fish are biting all day , but the better fish are feeding as the sun goes down. The bigger fish are just mauling live jacks late in the day- with big fish resulting in at he strike. Plenty of berley here will result in some fabulous fish.
 
FLAT ROCK
Had been slow up until the last few weeks . But all has started to change for this often over-fished area. Plenty of schools of trevs have shown up , with the northern end of the reef area starting to produce some good pan sized snapper in good quantities. Best rig is a standard strayline rig with just enough weight to get you to the bottom. A good berley trail will result in some excellent fish of great eating quality, most of these fish seemed to have spawned , but are still aggressive on the bite - best bait is whole squid or bonito.
 
'till next week good fishing and tight lines
 
Terry Williams King