Fishing Reports

What a boomer of a season so far! There are some really good fish being caught around the Gulf at the moment – you only have to look on the fishing.net.nz site to see the evidence. The boys (and gals of course) are getting regular 20lb plus Snapper from the outer gulf and there are a few being taken from a bit closer to home.

Clients over the past few weeks have been enjoying good weather and great fishing to match. I get a real kick out of putting the crew onto good fishing and getting new personal bests for them and the weather we have had has let us get out and into the good ones. Here’s what’s been happening.

I’ll start close to home. Tiri is starting to fish well again and our boats have been getting pretty good numbers of fish with the odd bigger Snapper popping up from time to time. Overall it is a great place to get a feed and target a few bigger fish. The edges of the channel have been the pick of the area especially when there is a bit of breeze as it offers some shelter. The back of island and on the reefs is producing a few good Snapper along with “pannies” and the occasional Kingfish. Most of the kingfish are small (4-9kg) and can be found around the black buoy reef, Shearers Rock, Shag Rock and Wooded Island. Livebaits will work when the kingfish feel like them but poppers and jigs seem to raise them better. Not surprisingly, the soft plastics get looked at too.

The Whangaparaoa Peninsula is still fishing well, as is the bay, with the change of light being the optimum time. Wellington Reef and Rock will have kingfish around them but from what I have seen they are mostly small. There are bigger fish there and a little patience and a good livebait can reap rewards. We have done well there in the past towing Rapalas too.

The worm beds are getting a fair bit of attention at the moment and are producing a lot of fish. The area is unfortunately home to some pretty big sharks and we have had the odd incident where the burley pot has been given a bit of a thrashing and reels have been emptied in a matter of seconds as a shark picks up a bait intended for a Snapper. Bronze Whalers and Threshers are about closer to Auckland too and causing a bit of trouble around Waiheke and in the channels.

I haven’t had to do much out of Auckland so far this year but from what I have done and from what I hear, the pick of the bunch would be the hole off Matiatia in the evenings. Good numbers of Snapper have come from the area in short sessions. Fish around 10lb are not uncommon and seem to take a mix of baits. Big baits cast away from the boat will pick up the bigger fish but be prepared to get “sharked”.

The Rangi Channel has had its moments and it will not be long before it will fish a lot more consistently. The edges are best for Snapper and around the buoys for Kingfish using poppers and jigs. The current in here can make it difficult to keep a small livebait going for long periods but using a bobby cork or smaller float rather than a balloon can help. Most rigs work when the fish are feeding but I prefer to strayline a bait out the back of the boat. This style of fishing normally picks up the bigger fish and works well in most fishing scenarios.

Kawau Bay is producing regular hauls of  Snapper but to target the bigger fish that are up this way, use a good burley trail (wind with tide helps) and strayline a bait back into some structure. Structure is easy to find in the area but places like Nelson Rock, Tarapunga Rock, Maori Rock and of course Flat Rock can produce some really big Snapper and Kingfish. Its patience, good burley trails, fresh bait and good gear/tackle that will do the trick for you.

Little Barrier – well what can I say – the place has been good to us this year again and we have had a number of Snapper over 20lbs come from around the island. The drift fishing over the deeper structure has been awesome! MAJURO (the new boat – see our page in the charters section of the fishing.net.nz site) is well set up for the drift fishing with the large cockpit. Closer in to the island and in the shallows has been a bit harder and the bright days don’t help.

Big Trevally are around and seem to like taking a strip of squid or a cube bait on a flasher rig or ledger rig. Some of these Trevs’ grow to 6-7kg and put up a good account of themselves. Best to use the landing net for these fish, as they have a soft mouth and often shake free while thrashing about on the surface. Kingfish are about in better numbers but mostly only small fish of up to 15kg. There are “rats” on most reefs.

We also had Matt and Kerren out with us for The Fishing Show during the month and caught some fish of course but you will have to wait for the new series to see what will be another great show. Keep up the good work fellas!

Horn Rock and Jimmies have been hot and cold but I have heard a few good stories of big Snapper in the shallows and good fish taken on the drift. Large baits are the go out here. Baits like slabs of fresh Slimey Mackerel, butterflied Mackerel, Livebaits, whole Squid and big NZ Pilchards ought to get attention. More good news is that the Barracouta seem to have moved on. No more getting that blistering run as the bait descends only to get back shredded mono! Snakes! Cook Strait Sailfish! Other names I can’t repeat!

Great Barrier will start to fill up with tourists and holiday makers from now till the end of January and the fishing can be a little hard during the day. Best bet is to fish the shallows and structure in the early morning of evening. To illustrate the point we recently landed a number of big Snapper up to 22lbs in one session doing just that, straylining the structure at the change of light. Set yourself up with in wind and tide flowing together situation, burley up and use big baits set out behind the boat. If you are missing fish on the strike then let them run with the bait a little longer – but how long? How long is piece of string?!

Miners, the Needles, the Cape and around Arid should be home to the Kingfish when the Snapper are off the chew and a few good livebaits are essential for this. Casting poppers, speed jigging the deeper foul and drifting livebaits around the drop offs will work too. Put the small ones back. Fish that aren’t a metre long probably haven’t bred yet so it makes sense to put them back. Handle them carefully with a wet towel or grab them carefully by the bottom lip when you handle them.

We will be fishing all the way through the festive season and have trips going from $50 for evenings and ½ days, from $65 for day trips and other trips on MAJURO. We supply free ice and burley on all our trips and all our skippers are top blokes with a wealth of knowledge. Both Brian on TYPEE, Alan on TEREHU and myself on MAJURO have been fishing since we were in nappies and want to see our crews getting good fish while having a good time. We are fishermen not bus drivers.

You can book trips by email to deepsea@clear.net.nz, by phone to Rachel on 09 4240607 or give me a call on 021 2446346.

We would like to mention a few friends and wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

Good buggers:

Fishing.net.nz and all the new friends we have made. A special thanks to all those forum members that are making Bushies reef bigger. More dropped tackle than a big dropped tackle thing!

Fishing Coast to Coast

Fishing news

The Fishing Show

Rusler landing nets and gaffs

The Ice and Bait shop – Silverdale

Shimano

NZ King Salmon Company

Hot Shotz

Hooked on Fishing

Hooked on Print

Get hooked up. It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on!

Cheers

Damian (Damo)

The Charter Connection – Where fishing is catching!