Fishing Reports

The recent Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club Tuna Tournament  in early January answered all the questions after weeks of windy days in December- Are the tuna still there??? -eveyone asked, as the first Yfn was landed some weeks before in early december, and none since.

The answer was-YES !!!!.The club had one of its most succesful Tuna comps in recent times, with around 47 Yellowfin coming to the scales in 2 days, and roughly another 15 or so not bothering to weigh , as the were less than the top 10 money winners. The top fish was in the mid forties, along with a couple of others, then down into thirties for a few, and the majority fell in the 15-25 kg bracket.

There was also very good albacore fishing during this period, with the bulk of the fish between 8 and 11 kgs, providing excellent sport on the appropriate tackle, with one local boat returning to the weigh station on saturday with 4 new club records, 1 new NZ junior record (pending) and the dissapointing loss of a NZ and potential world record fish after 2 1/4 hours on 2kg line in deteriorating conditions.!!

To top it off there were also 5 marlin caught or tagged thru the same competition, so all in all some great fishing, especially as the Whakatane end of the bay was and is still doing a big starve on the tuna front!!!

In the ensuing 2 weeks , the albacore have diminshed significantly, with rising temps, yellowfin remained steady with maybe a steady slow drop, and sure enough upon the arrival of the early skippies, a marked increase in the Marlin catches, with 1-2 coming in per day now on the calmer days.Top fish was an early (mid Jan) Blue marlin for local  boat Bounty Hunter, tipping the scales at 239 kg- Congrats to Brian and the crew.

A second blue -149 kg has also come across the scales since, so its looking pretty good to get out  there after the horror weather of the last  6 days or so, as the good water should be well in after 40- 50 knots of Nor'easterly. !!!!!

Bait has been a big issue- or lack of it- for the whole season so far, and with no bait  comes no birds so it has been making for very "Blind" trolling out there, leaving skippers to just work the historically productive areas, rather than bait or bird concentrations.Most  started the season in the 300- 1000m   area, but fish (pre storm )could  be caught  into 150m but the beginning of last week, or closer. 

Good fishing !!

Andy Kerr -Stingray Charters