Fishing Reports

The weather has been great up till the last few days, and the fishing had been just as hot. The gulf has been fishing extremely well; good numbers of snapper, kingfish, and JDs have been gracing the decks of most boats.

Zeno rock
Has been very consistent as of late, is a very common fishing spot late summer to early spring. Has been holding some good numbers of snapper on both tides with bigger fish biting on dark. A sure spot to get a good feed during the day with most of the fish being good sized pan snaps, the better fish have been waiting till just on dark before they have come out to feed.

Best bait seems to be fresh skippie or jack mackerel.

Awash rock
Another spot that has been producing some excellent pan sized snapper with good feeds being taken of both tides. The rock has been fishing best on the eastern side and fished best with a two hook stray line rig with no sinker, best bait seems to be again skippie or fresh jack macks butterflied.

There have also been some good numbers of kingfish hanging around so fishing livie under a balloon may well bring a reward of one of these green torpedoes. Would be well worth towing a livie around the rock if you were seriously targeting kingfish.

Tiri channel
Another area that has been fishing well through early Autumn. Large schools of bait have been schooling up in the area, with kawhai and kingfish feeding on these when they come to the surface. Drop a jig into the work-ups and you'll likely be rewarded with a good mixed variety of fish species.

The channel has been best fished on the drift at the moment. A flasher rig has been the best rig to get a feed. Try using a mustad demon flasher rig with an 8/0 hook fishing big triangular shaped baits of skipjack. This rig has been working extremely well and resulted in several fish well into the double figures, you will unfortunately have to put up with pickers stealing your bait, but patience will be rewarded with a bin full of good-sized snapper.

Anchorite rock
Large schools of kingfish are covering his foul, some well into the 40 to 50lb mark. With the good water depth here this is the ideal spot to try a bit of speed jigging with knife jigs. The new Black magic red silver jig has been deadly on these schools with the fish picking the jig up often on the drop even before the jig gets close to the bottom.

If the jig makes it to the bottom, bounce the jig a couple of times and then wind as fast as you can, sweep the rod while retrieving to vary the action, Kingfish love speed and will not be able to help them selves.

With winter fast approaching make the most of what is left of summer. Still plenty of good weather to come so get out there and have some fun. Safe boating and fishing

Tight lines bent rods

Terry Williams King
‘HELPING YOU CATCH FISH’