Fishing Reports

Well, it's safe to say that the marlin have left us for warmer climes after the best season here ever.

There were a few yellowfin caught last month as they headed back north, but now all we have left is the skippies which are right in close, but generally small 1.5 kg in size.

Now we are into full snapper mode and there are still kingis around  as well.

Temperatures are around 18 degrees now, which I consider to be the start of the bulk of the fish coming on to the foul around here.

A 5 day charter this week for me resulted in good numbers and size of snapper, but the weather here has been very trying, and the best fish were only caught when we could get to the right places.

Basically fish the edges of foul, or if using heavy gear, in the foul now, anywhere between 5 and 30 metres. The most important thing is to get wind and tide in harmony together, which has been hard this week as we had very weak tides, frequently going the wrong way most of the day !!

Rather than mention any specific areas, as all are holding fish, just get in there and burley up, and fish hard to stop them getting their head into the kelp.

Whole squid and Kahawai strip baits working the best ,and skippy being rather useless this week on the bigger fish, but that may change, so take all options and see what is hot on the day.

Get the baits well away from the boat, as we found none of the good fish are coming from near the boat.

Try using a float setup to keep your baits over the foul, not in it. Any float or even a balloon will do , just to keep your baits in the strike zone longer and don't put on any more weight than you need to, the longer drift down the better.

If you can't find much current, then move ,as this is so important with Straylining,  and just keep fishing the high current channels, like Green, Korapuki, Stanley, Double , or Inner Red Merc, or along the  top of Great Merc on the outgoing tide. Tipaki point also has fished well at times and has reliable current flow.

Finally- Make sure you keep the trace size down to the minimum that the fish can't chew through- We are using 50lb flourocarbon, which is as bite proof as 120lb mono, but much less visable.

30lb flouro will get you more bites but you will lose some big fish!!

Good luck !!!

Andy Kerr

Stingray Charters