Fishing Reports

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Despite the poor weather over the past week we are still getting reports of excellent fishing from our customers and the charter skippers who have ventured out.

Aha's, David's Rock and Maria Island region is producing some very nice fish, particularly staylining early morning and dusk.

There have also been very good results in the area between the top of Rakino Island and The Haystack, particulary while drift fishing. Schools of Kahawai still appearing between Rakino and Waiheke Islands.

Reports from Rangitoto Channel are mixed with a few fish being picked up before it goes quiet again. This is because the fish are moving out through the channel heading for deeper water and are not too interested in staying about for long in one spot. Keep moving about looking for them on the sounder, catch a few and then move on and look for the school again rather than waiting for another school to come past (it might be a while).

There is certainly a lot of sign on the bottom out on the worm beds but the fish are just not interested in taking baits.

Those fish that are staying in town for winter are now moving into the shallows and in amongst the reefs. The best technique is to berley up in around 3-6 metres, use no sinkers & smaller half sized baits.

The bottom end of Little Barrier is firing with one customer reporting solid results these past two weeks. No doubt we will hear from Mr Fishing.net.nz,  Grant Blair, who went to Great Barrier last week and nailed it using soft baits.

I am a big fan of using berley pellets both for casting out around the boat and as berley. We have just been able to source ex the South Island, Salmon Farm fish food pellets which are actually made of fish meal rather than being grain based like most berley pellets. For more on this product and very sharp pricing vist the Topcatch website.

Good luck out there
Mike & The Topcatch Team.