Fishing Reports

Fishing continues to be great; some extraordinary catches of snapper are being had at present. Both the inner and outer gulf areas are working well.

ZENO ROCK
Is fishing amazingly well for this time of the year? Some good snapper are feeding around the rock, and are particularly aggressive on the bite, on the out going tide. Best baits seem to be fresh jack mackerel or big squid stray lined down a good surface burley trail. Zeno seems to be one of those places were there is always little to no current , so next to sinker cast out into your burley will result in some excellent snapper.

Well worth a try is TOP CATCH baits New salmon pellets, try soaking them in a bucket of water for an hour so, they will swell up and can then be dribbled out over the side, the oil slick and crumbs will leave a great trail, also try hand lobbing pellets away from the boat, We had the fish going nuts for them the other night, with many of the fish we caught mid water. These fish were all fat pan sized snapper- when we cleaned them they were chocker full of the pellets, and were obviously coming to the surface to get at them first.

EMU ROCK
Fishing really well, considering we are in the middle of winter. Is fishing well on both tides, with best baits small cut cubes of pilchard or bonito, try fishing a snapper flasher with a 3/0 to 4/0 hook. Try not to fish it straight up and down have a little angle on the line, but still make sure that it is on the bottom. If using a flasher rig with circle hooks Such as the MUSTAD DEMON green flasher , remember not to strike the fish allow the rod to start bouncing then wind the handle , this will roll the hooks into the jaw of the fish. If you miss just drop it down and weight for the next bite.

FRENCHMANS CAP
Another spot fishing well for so late or early into the season, again fishing well on both tides , a good burley trail will get the fish biting well , both stray lining and fishing ledger rigs are working here. The fish are great eating size averaging around 35 to 40cm and are in very good condition and have a lot of fat in the flesh, making them great eating for all the family.

With the Kings of the Coromandel tournament fast approaching, big kingfish will be the target of all anglers. You can’t beat a good livie for the big boys, and blue Koheru are my baits of choice. There are a couple of good spots to get these if you want to get amongst the big fish during the contest.

The first spot which is usually my never fail spot is the top end of TARAHIKI ISLAND. Gets a good burley trail going and the kohes will turn up pretty quickly, they can be a little difficult to catch. Best rig is a small fly hook around size 12 or 14, tied directly to light line of around 4 or 6 kg, try handling them as little as possible they can be very temperamental if handled too much.

The other spot is TE WHAU POINT of the northern side of Waiheke Island; this is another spot that generally fish’s well for them. This spot often works better for them if you drift.

Get in and see the Mike and Dave at TOP CATCH and ask for the salmon pellets , they work amazingly well and get the fish well and truly on the bite.

Tight lines,

Terry Williams King