Fishing Reports

SCALLOP OPENING!
After waiting in anticipation to sample the first scallops of the season we were greeted with a howling South Easterly and huge sea pounding into Tairua on Saturday. 

Not to be beaten by the weather we trailered the boat up to Kuaotunu’s more sheltered ramp and managed to keep the ritual of diving the first day of scallop season alive.   The vis was great, the scallops were thick and man did they taste good! 

WINTER SNAPPER
The winter snaps are all in close and in great condition.  Evening fishing has been by far the best time to get into a good line of snapper, with the fish bitting right through past dark.  Small baits, in particular tiny cubes of pillie have been the way to go around dusk, but during the day big barracuda baits have kept the small snapper at bay and produced some nice fish in the 7-10pound range most trips.

Through the day it has been hard to get a line past the kahawai when straylining in daylight, with stacks of kahawai harassing the schools of jack mackerel along the coastline.  They’re big fat kahawai, often pouncing within seconds of the bait hitting the water and keep the winter days action packed.

KINGS
There are still a few good kingi’s around in close and some of the big sized jackas have been doing the damage as livies, but you need a good stock of them with all of the kahawai around having a go as well.  JD’s are also around in numbers and a nice bycatch on livies fished on the bottom.

WINTER COOK-UP
We’ve been breaking most of our charters up over the winter months with a cooked lunch on the beach.  It doesn’t get much better than tucking out of the wind on a sunny beach and having your catch of the morning cooked up for lunch.

So don’t let the winter weather put you off getting amongst it, this would have to be one of the best times of the year to be on the water.

All the best from
Epic Adventures
www.epicadventures.co.nz