Fishing Reports

I have to apologise about the lapse in reports from us over the past month. The fishing has been good and time short.

As is typical for the early part of the season there was a hiss and rush as stories of good fishing and large schools of snapper came to light. There were the large numbers of snapper that took up a fleeting residence in the 50m mark north east of Tiri, the top of the Firth had a blinder for a week or so and the area off Pakiri in about 40m was being fished heavily by longliners and a great deal of fish was landed. These areas are the first to get the early schools and as time moves on they become established as good schooling and feeding grounds. Check out NZ Fishing News September issue for more on how and why.

Here’s the good oil on what’s happening out there at the moment.

In close (and I mean right in close) is fishing well especially around Tiri, the back of Waiheke and Kawau. We have had numerous double figure fish from only a few metres of water. In one location we could touch the rocks with a rod tip! Even though we could see the bottom and the school of kahawai feeding at our transom, the snapper were not shy as they took large cut baits and soft plastics from our burley trail. The kahawai made good fresh baits as did A Grade NZ pillies. It seems anything with blood oozing out of it will work.

You can pretty much choose any reef with current flowing past it and get into some good snapper by laying a decent burely trail and exercising a bit of patience. Areas to try are, Takatu, Kawau, Whangaparaoa and Tiri, Waiheke, Rakino and around the Ahahaas.

Tiri Channel is holding more fish now that the water temps have climbed to around 16C. The edges were the better option over the cooler months but now the mid channel area is better although in saying that our boats have been getting a few around the tide change off the wharf reef. Ledger rigs and strayline rigs are the go using cube baits or a ½ pillie on the strayline rigs.

Flat Rock has started to fish a little better now too as one would expect but we are still finding to be good one day and patchy the next. It’s a good place to start the day though as it seems to fish best at the change of light. Usually there are a few other species to have a go at too but the place is still not rid of the ‘coutas and they are pretty keen on nailing mackerel live baits. Another month should see the place firing!

The Middle Gulf has been good until about a week ago. Anchorite had a few on it but I found the better fish off the reef and on the sand to the east. While out on the sand we picked up some good gurnard (50cm models) and got into some awesome work ups. These work ups (although most are short-lived at this time of the year) can provide the best fishing action for snapper you could ask for. Big snapper move high into the water column under the feeding dolphins and whales while the gannets launch an air to sea assault on the hapless schools of pilchards that are being devoured. One a number of occasions we have had the helpless pillies hide under the boat and the gannets diving under the boat on an angle to get to them while the dolphins absolutely make a meal of them right under us. Jigs, baits and SPs are working well often being taken on the drop. If you find a good work up you can pretty much assure that you are in! We bowled over 200 snapper a few weeks ago in 2 trips after finding a work up in the same place. That same week we also nailed 2 snapper of 20lb from the shallows. Don’t ya love the gulf for being able to provide good fishing both in the deep and in close.

Little Barrier is still patchy but improving as the stock replenishes. Get in the current if fishing out here. It seems to be the key. Terahiki are showing up and there are a few small puka on the deeper reefs around the island. Hoardes of rat kingies plagued us on a recent trip but nothing over a metre or so was caught.

Horn Rock is a good place to get into a reasonable fish at the moment. On a recent “Soft Plastics Only” trip out here we secured a lot of fish up to 6kg on a variety of “Gulp” baits. The light braid did the job as expected with one of my crew fishing 1kg braid! Awesome fun and as you can see produces excellent results too. The deeper parts of the reef were a little patchy but with a bit of patience you should do OK out here.

Colville is fishing well too. The smaller tides letting us target some good snapper from around Port Jackson and the area off the end of Channel Island. Sharks, mostly tope can be a problem and it is best to move if you start getting them. The ‘couta have not been too much of a problem this year as they don’t seem to like it in here. It’s a great place to fish when the conditions are good and often when headed out that way we don’t actually make it there as we are seeing more and more work ups on the way out.

Keep your eyes peeled!

We still have dates left for the early part of this season so if you want in just give us a call on 021 2446346- best, 09 4240607 –hm or email us deepsea@clear.net.nz

Check out our website for pics of boats (we have another new boat, PARERA, for this season) our prices and what we get up to out here at www.charterconnection.co.nz

Hot soft plastic of the moment- Sand Eel and Lime Tiger – both Gulp baits.

Cheers

Damian (Damo) Clayton

The Charter Connection – Where fishing is catching!