Fishing Reports

Fishing continues to be a bit  hit and miss inshore, where if you can get onto the spawning snapper aggregations, then you do well, but if weather won't allow you to access these area, then it can still be a struggle elsewhere through the main island group.

Last week spots that had fired really well in the previous  2 months, were very quiet, due to poor (neap) tide movements.That was quite a change from the week before, when every trip I took got their limit of big Terakihi, and close to the limit of snapper , with the best fish going just under 6 kilos.

Also a new pending Womens World Record Snapper on 1 kilo tackle was  landed in the Bay last week, after an epic 1hr 45min battle, on our charter boat Stingray.This fish was also taken from the area west of Great  Mercury Island, where the snapper are massing up in preparation to spawn, and weghed 3.86 kilos, besting the previous mark by a long way, getting close to double the existing weight. (See news article on this site)

If the fish are out on the sand tides don't seem to be so much of an issue, but around the islands, it certainly has a big effect at the moment.Try to get your self as much tide flow as you can, and get that burley going!!!Also most of the snapper are taking small baits, with the best fish for our boat last week  being taken on a 1/0 Blk Magic Terakihi terror with a bait as small as your thumbnail.!!

Fishing out deep should still be good in 80 -120m or less, with the Kingfish starting to come back in slowly, and Hapuka still there.Some people are still doing well on snapper in 50- 60 metres out on the eastern edges of foul, as these fish come in around Red Mercury etc.

More experiments with GULP softbaits have shown promise, with the crabs doing well on Gurnard and Terakihi, and we will continue to try other styles.

Good Luck

Andy Kerr - Stingray Charters ,Whitianga.