Fishing Reports

Even in 45 knots and bucketing down with rain the fish kept feeding hard out. We had to settle in out of the worst of the weather but the fishing was pretty good last thursday on our way to Great Barrier. The Takatu area fired up with all the feed being washed along in the high current and snapper to about 4kg and kingfish to about 15kg came aboard.

The Barrier fished well when we got there on the friday morning and we set about getting into the local snapper and kingfish population for the next few days. A few good fish came and went and the boys had a blast using jigs and soft plastics to secure just about every species under the sun in this part of the world.

The high current areas fished the best with a few good'ns coming from the Miners Reef area, in close along the egde of the Broken Islands and from a few of the headlands around the place.  Kingfish were in good numbers and taking just about everything we threw at them as they cruised the burley trails and harrassed the local trev and kahawai population. Snapper were taking the soft plastics with gusto especially the chartruesse grubs and lime tigers. Best colour jigs were the Zest blue/white combos and the pink/lumo combos. It is great to see alot of the photos we have taken being used in adverts and on covers of magazines and seeing the delight of newbie anglers enjoying the results from our efforts.

Back inshore further we have been nailing good size fish in numbers from around the 40-60m areas of the Gulf especially on the drift. Baits are getting scoffed on the way down and there have been more than a few thumbs burnt as you clamp down on the spool to load up the gear on yet another good fish. Half pilchards on a strayline rig and flasher rig have been the go. Squid has been working well too especially the Lolago Squid from California and Mexico. The soft plastics have not been that good out here though partially due to the fact that it is pretty deep and not alot of anglers have the patience to set the gear up and put it in the right place to hook up. Often matching the jig head with the right size bait is the key. The "Captain Rig" has been doing ok out here as it is really set up for this sort of depth.

Tiri has been patchy and the slower boats in our fleet have been having to move around a bit to get the results which is a bit frustrating for the guys. The fish are hanging along the edges of the channel in here at the moment and in closer in the evenings or earlier in the day.

Around Kawau has been good with the Kawau Bay area holding alot of pan size fish which can be good if you have to hide from the weather. Large schools of kahawai are in the bay too and the kingis are following them around. Try towing rapalas, casting poppers and soft plastics or speed jigging them up. It seems weird throwing a 300 gram zest jig into only 10-15m of water but they are working.

We have started our overnighters to Great Barrier again and can take both large and small groups. With comfy accomodation onboard the 2 powercats for over 15 anglers we can get the bigger groups over there for the wicked fishing that can be had. Smaller groups of 6-7 are easily catered for too. Get a group together for a trip during winter, drifting the deep reefs for big snapper, kingis and 'puka or fishing in close for the big resident snapper and huge kick butt trevs. Live baiting for kingis is another option if fishing in closer. We are also going to put together a few trips for "casuals" who want to get on one of these trips. dates will ready in a week or so get in touch and register your interest.

Spots are filling fast and we have a few days put aside for casual anglers too. Day trips to Colville, Little Barrier and a few other special possies are in the offing so get on the hooter or flick us through an email. We are also picking up from Auckland alot more now if your corporate group is keen on a trip for some team building or perhaps a "stratergy meeting"

DIVERSITY by name DIVERSE by nature!

Check out the website for more details - www.charterconnection.co.nz

Cheers for now and good fishing!

Damo - 021 2446346

The Charter Connection - Where fishing is catching!