Fishing Reports

With the water temps down to 12.5C or so around the Gulf at the moment we have switched into winter mode. Fishing is in a word - steady.

As the fish move out they are clinging to the reefs and rubble on the way through, some making it home for the winter. One area that prospers well in this winter exodus is Kawau and we have basically been camped out there for the last month when we aren't at the Barrier.

The hard foul has a few 'couta on it and all the usual reef fish but fishing the flatter less known foul and areas of rubble and broken shell are fishing better. Both on the drift and anchoring using burely have produced well for us in the area especially after that "weather bomb". The swell dislodged a heap of feed from the shore and the rain washed alot of feed out of the channels.

Takatu went off!

40 in the first trip, 90 in the second up to 7kg and we have been doing a steady 30-50 a trip now plus getting some good blue cod, trevs, kahawai, dory and the odd school shark. One thing I have noticed though is the lack of terahiki. We have a few spots up that way that would normally produce a few each trip especially around slack water but they are just not there (yet?)

Havent bothered with Little Barrier at this stage (haven't had to) but have been giving Great Barrier our attention on the stayaway trips both midweek and on weekends.

The island is a great place to fish during winter with so many options available. One minute you can be in 80m of water bottom fishing some mean structure then the next you can be sitting in the shelter of the land and burelying up a moocher from the shallows. Both have been working well and the guys have been having a ball on soft baits, jigs and baits. In close the fish are feeding on the abundance the coast offers and shallow water straylining is working well.

The deeper drifts are also excellent when the weather allows and the snapper are scoffing everything that is thrown at them.  Sharks and coutas are a bit of a problem at times but you work around it and get rewarded for your efforts. Cape Barrier produced well on a recent trip as did The Pigeons, False Head, Arid Is, Rosalie Bay and on our last trip the Needles produced a steady stream of good snapper.

This last trip was a blast! We were shooting some footage for a small DVD business card with a boys weekend away theme. We had a heap of laughs and got some good fish and fooatge. We fished both deep and in the shallows using burely and a variety of soft plastics, baits and rigs. Cant wait to see how it all comes out...will keep you posted.

Tiri fired the other day with a 20lber coming from a rock out the back of the island. One of the local guys was using sps and baits and nailed some real nice fish to 21lb plus others of 10-12lb so we hear. Good effort. It's this time of year when, if you exercise a little patience and put yourself in the right spot you can do really well. It may take most of a day but they will come on the bite sooner or later. Keep the noise down too although it's hard to supress a few mighty yahoos when that moocher hits the landing net.

A few dates for you to consider....

July 31st - Day trip - $100pp

We have an overnighter to Great Barrier on wed/thurs August 8-9 $350pp includes bait etc (there's still spaces to fill on this one)

A few spots left on Sunday Aug 12 - $100pp

Aug 15 - Day trip - $100pp

Aug 22 - Day trip - $100pp

As you can see we are trying to keep wednesdays this winter for casual anglers but if you want to fish other days just give us a call - it's surprising how easly we can put a trip together.

We are well past the shortest day and the evenings are getting a little longer every day so we are over the hump. It also looks like the weather is moving into a more settled period so lets get out there and bring it on!

Cheers

Damian"Damo"Clayton 

Charter Connection - Where fishing is catching!