Fishing Reports

Finally some encouraging news on the Gamefishing front and not  a moment too soon, with the holiday season upon us. I can hear those outboards being started up and if not the battery chargers being hooked up.

Marlin have moved into the waters off the Manukau. I have had two reports of the same incident where some intreped Snapper anglers at 55m out from the Bar  had Striped Marlin feeding on the surface around their boat. And yes you guessed it no suitable gear on board to attach a live bait to. There is a lesson here guys, please always take at least one Game outfit with you just incase. Reports of close in Marlin are not the norm at this time of the year with the first Strippies usually caught out wider early in the season then moving in closer as the season progresses, so good news indeed.

With Sea Surface Temperatures rising steadily to 20C there are a number of surface Longliners and Albicore Boats now working out from Onehunga with good catches of Albies and Yellowfin or Big Eye Tuna being unloaded.

With a break in the strong Easterly winds that have been with us for over two weeks the first rec. caught Albies came in to Little Huia on Sunday with the boys on Sundance having a good day out wide. The albies were all caught between 300-700m. They showed a very deffinate colour preference with Zuccini catching in the morning and anything with pink in it in the afternoon. The fish weren't big up to 5kg however they were fat and in very good condition.

There are a couple of depths that are holding bait and birds. Inside 35m is an area that is worth a look as Gannets and Petrals seem to be very interested in working this area. Out wider from 90-110m is very fishy. One boat over the weekend stopped in an area holding fizzing surface bait and a heap of birds and jigged up Arrow Squid, very large Blue Mackerel and Jack Mackerel. You do have to watch which direction those squid are pointing when you lift them out of the water, their boat and some of the anglers took some good hits of Squid goo.

So with water temps up and heaps of bait and birds working off the coast it shouldn't be long before  we see the first Marlin catches being reported. I hope to see some of you guys on the water now that we all have a few days off.