Fishing Reports

After a long month of rather lean results, the marlin fishery is showing signs of picking up along Northland's east coast.

Practically all the boats fishing The Bay of Islands Marlin Skins Classic reported shots yesterday, and with a fine spell of weather forecast for the next week there should be plenty of fishing action.

"Hot " areas this year seem to be The Inside Trench,  the 300M line behind Main Rock, and the 200M line from Queen's Buoy to Whangamumu.

Mahimahi have been present in good numbers this year, and are quite large compared to normal years, with the Pin fish currently at 14.9Kg. Major Tom had a quadruple strike of mahimahi while fishing the Clubs NZ Tournament last Friday, and all the fish were over 10kg, with the largest weighing in at 13.9Kg. Most of the yellowfin caught this year have been around 30kg.

We have had some great days on kingies, with all the regular reefs holding plenty of fish, but bronze whalers are proving a real menace at Rocky Point. The problem of kingies being sharked seems much worse than last year.

We have tried Rocky Point twice in the last month, and despite almost immediate co-operation from the kingfish, the bronzies have prevented us from bringing a fish to the boat. The only solution is to pull anchor and try somewhere else, but the problem seems to be spreading with reports of similar problems at The Nine Pin and Whale Rock on occasions.

Our experience with the bronzies is backed up by reports from divers at Cape Karikari and the Poor Knights reporting large bronzie populations.

 Just why the bronzie population should have become larger and aggressive is unclear. Perhaps there is less mortality because of a decrease of commercial netting within our harbours, perhaps it's because there are less large makos as a result of 'finning' by longliners and the bronzies have expanded to fill the niche, or perhaps it's just a natural fluctuation. Whatever the reason, there seems little point in persisting with kingie fishing around any reef where the only result of hooking a kingie is to provide a quick snack for a shark!!

 The snapper spawning schools are well and truly dispersed, and while some good snapper and the occasional kingie are being gathered under the birds, the best snapper action is coming from the 50M to 60M area around the Nine Pin and Whale Rock. Kahawai and some good sized trevally are a regular bycatch. If the weather does turn bad, try fishing the shallows in the tidal zone. The mullet and flounder netters are reporting some good snapper as a bycatch of their activity.

As always, drop me an email at MAJOR.TOM@xtra.co.nz if you have any queries.