Fishing Reports

Hey All You can't beat the Coromandel in Autumn - generally settled weather, fat snapper both sides of the Peninsula, monster kingis and even the odd chance at an end of season gamefish, what more can you ask for!

The Tairua "Fishin Chicks" Ladies comp took place over the weekend and the results are pretty indicative of the fishing to be had at the moment, with some fantastic catches brought in by the chicks! Plenty of kings in the 12-18kg range were weighed, caught anywhere from the coast to the outer reefs.

Snapper to about 6kg, some monster terahki around 3kg and plenty of big fat trevs and kahawai. No gamefish were weighed but to be honest with the great fishing to be had at the moment, and some pretty good prizes in all the categories I don't think too many of the boats were that interested in going wide.

SLIPPER/SHOE Some great fishing is to be had in the protected water inside Slipper and Shoe up to Boat Harbour. Plenty of kings are cruising the coastline, and a jack mackeral or kahawai put out in the right place is sure to be hammered by a king at bite time.

There are some big models cruising around so make sure your gear is up to the task! Snapper fishing is good in a variety of depths, and there is no shortage of fish inshore in the 2-4kg range, especially over the sand, or patches of rubble. The kahawai are big and fat and...everywhere, and in any softbait session you're going to encounter plenty of big fat line peeling kahawai in between the snaps.

ALDERMEN ISLANDS The hot fishing area at the moment! Plenty of fat snapper in the 4-6kg mark, especially out deep being caught on big baits, but we also caught plenty around 4kg last week fishing the washes in around the islands with softbaits.

The outer reefs are back to their sensational best on the jigging front, we've had some ming blowing days on the kings with lots of stretched arms, shattered anglers, and plenty of kings being put back to fight another day, albeit wearing a new piece of yellow plastic in their backs.

The Sugarloaf Rocks produced the biggest kingfish weighed last week, with Lancelot weighing a 30kg kingfish caught slow trolling a kahawai livebait in close to the rocks.

MERCS Like the Aldies, the Mercs are holding heaps of awesome snapper, and probably our best fishing last week on softbaits was drifting the weed lines round the Red Mercs.

Once again, there are more fish out there than you need for a feed, and it was great to fish with a group of Ozzies who, knowing what has happened to the fishery over the Tasman, put 98% of the fish they caught back in the water, and kept just enough for a feed each night.

Not a lot to report on the gamefishing front folks, the VHF had no shortage of sightings but not a lot of hookups over the weekend, but the latest SST shows a warm patch of water lurking out wide and with a few easterlies due you never know what this weekend might turn up.

With the amount of bait around at the moment there have to be a few marlin lurking around still. All the best and tight lines

Carl

www.epicadventures.co.nz