Fishing Reports

Just back from another epic adventure at Great Barrier and what can only be descibed as some of the calmest conditions we've had to play with for some time...Why cant I have gamefishing conditions like this?

We were competing in the Warkwoth Gamefish Club annual 10kg Tournament (actually we were defending the title) and spent a few days over at the island chasing big snapper and the other 3 species, kingfish, trevally and kahawai. Long story short, we did well and picked up an array of prizes for various fish but didn't keep the trophy this year. Murry Morris took out the event with a good fish taken land based from the far north. There was also a good kingfish weighed by a junior and the overall size of fish was pretty good with a lot of fish taken from the middle ground as you'd expect at this time of year. It has been a very good season out in the middle with most doing very well over the past few months.

Hapuka are a pretty common by-catch out here at the moment and even a spot of humbe snapper fishing will get you amoungst them as they are on most of the deeper reefs. We got enough for our families and then left them alone as they weren't one of the target species.

Big snapper was the plan and some of the shallows around the back of the island were running hot with good fish. They were also running hot with sharks and just about everywhere we went we had to deal with these hungry toothy beasts. Even right in close parked up next to the rocks we got them!

The snapper were on and to be honest the fishing was pretty easy especially in these calm conditions. The bright part of the day slowed the in close action to a halt really so prospecting around was the call and it payed off with good fish being taken in depths of 18m and another spot in 80m. Yip thats "eight oh" metres and the place was buzzing with big fish.

Hook up after hook up, double hook ups, treble hook ups! It was firing! Look theres the Needles in the background.

The cray fishing was pretty good too with our divers getting a good feed for the crew in one dive.

Closer in and sort of east of Tiri and east of Takatu is fishing pretty well. Keep an eye out for the work ups but even if you don't see them then you will still probably catch good snapper out here. It has a been a good season  just like the last few, out in the "middle ground" but some of this area fishes better than the rest. Look for where the contour lines on the chart make sudden direction changes. If you can drift fish the area you will probably get the bigger fish taking the moving baits but a good burely trail should produce if you don't drift.

The fish are starting to move out deeper for the winter and just like we were there to meet them when they came in,  we are there as they leave. It is not a sudden mass exodus and may take another month or so as they thin out in closer and onto our winter grounds. Some will stick to the reefs on the way and these reefs can really produce good fishing either early in the morning and in the failing light of the evenings. Thats why we like to do the overnight trips, maximising the timing fishing in good locations.

Sadly...like a lot of other industries, we have had to increase our rates to combat the rising fuel costs but you can still get a good day out on the water with us for $110 per head. With snapper at over $30 a kg filleted or $13 a kg whole it is pretty easy to go home with a great experience and your fare paid for in fish. Check out www.charterconnection.co.nz to find out how, when and to see what we've been up to.

Cheers

Damian (Damo) Clayton

The Chater Connection - Where fishing is catching!©