Fishing Reports

It's all good here now!!  Always a great time of year here as all the 3 main bottom species pack on condition for winter.

Inshore

Snapper are really going good now on the reef edges and into the foul, in 5-25 meters, around any of the islands, outer or inner,as the water temps finally cool down.

Even low foul out on the sand is still fishing well,  with local angler Brent Willcocks just pulling up on this type of low rubble the other day, flinging the softbait set out, and the first fish was over 8 kilos!!, followed by a lots of top 4-6 kilo fish. If only it was always that easy Brent...

Just get up current of the structure anchor,and burley up large!!

Not many Kingis inshore now, hence the better offshore Kingi action.

Offshore

Hapuka just getting better and better, local fisho Paul Barrett just keeps going out and cleaning up on big fish. Pukas just keep geting better all the way thru winter now, so get your chart out and  go fish some offshore foul, in 80 200m. Use your tracking line on your GPS and when you finally find the fish, just keep going back up the line for accurate drift runs.

Good fat terakihi  out in most of the 100-140m foul too, which many people miss out on due to too bigger hapuka hooks, just downsize those hooks- when was the last time you snapped a hook on a Puka??

Kingfish are really firing- We did a trip on "Stingray "last friday,  out near the Aldermans, 3 anglers, started fishing at 8.00am, and first fish hooked up in 60 seconds or so, and red hot action followed for 3 and a half hours. At 11.30 or so, the guys stated that they just simply couldn't wind in another Kingfish. Most had been 12-15 kilos , with repeat  auckland man Brian Cossar taking out the biggest (fatboy) fish, at 17.1kg,  and the majority of fish carefully released to fight another day.

Careful Release of Kingis- A special rave...

Isn't it just awesome that we have such an abundant Kingfish resource on our doorstep in Whitianga ?

Well, lets keep it that way. Many anglers now go out to jig these fine fish, in all manner of boats, private or charter.

If we want to keep it this good lets just think about how we handle them prior to release.

Rick Pollock of "Pursuit", Whakatane fame leads the way in careful Kingi management, in my opinion.

They have heavily fished that fishery down there for years, and I have enjoyed many fine trips under his tutelage.

The reason the can fish it heavily down there at White Island, and still maintain it is that the boats down there (charter)  have a voluntary accord re handling and rigging.

If you are going to release a certain fish decide quickly at the boat or before, then  don't touch it if you don't have to! By this I mean use the method we use on "Stingray", and just leader with your left hand till short and close, then just slide a short gaff down the trace till it goes into the curve of the hook.

Then LOWER your left (trace) hand to almost the water and all the weight will come to bear on the gaff, and the hook will roll upside down on its curve.

Now just lift up the gaff towards you , and the kingfish's own weight will drop it backwards off the hook.-Magic!

With a bit of practice, you can release your fish UNTOUCHED, in 5-10 seconds at most !!.

Just think how this reduces release mortality- It's then down to almost nil unless the poor bugger gets eaten by something huge on the way back down !!!, Unlikely...

If you need a stand up photo, then just lip hook it with a small short gaff,  remove hook, and hold it up for the photo-quickly- and then slip it back into the water- and hey, you still haven't touched it-GREAT.!!!

Please don't take this fishery for granted - treasure it and care for it, before it goes the way of so many other fisheries in N.Z.

Good Fishing

Andy Kerr-Stingray Fishing Charters-Whitianga.