Fishing Reports

Hi All!

The weather gods have thrown everything at us lately, but the fish don't seem to care!  Its time to slip on the beanie, put on the thermals, fill the thermos and get stuck into some of the best fishing of the year.  

We've just recently three days with some visiting Australian anglers and despite some pretty average conditions we managed some great fishing. Check out a run down of the wild and wooly weekend's fishing here:

http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp%5Fforums/forum_posts.asp?TID=30593

Things don't seem to slow down at all in winter, there has been action everywhere.  Sharks, seals, dolphins, gannets all in on the act..and then there's the fishing!   Big fat winter kingi's, a procession of snapper on softbaits in the shallows, and when the wind dies down a bit, some primo hapuku for the table.

There's also no shortage of tasty John Dory and some good sized trevs - both of these fish are at their best in winter as well.  Working the coastline with softbaits has to be one of the most effective ways to target the tasties Johnies, with a good half a dozen falling to softies on our last trip.

 

SNAPPER

While there has been some talk around the traps that winter is time to go back to bait fishing, we've found exactly the opposite.

The water has cooled another degree over the last week to 14 degrees, and while there is a good bite first thing on bait, fishing with softbaits has seen a consistently better quality of snapper, with plenty of snapper in the 4-6kg range on patterns like the Nuclear Chicken Pogy, Orange Tiger Shaky Shad and Jerk Shad Camo.  

A number of the snapper we've caught on softbait have been full up on all sorts of shellfish, but have struck out of instinct at the passing softbait when they might normally have shyed away from a bait.

A good sea anchor is a must in the conditions we've had lately, allowing you to slow the drift right down and get your bait into the zone.

KINGFISH

The inshore kingis have thinned out leaving just the odd horse in close.  When the weather abates there is some great jigging to be had out wide around the Aldermen Islands.  There are plenty of fish in the 20kg - 23 kg plus range so if you're heading out make sure you go with some grunty jigging gear so it doesn't end in tears!  Hot jigs that have been working for us include the Zest 300gm Curved Slider in Purple, the Katch1 jigs blue spear jigs from Sportsfishing NZ, and the Green and Gold Zest Hardy.  

We've had no shortage of kingis on all our jigging trips, but the large majority are released to fight another day.  An average sized fish for the table for each angler, and the horses are put back to keep the fishery healthy.

You can check out our most recent kingi report with a 23kg PB to angler Dave Perrow here.

If you are keen to get out on one of our jigging trips soon send us an email to info@epicadventures.co.nz

CRAYS!

There's some great vis in close at the moment, couldn't be a better time for diving if you don't mind the bracing water!  Stay clear of the females as they are all in berry but there are some good sized bucks around in the shallows.  And...it ain't long til Scallop season opens in September.

All the best

Carl Muir

Epic Adventures

www.epicadventures.co.nz