Fishing Reports

Although we have been bombarded by the weather...and lets face it we've had to put up with weekend after weekend of nearly unfishable conditions...the fishing, when we can get to where we want to be, has been awesome. Good numbers of snapper have been holding on some of the bigger reef structure around the Gulf along with kingfish and even the odd whale, dolphin, kahawai work up has produced some really good catches too. Here's what I've been up to...

Chasing work ups

The bird life has been pretty plentiful around the Kawau and Little Barrier areas and we even had a pretty "gannet rain" off the back of Tiri the other day. The snapper have been in the work ups and catching them is pretty easy using just about anything you want. Baits like pilchards, squids and strip biats of skipjack and mullet are great and most of the time they wont even hit the bottom. Livebaits deployed with a single hook through the nostril have been good too. The kingfish are still lurking in the these work up and why not ...there's plenty of feed for them. This one was chocka full of kahawai and produced a good catch of snapper.

Keep your eyes peeled for the gannets. On some occasions it is worth following them when they are flying low and all heading in the same direction. Be prepared to cover some miles though as i did a few trips back...ended up steaming for 45 minutes! I was starting to wonder if these damn birds were just flying home but it turned out we made the right call and rolled straight into a massive work up that produced good snapper and kingfish...Phew!

Soft baiting goes off!

I could put up hundreds of photos with anglers proudly holding a good fish caught on a soft bait. Time and space prohibit this and besides we have all seen it before...What i do want to tell you about is what's working at the moment.

In a word...Gulp!

Now before I start raving on about them you should know that I am not sponsored by Berkely..or anyone else for that matter. The facts are this. The best soft baits I have seen working better than any other is the Gulp! range. Others will say they  have more luck on other products...fine ..but we fish over 250 days a year, the vast majority of that is snapper fishing and its is very clear that the Gulps are the best. There have been days when we have had other anglers fishing with Strike Kings, Basstrix, Catch, Stems, and many of those "other" brands only to go back to the Gulp range to catch fish. Scented softies are the go.

Colours....well it's clearly eveident that over the past 3 weeks that the pink and yellow/red combination of colours is working really well. The Gulp "curried chicken" has accounted for many a big snapper over the last month. This 20lber caught by Andrew "the Squirrel" Campbell is one of them.

One of the success secrets to using them is to make sure you get the bait down to where the fish are. Too much weight stuffs it up and too little doesn't get down and stay in the zone long enough. Trial and error is the only way to get it right. Let us know if you haven't had much luck with softies or haven't tried it yet. We have all the gear and can show you how to get it right.

Deep water drift fishing is where it's at

During the colder months the inshore water cools rapidly and alot...not all...of the fish move out. Rather than "scab" a few here and there in the winter we prefer to travel and head ouyt wider to get the better fish. Colville, Great Barrier, Little Barrier and a few of our own spots out here fish really well in the cooler months. Often we will spend 2-3-4 days away with clients chasing puka, kingfish and big snapper but we alos fish these areas on our day trips. Early starts are common and so are good captures.

Drift fishing the deeper water (50m - 120m) is far more productive than putting the anchor down and trying to get a burely trail going. We do from time to time anchor and burely up but the results we get from the deep water drifting are pretty good so whist conditions allow thats where it's at. We have been using whole livebaits, big cut baits and softies in this deep water. Againg gettin g the amount of lead right is  the key to it. The livebaits have been getting whacked!. Snapper, kingfish, puka, sharks ...they all love em!

Closer in

Tiri has become a little quiet although it held some fish well into the colder months. Reports of some reasonable snapper fishing just off Army Bay have come in and also from around Kawau. Good options in the wind.

Around the Noises, Rakino and places like the reefs around Maria Is and along the back of Waiheke shouls have fish on them but the traffic, cooler water and bite times will play a major part in your successes in here. Try to get a spot for yourselves and in here i would anchor and burely with strip baits getting fllicked back into a reefy area or try soft baiting on the drift. Try right in close in the shallows too. Fish live there but not alot of anglers fish the shallows. By shallows I mean 1m-4m..not really big boat stuff you see....

Here's a few shots taken from mostly deeper water over the past few weeks.

Softbaiting at Colville.

Jigging the deep

Snapper caught on a softbait flounder imported from the USA

Mid winter gannet work up

We fish all year round so give us a call if it looks like its fun to you. We take groups and individuals alike so have a look at www.charterconnection.co.nz to see the dates we have put aside for casual anglers or let us know if you have a date in mind.

Some recent reports:

http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=31622

http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=31567

http://www.fishing.net.nz/asp_forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=31219

Screaming braid!

Damian(Damo)Clayton

Charter Connection - Where fishing is catching!©