Fishing Reports

 

Spring winds and spring tides featured heavily as daylight saving clocked in. With a strong nor'wester ruling out any boat based swoffing rock and beach flyfishing was the order of the weekend. A whirlwind tour of the Bay of Islands outer bays turned up a few kahawai at entrances to small mangrove creeks. The fish hit hard and fought well in the strong outgoing tidal current (tides were at their highest for the month), but were a little lacking in size and quantity. Similarly, the huge schools of mullet which had been present last week, were now nowhere to be seen. Chances of big kings being in the vicinity were slim with the absence of the mullet schools. Last week four significant fish had swum past my feet in crystal clear water barely a metre deep. We hoped to find them feeding and tempt them with fly poppers. It wasn't to be. Maybe when summer warms the water more. With the wind playing havoc with casting we moved to the open coast near Taupiri. An hours walk along the beach proved extremely pleasant but lacking in fish. The water was very clean, clear and cold. Only a few lazy leatherjackets dared nibble at our flies. A quick decision was made for a return to the rocky spots around Russell. Here the water looked far more 'fishy'. The sea was up slightly and stirred vigorously by the brisk westerlies. A good deal of wave action was evident on exposed headlands. We chose one that had some wind protection on its lee shore and proceeded to lace careful quantities of berley in the water. The first hook-up wasn't too far away. Kahawai ranging between one and two kilos proceeded to boil in the water for the next hour after that. Strikes, big eruptions behind the fly, and wildly leaping fish became the order of the day. Brilliant fun! The only downside was that the poppers and surface flies didn't seem to be working as well as the deep sunk clousers. The trick for the day was to get deep. I proceeded to tie on one of the few clousers I had remaining (a gold and rabbit fur number). Very soon I was connected to to something heavy and deep plugging. Unfortunately the hook pulled. Another deep hook-up for fellow swoffer Mark Hoffman went the same way. Three or four other deep strikes similarly came unstuck. Whatever was picking up the deep sunk clousers wasn't easy to hook. Before we could find out what they were darkness closed in. We left with thoughts of springtime snapper coming on the bite and munching on deep sunk flies. The next morning took in the sites of the Waitangi River bridge and the Golf Course ledges. We had a report of school fish feeding hard along the basalt rocks with lots of kahawai and small trevally for the taking. Only a couple of kilo kahawai came our way in a quick hour of fishing. Nonetheless; we were extemely impressed with the easy to fish shoreline, its smooth volcanic stones, and wharf like profile. A great place to toss a fly for all the northern species. OPENING DAY ON THE RIVERS With Sunday also being the opening day for river fishing we chose to finish off the morning with a quick exploration of a nearby stream. Cast number two was immediately nailed by a high flying rainbow. This fish leapt and bounded all over the pool. A 'pounder' with attitude!. Another cast in an adjacent pool produced a hook-up on a far better, and equally hard fighting fish, of a kilo and a bit. This fish was beautiful in colour, with pearlescent white tips on pink fins and was in exceptional condition: a common theme with the river trout one catches in Northland. And yet the fish in this particular river were also quite unique. Up and down the river they all look the same. Their snouts are sharp, they have deep bodies, silver flanks, and few spots. They are unlike any other Northland river fish I have seen and look rather like little salmon. Their fighting abilities are exceptional and the energy with which they ravage flies frightening. Another great Far North flyfishing asset!! 'Til next time.....

 

From Craig Worthington

Report type: Saltwater and Freshwater

Report date: 01 October 00