Fishing Reports

 

SALTWATER SCENE: The season is hotting up!! Winds swung to the north shortly after Labour Weekend and brought about that change in sea conditions everybody had been looking for. Whereas Labour Weekend swoffing had been difficult, conditions just after have been very conducive to productive fishing with fly. Water is warming fast and snapper and trevally are coming on the bite. Trevally bite all through winter but need stirred up water and onshore winds to really fish well. With a one metre onshore swell rolling onto the east coast and a smidgen of 'post-frontal' turbidity in evidence conditions couldn't be better. Yours truly connected with a good trevally off a local rock only to be rubbed off amongst the weed. Connecting with these dirty fighters off the shore is only a small part of the battle. You never count trevally on fly until they're well and truly beaten. Flies to use for trevally include any small clouser type fly, fished on a line that is going to take it right to the bottom. Retrieves are slow to medium with an emphasis on no slack at any time. Maintain full contact with your fly throughout. Snapper also love this approach. I've already taken my first for the season as the smaller fish move inshore. Small snapper up to about a kilo are relatively easy to catch on fly. Above that size they are a challenge. Smaller snapper eat large numbers of isopods so are probably well used to hunting down small food animals moving across the sand. Shrimp and sand hopper imitations work well. The kahawai fishing continues to be good but the fish appear to be schooling up more with the fishing being either very good or non-existent. Average size seems to be improving too. Several two to three kilo fish have made their presence felt lately; putting up stirring battles on five weight rods in relatively big seas. After several lost fish on four kilo mono leader I'm now using six kilo Seagaur Fluorocarbon religiously. It's a bit thicker but the better light refraction index means it works just as well. Supposedly it is invisible to fish. Certainly the fish have not seemed to mind a step up to a thicker leader. The harder wearing nature of the line means less bust-offs and longer periods of time between leader changes. Kingfish are presently scarce inshore, as is expected at this time of the year. We did however tempt one large individual that was hanging off a marker beacon in strong current. It made a cursory glance at our flypoppers and then went back to sleep. An odd fish. Better kingfish action is inevitable as the water warms up. FRESHWATER SCENE: Trout are fishing brilliantly in this mild spring weather. Rivers are quite low thanks to the extended dry spell and the condition factor on fish caught has been exceptional. Explorations into rivers that are not well known for their trout stocks have uncovered some large trout leading very long lives. Check with Fish and Game in Whangarei to find which rivers in Northland have been stocked in the past. Look in headwater tributaries and you may well find unfished populations of trout in beautiful totara lined streams. All the lakes have continued to produce good fishing with some surprisingly large fish still being caught. With the warmer weather and stronger sunlight insect activity is on the move. Many of the lake trout are now feeding on midge larvae (Chironomids). With weed beds causing problems over the summer months a float tube and 'buzzer' fly could well be the way to go. Til next time....

 

From Craig Worthington

Report type: Saltwater and Freshwater

Report date: 31 October 00