Fishing Reports

Happy New Year everyone.

What a great spell of weather we had over the Christamas period and into the first days of another year, another very fishy year. I wont beat around the bush as I have to get back out on the water and into it.

Here's whats up.....

Kingfish are around in pretty good numbers and the jigs have been the go. There are a lot of small fish around the traps and you will find a few bigger ones if you stick at it and work the reefs properly. Knife jigs in pink/white, blue/white and in fact most colours have been getting the bites and the bigger the jig, the bigger the fish...you just have to be able to get these metal baits moving well and mechanical jigging is the best way.

A little practice with the right gear and you'll be away. Keep in mind that although the kingis pull quite hard they don't breed until they are about 90cm long and fish under this length should be carefully released. We tend to net these small fish or lay them alongside the boat, still in the water, remove the jig with the pliers or by hand and set the fish free. They, the small ones especially, can be held by the bottom lip with out causing the fish too much distress but be carefull as the sharp, heavy duty jig hooks can sure ruin your day if you get one embedded in your arm!

Towing bibbed minnows like a Rapala Cd 18 or CD 22 around the reefs when they wont take the jigs can be pretty productive too but we change the hooks from a treble to a single hook so as not to wreck the fishes face trying to remove the treble hook. Although not the best eating they put up a bit of scrap and can often pack attack a Rapala or popper cast or towed around the reefs making for a bit of visual entertainment as well. Fish of 6- 12kg are common in the Gulf and can be found on just about every big reef. There is of course lots of wee fellas too and careful handling and release is critical.

Live baiting is of course another way to target them either slow towing the baits or drift fishing the bait over the foul. Kahawai and most of the mackerels make good livies. Check out Pakatoa, Shag, Gannet, Ponui and Channel islands, Flat Rock, Tiri, Motuora, Anchorite, 5 mile, 3 mile, Horn, Jimmies, The pigeons, Simpsons, Little Barrier, The Needles, Mokes and Cuvier. I know theres heaps at Cuvier as they lept all over the marlin and tuna lures we were towing home from the BOP last week. Serves me right for towing over the foul I guess.

The snapper fishing right up to the moon has been pretty good too from all accounts. The outer Gulf has fired up and the bigger snapper are there for those prepared to travel and hunt out either a work up or pick them up on the sounder. Often we will follow the birds (gannets) for miles to get into the surface action where the mammals are nailing the schools of pilchards or the kahawai are ripping into the pillies and white bait schools. The drifting is the go out here and keeping the speed of the drift down is pretty important. There's plenty of sea anchors out there and they don't cost the earth and can help you catch more fish. Some fishos use 2, 1 off each corner of the transom and these can also be used to angle the boat to suit the sea conditions. DIVERSITY drifts really well and we don't have to use a sea anchor. We do however make sure the fishers are getting the baits down to right depth or to the bottom as this is a key factor. There is little hope if your baits are skipping off the bottom or trailing out behind the boat miles away from any likely fish.

Properly rigged softbaits and baits fished on the drift tend to pick up bigger fish and it is not uncommon for us to drag a school or patch of fish along with us. I know this happens as we have dropped a fish mid fight only to pick it up 20 minutes later, on the same drift, with the same rig in its gob! This has happened more than once too I might add.

Other than fishing on the drift we went through a spell around Christmas where the fish were needing a little more encouragement and we had to put the pick down and burely them up.It was pretty easy to knock over 100 fish a day and I'm sure there was plenty of families eating fresh snapper for Christams BBQs. This style of fishing is pretty old school and a real no brainer. It tends to attract a heap of small fish first until eventually, if you have the patience the bigger fish will show up. We pulled  snapper up to around 10kg quite regularly as they moved in and in fact when I look back through the diary I keep I fished the same patch of rubble for 6 weeks!

Fair indication as to how good it was fishing huh. But... as the season changes the rats and mice have infested the place and small snapper are everywhere ..like sparrows at a picnic. Hence we have moved out and are fishing deeper, smarter and getting good fish when the weather allows. Kingfish are out here too with the schools of bait and will take a softbait, bait or jig sent down for a snapper. I have lost count how many have jumped on a ledger rig or a flasher rig. That Black Magic Snapper Snatcher has accounted for heaps of small kingis when fished  with a cube bait or strip of squid. The bigger softbaits too have nailed a few but they are only small fish at 6-12kg.

People often say when I tell them that we will be fishing in 50-70m of water that they will leave the softbait sets at home. No way! Our best results on the softbaits come from the deeper water and when fished properly using the right rigs, baits and style you can do very well, often outfishing bait.

Check out our website for the upcoming softbait trips. We will be doing softbait trips to Great Barrier and other hotspots during the year too and these are heaps of fun with some epic battles on the light gear with some pretty good snapper caught both in the shallows and out deeper. You get a huge variety of species and every now and then you will get smacked right over by the kingis and big fellas on the reefs. Some being just plain ole unstoppable on the light gear. It's a funny feeling watching $100 of skinny braid going west as you get dusted and busted. Don't turn up to a gun fight with a pen knife eh!

During the next month the fish will be right down in the Firth, around Kawau, Tiri, the worm beds south of Tiri, out the back of the Noises, making thier way up the creek( Aucklands channels) along the Rodney coastline (Omaha Bay, Pakiri and up to Bream Tail) but the better fish will out deeper under the work ups, along the ridges, in the humps and hollows and generally away from the traffic.

Make sure you look after your fish too. It only takes minutes for the product to rot in an un-iced chilly bin, wet sack, bucket or a slurry tank with only se water in it. We prefer to slurry our catch in a salt ice slurry and it is not uncommon especially in the warm weather to have to use 50-60kg of ice to keep the freight chilled (we try to keep it at 1c which is about the best temperature ensuring fresh product, that can be eaten days after capture provided its is kept in the fridge when you get it home)

It is also important to iki your fish too. This ensures a humane and instant end and the product will last longer, taste better and will not curl up making it hard to fillet. In fact we handle just about every fish that comes aboard, netting, removing the hooks, jigs or softbait gear, ikiing, slurrying and packing it in ice at the end of the day. Quality is where it's at!

Have a good year out there