Fishing Reports

Finally the water cools down...sounds strange to be saying that and I certainly wouldn't have been saying it when we where game fishing last month but it has brought the snapper back on the feed and they have been getting caught nearly everywhere. The dolphins and whales are back into the schools of bait fish and we are seeing more and more work ups out in the Gulf. Doing a few extra miles should stand you in good stead if you're sick of the small fish inshore.

Here's what we have been up to and whats coming up....

Little Barrier

Plenty of options out here with both deep and shallow areas that hold fish for most of the year and it was in closer in on the last trip out here that we fished. Straylining with a small group of 6 was the plan and although the water was pretty dirty looking after the rain the shallows fished pretty well with 2 fish just under 20lb and about 3 over 10lb along with a few pannies for the larder.

We fished in pretty close with about 8m of water racing under the boat with the big tide and a burely down on the bottom along with the usual chunks and scraps that get biffed over the back during the session. It was a bit slow to start but came good as the tide eased and we could ditch most of the weight we were using so we were fishing out the back with only a tiny ball sinker on. It can be a bit tricky and busy doing this sort of fishing with a larger group on and being able to strayline 6-7 anglers across the back of DIVERSITYS 20ft stern is a major bonus.

Colville

It been pretty good out here too especially west of Channel Island. Look for the birds working and if you dont see gannets circling or diving just have a cruise around keeping an eye open for the schools of bait on the sounder. We haven't pulled any really big fish from it out here but it has been pretty good for the pannies and the odd bigger fish to about 5-6kg.

Some of the snapper are coming up spewing out worms and when I marked the the spot on the plotter during the drift and went back over it a few drifts we got our best fish from this one spot. The Colville Channel has been a bit patchy and the bigger tides kept us out of the channel itself when we were last over there. We also had a burley pot grabbed (sharked) in the area west of Channel too. Hard case...one of the guys points at the ropes angle and it heads for the surface out the side of the boat then comes whistling back in and under the boat! Got the pot back though.

The Middle Gulf

It has been a bit patchy but once you find some good bait sign or working birds you should be in. Again its been the drift fishing that has been the best both for baits and soft baits. They will take just about anything you chuck at them when the snapper are under the work ups. Jigs, SPs, bait, those slow jigs and even orange peel. Yip, orange peel. Put a piece, well strip actually on a worm hook and sent it below. WHAM! it got nailed.

This started a whole session of "stunt baits" and we had a ball while the work up went on using quite literally anything you wanted to catch a fish with and most things did. When the work up fizzled out and the dolphins left it was back to doing the hard yards working the SPs and baits.

Pilchards have been pretty good out here along with strips of jack mackerel, squid and skipjack of which the the freezer is now devoid of after our game fishing this season...hindsight, I should have kept more. The 7" SPs have been pretty good especially the amber or new penny (I think thats what that brown/white combo is called) have been really good out here. It could be they are much the same colour as the parchment worms the snapper feed on. On the down side we caught our first barracouta for the season here yesterday and it was a big brute too.

Windy Options

We have had our fair share of easterly and north easterly winds this past month and although it means a bit of a bumpy ride out we are lucky during this part of the year to have some reasonable fishing in close and out of the rough sea. The Kawau area is one such place and we have taken a few groups over here for some high current, on the anchor, burleying up, bottom fishing with a result each trip. The fish are not the biggest in the world but there has been plenty of them and everyone goes home with a feed.

I have often said that john dory die of old age inside the trawl line and by putting a bit of effort in we can pick up a few of these during day in here along with trevally, kahawai, kingfish (although not big) and snapper of course. Fishing the high current areas and places where the current gets bent by either the bottom contour or the land nearby has been best and most of the time it has been bait fishing with pilchards, squid and fresh mackerel or kahawai.

Some of the liveies we have put out for the kingis have been monstered by the sharks that are in here too with some epic battles some lasting nearly 1/2 hour on sharks to about 60-80kg. Typically they will come in and whip the tail off the live baited kahawai and then come back for the other half. I was livebaiting with one of the boats 15kg sets but stepped it up to 24kg after losing too much gear. We release the sharks as they are only harmless bronzies.

Down Aucksway

I haven't really done a lot in here recently but on the very rare occasion I have ventured south, the fishing has been OK. You may have to wait for the bite or a certain stage of the tide before the action starts but you should be able to get into a few snapper, kahawai or small kingfish in the channels, out off Home Bay, Park Point around the Noises and along the back of Waiheke down to Gannet. Make the most of it though as it will be dieing off in here pretty shortly when the fish move out. We had a few pretty good drifts doing the Motohuie to Noises line using SPs and baits on a recent trip and Im guessing that would still be worth a shot.

Whats coming up

We are running our "Big Day Out" trips again. 12 hours, 5 till 5 and fishing mostly out deep around Lil Barrier, Great Barrier, Coromandel and further depending on the weather. These are $180pp and the dates can be found our on our website charterconnection.co.nz

The Great Barrier Overnighters are still going too although the weather has gotten in the way of the last one. We take groups or individuals so its easy to join a trip if its just yourself or get a couple of mates together. Up to 6-7 anglers.

Casuals Days are still as popular as ever and we have a list of dates that are put aside for individuals and small groups. Check the website for dates or if you have a group but not a full boat charter give us a call as we may be able to package up a deal for you.

Soft Bait Only trips are as much fun as ever and the great thing is that the if you've been doing it for years or are a complete newbie to soft bait fishing you will learn something from these trips. Often it is the whole crew working together to find the "silver bullet" so to speak to get the best fish. There are different styles, techniques, rigs, tackle, colours, baits and accessories to use to get the fish and because we too enjoy this facet of the sport we normally offer a prize for the longest snapper of the day as well. They are heaps of fun and as the water cools and the fish move out this style of fishing really comes into its own. I find that the fish will often, even if they are not hungry, bite a well fished soft bait purely out of aggression and these bites are hard hitting and because of the tackle used, the battles are a lot of fun with braid screaming out through the guides and the reel screaming in protest. You can also fish SPs on our casuals trips too as most of our fishing is done on the drift (one of the advantages of fishing off a 25 ton, 6 metre wide catarmaran and one of the reasons our fish are typically bigger)

For you viewing pleasure

If you want to get out gamefishing next season give us a call about trips out of Tutakaka next Jan, Feb and March. We will probably head further north too but for now the Tutakaka trips are the ones we will focus on. Its planned that we will have trips for individuals and small groups of 4 anglers with a walk on walk off overnight trip with 2 days game fishing. All gear, lures and food supplied. Flick us an email to register your interest. This seasons trips were only $550pp for 2 days and a night away. Check out some of our footage here for Tutakaka and another maiden marlin here out of Whangaroa.

We have also complied a slideshow from last winters snapper fishing that you can check out here. You may even see yourself and a video clip where one of the guys took out the "kina Cup" (a friendly trophy event we organised for a group that has now become an annual event) If you think your group, corporate or social club might be interested in a similar event then let us know and we can give you the run down and various options which are basically endless. Check out some some Kina Cup snappering here.

Check out our website at www.charterconnection.co.nzand see what we get up to out there.

Damian (Damo) Clayton

CHARTER CONNECTION

WHERE FISHING IS CATCHING!©