Fishing Reports

Always good to be back on the water after the prolonged late winter/early spring absence. After some time out with family and friends (fishing in Hawaii with my son featured highly) we proceeded with a fairly aggressive maintenance program with “PURSUIT” prior to commencing the long season ahead. After declaring her ready for the task ahead we finally got out to an inauspicious beginning after a false start, but a start it was despite poor fishing with weather to match. One thing for sure, it can only get better on all accounts.

Inshore

Not a huge amount of effort just lately with reasonable results for those who have put in the effort. The torrid pace snapper set right up into late winter has slowed down considerably. Still a few diehards are registering decent catches with the odd beaut (5 kilos plus) among them. Most anglers are opting for the mixed bag shotgun approach and faring pretty well.

The sandy beaches off Ohope and west toward Thornton are producing well with a mixture of snapper, gurnard and from 30-40 metres the reports indicate some reasonable terakihi fishing with some boats getting near limit fishing. The cliffs of Matata beckon well in a souwesterly with many anglers seeking their shelter, usually to good effect. This area would have to be the pick of local spots for both quantity and quality of late.

Offshore

Have been getting regular reports over the past few weeks from the few boats that have made it out further to White Island and nearby waters. They have indicated throughout that things have been pretty tough across the board, from kingis to deep water. I can now confirm they weren’t joking! While there have been reports of some decent hapuka landed near (within two miles) the island, bluenose have been conspicuous by their absence. Back closer and in shallow water the usual reef inhabitants seem keen to please.

Trevally have been quite active already with a number of the 4-5 kilo plus fish landed – great sport on light tackle with top grade sashimi at the conclusion. Good numbers (over 50) of albacore were weighed in at Tauranga recently (up to 19k’s) with the genuine hope there will also be a good body of these fish further east. A great way to limber up for the game season ahead. Along those lines, water colour is generally good with temps just under 16 degrees C. Surface long liners further north have been landing striped marlin all spring on a daily basis, only 50-60 miles offshore. While this has little relevance for us at the moment, it certainly bodes well for the upcoming summer.

Ranfurly Bank

No reports with little visitation over the past two months. Will change soon with expectations high for some great fishing on kingfish as well as the myriad of bottom species that call this prolific region home.

Summary

As previously mentioned, on from initial personal experience, this season can only improve! Things “feel” about normal if not slightly advanced out there for this time of year. Farmers and orchardists are saying things are vibrant and early with things nautical often following suit. Will be in constant touch on a regular basis from here on out – nice to be back even if the start to our season wasn’t what we had envisaged.