Fishing Reports

Yes I know its a bit late in the game for the first report of the season but if there is nothing to report well you don't want me to make stuff up do you?

It has been not only  a slow start to the season but the weather has been the pits, where does all that S/W wind come from. There have been a few hardy souls out over the Manukau Bar during very brief lulls in the wind but as yet there have been no recorded landings of Marlin. That is not to say it isn't worth trying.

With the water at 20^oC there is absolutely masses of bait out there in three areas. 60m 85m and 120m The 85m area is Albacore with mainly Gannets and a lot of small bait fish on the surface and the 120m area is Skippies. Between the two there seems to be a lot of deep meatballs. It is the 120m area that has provided the best chance of hooking a Marlin. You know you are in the right spot when you see a solid band crossing your sounder above the 50m depth. I suspect this is the Skippies down deep doing their thing but I could be wrong it could be a thermocline. Whatever it is this is where the Marlin are and oh about a million Mako Sharks. They will clean up your live bait quick smart, very frustrating. But you have to try .

The Marlin are not aggressive on the lures with many strikes had from the boats in the right area but very few solid hookups. So if you can get a bait down it is worth a go. The guys on "Reel Screamer" watched in awe as a Strippey chased their bait up to the surface and smaked the heck out of it before parting the dacron loop. Very exciting. Other boats report up to 10 strikes a day even if half of these are Makos it all boads well for the next few weeks.

Now for the community notice. You will have heard of the tragic loss of life on the Bar a couple of weeks ago. The guys were in the water for 8 hours due in a large part to the fact that the Coastgaurd didn't know they were crossing the bar. But not in the media was the total loss of another boat on the Bar on 22 Dec. with 4 guys rescued from the water. This boat was lost coming in the South Channel with a strong outgoing tide running into the good 2m S/W swell. They luckily got away a mayday call and set off their beacon. Make no mistake the Manukau bar can be  very dangerous. Always report to the Coastgaurd your intentions on VHF 81 and don't cross when wind or swell is opposing the tide. Our sport is not worth dying for. Many thanks to the guys from French Bay Coastgaurd, Counties Power Rescue, Karikari Surf Rescue and  Air Patrol

On a brighter note the ARC has agreed to open the reserve land at Little Huia for weekend trailer parking. The gate is just past the two baches on the right after the small section  of one way road, or if you must know behind the Porta Loo.This parking will ease what has become a huge congestion problem at little Huia use this area and please don't park on the beach.

If anyone hooks up my Victornox slabing knife out at 120m I would love it back. Give me a call on Pescado if you are out over the Bar or drop me a line at heritagerenovations@orcon.net.nz