Fishing Reports

 There have been some notable catches over the last 2 weeks, with Hook n Bull boating a 174.8kg striped marlin (on 3kg line!!!!), Prime Time weighing in a 204kg stripey at Whangaroa, and 72 year old Jerry Garrett adding to his broadbill total with a huge 266kg fish caught on Major Tom II after a 7hour and 20 minute battle. General game fishing activity has slowed down, however, with waters starting to cool off.

 As the water cools, part of our attention turns to hapuka. Our only recent trip produced fish for all our anglers, the largest being over 40kg. The fish are quite heavily roed up as they begin their aggregation for the spawning season. This makes fishing a bit hit and miss :- an all or nothing situation depending on whether you find the school or not.

 Kingies remain the highlight, as they have for the whole year to date. The fish are not huge, mainly 8 to 12 kg, but there are plenty around, and we expect an early winter influx of larger fish from the north as we move into June for the traditional light tackle tournaments.

 Some bigger snapper are moving back in to the shallows, but the best results are coming from the harder to fish deep reefs out at 70 and 80M, often as a by catch on live baits while kingie fishing. These waters are also producing some large john dory, but there is little sign of terakihi at the moment.