Fishing Reports

 With the waters of the Bay still languishing below 15C, fishing action has been muted. Plenty of small snapper are pestering the baits but very few congregations of spawners have come into evidence yet. Local deer culler Terry Storey was having a solo fish out by the Nine Pin, and with the action slow had three rigs on the go, one with a live bait, one with a strayline pilchard, and one with a Lucanos jig.  .

He noticed  a school come onto the sounder, all three rigs hooked up good sized snapper, but once they were landed the school could not be found again. Most of our catches are still on ledger rigs when out in deeper water, although Hamish Faire on his new boat Legend has had a couple of good straylining sessions on the edge of the shallows at Cook's Cove on Roberton Island.

Roe developement is very mixed, in both males and females showing everything from immatue to mature roe, which tends to suggest the fish have started moving into the Bay from a variety of habitats, and this is backed up by variations in colour. With another cold south to southwest system due after the weekend, it is probable that the best of the action will not start unti November.

  An intesting move has been the introduction of a Rock Hoppers competition . The inaugural contest was organised by Bay of Islands Swordfish Club bar manager Jeff Hamer , with support from local businesses which allowed some great prizes and free entry for the 100 or so entrants. All locations had to be accessed by foot, with boat access not allowed.

The best fish were caught  on the northern side of Russell Peninsula in the dead of night and weighed just under 20lb, but not all the prizes were won by the night owls with the mystery weight snapper won by Sean Prisloo with a fish of 3.48kg The most notable snapper of the last couple of weeks was weighed by Brian Scedule at Doves Bay and tipped the Club scales at 13.7kg :- a genuine 30lber.

 Kingfish have been steady with various boats reporting catches right through from 71 Meter Reef  to Hansens ( Rocky Point), but the best news is that after hapuka seem to have returned in good numbers to the rocks out at 200M after going AWOL during the breeding period.. As we move into  November these fish will move into shallower waters to restock on food  before heading back out in December. Hapuka pups will also settle from their pelagic phase over the next couple of months and usually provide an occasional but interesting by catch on snapper trips in the lead up to Xmas.

 As always drop me an email to MAJOR.TOM@xtra.co.nz if you have any queries.