Fishing Reports

Well, it had to happen!  Our great fishing came to a grinding halt in some places, slowed in others and unaffected in yet others.  A combination of full moon and brilliant bright skies over the long weekend bore the brunt of excuses.  Already things have begun to improve as we move away from both excuses.

Inshore

Pretty tough going here with even the gurus struggling to scratch out a feed.  Both snapper and terakihi have fallen off their heady heights of former productivity.  40 metres of water continues to be the best of a bad deal anywhere between Port Ohope and Opotiki.  Slow to reasonable snapper fishing can be found with a sprinkling of terakihi, trevally and even the off kingi.  Back in closer its hard work, bound to change soon.  Kahawai remain the shining light if you want action and they are in prime condition.

Offshore

White Island has been very productive all spring but finally found disfavor over Labour Day weekend.  With perfect weather and a huge fleet in attendance the wheels fell off!  Kingfish, so consistently productive on all manner of enticements previously, developed lockjaw!  Bound to change soon, probably as you read this but hard work over the past few days prior to this report.  Other forms of fishing followed suit with the exception of perhaps terakihi.  Even they weren’t overly enthusiastic but the best of a bad deal.  Water temp and colour on the improve with temps around the 15 degrees C mark after languishing a degree or two lower for many months.

Ranfurly Bank

This distant outpost didn’t escape the latest downturn but fared far better than anywhere back in the BOP.  Bottomfishing, previously excellent, became generally difficult.  Strong tidal currents compounded the effort here with drifts sometimes approaching three (3) knots!  Hard to present a bait to a hapuka at that speed!  Perseverance was required to make a catch with afternoons decidedly a better option.  A few nicer fish cropping up amongst the predominant 8-14 kilo puka.  Some nice longnose to 31 kilos (Aucklander Andrew Verner) and bass to 44k’s (Steve Palmer) spiced up catches considerably.  Jigs played a strong part and, although more difficult to use than bait, paid some nice dividends by bottom bouncing.  A few good (10 kilos +) trumpeter and the occasional king terakihi also make welcome additions to any anglers day.  The same currents that have made bottom fishing difficult have fueled what was already steady kingi fishing.  Some outstanding catches have delighted (and tested) anglers.  Both bait and jigs have been taken with equal relish as some very healthy specimens lurk about.  Consider the day (26/10) “Enchanter” had recently with a group of Japanese anglers representing “Jigging Master” products.  Using only their wares they scored (get ready for this) five kingis over 30 kilos, two over 35 and many in the 20’s.  Indeed one hot stick accounted for 15 twenty plus kilo fish himself!  Best news is they are all out there still swimming, being released unharmed (but heavily photographed) after their ordeal!  While this is heady stuff consider another catch.  Auckland entrepreneur Vince Papesch landed a beauty at 25 kilos on his first attempt.  Pleased with his efforts, he elected to retain his trophy.  Only two drifts later Vince came into action in a big way.  His obviously heavily strained rod told of a larger than normal adversary on the other end.  After a relatively short but dramatic battle on 37, Vince was victorious.  Adhering to the voluntary limit of one kingi per angler per day, he gladly agreed to liberate his prize after the obligatory photo session.  The fatty pulled the sling down to an impressive 48 kilos – such is the quality at the Bank at present.  Well done on a fabulous catch (and release!) Vince.

Summary

While many areas have fallen off considerably it shouldn’t take long to regain the good times.  A dwindling moon should facilitate this nicely.  If you haven’t been out lately don’t fret, there’s plenty to look forward to in the ensuing months ahead.  Spring is in its final month and should provide a good lead up to summer.  Till next week……….