Fishing Reports

The National Tournament is now over and done for yet another year with some great (and in some cases amazing) catches coming from around the country.  The Eastern Bay shared in the bounty with anglers scoring well in many of the contests varied sections.  Weather has been exceptionally kind throughout the week with the only disruption being a major swell from the passing of Cyclone Atu.  The westerly aspect of this (most unusual) saw large swells hitting parts of the Eastern Bay (Whakatane, White Island in particular) in a fashion not seen in over 30 years.  Indeed, there were swells rolling well up the Whakatane River – creating havoc for boaties normally out of harms way.  Those that were out on the water had little to do but fish with good rewards for their efforts overall.

Inshore

Pretty good overall.  Snapper still lead the charge as they normally do.  Some nice lines of fish, many between 4-6 kilos, taken in a wide range of depths and bottom terrain.  Terakihi still thin on the ground in the shallows (sub 60 metres) but plentiful out in the depths.  Plenty bycatch of kahawai, trevally, gurnard and rat kingfish in often plague proportions.  A few nicer ones around and should typically increase in size and numbers as autumn strengthens.  Expect some great fishing inshore over the next few months – perhaps into July if we’re lucky.

Offshore

Pretty steady here.  About the only change is the sudden unpredictability of the kingis participation.  They bite their heads off one day, all day, and then back off dramatically the next day or two.  Despite being lean, they are very capable of punishing their would be captors.  All manner of artificial suddenly seems to be out of favour with live and even dead bait doing the business.  Most fish remain in the late teens but the odd one pushes 30k’s.  Bronzies feature now and again at the Volkners but pleasingly absent elsewhere.  Trevally bite well most days just about the circumference of White Island with the south and west ends best in 20 – 40 metres of water.  Small cubes of bait, small jigs and soft baits all taking their toll – even fly fishermen are scoring by being perseverant with chartreuse colours the pick of flies.  Water colour varies wildly with the cobalt stuff pushed northward by the day.  Deepwater fishing remain consistent to even torrid with bluenose featuring well, supported by gemfish and puka with the odd bass thrown in for good measure.  Bluenose should just get better and bigger as we are now into the fall months.

Ranfurly Bank

The visits here of late have been anything but spectacular.  The fishing both kingis (steady) and Bottomgrabbers (slow/inconsistent on small to medium sized fish) leaves a lot to be desired for those desiring a difficult to non existent, so we’ll take what’s thrown at us.  Kingis, while better quantity than at White, are no larger (much the same size range at present).  They also have no aversion to jigs here either although even large (400 gram) jigs do not make one immune to rats and mice.  Nice water of the shelf but still cool and green up top.

Pelagics

Few secrets after such intensive effort during the eight day marathon “Nationals” in near perfect conditions throughout.  Waihou Bay got its usual pounding with the water off the Cape well plowed.  Again, and as predicted, the largest fish (and marlin) was landed here a 282kgs (blue) – part of a spectacular double strike (other one 258!) in a mere 100 metres of water off Cape Runaway!  Such is the potential of this primo spot.  While blues were a focal point (why do anglers continue to target then with a paltry 24 kilo tackle?!?) there were plenty other species to sweeten the deal.  Stripees were fairly prevalent along with the off spearfish and a reasonable amount of mahis – some pretty nice size.  Other areas of productivity were north and west of White Island as well as between the 10 mile bank and bottom of the trench, a mere 12-14 miles NNE of Whakatane.  The latter offers a unique opportunity for anglers, especially slow trolling live baits.  This method also found favour with anglers of Waihou as well with pleasing results with a nice bonus of plenty of expensive fuel left in the tank!

Summary

As we slip into autumn and water temps remain at their zenith, huge opportunity remains for anglers – perhaps the best of the entire year for gamefishers.  Settled weather is important for the scenario to be actioned but typical of fall.  Looking forward to the next report, due over next weekend. Till then…….