Fishing Reports

Our thoughts and prayers go out to friends, family and anyone affected by the Christchurch earthquake. A terrible and unsettling disaster to say the least. I drove past a church the other day and on a billboard outside it said "Get rich quick...Count your blessings" So true.

We often forget how lucky we are when it come to fishing in our country and even more so in our small part of the country. At the moment you can leave the CBD in Auckland and catch a feed of fresh snapper within 10 minutes in just about any small craft. At Gulf Harbour a few nights ago I watched a guy catch a 5lb snapper on his first cast with his new rod and it wasnt exactly a text book cast if you know what I mean! The bait must have only just touched down and it was getting attention from the "pickers" and shortly after the rod became alive in his hands and a snapper was bounced and lifted across the rocks and onto the grassy domain. Needless to say they were stoked and I left them to it, no doubt to catch a couple more as the sun set.

Locally the fishing has been great other than the few days around the full moon and the earthquake. The bite times were short and the best fishing was in the Auckland channels. They are going off at the moment and although it can be pretty busy with traffic and others "dropping in"on you the fishing for snapper is pretty good. They are not trophy fish by any stretch of the imagination but most are happy to be catching close to home and catching enough for a feed.There a few sharks to deal with, plenty of kahawai and plenty of baby kingfish. On that note though a few fish over a metre came aboard from alongside Awash Rock in some strong current.

Some prefer the action out wider and the fishing has been a bit patchy but most are happy to be in with a chance of a big fish and get a few pannies rather than just fill up on pannies. Each to their own of course and we are happy to cater for what each group wants to do. Recently the big kingfish have been out around Channel Island, Cape Barrier, Miners Head and Simpsons with smaller models around Little Barrier, Anchorite, 5 mile, Cod Rock and the usual haunts.

Flat Rock though has been both red hot and stone cold. One day we could have filled the boat with kingfish over the acceptable 1m, the next there was only a few rats. They have fins and swim around eh.....

This area is great for them though as there is plenty of bait holding and lots of structure. Snapper fishing through here has been pretty good too.

Scallops and cray diving at the Barrier were good on a recent trip. Chris took a few guys out for "scientific puposes" and they had a ball with pretty good viz and good weather.

They put a sub down and surveyed the bottom and best spots...I gotta get me one of these...

The snapper fishing outwide, although not fast and furious like a hot bite in the channels, is getting bigger fish onboard. Mostly caught on baits and mostly caught around the edge of some kind of structure or in a work up. The work ups are a bit thin outwide but there is more activity brewing each day we get out here. South of Anchorite about 3 miles turned on a few birds and offered a good session on the snaps with a few kings and a large shark to boot.Most of the kingfish were small and the only we kept was gut hooked and bleeding from the gills on landing.

A few miles west of Channel Island was good in the deep water and during the big tides. We even had a tfew small puka from off the sand here and the snapper were a bit better in size despite no real massive work ups in the area. Plenty of food in the is area for them and with the strong current like in the channels closer in it makes for easy grazing.

We use strips and cubes of fresh caught skipjack, (skippies caught in the Gulf) and it makes for pretty good bait when you can get it. The skippies this year have been right in close along the northern side of Whangaparaoa, in between Rangi and Tiri and outside the Noises. Grab a few next time you see them. Small red flies have been great for catching them. Just slow troll one or two round the edge of the school.

I have purposely left out talk of gamefishing as I miss it like mad and may only get a few precious days up the coast this season. I've had my share in the past so can't grumble but would be fair to say that with the weather and the numbers of fish caught it has turned out to be a pretty good season.

We have a couple of days of down time right now with DIVERSITY and then we are back into it. We maybe be looking at another vessel in the future too so will keep you in the loop on any news there.

Be safe

Damo

www.charterconnection.co.nz