Fishing Reports

    Well if you thought it was all over out West you would be wrong. Sure there aren’t the fish being caught that there was in Feb. but hey there aren’t that many boats out over the bar putting in the hours either. For those guys putting in the effort there is still some great water out there with enough Marlin being caught to keep you filling up the boat with gas.

Sure the water is cooling down with temps hovering around 20degrees and the colour isn’t always the best but man is there some bait out there. You can sometimes I’m sure walk across the backs of the kahawai and skippies are still around in good numbers from out past 100m to right into the 50m area. Some of these skippies are big with fish up to 6kg being taken. There are also at times huge bait balls sometimes boiling on the surface in the 50-60m area

It could be so much better but thanks to the 5 seiners that came through a week ago what was looking very exciting is now only average for this time of the year. Why our government allows the wholesale raping of our natural resources is just beyond me. Seeing these boats in action is the most frustrating and saddening things you will see on the water.

So where are the fish, well believe it or not there are still Mahimahi being caught mostly around floating debris. Albies are still around though not in big numbers and the fish caught are not large. The Marlin are very spread out with fish coming from out past 100m to 70m right into 50m. With a 197kg Striped Marlin taken last weekend there is plenty of reasons to keep trying. Although lures are still taking fish live baiting seems to be coming into its own. There is also a lot of Snapper being caught as far out as 100m these are of course by catch with guys sending down baits while live baiting.

One of the most surprising things at the moment is the lack of birds around with only scattered Gannets present and all other species in low numbers and not aggregating in large flocks. This is possibly the result of the #@^&&^@$ seiners smashing up the large bait schools.

With some great Autumn weather around and the West usually fishing well in to May don’t give up, I remember a couple of fish taken last May both over 150kg one of which was caught in 30m there is no need to take off out past the horizon.

For details on a 197kg stripey taken off the Manakau Bar a few days ago, click here