Fishing Reports

A prolonged period of strong winds continues to restrict fishing opportunities along the coast, and keep most of the effort inside the islands targetting snapper.

 For the very few boats that have ventured out wide, when conditions allow, the strike rate for marlin continues to be good. Best area over Easter was around Donaghy's Reef out at 170M off the Nine Pin with plenty of bait, and good water still up at around 20C.

 Further north, the Garden Patch has provided some great broadbill action, with Brad Rowe and a mate taking two swords in one night, one at 169Kg and the other at 223kg. Guy Jacobsen on Hook'n'Bull lost another sword after more than 10 hours.

  Kingfish have been very co-operative outside the Bay on the deeper reefs, but little action from big kingis inside the Bay, though there are plenty of rats. The few occasions we have fished live baits inside the islands have resulted in more action from kahawai than kingfish.

 Snapper trips have mainly resulted in lots of small fish, barely more than 27cm. The exception seems to be the mud banks up the inlets, where some good fish up to 10lb have been mooching around the horse mussell beds. If your sounder shows bottom density, set the gain to show some differentiation on the bottom and look for the beds showing a density increase at the deep sides off drop offs. Alternatly, if fishing from a small boat, anchor as close as possible to the rocks, and set out a good berley trail.

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