Fishing Reports

The last month has provided a few of those magical calm days where the sea is smooth and glassy and on one occasion a fog that didn't lift till 5pm! It was a bit eerie for some of the crew not being able to see any landmarks like the Barrier or Coromandel and we got asked a couple of times did we know the way back! LOL.

DIVERSITY  has been forging away out in the middle of the gulf and on most trips doing pretty well. There have been a couple of bumpy days where we have had to fish closer in with not so much success and the fish are generally smaller but enough to keep us busy. Out wider in 45 to 75m west of Coromandel and about 7-8miles south west of the Broken Islands (Great Barrier) the fishing has been damn good. There isn't alot of bird action as I think that is more down towards the top of the firth but there sure is plenty of snapper action.

Over the last month or so we have had Matt Watson on board for 3 different charters. Two of these trips were a corporate event for Lion and on both of these trips we had first time anglers who had an absolute ball despite a bit of grubby weather on one day. It's great to see companies like Lion rewarding customers with adventure based activities and something they may not have done before. Everyone had a great time buzzing that they were fishing with Matt on DIVERSITY. Here's a couple of pics from those trips.

One lady angler enjoyed herself so much on the first day that she missed her flight home to join her crew on the second trip.

Small kingfish are still rampaging around the gulf. Here's a couple that Matt helped them secure and carefully released.

One of the other trips Matt was on was with some mates for  day out in the middle of the gulf chasing snapper on soft baits and shimano bottom ship jigs. We have been having a lot of success with these jigs.

There were some nice fish caught using all sorts of tactics while we drifted around in 50m.

So far as the soft bait fishing goes when there is this much fish around just about anything will work. As the winter months approach and the water starts to cool right down sometimes as low as 10 degrees I tend to sway towards the Gulp! range of soft baits because  they are well proven, scented, great colours and pretty good action. All these things combined in one pack make for a pretty good consistent product.

We will be running soft bait only trips and there is a soft bait contest rumoured for September and we will be making the boat available for that when we get confirmation of dates. You can soft bait and jig fish on pretty much any of our trips anyway as we spend the majority of time fishing on the drift and this allows you to use all the modern sport fishing methods.

AROUND THE TRAPS:

The Waitemata harbour and the Auckland channels are still having their moments of brilliance but a lot of guys are doing a lot better around the islands of the Noises, David Rocks, Ahaaha's and D'Urville. They seem to be doing the best along the edge of the foul and that would figure due to the turbulent weather of late and a bit of swell which exposed shell fish and other feed.

The worm beds are still producing a feed for the patient ones and if you get the weather right have a look between Tiri and Rakino (staying out of the Telecom area of course!) is well worth the effort. Some huge kahawai have come from that area this season. We weighed one on deck two weeks ago that was 5.6kg! It had a monster tummy on it...almost looked a bit deformed.

Tiri Channel especially along the edges has been doing pretty good too. And if you poke you nose out the northern end of the channel and into about 32m with an incoming tide later in the afternoon you will probably do alright too as a few mates have been fishing here on the anchor with a good burley trail and cleaning up.

The kingfish around the Flat Rock area are still there but they are cagey or there is just less of them and we have pretty much given up on them for now. But when it fires on the snapper fishing it's really good and it is this time of year where you can pull a thumping great monster of a snapper out of the weed around this structure. My advice if you are going to try to catch a big one there is go for the change of light in the morning, lay down a pretty solid burley trail with a few chunks in it and float some big bait back into the kelp. A little bit of chop or swell seems to help in here too.

Anchorite Rock, last time we were there about a week ago and for a  quick stop on our way out we were plagued with rat kings and small snapper. And frankly we haven't really put a great deal of effort into the foul around the pinnacle because the snapper fishing has been so good a little further on.

WHERE WE'RE AT:

South of Horn Rock about 4 miles there is a heap of squiggles on the chart, there has been a lot of snapper hanging out in this area and good fish too. It's not uncommon to see 5-8kg snapper coming up during the day. Some bigger kingfish have followed fish up as well and we have nailed a few on jigs whilst we  have been snapper fishing and seen them flash through.

In between here and Channel Island has been pretty good as well and this is one area where we have encountered pretty reasonable workups and the sort of fish that you would expect from them...good snapper, big kahawai, and a few kingfish.

These fish should be in the area a little longer before the start moving to the foul at Little Barrier, Horn Rock, Jimmies, Barrier and around Colville. 

The other patches of fish that seem to be along Pakiri and the 50m mark off Leigh I guess will keep moving on with some clinging to the coast as they go and holding on the deeper foul up that way around the Hen and Chicks and the Mokes.

Don't go putting your fishing gear away just yet there is still plenty happening and in fact if you fish with us you don't need to put it away at all as we fish all year round and go where the fish are.

If you check out our website you will see a list of trip dates for individual anglers and small groups with some winter specials from as little as $100 per person and if you wanted to book a group just flick us an email and we can provide you with all other available dates.

Stay safe out there and get ready to fish some deep foul for those big winter moochers.

Cheers

Damo

www.charterconnection.co.nz