Fishing Reports

Here we go again – the start of a new season onboard a shiny “PURSUIT”!  After nearly two months of inactivity we are again in operation and will be until late next July.  Been a most unusual year in so many ways, the least of it all has not been the weather.  Talk about a year of extremes and it looks like it’s not done with us by a long shot. 

Consider these stats:  a record for Whakatane River bar entrance with it being deemed unworkable 17 days consecutively in May and 23 days for the month.  Then, just recently we went the other way with the bar workable for 38 days straight in August/September.  Wind was nearly non existent as was the swell with freakishly warm temps fooling many trees into blossoms – including Pohutukawas!  Then here comes very cold weather, strong winds with horizontal rain and hail.  NIWA tells us to expect 10 straight weeks of westerly winds – Wow, what a year!!

Inshore

Surprisingly a good number to snapper in many areas to augment an expected torrid terakihi bite.  Many depths are inhabited by snapper, not just the depths (down to nearly 200 metres) they are expected at this time of year.  Water is very cold but this hasn’t kept the crimson brigade from coming into the shallows (25-35 metres). 

Plenty of whitebait gorged kahawai around as well with some of them approaching three kilos.  In general white baiters have had a good start to their season.  All in all a good start to the spring season where the vast majority fish.

Offshore

Not a lot of pressure but reasonable results just lately.  Deepwater bottomfishing has been very sporadic – one needs to move around a lot to find fish but, when you do, it’s well worth your while.  Not uncommon to fish a number of spots before striking pay dirt with the best fishing coming out of 300 metres. 

Back around White Island the reef fish have been reasonable cooperated as one would expect.  Led by terakihi of nice dimensions, there’s been good support from decent sized pink mao mao, red snapper, trevally (surprisingly small for White, only two kgs) and some whopping porae.  The main bill o faire, kingfish, is an interesting situation just now. 

While the fishing for them is somewhere between decent and excellent, quality is totally lacking at the moment.  Nearly all the fish are out of the same mould – between 92-100cm long.  Condition factors vary widely with some of the lean fish well under 10 kilos while other plump models are around 12-14. 

They all put up a great fight, particularly on lighter gear, but the quality just isn’t there at present.  Sure it will be soon.  Water is chilly (15 degrees C) but clean, sure would be an albacore around if someone were to drag some lures about.

Ranfurly Bank

Only one recent effort here with interesting results.  As it was strictly a bottom bouncing trip, no other fishing was engaged in.  While the fishing for hapuka, bass and trumpeter was acceptable, quality was again lacking.  Largest fish landed over two full days of fishing was around 15 kilos, not what Ranfurly is known for but sometimes a fact of life. 

Most of the puka were on the lean side, having just completed spawning.  Sure to improve but nothing wrong with the numbers. A lot more trips planned here soon will paint a more complete picture.

Summary

Spring is always full of anticipation and expectations.  With equinox upon us and the constant barrage of westerly winds it brings, anglers will need to watch weather patterns carefully.  By using all the weather reports and predictions available and getting early starts, (often the wind doesn’t pick up until mid-late morning) some good fishing will be achievable.  Back again next week with a more comprehensive report built on personal experience, not hearsay.