Fishing Reports

Warmer weather (but not settled) and water temps stagnant as we edge ever closer to summer which incredulously “officially” starts in less than a fortnight!  Summer used to mean gamefish but they feel light years away.  In fact they haven’t even entered the thought process yet but sure to do so at some stage, hopefully sooner than later.  Other than kingfish, smallish albacore and the odd mako there’s nothing even on the horizon at present.  Best we dwell on what we do have available to us now, which is considerable.

Inshore

Not a huge amount of change but, if anything, has slipped a little in its productivity.  Snapper is still the name of the game but westerly winds kept many off the water most days.  Seemingly these equinox winds are with us now – not uncommon for this time of year.  Aside from fewer sorties, it would appear the fish have become fewer with a smaller average size – gee gads, what’s happened to our brilliant spring?!? 

To add another dagger the usually prolific waters off Matata are still full of fish – barracouta!  In an indication of just how cool the water still is these snakes are plentiful and large – just what noone wanted to hear about.  Typically the warmer waters should move them on, the sooner the better and not what you’d expect now.  Elsewhere it’s the usual mixed bag.  Hopefully this will recover soon to provide the upcoming Whakatane Sportfishing Clubs annual Ham Tournament a good platform to operate upon.  With the prospect of one of the many hams on offer on the Christmas table you can be sure of excellent participation.  

Offshore

Generally a downgrade on all fronts. For no apparent reason, fishing for most everything is difficult at the moment.  Despite pretty water out at White (but you don’t need to head south far to find green stuff) the fish have generally contracted “lockjaw”.  The deepwater highlights of big puka and bass have vanished, replaced instead with mediocre fishing for small bluenose and a few gemfish.  Unfortunately that was always going to happen.  Kingis have become very frustrating with no rhyme or reason to their actions. 

There have been some decent sessions over the week but they don’t last more than two hours and never occur the same time from day to day – go figure.  Again, the former average fish of 15-18 kilos is sadly lacking in numbers, being replaced by fish in the 8-13k bracket.  Bodes well for the future but begs the question – where they heck are they?  Current seems to have been into the wind all week, always a difficult situation to counter.  To add to the woes has been the first encounters with the dreaded bronzies at the Volkners. 

While only a few fish have been taken thus far, surely it must signal the future – ugh!!  While bait still rules, there have been a few decent fish taken on jigs.  While few fish have eclipsed the mid 20’s, one fish stood out significantly.  Not only had Waipukarau angler Mark Greene done little saltwater fishing, he had never caught a kingfish.  One recent afternoon, on one of the last drifts of the day, Mark scored big time by landing a whopping 36 ½ kilo kingi after a grueling 20 minute battle on heavy tackle – well done Mark but we’re not sure where you go from here!?! 

Plenty of flyers and sunfish about despite stagnant water temps.  Finally the near shore reef fishing around the island is abysmal, that at a time when it’s normally brilliant.  With both terakihi and trevally nearing spawning, you wouldn’t even know they are in attendance!  So while things may and should chance, right now it’s pretty tough going at the Smokey Isle.

Ranfurly Bank

With winds and swell an issue here much of the week, fishing prospects predictably faltered somewhat.  Jigging for kingis was again excellent with many fine fish in the 20’s falling for artificials enticements.  Magic fish over 40k’s, in evidence the past few weeks, were absent this week.  Several over 30 did succumb however – trophy fish in their own right.  While most were taken at depth (60-100m) there were some nice fish taken in the shallows with stickbaits. 

Although few bass were taken, seemingly hapuka were everywhere, forming a large bycatch while targeting kingis.  While most were average fish between 10-20 kilos, one beaut over 40 fell to a well placed jig.  With a reasonably poor weather forecast for the week ahead, can’t expect too many miracle catches.

Summary

Advancing ever toward summer we plod, with plodding the operative word.  West winds are, and will continue to be, a major factor in most anglers’ efforts.  Hopefully we’ll get this sequence out of the way with a settled summer season ahead.