Fishing Reports

 

For those of us that fish from "lesser" craft - and by that I mean anything smaller than the floating Gin palaces that we dream of one day skippering, the west coast has been almost ideal. With the east and sou-east swells still significant in the traditional offshore northland hot spots it was a good option to head out west to almost flat seas and sometimes excellent marlin fishing. Once out past the bar I headed NW till around the 50 metre mark. The blue water joined the green at around the 35 and the water temps were up around 20.6-20.9 in places. Bird activity was high and good concentrations of baitfish were found in between 40 and 50m of water west of Piha. After about 4 hours of trolling in deeper water I returned to these spots to pick up a bin full of albacore for a future shark drift. I didn't have to go far between work-ups and the birds. Albies and kahawai were having a fantastic time slicing through the numerous tightly packed meatballs. It's always a pleasure to see white spray slashing through a confined area and see the flashes of silver and sometimes the gold of yellowfin. The there is the hope that a marlin further down in the column is circling to have his turn. Anyone into Salt Water Flyfishing would have enjoyed this scenario as the albacore at times looked close to 20 kg's and averaged around 7kg. The kahawai were fat and there in numbers. I had the Penn Int. AR4 on the Composite Developments 14# on standby for something large enough to use the little gimbal ring on it, but it wasn't to be today. After a bin load of fish I headed back out to the 50 for a troll home and left the two smaller tuna lures on the inside positions for the odd larger tuna. I turned to check my outriggers and the long rigger seemed to have an unusual bend in it - was it a clump of weed caught in a current line? No, as I looked back into the pattern there was a garbage guts of a kahawai that had decided it was going to give me a showdown and chose to eat the largest of my marlin lures (the mightly lumo sprocket) - set on my big gold 80 Wide! Maybe the "food chain" theory needs some ammending? I returned back across the bar with my albies and my masquerading kahawai. The marlin had evaded me today but the conditions out west are great for those wanting a smoother ride and an enjoyable day at sea. Most west coast boaties know this already but a word of advice for those planning to take advantage of the lesser swells out west - launching the boat from Little Huia and heading out across the Manakau bar at high tide you wonder what all the fuss is about...but coming back in at low, you immediately realise why this area is infamousously dangerous for the inexperienced boatie. You can take your pick of concerns - either the 2 metre breaking swell (in cross pattern directions) or the unpredictable shallows that can see you going from 7m down to 1 in next to no time. All these challnges go on for about 2 miles - not the 100-200 metres that you're used to in most bars eg. Whakatane. Ensure you have a boat that can handle these waters (at their worst), take a trip or two with someone who knows these waters and have the "safe" course across the bar plotted on a reliable chartplotter or GPS. And always radio the Manakau coastguard on Channel 63 for all bar crossings...... then enjoy the west coast experience.

 

From

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 26 March 01