Fishing Reports

 

On a recent trip to Great Barrier Island, our clients did very well in a sloppy sea a few miles south of Horn Rock where they picked up a rather large Skippy on quite light gear. This was to be a good omen for us as the next 2 days saw us catch 14 different species of all shapes and sizes. Anchorite fished very well on the drift, on the way out too, but the sea state wouldn't let us stay as long as we would have liked. Snapper to 4kg were among the catch from the eastern side of the rock, all of which seemed to prefer cubes of squid on a ledger rig. Miners Rock on the north western side of G.B fished very well on the out going tide with good snapper and trevally taking half pilchards and squid baits on the way down. This was to be the session of the trip for our crew, with many personal bests being broken and a few first time fish for others, eg.Frost fish and Grand-daddy Hapuka. Some of the bays in this area can be home to some XOS Snapper and a lot of berley was dispensed into one south of Katherine Bay, only to have us catch heaps of large kahawai and snapper of the smaller variety. A few kahawai were kept for baits and smoking with the rest released to see another day. On our way home we fished the small area of foul east of Horn Rock, but could only manage to find a few pan size fish despite being there at the change of light in the morning. A local long line boat had set his gear in the dark as we arrived and this could have made a difference. We moved on after 2 hours to fish the northern foul off Horn Rock at around 27m, and again were onto heaps of smaller fish with the odd 3-4 kg specimen coming aboard. After a few moves, we found a good patch of bigger fish in about 40m south west of Horn Rock, but the tide change saw them go off the bite and we continued on our way home. A small white tuna lure was towed across the Gulf only to have kahawai strikes every so often. Great fun on 6kg or lighter. Our last stop was to be a few drifts through the traffic and the deep guts at Flat Rock. With about 50-60 boats out it was going to be interesting to see what would show up. We were pleasently surprised to catch a few good table fish and a couple of good leather jackets (sometimes refered to as Cream Fish. On the local side of things, Tiri has been holding heaps of fish on the foul but alot are getting thrown back. Remember to handle these smaller fish carefully with wet hands or a wet towel. We start to fish a little deeper this time of year, in about 40-60m but always stop at places like Shearers Rock and the foul around the Black buoy to the south on the way out. This area always has fish on it, but again, due to the hiding it gets, a lot of small fish dominate. The middle Gulf is a huge area with some excellent fishing, alot of which we do on the drift. This style of fishing lets us cover a fair bit of ground during a day, with a return over a patch if things start to fire. I also like it out here because you see some awesome work ups, unlike on the inside. Just about every trip now, we are getting the gear up and steaming over to a pack of gannets diving and doing a few drifts through or around the area, with great success too I might add! If this sounds a bit like you, give us a shout. Try me for a midweek special to avoid the crowds. You know you've been working too hard anyway. Try bringing the boss if he gets abit hot under the collar. Sea you then.

 

From A Charter Connection...

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 08 June 01