Fishing Reports

 

As the water temperature rises and we start heading towards daylight saving, the fishing is improving also. With only one day of this last week being slow, we have seen a lot of fish come aboard. The size of fish is getting better, and more and more are showing up in spring colour. This weekend was a mixed bag with the Saturday being the slow day I mentioned. A few days at the end of last week were rippers and the time spent on a flat sea out behind Tiri and Kawau was well rewarded. About 70 fish over the 2 days and ranging in size from 30cm to one fish at 12lb. All that to get the juices flowing for the weekend trips, only to have Saturday fizzle out and having to return home with a small catch. Could this be proving the theory that the fish don’t feed everyday this time of year? Yesterday was in stark contrast to Saturday and after a slow start around Flat Rock and a period of inactivity at slack water, we got into some excellent tarahiki and snapper on a patch of deeper foul out off Takatu Peninsula. Not wanting to leave the fish on the bite after a slow morning, we opted to stick around for a while longer to ensure everyone went home with dinner. This patch of foul has been good to us in the past and having a look around with the sounder can help in quickly locating a patch of fish. The whole area is capable of producing some big specimens, especially this time of year. While bottom fishing, try lobbing a big bait, such as a fillet of skipjack or mullet right out the back. Ensure you have enough weight to keep it on the bottom in the current. Our biggest fish yesterday was taken in this way. Another area we have been targeting while the sea has been in a reasonable state, is the areas of sand and mud behind Tiri and out towards the top of the Firth. Last year, a bit later than this, we had excellent fishing there. Large schools of snapper, with the occasional monster snapper were abundant as they moved in to the area to procreate the species. We found our “Flat Rock Special” was the ideal rig for fishing in the current and deeper water out over the sand, as well as on the deeper foul. Watch out you that you don’t anchor in the cable area out here. It is marked on the chart. The south eastern foul off Whangaparaoa Peninsula is still working quite well and the evenings out there are usually producing some nice snapper and the odd trevally. A ledger rig works well, with pilchards and squid consistently being the right choice of bait. We did have some success with a couple of bags of salted bonito fillets out here not long back. It amazes me how the place holds any fish with all the traffic, anchors, chain rattling and engines roaring around in the shallows and over the foul. Our newsletter is getting good response as usual and we have some great deals for October. If you would like a copy just email us at: deepsea@kiwinet.net.nz or give us a bell on 09 4260604 or 0252446346. Give us a bell if your interested in joining our casuals list too. Another snippet of news for you is that we are to be a sponsor for the Gulf Harbour Fishing Tournament, which will be held on November 10-11 this year. We will be on site, when we aren’t out fishing, and will be giving away fishing trip prizes for 10 lucky anglers. It is a great tournament and the facilities at Gulf Harbour are excellent. There are only 500 tickets so be sure to get yours soon. Stay hooked up! Damian Clayton THE CHARTER CONNECTION LTD

 

From A Charter Connection...

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 01 October 01