Fishing Reports
Eastern Bay of Plenty
Spring continues to manifest itself as we edge closer to summer. As predicted, we’re witnessing more revelations all the time which makes things interesting indeed. A few examples are regular sightings of sunfish, flying fish seen and caught virtually every night for nearly a fortnight, several blue bottle jellyfish (Portuguese men of war) washed up on local beaches and lots of bait producing awe inspiring workups. As I’ve mentioned previously, it’s exciting to be on the water at this time of year, watching the pages of a book unfold.
Inshore
This highly utilised fishery remains a success story and then some. The big news is the snapper, big ones and quite a few of them. Recent tournaments have proven this with winning fish of over 7kgs. Neville Hogg of the Whakatane Sportfishing Club caught a 11.7kg beauty on 6kg tackle – quite a feat. The Rurima Rocks have been most productive for the big fish but many other areas are firing with a good supply of smaller fish playing a supporting role. It would appear there is reasonable to good snapper fishing all the way from Matata to Waihou Bay. Aside from this prime species there is an abundance of other species such as terakihi, kahawai, gurnard and trevally to fill any gaps. Offshore
This area is every bit as good as it’s inshore counterpart with greater diversity. The big news is albacore and, at times, plenty of them. A large body of longfins appear to have taken up residence between Te Kaha and Cape Runaway as well. Depending upon water clarity and temperature, they may be found anywhere between 300 and 600 metres of water. These fish are out of the same mould with little difference between them at 8-10kgs. Multiple strikes have been common and this situation lends itself well to light tackle enthusiasts. Mixed in with them are quite a few skippies, usually in greater abundance and on the “inshore” side of the albacore. These are jumbo skippies and usually a kilo lighter on average than the albies. Creates an interesting fishery. Many miles to the west lies another school of albacore. While not so numerous, they are considerably larger. The 15-20 kilo fish have been found fairly regularly several miles south of White Island. One common bond between these distant bodies of fish has been their food preference, as each landed fish has been full of small squid. There are two species of mollusc noted; a chunky one about the size of a mans thumbnail and the other a slender version with the approximate dimensions of a ballpoint pen. Needless to say the trolling has been fun and lends itself well to light tackle enthusiasts again. Hapuka have backed off a notch but are still fairly productive. Terakihi of nice proportions (many between 1-2 kilos) have led the shallow water brigade followed closely by red snapper, trevally and oversized pink mao mao. Kingfish, after a slow start, have begun to come on line as they lead up to their annual spawning run. Some nicer fish have shown among the average (12-16kg) sized fish. Leading the pack by a long shot was a 37kg beaut landed recently by Jason Perry of Auckland. Ranfurly Bank
Still, as usual, producing the goods. An excellent range of average sized fish are interspersed by some heavyweights for the few boats fishing it of late. Notably some bass over 50kg’s and kingis over 30 are leading the way. Novice angler Mark Hardie caught a 38-kilo king, only his second ever landed (and the other one wasn’t even legal)! Congratulations Mark – well done. What will he do for an encore?!? While East Island has been comparatively quiet, there are some nice snapper (6-12lbs but most are around 8-10lbs) in the shallows of the bank itself. Finally, plenty of albacore and skipjack are in abundance on the north end of the Bank, full of ever-present sauries.
This highly utilised fishery remains a success story and then some. The big news is the snapper, big ones and quite a few of them. Recent tournaments have proven this with winning fish of over 7kgs. Neville Hogg of the Whakatane Sportfishing Club caught a 11.7kg beauty on 6kg tackle – quite a feat. The Rurima Rocks have been most productive for the big fish but many other areas are firing with a good supply of smaller fish playing a supporting role. It would appear there is reasonable to good snapper fishing all the way from Matata to Waihou Bay. Aside from this prime species there is an abundance of other species such as terakihi, kahawai, gurnard and trevally to fill any gaps. Offshore
This area is every bit as good as it’s inshore counterpart with greater diversity. The big news is albacore and, at times, plenty of them. A large body of longfins appear to have taken up residence between Te Kaha and Cape Runaway as well. Depending upon water clarity and temperature, they may be found anywhere between 300 and 600 metres of water. These fish are out of the same mould with little difference between them at 8-10kgs. Multiple strikes have been common and this situation lends itself well to light tackle enthusiasts. Mixed in with them are quite a few skippies, usually in greater abundance and on the “inshore” side of the albacore. These are jumbo skippies and usually a kilo lighter on average than the albies. Creates an interesting fishery. Many miles to the west lies another school of albacore. While not so numerous, they are considerably larger. The 15-20 kilo fish have been found fairly regularly several miles south of White Island. One common bond between these distant bodies of fish has been their food preference, as each landed fish has been full of small squid. There are two species of mollusc noted; a chunky one about the size of a mans thumbnail and the other a slender version with the approximate dimensions of a ballpoint pen. Needless to say the trolling has been fun and lends itself well to light tackle enthusiasts again. Hapuka have backed off a notch but are still fairly productive. Terakihi of nice proportions (many between 1-2 kilos) have led the shallow water brigade followed closely by red snapper, trevally and oversized pink mao mao. Kingfish, after a slow start, have begun to come on line as they lead up to their annual spawning run. Some nicer fish have shown among the average (12-16kg) sized fish. Leading the pack by a long shot was a 37kg beaut landed recently by Jason Perry of Auckland. Ranfurly Bank
Still, as usual, producing the goods. An excellent range of average sized fish are interspersed by some heavyweights for the few boats fishing it of late. Notably some bass over 50kg’s and kingis over 30 are leading the way. Novice angler Mark Hardie caught a 38-kilo king, only his second ever landed (and the other one wasn’t even legal)! Congratulations Mark – well done. What will he do for an encore?!? While East Island has been comparatively quiet, there are some nice snapper (6-12lbs but most are around 8-10lbs) in the shallows of the bank itself. Finally, plenty of albacore and skipjack are in abundance on the north end of the Bank, full of ever-present sauries.
From 
Pursuit
PursuitReport type: Saltwater
Report date: 28 October 01
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