Fishing Reports
Eastern Bay of Plenty
It’s been awhile since this report has been updated but, to be honest, not a lot has happened to justify the effort in doing so! There has been a few changes and, although painfully few and far between they are positive on the whole.
Yellowfin Tuna
It’s taken 640 anglers, fishing hard in all parts of the eastern bay for 4 days, in perfect weather, to prove something we’ve known for some time now – there are precious few YFT in these waters! The prestigious Whakatane Tuna Tournament was, as usual, well run and provided the venue and infrastructure to host this tournament in style. The results look pretty enticing as there were some very nice sized fish at the top of the prize list. If you want to push the stats around to analyse how many man hours, effort and fuel went towards the boating of each fish then it would make very sad reading indeed. On the bright side, skippies in wholesale numbers have moved into the Bay. They must be, every purse seiner in NZ lives here at the moment! There were meatballs of anchovies off Te Kaha one day (albeit devoid of YFT) in scoopable numbers. We could still get a tuna season but it’s looking less likely all the while. Offshore
Thank goodness for kingis – otherwise there wouldn’t be much to catch over the past week. While they didn’t bite all the time, there was some exceptional fishing to be had at times. The quality and quantity are great. Evidence was given with the heaviest YT in the tuna tournament – a stately 45.8kg beauty. There have been a number of 40 plus kilo fish to join that one as well as many over 30 – great fishing which hasn’t been seen in recent years, even at such a high profile spot as White Island. Long may it last. Deepwater has produced the numbers if not quality. Depths between 170-280m have yielded even percentages of bluenose, bass, hapuka and gemfish. While most are between 4-10kgs, the odd good fish stands out. Gary Pilford’s 26kg bluenose is just one example. Waihou Bay coughed into life over the weekend but largely on the effort of one boat. “KT” with father and son Black onboard had a memorable day. A 115kg blue marlin for junior followed by a 20kg shortbilled spearfish for dad – the potential is there. Despite great looking water (purple and 21 degrees) and a reasonable amount of effort since, only a handful of mahi mahi have been unearthed. Look for some great catches there in the near future. Inshore
Snapper fishing has been on again, off again with no discernable pattern portrayed. The Matata – Rurima Rocks area has been lousy or great depending upon whom you talk to. Not many big fish but, sometimes, plenty of them. Opotiki through to the Motu River mouth at a depth of 30 –35 metres has been quite consistent. Pub Point (Te Kaha) has turned out some great fishing and veritable duds, depending on the day. I heard of a torrid session there recently with fish averaging 7kgs – hot stuff. Ranfurly
Water there still seems to suffer from big currents and upwellings – cold (18 degrees) and green. Bottom bouncing and kingis are living up to their touted reputation but trolling is not. Perhaps after this full moon things will improve. Summary
As dull as things seem currently with the pelagics, it would appear we could be on the verge of a change for the better. The lacklustre trolling is bound to change but when is anybodies guess. I personally believe we’re in for some great fishing ahead – hope I’m right!
It’s taken 640 anglers, fishing hard in all parts of the eastern bay for 4 days, in perfect weather, to prove something we’ve known for some time now – there are precious few YFT in these waters! The prestigious Whakatane Tuna Tournament was, as usual, well run and provided the venue and infrastructure to host this tournament in style. The results look pretty enticing as there were some very nice sized fish at the top of the prize list. If you want to push the stats around to analyse how many man hours, effort and fuel went towards the boating of each fish then it would make very sad reading indeed. On the bright side, skippies in wholesale numbers have moved into the Bay. They must be, every purse seiner in NZ lives here at the moment! There were meatballs of anchovies off Te Kaha one day (albeit devoid of YFT) in scoopable numbers. We could still get a tuna season but it’s looking less likely all the while. Offshore
Thank goodness for kingis – otherwise there wouldn’t be much to catch over the past week. While they didn’t bite all the time, there was some exceptional fishing to be had at times. The quality and quantity are great. Evidence was given with the heaviest YT in the tuna tournament – a stately 45.8kg beauty. There have been a number of 40 plus kilo fish to join that one as well as many over 30 – great fishing which hasn’t been seen in recent years, even at such a high profile spot as White Island. Long may it last. Deepwater has produced the numbers if not quality. Depths between 170-280m have yielded even percentages of bluenose, bass, hapuka and gemfish. While most are between 4-10kgs, the odd good fish stands out. Gary Pilford’s 26kg bluenose is just one example. Waihou Bay coughed into life over the weekend but largely on the effort of one boat. “KT” with father and son Black onboard had a memorable day. A 115kg blue marlin for junior followed by a 20kg shortbilled spearfish for dad – the potential is there. Despite great looking water (purple and 21 degrees) and a reasonable amount of effort since, only a handful of mahi mahi have been unearthed. Look for some great catches there in the near future. Inshore
Snapper fishing has been on again, off again with no discernable pattern portrayed. The Matata – Rurima Rocks area has been lousy or great depending upon whom you talk to. Not many big fish but, sometimes, plenty of them. Opotiki through to the Motu River mouth at a depth of 30 –35 metres has been quite consistent. Pub Point (Te Kaha) has turned out some great fishing and veritable duds, depending on the day. I heard of a torrid session there recently with fish averaging 7kgs – hot stuff. Ranfurly
Water there still seems to suffer from big currents and upwellings – cold (18 degrees) and green. Bottom bouncing and kingis are living up to their touted reputation but trolling is not. Perhaps after this full moon things will improve. Summary
As dull as things seem currently with the pelagics, it would appear we could be on the verge of a change for the better. The lacklustre trolling is bound to change but when is anybodies guess. I personally believe we’re in for some great fishing ahead – hope I’m right!
From 
Pursuit
PursuitReport type: Saltwater
Report date: 30 January 02
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