Fishing Reports

 

Strange name for a report but hey… Picture this if you will. A popular channel, not too far from the big smoke and the tide is ripping through it like a queue at Burger King on a Friday night. The sea is flat and alive with huge schools of bait fish, the kahawai tearing them apart like a child with a few pressies on Christmas morning. We have a live bait deployed, a 24kg rig was selected for the purpose, and it was only a matter of minutes before the live bait was scoffed by a 35 pound kingfish. Being short of live baits, we were fortunate enough to have the first live bait slide up the trace and lodge itself up against the swivel as the battle ensued. Upon landing the fish, the live bait used to catch it was found intact and ready for re-deployment. As this first Kingi was being laid in the slurry, a second Kingi was hooked up. Being of similar smaller size it kept its’ mate company for the rest of the trip. The livie was not recyclable this time so hence the title. Since our last report the fishing has been superb. A number of groups have had bag limits of snapper with bonuses of kingfish, john dory, trevally and kahawai. I’ll go into locations shortly, but now is one of the best times of year to get out there and get hooked up. The deeper area we have been fishing has slowed significantly as the fish move into the channels and harbours. It won’t be long now before they start moving back out again and we look forward to getting out a bit deeper and away from the crowds, that at times can be extremely ignorant, i.e., dropping the anchor right beside you and right on the patch you have been working and wondering why they don’t catch a thing. I wont mention any boat names as my clients have let these clowns know exactly how they feel. Some had to be restrained from letting rip with 8oz sinkers! Rob Dakon and a crew of regulars had a good day, out wide and on this particular patch with snapper, gurnard and kahawai being landed, before a move was made to some of the foul in the Tiri passage. Kevin Bruce and his crew from The Edge did quite well in the Tiri passage late last month with a good haul of snapper and a few kahawai and gurnard thrown in. Our local barber Terry, had a fairly good day also with snapper to 5lb, trevally and kahawai from the Tiri passage. In saying that the passage has been fishing well, we have also missed out a few times. I feel it is still a bit early for it to start fishing really well and we look forward to the fish moving back out. Harrison and his group from Sanitarium fished in the rough with me all day and the result was quite poor. We tried numerous locations only to secure the boys a feed of snapper and kahawai but nothing really worth mentioning. I thank them for their patience. Chester (a regular fisho with us) and his group had a really good day not far from Rakino with a swag of snapper with Chester landing a nice kingfish. The action was hot pretty much all day, with snapper going to 7lb and the kahawais', full of roe going just a bit under. Tommy and Ray organised a trip with us for last Thursday and had hot action all morning in less than 18m of water. Again, not too far from Rakino. The Flat Rock Special rig we use, proved once again, to be superior to any other rig used on all trips. Graham from Mico Plumbing, fished with us in the Mico Plumbing contest and I would have dearly loved to take them to where we have been catching fish, however, due to the time frame imposed on us we had a fairly slow day in the Tiri area. However, the last 30mins gave them 2 fish, a snapper and kahawai that were possible prize winners. We are waiting to hear how they got on. Onto bait. We are still finding the lologo squid to be outfishing anything else we throw in the water. I’m sure the Bait Station in Mairangi Bay, have plenty in stock if you aren’t getting it already. They also have in stock, some awesome pilchards and a heaps of great tackle and burley. Kevin and his crew at the Bait Station have really got it together so far as supplying bait and tackle for us fisher folk. Heaps of good advice also, as I witnessed the other day whilst filling the back of the car. A few rumours are flying about the place regarding fishing out the back of Tiri. Apparently, a number of large fish were caught by a few local anglers, just the other day, the largest being 17lb. This is not at all surprising, especially if they were fishing early in the morning before the seine boats got their gear in the water. The seine boats have been hanging around the back of the island and over the other side of the cable area getting mixed results. The easterly we have at present is bound to slow them down a bit and we look forward to giving the back of the island a bit of a nudge. The word from flat rock is PATCHY! One day they are there and you get a couple of real good fish. The next day nothing! It will be another month yet before I even think about going up there after snapper. Even the 50m area is slower than we would have thought. The gannets are working but the work ups are moving too fast, with the scraps the snapper feed on being scoffed before it gets anywhere near the bottom. It is anchovy city out in the middle at the moment and like I said in the last report, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of a Marlin or Tuna in the Gulf. No-one catches them in the Gulf when no-one targets them! We have a kingfish hunt with Graham and Peter, a couple of our fishing team members, after the wind dies down and will give Flat Rock consideration in regard to the green and yellow torpedoes that frequent the place this time of year. Daylight saving is about to close on us (March 16th) and we have only a few spots left if you are interested in an evening trip this week or next week. We do have a couple of casual evening trips going and have put aside a couple of nights for boat bookings. Tell your work mates and let’s get into it. You can contact us on 09 4260604 or 0252446346 and don’t forget you can email us at deepsea@clear.net.nz Don’t forget if you aren’t already a VIP member at this excellent site, why not become one and get these reports emailed to you when they are posted! Get involved in the fishing action on the discussion groups too. There is free fishing info going and all you have to do is ask! Most of us are keen to help, so share your thoughts and questions with us all. FISH ON! Damian THE CHARTER CONNECTION LTD

 

From A Charter Connection...

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 10 March 02