Fishing Reports

 

Sorry it’s been a while. Due to the excellent weather and pretty good fishing at present, we haven’t had a chance to keep you posted. So here goes. Since our last report the weather has been the determining factor as to where I’ll be fishing. One day it’s howling through the rigging at 45 knots and the next it is flat calm and not a breath of wind, despite the oh so accurate forecasts! When we can get out a bit wider, we have done so, as we are finding the Tiri area to be a little fickle at the moment, requiring lots of looking around and throwing a heap of small fish back. There have been exceptions and I’ll go into that later. The deeper patches of broken foul between Rangitoto and Tiri have been alive with fish, as has the area between Tiri and Coromandel. Once in the area have a good look around on the sounder for the bottom sign or look skywards for the gannets that have been excellent indicators as to where the fish are lurking around. Going back to Friday 5th a bag limit of good snapper was secured by lunch time from the area. Some of the snapper were a pretty good size and all but the first few were over 32cm. A few big kahawai were also kept. The kahawai at the moment are feeding on the meatballs of bait fish and when landed, spit out a mouth full of them. They are absolutely gorging themselves hence the snapper hanging around to pick up the scraps. The boys from Andrew Plastering were not so fortunate with the weather and we had little option but to hide from it for most of the day. A big sea was running through the Tiri Passage and I chose a reef on the southern side of Whangaparaoa and a heap of burley as the game plan. Not too much you can do when it’s blowing 45 knots from the north and pouring with rain. The upside to this is that there is bugger all boat traffic tearing around in the shallows and you hold fish near you all day. The tide was incoming and the swell was ripping across a reef and tearing all the crabs, and other critters of the shelf and into the bay. There we sat and caught about 40 snapper and a few good trevally. The snapper were mostly around the 30-32cm mark but a few were larger and there was just enough action to keep us busy for the day. Well done guys. It was pretty trying conditions but you took the right attitude and it paid off. It wasn’t long before the wind was to change direction to that annoying south easterly that seems to put the fish off the feed a bit. When the wind’s from the east, the fish don’t feast. This proved to be true and I had a most frustrating day in the Tiri area with the best fish coming from the bays and reefs on the northern side of Whangaparaoa. There was not much in the way of size so far as the snapper went but there was a few really good trevally from one of the reefs. Being totally fed up with that result I took a group of regular casuals out wider only to find the longliners had set gear through the area before I had got there and a few seine boats were working further out. Hardly even got a bite and I opted for the current of the Tiri passage after checking out the wrecks and structures off the Noisies and down towards Rakino and finding it to resemble a desert. The boys were patient and we secured a feed of snapper off a structure in the passage in the final hours. All in all a pretty poor result and it was to continue for a day or two to come. Brett and his family had to endure the constant moving around and picking up 1-3 here and there until we found a few better fish on the northern end of Tiri in close to the bricks. I was getting pretty fed up with the place, so the next day Graham T, Mike Cole and his young son David, plus a good crew of other casuals, came with me out to a deeper patch of rubble and bowled over 99 snapper and a couple of bins of kahawai, by 1:30 in the afternoon.! Young David took home the biggest snapper of the day at around the 10lb mark. There were a few other bigger specimens and we threw back a lot of fish around the 30 cm mark. It is great when you can be a little selective. Again the Kahawai were chocka block with small anchovies and the bait schools were all over the place, getting hounded by the gannets and kahawai. We had our first kahawai on at the marina entrance and had we wished, could have filled the boat with them. I just love it when a plan comes together! David, send me your email and I’ll send you a photo when they are ready I would also like to thank the other boats that joined in the action. When asked not to anchor in the burley and ruin the fishing for everyone, including yourselves, you took the advice offered and cleaned up also. It doesn’t take much to ruin it and spook the school. How would you feel if someone dropped an anchor on your dinning room table in the middle of a lunch you had to fight for? The next day was a trip by the Golden Years fishing group from Whangaparaoa and I really wanted to give them the same sort of day. The Golden Years group have stuck by us through good and bad and deserved a good day on the briny. But wouldn’t you know it, after steaming all the way out we found the majority of the fish had swum away and the ones that had hung around were not interested in eating. We made move after move and they stuck at it. In disbelief we returned home with about 25 snapper. By the way I had a pretty good look around out the back of Tiri in about 36-40m of water and it was barren of any sign and there was certainly no bird activity out there either. Not to be too put off by the result I steamed right back out to the area yesterday with Charlie, a long standing regular, Kingsley and his family. The Golden Years group are going to hate this, but I did it again and bowled over a limit of good snapper and a few kahawai and dory too. Charlie nailed fish after fish as usual and the rest of the gang were not far behind. The fishing started off a little slower than I would’ve liked, but it got quite busy after the first hour or so and never really stopped all day. A few small sharks turned up during the proceedings but caused no problems. The dolphins were active in the afternoon and we witnessed a huge bull steer a pod of females and calves away from the boat, with an impressive display of power as he carved apart the ocean at high speed. I remember doing a drift jig off the top of Little Barrier some years ago and a pod of big dolphins screamed in and under the boat hooking up a jig that was destined for the bottom. I was damn near spooled before a knife could be reached to cut it off. Grunty! Bait. Got to have it in most situations, so I’ll tell that the Lologo Squid is still the go. Fresh strips of yellowtail and NZ Pilchards are also working well. When they are really on the feed, just about anything will get their attention but it’s when they are not feeding aggressively that a strip or chunk of oily pilchard normally gets the action going. I have been using a ledger rig or a FRS with a chunk of pilchard on one hook and a strip of squid on the other. Works well if you can resist striking on the first bite. It was probably the pilchard going and they normally come back for the squid. Tried some of those Ryoshi recurve hooks the other day. Seem to work well in the dropper rig situation and look like a reasonable sort of hook. Can’t beat a VMC but. Lots of bookings at the moment but a few dates of interest. Sunday 21st April is casuals day, so if you want to go give us a bell. Wednesday 24th is going to be 6kg challenge day. Due to a couple of Team Members pulling out there is a space or two if you are interested. Depart at 4am and return by 4pm. Each angler fishes with the same 6kg line to be spooled on the day and we all fish from the same boat. There will be up to 6 anglers maximum with each angler getting equal time at the rear of the boat. The destination will be up around Kawau somewhere and it will be postponed if conditions are a bit dodgy. Heaviest snapper wins. The trip will only cost $25 and each angler will put $50 in the prize pool. If we have only 4 anglers, the prize will be $200 and if we go with the 6 it will be $300. The idea is to have some fun at the same time and those on board already will not be treating it as a do or die day out. Give us bell or send me an email if you are keen. Monday 29th is also a casuals day with a few spaces left. We like to keep the numbers down for the casual trips and normally will take less than 9 anglers so everyone has plenty of space. $45pp for midweek day trips. May 18th and 19th is the Bays Club Contest held at the Bays Club in Browns Bay. We are fishing the contest and are also a sponsor. Should be great weekend with a heap of prizes up for grabs and only 500 tickets. Team Members should call me before buying a ticket please. The card promotion is going well and a few anglers are returning for a free trip. Each time you do a trip with us we give you a fish card. Each card has a different fish on it and when you have collected all 8 cards we give you a free trip. Easy! A newsletter will be coming out soon. If you would like a copy and we don’t have your contact details send us an email at deepsea@clear.net.nz or call us on (09)4260604 or (025)2446346 and we’ll put you on the list. Flat Rock will be about ready to get a good going over soon, so I may have some news from up that way shortly. But while the weather is settled you’ll find me out in the middle somewhere, eyes skyward checking out the indicators. mmmmmmmm Fish on! Damian THE CHARTER CONNECTION

 

From A Charter Connection...

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 17 April 02