Fishing Reports

Did I say there was plenty of this season left?  Well you can put a ring around that!  The revelations of the past few days (starting 24^th April) have left local skippers pleasantly surprised at the least and gob smacked at the other end of the spectrum.  A large swell last week apparently got the ball rolling from the NE followed by winds from the same direction.  Where this will lead or end is anybody's guess but breathing new life into a season written off along the coast is a current understatement.

Whangaroa

Might as well start with the big news first.  With few boats out on Saturday the 24^th some exciting fishing surfaced quite unexpectedly. No less than four blue marlin were hooked with two spool jobs, one dropped and one landed – this a mighty 253 kilo specimen off the boat “Kuri”.  A stripee also came in amid several lost.  Beautiful 20 degree water came right into the back of Stevenson’s Island with the fish abundant for the first time in a month.

Doubtless Bay- Cape Karikari

New life sparked here as well with several shots and some fish landed in anywhere from 120 to 180 metres of water.  Patchy water doesn’t seem to matter with bits coming in blue 20 degree water and off colour 18.  Great to see fish return here again.  Skippies galore.

Garden Patch – “505”

 Dismal with green, cold water throughout. Can’t believe nice water on all sides of this area but the disappointment continues here.

Houhora – North Cape

Nice water has moved in here and with it have come some fish.  Mainly stripees with several tagged of late.  One reported blue and smallish black were tangled with for some time – both lost.  Lots of skipjack and even a few YFT left.

The Hook – Surville Cliffs

Great looking water, lots of bait but no marlin despite some good effort put into these handy areas.

Compass Rose – “Fingers”

 Quite a number of strikes had here from stripees of mixed sizes but few landed for some unknown reason.  About every other boat passing through has some action with all reporting good looking conditions with plenty of bait.

King Bank

Still the darling of the billfish scene with a good body of fish present.  With few fish seem and tangled with in the mornings it’s reverted to an afternoon bite, some days quite late.  With a few strikes had on the lower and middle stretches of the bank, the top end is the place of choice. Most days the top boat will have either two or three most others a single in the more consistent fishing recently.  Most fish are real beauties in the 115 – 140k bracket with bait out fishing lures about four to one.  Skippies and koheru are the favourites here.  Some days sharks, bronzies and makos, have become real nusciences – other days nonexistent.  Kingis, king terakihi, hapuka and bass take up the slack during slow times.  A few tuna in the mid 30’s finish of the selection available at present in these productive waters.

Middlesex Bank

Last boat out (23 April) found the norm – cold off colour water with plenty of kingis and bottomfish but no marlin.

Three kings – Prince’s Group

Plenty of action for those electing to not travel to the banks for a day. A few marlin to the west nor west of NW bay just over the 100 metre mark.  Kingis are very keen to please most everywhere with a few beauts to 40k’s in the offing.  Some boats have even had multiples on marlin lures.  While over jealous kings have made bait fishing difficult/impossible at times in NW Bay!

Summary

Things just couldn’t be more exciting right now, especially along the coast.  While it may not last long it should mean a longer season at the Kings.  Putting your gear away? Right!!!