Whangaroa Gamefishing Update

During this time period the action appears to have slowed down slightly, but there still seems to be plenty of fish about for those who go out and work the areas. 17 striped marlin have been caught with the favourite area just now being the Cavalli Sea Mounts where 4 of the fish have been caught.

With boats having to hunt for scattered areas of moving warmer water, fish have also been caught at the Garden Patch, Wekarua drop-off, Stephenson’s Island, Takau Bay, Doubtless Bay, Flat Island, and the Cavalli Islands. 2 fish were caught in 400m off the Nine Pin and 460m at the back of Flat Island, further indicating that the warm water has broken up and further out than around the 200m line where it had been sitting.

The fish fell to various colour lures (when mentioned on the weigh-sheets) which included green/yellow, blue, and lumo and one fell to a skipjack live-bait. Striped marlin weights locally are still on the low side for the time of year, with an average weight of 85kg, and 1 fish caught up at the King Bank was 120kg.

A purple/black and a fruit salad lure caught blue marlin up on the King Bank which were both around the 200kg mark, and another blue marlin was caught off Stephenson’s Island at 168kg. The Sea Mounts have also produced 2 mahimahi, one at 6.4kg and another at 15.9kg caught by Anne Campbell on ‘Violator’ which is a possible women’s NZ record on 37kg line.

Only 1 yellowfin tuna of 41kg has been weighed in, which was caught by Stephenson’s Island on a yellow/green lure, and 2 small yellowtail kingfish of around 6kg from the North Ground.