Bay of Plenty Fishing Report - July 3rd, 2020

  • General Saltwater, Bay of Plenty/East Cape

Well, you gotta love winter fishing!

Sadly, the weather hasn’t been the greatest in the past couple of weeks but up until then, we had a lot of people out on the water. The boats fishing over the sand up around Matakana and Karewa have been producing some nice fish as there has been good bait sign. The slow jigs (Kohga’s in Sakura Glow) and Gulp soft-baits (Slimed + Gar Licker) have been getting some real nice fish. In that 30-50m area, the terakihi are in reasonable numbers, but if terakihi are your thing, the area off Motiti Island in 60-80m is your best bet as the size and numbers are better – remember small hooks and small baits! Most of the outer reefs are fishing okay for this time of year, but a little more effort into these spots (e.g. plenty of berley and good baits) should get you a few fish for the bin! The straylining around Motiti has been real steady with some nice fish being taken over the shallower foul areas and again, berley seems to be the key as it will draw out and hold the fish in the area – and don’t be afraid to try a bigger bait, like a whole bullet tuna. The kingie fishing is pretty good too, with jigs and slow trolled livies up and around the reefs producing one or two of these green machines! When jigging, try and find that bait which has been squeezed together on your sounder as that means the kings are feeding. The Zest 300g hardy long jig is a good option to use as it has a long profile for its weight so it looks like a bigger bait! Now is a good time for those deepwater species too, as the bluenose are in good numbers and size, with most of the fish in that 8-15kg bracket and still holding in that 300-400m depth. There are still some spots in the 200-250m range that hold fish but only if you know what to look for!

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Swordies are another fish to consider at this time of year as they are on many peoples’ bucket lists (mine included)! So feel free to pop in store and ask about how to give them a go as with these beasties it pays to use the right tools for the job!!!

Oh and on a lighter note, the squid fishing is going off in Tauranga!

 

- Top Catch Bay Of Plenty Team

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