Hot action has slowed a little

The red-hot bite that many have been enjoying in Bream Bay seems to have slowed down if information from last weekend is anything to go by.

Crews, full of anticipation based on the social media messages prior to the weekend, had some pretty long faces on their return to the ramp on Saturday and Sunday. One team of four, all good lure anglers, spent six hours on the water in ideal conditions for an ‘average’ of one snapper an hour. And they did better than many by all accounts.

Dave Gurr from Dive and Fish Mangawhai was out earlier in the week, heading down to the Ruakaka Beach/Waipu Rivermouth area where all the action had been happening only to find the fishing slow. He got the call from another crew who were in 50-60 metres of water southeast of the Hen where it was “going off.” The upshot was Dave’s crew did well in the intense and sustained workups. He says there were some good kingfish in the mix as well with G Bomb lures fishing the best.

When targeting snapper among the workups it is not uncommon for your lure to be nailed by a kingfish – be prepared! 

With the kingfish feeding among the schooling snapper, make sure your knots are good and I would go up a gear trace-wise to 25-30lb and check you have a full spool of braid. Fishing in that 50-60 metre depth disguising your trace is less important due to the lower light condition, so better to have a bit of wriggle room when applying the heat on these fish.

Steve Martinovich had a crew from an Auckland club on board his Marsden Cove-based charter vessel Sumo over the weekend for a trip mixing diving with fishing. He found both hard with the divers having to work for their crayfish. On the first day, they did come across some nice packhorses, but the diving in general produced poor results. They fared a little better on the fishing front, with bait and berley working for them eventually in 20-40 metres.

The kontiki/drone fishers have been producing steady results although the fishing tapered off for them at the weekend – the weather was almost too good.

If trevally spin your wheels, there has been some good action in close in the wider Marsden Point/refinery area for both boat and land-based anglers. Reports in the informative Bream Bay Fishing website indicate the harbour is starting to produce and this will only get better.

Looking forward weather-wise, there appears to be a bit of a swell and wind heading our way over the weekend, remnants from a tropical storm up Fiji way. A good stir-up might just be what the fishery needs to kick-start the action again. Click here for the bite times, weather and tides.

Tight lines!

November 2023 - Grant Dixon
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
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