Insane spring action

Spring has sprung, and we have hungry snapper, aggressive kingies, giant bluefin, and now, angry yellowfin! What a crazy spring we are having, nothing like we have ever seen before, but I’m all here for it. 

On the snapper front, the fishing has been great. With the water temperatures getting warmer by the day, the snapper have started moving inshore and over the sand, feeding heavily on large schools of anchovies and other small bait. On a recent fishing adventure with my daughter, we found plenty of hungry snapper, with them taking a liking to 7” bruised banana softbaits and straylined kahawai strips. 

The water temperature on the day was hovering around 16° - as it gets closer to 18°, we should see the snapper start to congregate and feed hard before spawning. I would expect to see this around the end of this month or the start of November. 

The kingfish have also made a shift inshore and can be very close to the coast, feeding on the large congregations of blue koheru, trevally and kahawai, which can be found schooling at rocky and reefy outcrops all up and down the coast. On a recent trip to the Bay of Islands, we were fishing around Cape Brett and had schools of kingfish breaking the surface amongst the birds. Tumbling and turning, often with their entire backs out of the water, it was quite the sight to see. If you were to spend the day targeting Kingfish at somewhere like the KariKari Islands or the Cavalli Islands, it would be safe to say that you would encounter the target species many times throughout the day.

Josh Matthews with his 50kg yellowfin tuna caught this week livebaiting by the rocks.

While on the topic of inshore fishing, an unbelievable catch of a yellowfin tuna has also been successfully boated by the crew on the vessel Athena. Josh Matthews and his father, Noel, thought they would try their luck at catching a Bay of Islands bluefin after finding success the month before.

After collecting fresh bait and settling into a groove around Wairiri Rock, it wasn’t long until both of the Shimano gamefishing outfits were screaming and losing line at an alarming pace. Unfortunately, one of the fish fell off, but the team still had one fish on.  Josh went to work, pushing the drag up on his Tiagra and dealing with the fish quickly, while Noel took care of the driving and deckie duties. 

As the fish surfaced, it appeared that the team were in fact unsuccessful at getting hooks into an elusive bluefin tuna; instead, they were greeted by the beautiful long yellow sickles of a yellowfin tuna. They quickly secured the fish and got it into the boat for a couple of quick pictures before getting it on ice and into a chiller bag. Later on, it would pull the scales down to a very respectable 50kg, gutted and gilled. Wynnie Hensen showing Dad how it’s done!

Absolutely amazing work, team Athena. It just goes to show what a crazy fishery Northland is experiencing right now. It’s only October, and it’s already shaping up to be a magical Summer. Stay safe, everyone, and I will catch you next time. 

Jordan Hensen