Harbour fishing improving

At last we have some warmer weather, and the water temperature has come up a full one degree (15.3).

A nice plus is that the harbour fishing has started to improve around virtually all areas, although the channels between Rangiwaea and Motuhoa Islands at or near the lower tides have produced some nice panni-sized snapper, with some trevally and kahawai in the mix.

The deeper areas out in 80 metres-plus, whether it be the Penguin Shoals, Pinnacles or the “80-metre” areas between Motiti Island and Schooner Rocks, still have some good tarakihi and a few golden snapper.

Mayor Island, on the deep dropoffs on the southern side of Tuhua Reef, still have some beautiful-eating pink maomao, and of course in those areas are your larger predators, the great kingfish lurking to devour these fish.

Pink maomao are as delicious as they are beautiful.

It is always worth a jig or even casting a popper right up in the shallower areas. We have found that poppers even right near the top of the reef can have some adrenalin-producing hits and chases.

My best in this area for a kingfish was at 37kgs, and in reality I think I’d be extremely lucky to beat that in the future, however never say never.

Not a lot happened last week when we had swells up to 5.6 metres at A beacon and that was on an incoming tide!

The seas of course have dropped dramatically since then, with some beautiful days with variable winds at 5 to 10 knots, and the weekend is looking pretty benign with winds around 10 to 15 knots and not much swell.

I haven’t yet had any reports from the deep knolls out wide, but there are some great areas there to try for a broadbill. I’ve not had success with these myself but have been lucky to have been given some beautiful steaks which, as most of you know, are superb eating.

As for the gemfish, bluenose, hāpuku and bass, sadly there’s no news at the moment.

We are so lucky to have so many options locally with our harbour areas for snapper, kingfish and trevally when it’s too rough outside, so don’t despair - just get out and spend some time on the water, wherever it may be.

Cheers

Russ Hawkins

Follow us on Facebook - Fat Boy Charters Ltd