Tauranga Fishing Report - 20th May, 2022

Motiti Snapper on the Chew

The snapper fishing has been simply great, with fish up to 22lb being caught in 40 meters of water, and it is not taking long from the moment the burley bombs are deployed until when the fish start biting.

The harbour is still fishing well for trevally and snapper on the change of tide. There is no need to go much further than the general area around the harbour entrance.

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We have been mainly fishing in about 18-21 metres of water, near the edge of the kelp patches around Motiti Island.

A pleasant ‘bycatch’ has been the good number of trevally gracing the ice bin. At times, they are thick and can be seen swimming in the burley trail right under the boat. The eating qualities of trevally to me are much under-rated. We enjoyed a recent meal where the trevally was done in white sauce and parsley with spring onions added; it was superb to say the least.

You never quite know what to expect on the kingfish front, the action changing by the day, even by the hour. Fishing for these magnificent sportfish has been patchy, but on the positive side: there have been some great fish and action on the steep drop-offs surrounding parts of Tahua Reef.

The western side of Mayor Island seems to be a lot quieter currently, but as stated above it can change at any time. The water temperature has dropped slightly, to 19.4 degrees Celsius, but it is still noticeably clear with visibility of about 15 meters (at least).

There has been a fair amount of effort put into chasing broadbill, but only a few hookups reported among the good number of boats and crews out there trying.

It is great to see large areas and numbers of skipjack tuna, from five miles off the coast and around Karewa Island, with most fish appearing to be smaller in size, but great for the winter snapper bait supply.

Hopefully, most of the Bay of Plenty locals would have seen Todd Muller’s Select Committee presentation on the Marine Protected Areas and the petition signed by nearly 3000 people.

In my opinion, and many others, the whole process was totally undemocratic and lacked proper science. Hopefully, down the track, there is a chance for a revision.

Russ Hawkins

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