Top Catch Fishing Report - 15/10/2020

Fishing generally around the area has been Phenomenal! I could end this report right here as it kind of sums it up, but…The Harbour has it’s usual run of early snapper through it, try areas like the Nook or Takahiwai with a stray lined bait in a well set Berley trail. Kingfish can also be seen smashing up the bait around the Manganese point area so well worth a shot at live baiting or throwing poppers/sticks around the poles and current lies. While you are in the harbour you might as well slip over the side and grab a feed of scollies!

The hen and chicks has been a little hot and cold, some nice Kings around and snapper when they can be located falling to bait, soft bait and jigs. Battle ground area seems a little slow from all the reports I’ve heard to date but a good scout around the general area and you will come up trumps.Bream bay… What a horrible place this is at the moment eh? Snapper, kingfish and Gurnard in numbers I’ve not seen in a long time on the east coast, accompanied by Whales and dolphins that have been the highlight for many kids over the school holidays.Most have been fishing deep.

30-45m mark which is where the lions share of the bait schools are currently holding. When it turns on it is something special to behold, whales and dolphins smashing through big workups with snapper and kings feeding hard out all around, when the bite slows off it’s an appropriate time to pour a coffee, pull out some lunch and build the energy back up for the next wave of fish attack.

We were out over the weekend for 2 days and had great fun with the kids, A lot of fish fell to sliders, early in the day lumo was working well but from about 11am on orange definitely caught the lions share, Softbaits and the good ol 6” New penny grub did the damage. Gurnard while we caught them on everything definitely liked the Orange slider the best.
TBH if you haven’t yet got out there, you NEED to DO IT !!!!!

Workups ,workups ,workups…. And great weather !What an amazing time we’ve had with the weather in the last week. There was a real buzz in the fishing community. Its peak spring workup time in the gulf ,with the water temp hovering around the 15 degree mark its still pre-spawning which means the majority of the fish are slightly further out .

East of kawau has been a winner just outside and around the cable zone were seeing large workups consisting of dolphin and anchovies, more recently in closer to the south side of Kawau itself.

East of Tiri has been similar but with a few more birds especially from last sat onwards they seemed to move down into the sand on the corner of the cable zone.The lure masters fishing comp was a huge success and saw half of Auckland out over the weekend some great fish were caught throughout.

Although fishing was a little tougher for some people on saturday arguably because we had a full moon. The last spot of the week had to be the firth of themes. pretty much in the middle at about 30m mark up through to gannet rock has been very workup prone and a great insurance policy for charters and recreational fishos with the water temp rising by the day we should see more fish migrate into the channels and soon into the inner harbour for spawning ,which may not be as much of an adventure but we can all save soon money on gas!

Fishing on the coast has been great recently. The local bays have been giving up plenty of fish for those fishing at night. Stanmore and big manly seem to be the favourites as surfcasters and rock fishos are both telling of consistent catches. Up the coast, kontiki fishos are getting their fair share from red beach and Orewa.Most are reporting mixed bags of trevally, gurnard, and snapper. These lines are set within 2km of the shore so it would seem there is plenty of good fishing right on our doorstep. Orewa estuary, Wenderholm and Waiwera are still worth a look for those taking the kids for a quick flick as there are still good numbers of small to medium size kahawai hanging around the entrances. Small hex wobblers or a lazy ledger rig is all you need to get in on the action.

The top of the peninsula has been another hotspot as of late with a fair few good fish coming from the shallows of army bay and Shakespeare. The Saturday just gone we weighed 3 fish over 15lb from this area so if your planning on fishing this weekend it could be well worth a look. The Tiri channel and surrounding area has been great for securing a feed with most local charter boats choosing to stay closer to shore with the consistent bad weather we’ve had.

Word from them is that there’s plenty of fish around and filling the bin with good eaters hasn’t been overly challenging.Slow jigs and small soft baits have been working well on the channel edges either dragged behind the drifting boat of cast ahead and retrieved. The waters is still quite cold so the same old shallow water bait and berley technique would be well worth considering when making a game plan for the next couple of weeks. Putting the pick down in an area with a bit of current running along a weed line and using heaps of berley with lightly weighted baits is always going to be a winner.

We have a new kind of berley in store perfect for those planning on a bit of straylining this weekend called Generation II berley. Its available in 2.5kg rolls and is a mix of Squid, Salmon and Kina. This is a combination of our 2 most popular berleys with the addition of a natural food source for this time of year. It should be perfect for fishing the coast. Good luck to all those fishing this weekend. It looks like a pearla

Drifting on light house side of Rangi – fishing well on small lures.  Fleas / 4” soft baits “lime tiger are doing the best”. Shore fishing off Taka has been producing pannies up to 5lb in good condition with bonito belly strips doing the damage!Scattered bird work ups from light house to Tiri, with the usual east of Tiri being the best.  Heavy lures like sliders and coin drops are working and fish finger jigs producing the odd kingie/Squid fishing is still going strong with the Yamashita 3.5 red backing lures getting the bigger ones

A mixed bag of fish in the BOP region over the weekend, some good fish being caught off the beach on the long rods during the day and evening change of light.Some fat kahawai around in the harbour and Kingys hard on the chew around all the local reefs using Top water and livies.Soft baiting along the sand in close 8m to 15m along Papamoa and Matakana where you’ll find the snaps first thing in the morning.

Once the suns up, good time to drop the sliders down and drift along the sand till you find them.Tarakihi fishing has been good too moving in closer to shore reefs.We will be doing a sale on nomad top water lures 20% off for this weekend only so make sure to pop into the store and grab one!

Fishing in the north side of the gulf has been exceptional due to the warmer water and bait slowly heading southwards south of Kawau Island and behind Waihiki Island. Good fish averaging 45-55cm have been reported regularly under workups and the occasional double figure fish has been in the mix. Snapper, gurnard and kings are in super fat conditions with massive kahawai in the mix.

Follow the Gannets and you shouldn’t go wrong but also keep an eye out for dolphins and whales as they can lead you to some baitballs. Lures are the way to go especially “slider” style lures and softbaits have been exceptional! Here’s Craig from Berkley with the NEW  Berkley Hollow Belly, YAKKA paddletail softbait we caught on Monday.