Geoff Thomas: An abundance of riches

Photo / Brett Phibbs.

As expected the fishing turned right around in the past week and the slow patch was replaced with some hot action, particularly out wide in the Hauraki Gulf.

This week saw more kahawai than dolphins in the workups, with plenty of snapper under them. Drifting with a drogue out to slow the boat and keep its bow towards the wind is producing the best results. And of course this allows anglers to employ both lures like slow jigs and soft plastics, and baits. Small chunks of cut squid have been working better than pilchards, which is unusual when the fish are feeding on bait fish like pilchards or anchovies.

Water temperatures are creeping up very slowly and hitting 16.5C, but still have some way to go.

The popular fishing grounds closer in have also improved, with snapper coming from the Rangitoto Channel out by A Buoy, in the Rakino Channel and on the worm beds. Drifting with soft baits along the edge of the channels is worth trying, particularly at first light.

The west coast has fished better and conditions have allowed boats to get out, with snapper hooked on fresh mullet baits all the way from 20 metres out to 60 metres of water. Inside the Manukau Harbour trevally and gurnard have been fishing well, but kahawai and snapper are harder to find. Scallops in the harbour are patchy, with their condition fluctuating. But flounder are turning up and netting and spearing should only improve as summer sets in.

Some big fish have been caught out of Kawakawa Bay with a tackle shop in Clevedon weighing snapper of 9kg and 12.7kg. The Firth of Thames has also improved with a lot of fish in the 4-5kg range being caught, both on the mussel farms and out wide.

The blue water has not arrived in the Hauraki Gulf but fishing out around Great Barrier Island has been good in 40-45 metres, with hapuku moving in to 130 metres outside Barrier.

There are more kingfish around than at this time last year, which is a good sign for those targeting kings through the summer. Fishing around Little Barrier Island has been patchy, but should improve.

In the Bay of Islands the big shoals of bait fish have not moved into the bay so the congregations of birds are not evident yet, but fishing at dusk is best off Tapeka Pt and the Centre Foul. Kingfish can be hooked at the 71-metre reef and on the deep reefs off Rocky Pt along the 50-metre line, and skipjack tuna have been reported out off Whangaroa.

Inshore snapper fishing is going well in the Bay of Plenty, with temperatures around 16C, and out at White Island kingfish are turning up and fishing is picking up, with the first flying fish also appearing. Further out albacore tuna are being hooked north of White. The tides and the moon are all in good cycles, but there is a new moon today which is an average day. However, the next four days are all excellent in terms of the moon phase and big tides will help.

Trolling and harling on the Rotorua lakes has picked up, with more trout chasing smelt on Lakes Rotorua, Rotoiti and Okataina - although Tarawera is still disappointing in terms of both the numbers and the size of fish. The 2-year-old fish which were released as yearlings 14 months ago are smaller than average, at just under 2kg, and anglers point to the lack of smelt and their small size as the problem.

The reason Rotoiti and Rotorua produce such fast trout growth is the abundance and size of the smelt in the lakes, which can be attributed to the rich nutrients in the water. While this contributes to fast growth of both smelt and trout, it can also signal a problem in mid-summer when algal blooms appear.

Fly fishing in the Ohau Channel, which was disappointing early in the season, has improved and a brown trout of 7.6kg and a rainbow of 6.8kg have been recorded from the channel.

More fishing action can be found on the new internet television channel, FishnHunt.Tv.