Fish, Boat, Dive

The winter season has arrived, the school Snapper have moved out of the bay and a lot of people have put their boats away for the season. I'm not one of them! There is still some great fishing and diving to be had at this time of year.

The big Kingfish are in around Cape Brett with some nice 20kg-plus fish being landed at the Dog and Bird Rock. Anglers have been catching them on jig and live bait and some nice fish have been landed by the 'spearos'.

Tarakihi are coming into the shallower water through the winter months. Tarakihi are found in New Zealand, Australia and the Atlantic coast of South America. They spend most of the year in deeper water, but move into shallower fishable depths through the autumn and early winter. I use a dropper rig for Tarakihi and prefer shellfish such as Pipi or Tuatua as bait. A smaller hook (normally a 1 or 2.0 circle hook) can also be used.

There is some great diving to be found in June and conditions are still nice and settled. I spotted a nice two-metre School Shark diving at Putahataha Island at the entrance to Deep Water Cove last month. Normally School Sharks are in deeper water but they move into diving depths in the winter time. They are very shy fish, and as soon as this particular one spotted us, it turned and headed quickly away.

Deep Water Cove is progressing very well as a marine reserve and it's great to be able to dive in a site that is protected. The kelp beds are coming back and we are seeing schools of juvenile Snapper on the sand close to the reefs. We also have some nice big Crayfish that more or less just walk out to divers! The Rahui (conservation protection) is in place until at least 20th of November 2014.

In fact it's not well known that the whole area of Deep Water Cove is protected by a temporary reserve. Through the summer months it seemed to be a daily occurrence to have boats (both private and charter) fishing inside the reserve area. I even caught a local Kayak guide fishing while guiding a tour!

Fish Forever are in the process of getting signs in place at Deep Water Cove to

inform boaties of the cove's reserve status. Please look at www.rahui.org.nz for more information on the reserve in Deep Water Cove.