February 2010 - Part 2
Bay of Islands Fishing Report
11th February - We've got a large group from an Auckland RSA that have booked the boat for the next three days so we are hoping for a good result. I warned them on the way out that the fishing is very on and off again so they had to be prepared to for a lot of time waiting for the fish to bite. On the way out, Terry spotted some good fish sign so we stopped and dropped anchor. For the first 10-15 minutes we pulled up nothing but midget fish and it was looking like nothing was going to change so we declared our intention to move if nothing happened in the next 5 minutes. Two minutes later one of the guys caught a better Snapper, then an even bigger Snapper was caught and within a few more minutes a 3lb Snapper was caught. So we stayed. For two solid hours the fishing was fantastic and everyone had a great workout. Just after midday, one of the guys broke his line on a big fish and that was it - game over. Between midday and 1300hrs we only caught two decent fish but it didn't really matter as we had enough. We went home early and three of us spent the next hour filleting fish. Great day!
12th February - Unfortunately for the very first time I wasn't able to go on this trip. My partner had fallen very ill with a 24hr bug and I was confined to camp for 7hrs cleaning duties. Luckily, the group we had out yesterday was coming out today and tomorrow. They were very capable and self sufficient so after I made sure that they were okay to go out alone with Terry, I loaded up the bait and sent them on their way. It was an 8hr trip, so as soon as I'd finished cleaning the camp facilities I got the call saying that they were returning to the wharf. When I got down to greet the boat I found out that it hadn't been a great day, the fish were just sucking the bait off the hooks and were incredibly hard to hook up. You would think that after spending 8hrs on the water that you would get some sort of "bite time" but it just didn't happen. They did have some good sized Snapper, up to around 8lbs, but they kept about one fish per person.
13th February - This was our last trip with our RSA group and we were hoping to get a better day than yesterday. Once again it was pretty hard going but we were getting a few fish but nothing huge. We tried a couple of spots but weren't getting the results we wanted. Our third spot was the exact same bit of reef that we'd scored 16 Hapuka on in early spring. As we arrived about five boats left the area suggesting that the results here were going to be the same as our previous spots. We dropped anchor regardless and checked it out. It didn't take long before we started to score some very nice Snapper (wonder why the other guys left?) Barbara did best with a nice Kingfish but our best Snapper (rumored to be 10-15lbs) didn't make in on board as our enthusiastic angler tried to bring it in without a net. The results at the end of the day were pretty good but not the same as two days previously but I was comfortable with our catch. As they say "that's fishing".
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A great group from New Lynn RSA.
It was so busy that this was the only photo I had time to take and
unfortunately I couldn't get back far enough to get them all in.
This was an absolutely brilliant days fishing. I'm thankful for the help given by the guys as it took three of us just over an hour to fillet the fish.
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It was the last day for our group from New Lynn and we had to make an impression.
It was tough going for a while but we got there in the end which supports my view that the guys offering four hour trips have got it wrong. It's not about money it's about customer satisfaction.
When the fishing is this tough, you have to put in the time. We watched the competition panic and charge all around the bay over the past 3 days while our approach was calmer and more successful than the others because we knew that we had the time to put into each place we tried.
From the left: Barbara, the organiser, scored todays best fish and Bruce the best Snapper.
These guys have become such a fixture over the past three days that it's going to feel strange tomorrow without them.
Thanks guys it was a pleasure.
14th February - The weather was supposed to be the same as yesterday, or calmer, or wetter, or finer, or .... Whatever forecast you looked at gave you a different answer so we went with the WYSIWYG* forecast instead. It's usually the best anyway.
We checked out yesterday's last stop and had some promising hits from two good fish but nothing was pulled in. There were so many Mao Mao that we decided to move. The results we were getting were making it pretty obvious that the Snapper weren't in bite mode and we were running a real risk of losing all our bait before it happened, so we headed out to the mud. Initially our new spot produced lots of small Snapper. Admittedly they were the target species but they were very small. As time progressed the fish suddenly started to get bigger. It was looking like we were going to be right into the big ones and then (I promised Rangi that I wouldn't mention his name) soooooo ... this "guy" on board had his drag too tight and while pulling in a big fish the line broke.
The worst thing about Ledger Rigs is that when the line breaks, the fish has a hook and a 4oz sinker hanging from it's mouth, the fish panics and leaves the area rather rapidly. If that fish is a large Snapper, once it spooks, they all tend to spook.
Today it appeared that is what happened. We hung in for a while longer (and Terry laid a bit of a guilt trip on this "guy") before we spotted some bird action and set off to chase the gannets. We settled on a spot that had promise and had our last try. It was reasonably successful and rounded off the day pretty well. A few good fish were caught, including our first Kahawai for a couple of weeks and we left reasonably happy with the results. Not as good as previously but enough to feed everyone for a couple of meals at least.
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It was a hard slog today and I was getting a bit worried that we were going to come home with very little. These fish were a good representative of our best fish, with Steve Mackie's being the heaviest at 4.5lbs. Ron Na did well with his fish but the prize for best fisherman/woman/person had to go to our little battler Ssen Kim, It didn't matter where on the boat she fished from, she just kept hauling them in. It was a pleasure watching her perform, good style and obviously got the feel for it. Well done.
many times the fish have come on the bite 20-30 minutes after the last 4hr charter has rushed back to the wharf to pick up their next batch of customers.
Today was no exception. We had 3 very good Snapper on board within the first half hour of our trip but then the fishing effectively died. We hung in at the first spot for about an hour (because we had the time in hand to do it) and then tried another spot. This one was also pretty slow but we could see fish on the bottom, so we stayed and waited. The boats doing 4hr charters had already gone. I was wondering how we were going to split 4 fish between 6 clients when I managed a nice Snapper of my own. It was followed by another Snapper soon after and then, half an hour before it was time to leave the fishing really kicked off. We caught enough good sized Snapper to satisfy everyone in that 30 minutes. It was unfortunate that we had to leave but my dog was booked in for a pre-surgery consultation with the vet at 4pm and we'd stayed as long as we could.
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In order of appearance: Darren McGregor caught this Snapper within 2 minutes of us dropping our lines in the water for the first time; Steve Bradbrook caught this Snapper with about 5 minutes left in the trip and Graham Carter who caught his Snapper when the anchor was halfway up before we departed for home (you do not cut it any closer than that.)
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Once again, we were shadowed by the opposition. Apparently they have a new fishfinder - it's called "Terry"
16th February - The fishing was pretty hard today but we did well in the end. The weather was fantastic with very light breezes and a long rolling swell that was so gentle that you didn't notice it. We went back to yesterdays spot and located a good patch of fish on the bottom. The wind was so light that we drifted for a while and had some very good hits. Then, like bees to honey, the competitors started to arrive. We'd watched them moving around the bay trying different spots and then they decided to check out where we were fishing. Of course this also drew in a lot of other boats, so it got pretty crowded for a while. We decided to abandon the drifting just in case someone found our spot so we dropped the anchor right where we wanted to be. It was slow going but we had prior knowledge from yesterday and before everyone arrived so we stayed. The numbers of boats built steadily but gradually people got bored and left. Then (grin) the charter boats left at around 11:30 as they were starting to panic again. They had less than an hour to get a result and nothing was happening here. Finally we were all alone again and the fish came on the bite (big grin.) Glad they weren't around to see the 15lb Snapper that came in after they left. End result was three very good Snapper (see the photo) and a good number of fillet-able Snapper ranging from 32cm up to 2lbs. Our five clients were very happy with the catch.
15th February - Today was the perfect example supporting my belief that if you want to catch fish, when the fishing is hard, then you have to put in the time. Yesterday we had one of the oppositions boats using us to find the fish, today the owner of that opposition called my
Skipper to sound him out. Apparently the reason we've seen them whizzing all around the bay is because they're having trouble catching fish (now that's a surprise.) I've lost count of how
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Our faithful shadow was back again and today he brought a friend. Looks a bit crowded with 8 people crammed on the "floating brick"
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Grant and his buddies were pretty relaxed and enjoying the sun, a few beers and the occasional good fish interspersed with some really good fish. These were the best of the day. The 15lb Snapper in the middle is destined for the smoker.