3rd January - We finished last year on a low note with very poor fishing on the 31st December and the 2nd January wasn't that great, so we were trying very hard to do better. Our first stop was just off Tapeka, the wind was non-existent and the sea was dead calm. We drifted for about an hour in the most perfect conditions. Every now and then we hit a patch of good fish interspersed with larger patches of no fish. We repeated our drift over the same patch several times until the wind came up and it was time to drop the anchor. As the wind increased, the fishing improved. We were soon pulling in lots of fish up to around 10lb. Nothing spectacular but definitely lots of fish.
January 2010 - Part 1
Bay of Islands Fishing Report
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It turned out to be a pretty good day, with a lot of fish caught. The bigger Snapper ranged from 5-10lbs and although they weren't monsters they certainly will be better to eat.
Shown here on the top row are Mitchell and Kathryn Smith with their great fish.
Luke Hempel (bottom row) was competing with his dad over two days. Although his dad got the most fish - Lukes' 7lb Snapper was definitely the biggest fish caught by either of them.
Shown here on the top row are Mitchell and Kathryn Smith with their great fish.
Luke Hempel (bottom row) was competing with his dad over two days. Although his dad got the most fish - Lukes' 7lb Snapper was definitely the biggest fish caught by either of them.
4th January - We debated wether or not to go out today as there was supposed to be rain and 30 knot winds (gusting up to 40 knots.) The good old MetService was predicting Gale Force winds and once again they were totally and utterly wrong. I'm tired of losing business because of the incompetence of the idiots in the business of "guessing the weather". They cost me close to five thousand dollars in cancelled charters last year for what proved to be false calls by these twits. Whatever happened to job performance reviews? Make them accountable, I say.
Anyway, we decided to second guess them and - no points for this one - we were out there fishing in very light winds, beautifully calm seas and dry weather (apart from two quick showers) and the fishing was pretty good. It started very slowly and there was the odd tease from a reasonable fish. Finally we declared that we would move but immediately someone hooked into something with promise so we stayed. After a while, it became obvious that nothing was biting so we once again declared our intention to move and once again someone immediately hooked into a good fish. This happened more several times until the larger Snapper finally started to bite and then people who hadn't had much luck previously started to get pretty good fish. By the end of the trip we had a lot of very good fish on board.
Today was one of those trips that make you smile for a long time. Everyone got on well and there was a lot of good natured kidding going on. We expected the worst, decided to take an educated chance that the forecast was wrong and it ended very well indeed.
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This was a slow day that turned good. Bad weather turned out to be great, the rain was almost non-existent, the fish were getting better all day. The end results and smiles tell it all.
Keith Richie, despite his injured hand, cleaned up with a lot of very good Snapper. This 10lb fish was his best effort.
Frank Pritchard & Norm George had problems catching anything decent for a long time but they got there eventually. The smile on Norms' face when he caught his first snapper (7lb) went from ear to ear.
Keith Richie, despite his injured hand, cleaned up with a lot of very good Snapper. This 10lb fish was his best effort.
Frank Pritchard & Norm George had problems catching anything decent for a long time but they got there eventually. The smile on Norms' face when he caught his first snapper (7lb) went from ear to ear.
I stuffed up Charles Spence's photo as I forgot to check that the lens was clean (sorry Charles.) He had to work hard to get this nice specimen but he got there in the end.
2nd January - We'd received a tip that there was a patch of big Snapper on a drop of just past the Nine Pin so we headed out to check it out. Unfortunately, if they were still there, they definitely weren't biting. We checked out the worm beds on the way back but to no avail, the fish there were feeding on crabs but they were small. Next stop was Centre Foul and here we found some reasonable fish. Not great but at least people took something home.
5th January - I started the day with a no-show - I'm getting annoyed so I'm starting a wall of shame. When Dr Secheny booked he was told to be at the wharf no later than 8:50am as we have to go to Russell and must get there by 9am. When he told me that he'd be there at 8am I told him that 8:50 was fine but he said he liked to be early. This morning he rang me at 8:05am to check the weather. Weather will be fine I told him, just make sure that you're there by 8:50am. I'll be there by 8:30 he said. By this time I knew what I was dealing with. Sure enough, 8:50am turned up - No Dr Secheny. We gave him 5 more minutes then left. At 9:05am I got a call from a booking office saying that Dr Secheny was at the wharf waiting for us. Too late buddy we were almost in Russell and you're on my blacklist.
I've got a bit behind on my reports because it has been so busy. My memory of the day is of reasonably good fishing.We had two groups of people - one wanting biggish fish and one preferring to eat smaller fish. The day started out very calm with virtually no wind. Although the weather was beautiful, the fishing was dead with nothing biting. When the sea breeze finally came in, it was just enough to get the fish interested and things started to pick up. As the day progressed the fish got better and better so by the end of the trip we had managed to get a pretty good mix for both groups.
6th January - Morning Trip - We were a little bit worried that the tides and forecasted light winds would not be conducive to a great trip. The day started the same way with no wind and nothing biting but upon arrival of the sea breeze, things started to pick up. By the end of the trip, we were happy to discover that our fears were groundless. It was a very nice haul of fish considering how fussy we were about what we kept.
- Afternoon Trip - This was a Stag trip for Peter Coates and his friends. Everyone was pretty relaxed and were enjoying a few beers while they fished. We were pretty keen to get some good fish and were hopeful that this mornings trip would repeat itself. The trip started out a little bit windy and choppy but within an hour the wind dropped away and we had beautiful conditions. We weren't catching as much as this morning but it ended up being enough for the guys needs. The highlight was a 28lb Kingfish which was caught by the skipper (Terry). This great fish gave him a good workout, it's the first time that I've seen him panting after pulling in a fish.
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Here's a selection of the best Snapper that we caught this morning. I hope I got all the names right. The end result was definitely worth the wait at the beginning.
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Peter Coates is seen here with this great 28lb Kingfish.
It was Peters' Stag Fishing Trip today. His buddies made him kiss his first Snapper and his swollen lip attests to the fact that Snappers can still bite the lips that kiss them after they are caught.