2nd November - The souwesterly calmed the water down pretty quick so we were able to have a decent look around the bay. It was a magic day with quite a few boats around. The algae bloom has dispersed but there weren't a lot of fish to look at unfortunately. Our catch consisted of a few smallish snapper, a golden snapper, a ling and this lovely John Dory.
November 2008
Bay of Islands Fishing Report
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.jpg "The star fish of the day this lovely John Dory")
John Dory don't always go after live bait it seems. Examining his stomach contents revealed that this fish pounced on a pilchard head.
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3rd November - Today we had soueasterly winds which brought very light rain and solid cloud cover so we decided to try the shallow water amongst the islands. Right from the start we thought we were on to a winner. We drifted over a patch of larger snapper with the biggest fish shown below. So we went back and drifted over the same spot and got nothing. We tried several different spots during the day and could only find small snapper. So we went back to the original spot and found the whole area bare of fish life. We finished the day with a terakihi and a number of snapper around the 30-34cm mark but nothing spectacular unfortunately.
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.jpg "Our biggest Snapper caught by Mr Toomer")
The snapper were very aggressive today and put up pretty good fights. They were just lacking in size
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6th November - The weather forecast was changing every six hours and making a total mockery of long range forecasting. AND they still got it wrong! Fishing was below average still. The water is still too cold to attract the school fish in and although there are a lot of small snapper around a good day is taking home enough for a meal. Two terakihi, a large kahawai and a reasonable number of snapper between 29 and 32cm made up our catch.
12th November - After the last trip we decided we'd try Plan B. We had a large group on board so we headed out to an area about 1.5 hrs out. We were going to be in totally calm water and out of the wind. The trip out was scenic as we had to travel right through the islands to get to our spot. Our first stop wasn't doing a lot for us with the odd fish being bought on board. A special "thank you" to the diver who decided that 20 metres off to our starboard was the perfect place to jump in the water and scare off what little fish remained in the area. Our third spot was a known Terakihi ground and we were getting desperate. The tide had changed by the time we got there and it was all on. The fishing was so good that we stayed until they went off the bite (we arrived back 1.5 hrs late but it was worth it). There was a steady stream of fish coming aboard so I was kept busy. Our final catch consisted of 15 snapper ranging between 30cm up to 3kg, 13 large Terakihi and four Porae.
10th November - What a shocker. For the very first time we began to worry that we were going to come home empty handed. Facing a 2 metre swell in the bay with no real prospect of catching much we decided to take advantage of the overcast conditions to check out the shallows. Luckily we were able drift so we checked out about five different areas without success. In the last hour the fish decided to bite but even then we only brought home 3 fish between 5 people.
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It was a slow start but when the tide changed it was all on. We caught more Terakihi today than we have in the past 6 months. These Snapper and Porae were the best examples of the day.
18th November - We spent 8 hours out there today (interrupted by a lunch stop at Urapukapuka Island) but were unable to hook into any big ones. We had time to do quite a bit of searching but the cold, strong Sou-westerly winds seem to have chased the schoolies away temporarily. It certainly wasn't stopping the small snapper from biting however. They were absolutely ferocious on the incoming tide but pretty quiet on the outgoing.
21st November - The Day the School Fish Came Back - Skipper Terry believed that the light North Easterly winds predicted for today were going to start bringing the fish back into the Bay. The old Sea Dog was right again. We drifted over a patch of reef that was showing promise early in the trip and although the snapper were not huge they showed promise. So we dropped anchor and resumed fishing. While not spectacular, the fishing was consistent and we had some nice fish on board. Every other boat in sight was moving around trying to find fish so we stayed put. Our reward came, when shortly after midday, we started catching our first schoolies. Several large snapper and a couple of porae later we had all we needed. Even the crew got some fish to take home today!
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It was a lovely day for fishing which only got better and better as the school fish started arriving
22nd November - We were unable to get out in the middle of the bay today to take advantage of the schoolies as a huge storm was bearing down on us and the swells were already making it a battle to get around Tapeka. There was not going to be any rain today so we headed for the shelter of the islands to see if the school fish had come this far into the bay. Just about every snapper we caught - and there were a lot - was around 30cm in size so our large group of 13 anglers had plenty to take home. Unfortunately the snapper shown here was the biggest caught and that only happened in the last 5 minutes.
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This was the best snapper caught today. Luckily the rest were all around 30cm and in good condition so they weren't too shabby either.
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A very nice selection of hard fighting snapper. A perfect day, good weather, good company and lots of exciting fishing
27th November - This was the day we had been waiting for. The storm over the weekend brought warmer water into the bay and with the warm water came the school fish. We had a number of people on board who had never caught a decent snapper before. Today, every person on board pulled in at least one snapper over 11lb.
Our biggest snapper today was 25lb caught by Steve Smallwood from Aussie. Yes, the Aussies have claimed pavlovas as their own, stolen Crowded House, claimed Russell Crowe (but that's okay, you can keep him) and now they are catching our biggest snappers. I have a feeling that Steve is going to be flashing a few photos of his fish around his fanatical fishing buddies in Australia with comments like "You call that a fish? Now, this is a fish".
28th November - Another successful day. Everybody on board was a return customer, so I wrapped that the fishing was so good. Brendan is a local from Whangarei that comes out regularly, not only did he get his biggest ever snapper, he also managed to catch an impressive John Dory about 20 minutes after he told us he wanted one. Leo comes out with us everytime he is staying in Paihia and his timing was spot on this year. It was a pleasure to see him hauling in some impressive fish throughout the day. We have noticed that the southerly winds have been having an effect on the big fish though. They are not as plentiful as the previous day.
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I have a feeling that Brendan (on the left) will always remember the fishing today. It is by far the biggest fish he has ever caught. Well Done.
29th November - Continuing southerly winds, although very light, are still affecting the fish. We only caught three large ones, with the biggest being caught as we were packing up to come home. There were a lot of boats out there and judging by the continual changing of position of everyone, they were experiencing the same problems.
A second trip in the afternoon produced a lot of fish around the 30 - 34 cm mark but no big ones at all. It was such an absolutely beautiful calm evening that a few people jumped in for a swim and when a couple of dolphins turned up for a quick look around it topped the trip.
Although the giant snapper were getting elusive, the ones that we did catch were impressive.
30th November - The bay was packed with boats today. Many of the locals had heard that the big snapper were here and they dusted of their boats and headed out. The giant fish were safe today however, as they appear to have headed back out to deeper water. Our catch consisted of an average of four 30cm snapper per person, a kingfish and a large grandaddy hapuka (poor man's crayfish) and a small porae.
The wind shifted to the northeast during the day, so the school fish may be on their way back very soon. Fingers crossed.
Wait for all the images to load and then left click on the photos for a description and slideshow
Wait for all the images to load and then left click on the photos for a description and slideshow
Wait for all the images to load and then left click on the photos for a description and slideshow
Wait for all the images to load and then left click on the photos for a description and slideshow
Wait for all the images to load and then left click on the photos for a description and slideshow