November 2009 - Week 3
Bay of Islands Fishing Report
15th November - It's amazing how two days side by side can be so different. Yesterday - dead calm, Today strong winds and big waves. We initially headed into the shelter of the Purerua Peninsula but bait robbers were stripping the hooks faster than we liked so we ventured out to the other side of the bay. It was a bit rock and roll but the tide and wind were in the same direction so we were bow on into the swell so it was reasonably comfortable. The fishing showed promise although we weren't getting any monsters. We hung in there for about two hours and most people caught something worthwhile. The odd big wave became a bit more common so we decided to head into shelter again before conditions deteriorated too much.
Although everyone had handled the rough conditions well, it was still a relief to get back in calm water. After 10 minutes or so, we started to hook into a few good sized Snapper. In fact the fish were good enough for us to extend the trip. By the time we got back to the wharf (an hour late) we had 4-5 good Snapper, a Hapuka pup, a Porae and about 4 Trevally. That plus 4 Snapper fillets per person made the trip, although hard, reasonably successful.
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Pictured here from top left: Maggie with the tastiest fish (hapuka), Barry Townshend with his "Angela Jolie" of the sea (porae), Gunta with the 2nd best Snapper of the day and Jacquelyn Robson with the best Snapper (sorry Alexis, you lost that competition)
17th November - We took a local group out today so we were trying hard to impress. However the fickle finger of fate decided to make it a very hard day indeed. There was a slight swell left over from the weather two days ago but apart from that the weather was pretty good. It was a surprise to see that the fish were not biting but we tried three places that have been very successful over the past couple of weeks in the hope that we'd get lucky. Alas, it was not to be. Our largest Snapper was only measuring 38cm and there was no sign of school fish at all. Our last try was to check if any fish had slipped under the radar and come in close to shore. Once again the fish were only small but we did manage to score a Terakihi. One of the guys hooked into something big twice but lost it each time. There was potential, so once again we put in extra time to see what we could get. Thank goodness the extra hour brought us the fish shown below.
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John De Boer was getting more and more frustrated with each big fish he lost. However it was a case of third time lucky with this 13lb Snapper. The prize for the biggest fish was provided by Geoff Mentor of Plumbing World. I think you'll guess what it was.
19th November - I made a mistake with my bookings so we didn't get out until 11am today. Anyway, once I discovered (and corrected) my mistake, we headed out with a group of four to see what we could find. The first couple of spots produced some Terakihi and a few reasonable Snapper. Nothing spectacular though, so we tried a 3rd, then a 4th spot. This last stop was an attempt to see if there were any of the Hapuka pups left in the area as it was almost low tide which has proven ideal in past trips. No Hapuka but the Snapper we caught made the whole trip worthwhile. We had a battle going on between Ken and Maggie as they tried to get the best fish. Maggie had caught the Hapuka two trips ago, so Ken was trying for revenge. His first decent Snapper was caught at the first fishing spot but Maggie almost leveled with the Snapper she caught at the last spot. Ken thought that he had the advantage still but 5 mins later, Maggie caught this magnificent fish. It weighed in at 20lb (including the net). I'll weight the net next trip but this fish should be 18lb or more. Nice fish Maggie, nice try Ken.
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Ken Jury and Maggie Young were having a good time competing for the best fish. Despite the way it looks, Ken's Snapper is larger than Maggie's
but the argument was well and truly over when Maggie caught this monster Snapper.
21st November - All the ingredients were there today: overcast, slight but steady breeze, huge schools of Pilchards, Gannet workups, Jesus birds skipping on the surface searching for Snapper roe. Terry and I were pretty hopeful that today was going to be the day that the Schoolies arrived in big numbers. Unfortunately the wind changed to the SW and bite time never arrived. By the end of the day we had a Terakihi, a Trevally, a Porae and a number of Snapper around 30-34cm but no sign of the monsters that we're waiting for.
22nd November - The weather started out beautifully calm but deteriorated with 20knt SW winds (despite the forecast predicting NW.) We anchored in the middle of the bay amongst diving Gannets and huge schools of pilchards but if the School Fish were there they weren't interested. Eventually we dragged anchor for the second time so we relocated closer to the islands. The next spot wasn't much cop. We were robbed blind by bait stealers and after about half an hour it was obvious nothing better was in the offing. So we tried a third spot and this is where it happened. Almost immediately, the quality of the Snapper improved and we were catching Snapper from about 34cm up to a Kg in weight. The best fish of the day was caught by Trayton. As he put it "that fish made the whole trip worthwhile". The funny thing was that a nearby charter boat relocated half an hour after our arrival (obviously due to poor fish) but the fishing on our boat was pumping. In fact we were pulling in a 7lb Snapper as they went past us.
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.jpg "Best Snapper of the day (hamming it up)")
Our best Snapper (7lb) was caught by Trayton Toko (middle) followed by Kim Kreama (left) and Jamie Irving (right) who each caught 2lb Snappers. Note: Jamie, ever the showman, was trying to make his Snapper look a bit bigger. Lucky the camera wasn't closer as he would've bumped the lens with the fish.