October 2009
Bay of Islands Fishing Report
3rd October - This was our first time out fishing in a week. We were desperate to get out and had a brief window of reasonable weather before it deteriorates again. Our biggest problem was that the tide was going out while the wind was coming in, thus putting us side on to the weather, so we had to stay in the shelter of the headlands on the north western corner of the bay to minimise the tossing about of the boat. Our first spot produced just enough fish to keep us interested. Young Sandra Tsai outperformed the entire boat for the first few hours with three Terakihi and a small Kingfish before anyone else had caught a keeper (including the skipper). Although we eventually had 4 Terakihi, a couple of small snapper and a John Dory, Terry decided that it was time to move. We'd been watching all the other boats searching all over our side of the bay for some decent fish and judging by the amount of movement there wasn't much going on.
We decided to chance the weather and try the place where we'd done so well with the Hapuka last week. The gamble paid off. The tide was starting to slacken and we were facing into the wind a bit more so it was becoming a lot more comfortable on board. The fish started to bit furiously almost straight away and they were ...... Hapuka !!! We hit the jackpot. Everyone except Annabel caught at least one Hapuka. It was fast and furious for a couple of hours and we caught enough to feed everyone (including the skipper and myself). A brilliant day, great company and great fishing. I'm still buzzing.
Our Next Trip is 2nd November
- At the moment, each trip has very different results.
It's anyone's guess what we get this time.
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.jpg "Gerry Ryke and Natasha Greatorex")
.jpg "Matt Fleming")
.jpg "Tsai Family - Jo, Sandra, Annabel and Charley")
This was another great day in the end. We had a massive hit with 16 Hapuka. Plus other fish. It's a rare day with Hapuka but 16 was massive - we had to leave a wee bit early to try to conserve the fish in this area. A great day and great company, I am very happy with the way it all turned out.
I've got a couple of videos that I've taken. It's all trial stuff here are the links:
Matt Fleming pulling in his first Hapuka
Cecil Ross with his Hapuka (we got him to his feet at last)
8th October - We waited for this day because it was going to be the first day with light winds and most importantly they were going to be coming from the Northwest rather than the strong Southerlies and Sou'Westers of the previous four days. Unfortunately, once again, what was forecast was not what we got. The winds were 15-20 knots and from the Southwest still. The effect on the fishing was obvious.....it was very very slow.
We were in the right place for Hapuka and the tide was due to go slack within 30 minutes of our arrival so we had our fingers crossed that they would perform on cue today. These turned out to be disappointing as well as we only managed to bring one on board even though Sally hooked up another four (but everyone of them got away.)
I was surprised with the amount of fish caught however. By the end of the trip we had over 30 Snapper, 1 Hapuka, a John Dory and a Terakihi.
20th October - To sum up today in four words we could just call it "Six people - Six fish" . What a shocker, we tried all the likely places but to no avail. The Snapper were tiny and although some of the spots we tried were producing lots of fish, they were all small. By the end of trip we came home with a Trevally, a Terakihi and four Snapper. Really dreading tomorrows trip but you never know......
21st October - What a stunning day - dead calm and light southerly wind. Usually the southerly means that the fishing is bad but the forecast was for light winds gradually turning to the North. After yesterday, I wasn't too hopeful but the plan was to try a spot by the Black Rocks until slack tide then we would go a lot further out than yesterday. Talk about a plan coming together perfectly, the first spot produced a flurry of Terakihi for about half an hour. Good fun had by everyone! When the Terakihi stopped biting we hauled anchor and headed out to deeper water. We pulled in a few Snapper that looked promising but weren't quite plentiful enough to warrant staying. Terry decided to stay a further 15 minutes then we would try a third spot. That was when the fun started. Terry pulled in a 3kg Snapper, and we were also pulling in quite a few Snapper around the 34cm mark. We thought we had a really good Kingfish when it dived in amongst the reef below. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get it out and turned out to be a 2 metre Shark. Then, joy oh joy, we started to catch School Snapper. No big monsters yet but they ranged in size from 5lb to 10lb. A few females were amongst them and their roe is mature and ready for the water to heat up. By the end of the trip we had a lot of fish including Snapper, Trevally, Terakihi, a big Blue Cod and several Golden Snapper. I am on a high - this was a good day.
24th October - Another a stunning day - dead calm and light southerly wind. Although the fishing was pretty quiet, the quality of the Snapper being caught was very good and we ended up with enough for everyone including the crew. We were catching local Snapper up to 2lbs and a few School Snapper with the the biggest being around 6-7lbs. A good day with everyone having a chance to catch good fish.
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Apologies to everyone as I'm suffering from brain fade with regards to the Humphries names and Kat's friend. Please correct me so I can label the photos correctly. Deans young son was pretty happy with his Snapper. It was a long time coming but perseverance paid off. We had a few beginners today who did well with some reasonable Snapper. Dean's Wife (Sharyn?) got the best Snapper of the day and Dean restored some pride with the biggest fish (a rather feisty shark).
Unfortunately the video of Dean catching a large shark didn't come out so well. The lens cap kept getting in the way and spoilt the shot. Sorry Dean, it was a nice fish though, I'm sure you'll always remember it.
25th October - Gotta love these beautiful conditions but for whatever the reason the fish just were not interested in biting today. We had some good hits right at the beginning but within 30mins the fishing died completely. We stayed at the first spot, over by "the Whale", for more than two hours but it just wasn't happening. We were also observing movement all over the bay so it was pretty obvious that everyone was having the same problem as us. Finally we decided to move, although we didn't have high hopes. We dropped anchor at the spot we call "the Quarry", for a while but it was pretty much the same as at the Whale. We had time for one more spot, so we went to the place we'd caught a few Terakihi last week. The Terakihi weren't biting either and the Snapper although plentiful were tiny. There was a hint of something big out there so we put in an extra 20 minutes. We called it quits and told everyone that we were on our final baits and all hell broke loose. One good snapper was followed by another and then another, so we stayed. Look at the photos below to get an idea how good the next half hour was. Damn it was good.
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We had a long wait today before we caught anything decent but I think that everyone agrees that it was worth the wait. It was a fun day and a lot of laughs.
26th October - This was the perfect example of how fast the fishing can change. It was overcast with occasional light rain and winds (although we got drenched when the rain increased for about half an hour towards the end of the trip.) Normally this sort of weather provides pretty good conditions for fishing but today, it just didn't happen. We saw no hint of the big schoolies around and the few Snapper that we caught were only between 30-50cm. The adrenalin was running briefly when we thought we did have a big Snapper coming in but it turned out to be a small gummy shark. A great fight but not exactly the target species. Our clients were pretty keen and no matter how bad the weather got, they stayed out in it and carried on fishing. The only pussy on board was me, as I was the only one seeking shelter during the worst of the weather.
30th October - The weather got worse and worse between the last trip and today. Yesterday we had SW winds of over 40 knots hammering the bay. Today we were promised 15 knots and although we were worried about the effects of the huge winds, we decided we'd go out today. Well, the day was even better than forecast. Very light winds, sunny and mostly very warm. Our first stop was unproductive, so bad in fact that our initial fears were looking like becoming reality. We crossed to the other side of the bay in an effort to get away from the algae bloom and hopefully experience better fishing. Unfortunately the bloom was just as bad there but we found a large school of fish so naturally checked it out. All I can say is the fishing was fantastic. We started with a Scorpion Fish (also known as Poor Man's Crayfish), which was quickly followed by 12 Golden Snapper and 4 large Red Snapper. Then the fishing got better and better, we came home with about 15 Golden Snapper, 1 Scorpion Fish, 1 large Blue Cod and about 8 large Snapper. Enough fish for everyone, plus the crew.
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Good Times. We had a lot of highlights today - some firsts with the first ever snapper caught, the biggest snapper caught and a big snapper caught without grunting (who me? says Karen). The fish today were exceptional and I was one happy charter operator. Great clients, good fish, good fun. Thanks for making my job so enjoyable everyone.
Forgot to mention, we also spotted two whales about 50 metres from the boat. In three years I've only seen one in the bay and today we saw two. A very special day.
31st October - We picked Isley and his dad up from Paihia then headed off to Russell to pick up Nifae and his group. After yesterdays fishing we all had pretty high expectations, especially Andy. The weather was fantastic with very very light winds and a virtually cloudless sky. Once again we spotted a whale - I had seen one whale in three years and suddenly I've seen three whales in two days - incredible !
On the way to yesterdays spot Terry found a patch of fish worth investigation so we dropped anchor. Then we waited ...... and waited ..... and waited. Finally, after a long period of inactivity we decided to move before any of the steadily approaching boats stumbled upon yesterdays patch of fish. Talk about Deja Vu. The fishing at the second spot was also slow, very slow. Once again we waited and waited. Despite the quiet day we did have the odd moment of excitement, such as when - Isley caught the first good snapper and his dad was suddenly under pressure to better him - Andy hooked up a great fish but it bit through the trace before he got it on board - Terry caught a great 7kg Snapper - I thought I had the best Snapper that I'd ever caught but it turned out to be a Shark. Despite the seemingly lack of success we came home with enough fish for everyone.
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Elia is shown here with our biggest Snapper of the day. That's Andy in the background striking a heroic pose. The fish wouldn't be the same without it. It was a pleasure having these guys on the boat two trips in a row - a lot of fun, Terry and I enjoyed the insanity.
A couple of videos:
I've been experimenting with videos. Currently, I'm just using
the movie function on my Canon PowerShot G5 but am
trying to find something that is weatherproof, small and can
do movies from which I can also take stills. If anyone knows
of such a camera, please drop me a line. In the meantime
here is the latest attempt - I was doing the catching so this
was filmed and compered by Channarith Ly.
Big Fish - Part One
Big Fish - Part Two