CURRENT LINES 23^rd November 2014

Watching an old cowboy movie on SKY, and the theme tune got me thinking about, where and when the first marlin will be seen and caught, and the first yellowfin if they show up? The theme tune - well Lee Marvin was the cowboy and the song “I was born under a wandering star” make you wonder how many miles before the firsts are caught?

Northland- Water temperatures are still lower than normal for this time of the year in the Bay of Islands and are down around 16.5 degrees. Once the temperatures get up another degree or so things should pick up but there are a few nice snapper being caught. Reports of several snapper up to around the 30lb range have come in but the snapper aren’t really schooling up as they normally do. Bite times have been short and frantic so it’s a matter of being Johnny on the spot but it can be tough going. There are a few skippies up around the Garden Patch as some warmer water is starting to push down from the North.  Scallops are in better condition and improving.

Further south to Whangarei and Bream Bay the fishing has been excellent. There is plenty of bait in the area and the snapper fishing has been excellent off Bream Bay and Ocean Beach. Slow jigs, slow pitch jigs and softbaits are working well when drifted through the patches of bait. Best colours are the blue anchovy colour in slow-jigs or anchovy type colours in softbaits in 4” and 5”. Another spot that has been producing is drifting the incoming tide ~ 14m mark off the Waipu river mouth.

Hauraki Gulf With the full moon and some current, the fishing over the last few days has been red hot. East of Tiri in 46-48m has been one hotspot as the big snapper schools move into the Gulf in droves. Pink slow-jigs, softbaits, and baits are all working well. Make sure you’re fishing hard on the bottom – that’s the key to success at the moment. The Firth of Thames is also fishing well with good action off the mussel barges and in work-ups out in the middle of the Firth.

Coromandel - Mercury Bay has been patchy but the odd reasonable snapper has been taken in close and there are John Dory on most of the low broken foul areas so a live bait is worth a shot if you’re fishing those areas. There’s terakihi on the foul off Devil’s point if all else fails in your quest for fresh fish for dinner and hapuku out wide if you fancy a bit of a drive . Full moon is traditionally a good time for hapuku in the area from Red Mercury down to the Aldermans.

Further south, The Alderman pins are fishing well with good numbers of solid kingfish about in the mid 20 to 30kg range. It’s a prime time for kingfish and probably the best time of the year to have a shot at one. There’s a few nice snapper out that way – while you’re jigging for kings, throw a large 7” softbait out and let it sink slowly…… BOOOM! This resulted in a snapper around 26lb during the week for a lucky customer on an Epic Adventure charter.

Bay of Plenty- The water is still fairly cold but there’s been some very good fishing at both the Ranfurly Bank and at White Island in particular. Squid are plentiful at White and there’s been a solid afternoon bite with customers on ‘Pursuit’ landing a number of kings over 30kg and one estimated at 38kg, and just this week one estimated at 50+kg weighed on board and released (this to be verified).  Topwater action is on and several large trevally have been taken on stickbaits, Jigs in blues/greens/silver patterns are not producing like they usually do, however the pinks/whites and browns are and jigs and stickbaits are outperforming livebaits - probably due to the numbers of squid about.

Wellington West & South Coasts - There have been some good bass/hapuku and blue nose caught recently on both coasts. Out West, there’s some snapper just starting to be caught and also gurnard are around in reasonable numbers, but it gets better as you head north. Wellington Harbour: There’s still plenty of kahawai in the harbour and the best way to catch them is the traditional old hexagonal wobbler.

Club Marine -This is now up and running – go to http://www.nzsportfishing.co.nz/club-marine/ and remember to make sure you advise Club Marine your Promo Code number or if you are already insured with Club Marine and renewing your policy to ensure they know you are a member of an affiliated club so your Club gets the rebate – 6% of the total premium

 Fuel Card- Please remind your members to get a fuel card – so much easier now – go to www.gofuel.co.nz– don’t forget to put your Club name. Petroleum Logistics will also have a ‘product prize’ to be won and this will be drawn amongst all those entered in the Nationals who have a NZSFC/PL Fuel Card.

JetPark– If you are looking for a place to stay in Auckland and especially if you are travelling overseas and need to leave your car somewhere.  JetPark has 167 Air-conditioned rooms, 14 days free car storage if you stay one night and a free shuttle to and from the Airport.  Members – please remember to quote BIGGAME when you do your bookings.

Nationals: As an added incentive to the Nationals SIMRAD has come on Board and the Nationals will be known as the SIMRAD NATIONALS. Simrad have given us 7 really, really good prizes, so it will be one for each of the first 7 days. Everyone who has entered at the time, even if they haven’t caught a fish will go into the daily draw.  Prizes range from VHF Radios valued at $350 to Combo Sounder GPS’s valued at $6,000 with the total package $18,000. (21st – 28^th February 2015)

Nationals Length Records: the Fishing Subcommittee has agreed to add a Length Section to the Nationals. Species will be Albacore, Kahawai, Snapper, Skipjack, Trevally & Yellowtail. Remember when handling fish to use a wet towel.  Each Team that enters the Nationals prior to 30^th January will be given a free measuring board and any fish entered during the Nationals that beats the current record will go across into that section so there will be no need to upload twice.

BAY OF ISLANDS SWORDFISH CLUB INC - 100 YEARS: Dave Arrell has advised the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club will be celebrating 100 years of catching marlin on rod and line.  They will be celebrating all through the summer and everyone is welcome to be involved.

Editor

NZSFC