Bay of Islands

fishing report

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Bay of Islands Fishing Report 20 March
Note: If map is showing it is created by LINZ / New Zealand Hydrographic Authority and made available by Creative Commons 3.0. Maps should not be used for navigation

Ed note: Darren is one of the charter skippers that operates from a high tourist area, and as such has been naturally impacted quite hard by the covid 19 virus preventing tourists from going about their usual business. If you ever wanted a good time to get a small group out on the water and into some great action, feel free to support your local guys and give Darren a call.

The last fishing report conditions have not changed, and we are still hitting the same marks and finding that the action is pretty consistent.

It's cooling down a little, and the days are getting shorter, but the fishing remains pretty solid at the moment.

It’s all well and good for a comfortable day on the water, but sometimes finding a good bit of tide and wind going in the same direction is more welcome as it seems to break us out of those quiet patches and get the fish moving.

We’ve been chasing snapper in along the banks and small holes inside the islands, which have been holding a good number of fine snapper, with some nice big ones in along Roberton island in particular, and the channel between Urapukapuka island and Motukiekae Island.

Fishing either a live bait or a big dead jack mackerel has been producing some nice fish including mixed bags of kingfish, snapper and john dory.Out in the deep, the 45 to 55 metre zone has delivered consistently with good snapper up to 6 kg common enough.

However, the bite has been very soft, and you need a little finesse with both bait and soft baits to make sure you let the fish mouth the hook.Unfortunately, there has been a commercial long liner working right into harbour limits, so based on our previous experience it’s possibly going to be a lot harder to find fish later this month.

On the kingfish side, there are good numbers on all the reefs and chasing the bait schools but as per usual the tax man is in full swing, so getting a fish back in one piece is the challenge there.The usual practice of trying to land your fish quickly and just moving if the sharks turn up is the only thing you can do.

There is plenty of good live bait available over towards Kemp Passage and out wide some good numbers of gamefish are being caught with some nice size tuna in there as well.‍

Tight lines

Regards Darren

PS: Feel free to ring me if you are out on the water and having a hard day 😉😉🎣

https://www.fishingdaysout.co.nz/

DAYS OUT FISHING CHARTERS

Snapper charter prices are $135 per person, five hours morning or afternoon kick off.

Kingfish charters start at $285 per person for seven hours.

Private charters: $1300 snapper (8 max)

Private charters: $1600 kingfish (6 max)

All day  snapper kingfish $2400  (10 max)

We look forward to seeing you on board!

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