Bay of Plenty

fishing report

October 23, 2020

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Ed note: Just been in Whakatane for a couple of days and it is fishing well, not too far out past the bar now. The school snapper have started to move in nice and close, with some very nice specimens holding in the mussel farms. Strayline rigs seem to work better than droppers for us with good snapper up over 5kgs. Lots of sign across the sand in 20 -25 metre mark, snapper and bait, but you’ll have to deal with quite a few kahawai getting in on the action. Still too warm for the skippy and gamefish at the moment but it’s definitely feeling close.

This weekend is the Waihau Bay Labour Weekend bottom fishing and land based Tournament if you are after a late entry

https://waihaubayfishingclub.co.nz/collections/tournaments/products/labour-weekend-tournament

Fishing out of Tauranga:

Some big snapper now moving in with a nice fish over 9 kg off the Astrolabe just last week and plenty over 5kg.

However, sometimes it’s a bit hit and miss out there and we have done it pretty tough looking for fish in the deep. I know it’s not just us as we have been in contact with a few other skippers also struggling for a decent result.

It’s safe to say from my perspective the fishing has been somewhat unremarkable across the board

We did 60 nms heading out to the Mayor Knolls and Outer Penguin Rise but man, nothing but slim pickings.

Got only one gemfish for all the trouble, and very few fish on the sounder.

Apart from a few nice terakihi to make the trip worthwhile, we would have been better off sticking inshore.

Perhaps that means it’s time to focus on other species for a bit if you are thinking of heading out.

We have noticed the odd blooms of red plankton that appear to make the water a dark bloody colour, not sure if this has a negative effect on the fishing, but certainly something to avoid as a diver.

Tarakihi fishing is still pretty solid, with best bet around Schooner out to the 80 metre rise.

There's a very nice run of weather coming up this week so rip into it.

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Cheers

Russ