Hauraki Gulf
fishing report
April 15, 2021
Anchovies and pilchards real or the popular super-naturals of jigs and softbaits are the go bro! Those silvery slivers of anchovies are close inshore – how close? On land! Yes the fight for life includes anchovies beaching themselves in a last ditch effort to evade kahawai hunting them down and many others hard on their tailfins. Popping up in all sorts of local bays, places like the secluded sanctuary of Little Manly – where the unfortunate demise of a local boat this week, still partially submerged – perhaps providing temporary shelter for the anchovies?
Similar pop-up scenes are seen around coasts all over the place. The little white terns are your spotters, sometimes out a little beyond eyesight so a pair of binoculars are a great idea – with the chase going on they’ll often head close in to shore and provide thrilling and prolific fishing for anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour!
Pilchards are on the main menu, especially out just a tad further where the dolphins and gannets eye these prize fish that are high in nutrient value and perfect for the upcoming cooler months, a vital part of the entire food chain.
Some rather nice workups are focusing on these delectable meals, mid to outer gulf but also over northern Kawau towards Omaha and Little Barrier.
Drag burning, arm aching, spool emptying big tuna are on, Waihau Bay and Eastern Coromandel have been providing some huge rewards in terms of fish size and bounty back home. Still time for big game hunters to get out there and delight in those screaming reels.
Lots of skipjack out of Ocean Beach – which usually means striped marlin are in residence, about as close as they will get before the imminent turnaround. Eastern Coromandel also getting into some great striped marlin action over this past week, solid fish too!
Snapper have been ramping up their appetites as expected, with more aggressive feeding on the upswing. The bite has been pretty good this week from snapper, lots of smaller models keen but the bigger pannies are there so mix up your offerings and you’ll find what the bigger snapper are after – it could be a tiny microjig like the Pocket Rocket or alloy Baby Boss, or something more like a main course like the BossSquid (the darker coloured options working noticeably well earlier this week out in 45m).
Land-based out the West Coast has shown up some big red thumpers too! Great to see such solid healthy specimens from the surf, lures or bait.
The Premiere unveiling of the new BIG reel from Catch this Sunday at 0900, tune in to Catch Fishing Facebook and be the first to see this secret weapon and the advantage it has over big fish on hookup – this reel has NEW extra features to turn those monster fishes heads, you can put even MORE pressure on your fish (not you) and land them!
Tune in and find out why this new reel is the deep drop weapon of choice, whether jigging or simply deep drops for big Bass, Kingfish and more of your favourites that can lurk hundreds of metres below.
Also tune in this Sunday to Magic FM radio New Zealand wide on the Sunday Café live with Espresso at 08:30, then watch the Premiere at 09:00 Sunday on Catch Fishing Facebook – a great way to ease into your Sunday.
Catch you then.
Espresso.
This report is supplied by Grant 'Espresso' Bittle from Catch and Wave Dancer Charters.
For Wave Dancer Charters: Visit www.wavedancer.co.nz
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