Wellington / Kapiti

fishing report

August 7, 2020

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It’s been a fantastic run of winter weather here in the balmy capital, with three good weekends in a row and packed boat ramps. Sure enough the fishing has also been worth the wait with some really good results from around the Wellington region, particularly off the south coast. There’s been a big influx of Puka out of the south coast, and deep dropping the Trench and beyond appears to have been far more productive than the west coast.

***Here's the winning photo from our recent comp. Shaun Rankin at Kapiti with his trusty 12' tinnie. Shaun also managed 3rd longest snapper winning a Kiwi Sizzler gas barbecue for his effort. Nice One.***

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We have had some good intel from one of our commercial operator customers about some great puka and bluenose fishing spots that are out about twice as far as the Trench.

I’m happy to elaborate a bit more on precisely where these spots are if you pop in to see me in person at the shop.

Another commercial operator we know well is pretty impressed by the number of fish out there at the moment, and the general state of the Hapuka fishery. They believe the fish may be moving around a lot more than people give them credit for. They are also not necessarily glued to structure, but will venture out onto the sand a fair distance, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the sounder and possibly continuing a drift a little further than normal off the main foul ground if you have not hooked up.

Especially at this time of year prior to spawning, the fish can be quite mobile, so if they are not at old favourite spot X, they may well be out further on the sand.

Recreational anglers are also picking up good fish on jigs at the moment too, up to around 30 kilos.

The puka are heading deeper, and it can be 300 metres down, so fishing the turn of the tide is important as that’s the only window that will allow lines to stay vertical in the current.

Good numbers of bluenose are also being caught, in fact, they are bloody near everywhere out by the Trench at the moment.

There are even a few kingies out deep too, often just grabbing baits as a by catch, so keep the jigs handy and it’s well worth having a go for puka and kings with a good big jig in lumo patterns.

Snapper fishing has been ok, with more individual fish than big schools. Although the odd good moocher will always be caught in close, often picked up by the kayak anglers or surf casters, most of the good snapper fishing has been out deep in around 70 – 80 metres, but even out to 120 off the west coast, in all the usual reef structures and popular areas such as off Boom down to Ohau etc.

Having said that, Fisherman’s appears to have gone a bit quiet, but that can always change. If you are hitting it with no luck it’s probably best to move on fairly quickly to another area.

The usual staples of blue cod, trevs and terakihi have all been pretty easy to pick up in general fishing, so getting a feed out there is pretty much a given. In any weather or wind direction there’s always somewhere around the coastline to pick up these species. Heres a tip or two if you are chasing the teri’s https://www.nzfishingworld.co.nz/posts/how-to-catch-tarakihi-pete-lambs-top-tips

Snapper are one of those fish that can turn up out of nowhere and there’s always a great story like this one. Check out this 23 pound fish bagged off the Plimmerton Wharf in the middle of the day! Amazing catch, and just the sort of thing that keeps us living in hope whenever there is a line in the water.