KEY POINTS:
Anglers are awaiting a sustained period of easterly winds to bring the warmer waters of the East Auckland current closer to the North Island.
That will promote snapper spawning and the feeding frenzy that follows.
It will also bring the bigger ocean predators, the tuna and billfish.
The howling winds of recent days have curtailed much fishing action. From the Far North to Whakatane and on both coasts the story has been the same, water temperatures falling back down to 16C or below.
At the Bay of Islands, Geoff Stone on Major Tom II reported plenty of snapper on the sounder but temperature is 15-15.5C and getting them to bite is another matter. "There are two groups, one that is roed up and a second group that is just starting to come into roe," he said. They are waiting for the 18.3C mark that will ignite spawning. "All hell could break loose. What we need is a good easterly to push warm water in."
At the east coast sand beaches, including Whangarei Heads, Uretiti and Orewa, snapper are coming in to feed at dusk and surfcasters and kite fishers are doing well until dark, when the bite goes off.
The Mercury Bay Game Fish Club held its first tournament of the year last Sunday with 50 bigger boats putting out to find the sheltered spots in 2m swells with 40-knot winds. There was nowhere you could anchor with wind and tide in the same direction, said club manager Tony Fox, and some big fish were lost because of the conditions. Top prize went to a 4.1kg snapper, average catch was 1.9kg. He said there were big schools of albacore tuna with some fish to 15kg close in for this time of year.
Easterlies would bring the bigger yellowfin and bigeye tuna in.
At Whakatane, the charter fleet has spent much time tied up. One creditable catch went to Turangi angler Lance Aldridge on Oracle, who boated a 39.4kg kingfish after a 20-minute fight on 37kg line at the Volkener Rocks.
The club has a weekends-only month-long snapper contest running with best fish so far 7.88kg. Manager Kevin McCracken reports nice eating-size snapper in close, plenty of terakihi on the usual reefs, reasonable runs of whitebait followed by lots of small kahawai. But temperature is just 13.4-14.4C. "The wind has been keeping things quiet. We need a change of pattern."
On the Manukau Harbour and the Firth of Thames, anglers who have been able to get out early-morning to beat the wind have been finding good bags in sheltered spots. Below the cliffs of the Awhitu Peninsula, good sized gurnard are being taken in the shallows, a group of surfcasters at Big Bay surprised at how well they did, reports John Moran. The Kaipara Harbour continues to fish well for gurnard.
Weather forecaster Ken Ring, who bases his predictions on moon movement, said the existing westerly and nor'westerly pattern should continue to the end of October. He forecast a run of easterlies November 6-10 and 16-19, few easterlies in December, none in January and lots in February and said that is when the fishing should really fire. "Most systems this coming season will be NW and the summer should be warmer and longer as a result," Ring said. "On the whole that means better fishing."
Higher than normal tides from now until Christmas may discourage warmer water shore feeders that don't like getting sand in their gills, so nets set further out may be more productive. After Christmas, big game fishing on the west coast should be enhanced due to warmer waters. "The month to put a ring around should be February. Many fish spawn then and hang around rivermouths. Warmer seas support more species and more visiting fish from cooler regions. Whatever the month, full and new moon times and a day either side of each, around midday, should yield the best catches," Ring said.
The consultation and submission process on a management plan to protect Maui's dolphins has been completed, with MFish and DoC staff now to prepare a report for their ministers who are expected to make a decision before Christmas.
There was stringent opposition to the options as put forward by the bureaucrats at meetings in Waiuku, Helensville and Laingholm. Among comments made: The process has been based on emotion and politics rather than facts so a similarly flawed decision can be expected.
