KEY POINTS:
The east coast water temperature has started to come up slowly and hence the fishing is improving.
Wednesday offered great weather and a good opportunity to get out to the back of Waiheke Island and put a long-line down with Dave Vare of Sunset Fishing at Waiuku.
His system is simple, using a standard long-line set-up with some adjustments. He uses 80 pound traces with a tube of clear plastic covering them right to the hook and swivels at the ends. "The bigger fish can't chomp through the plastic to get at the mono," Vare says.
The hooks include a chartreuse flasher. They are spaced further apart on the line so as to increase the area covered.
I was lucky we had the "insurance policy" as the water was flat calm and clear and the rod-fishing hard. Soft plastics brought in a couple of snapper. The long-line nailed gurnard as well as snapper, trevally and granddaddy hapuku.
Soft-baiting seems to be working better than bait-fishing for now, as the fish are not feeding aggressively and the movement often helps encourage them to bite.
We continue to be impressed with how well Ken Ring's bite-time predictions are working, down to the half-hour. Often it's a critical guide because the length of bite-time has not been much more than that half-hour.
The Manukau was far more productive last Friday and for friends who were out there on Wednesday. Gurnard remain in numbers with the out-going tide best. Be wary of the tentative bite - react to it but don't strike, rather raise the rod tip slowly.
Kahawai are in the harbour in good numbers but not a good size. And juvenile snapper are already moving in, a sign that the coast is warming too.
The Maui's dolphin debate continues, with MFish and the Department of Conservation now funding a public survey on economic and other effects of extending set-net bans. The opposed amateur fishing groups have pointed out that the status quo should be one of the possible outcomes of the Government review.
They are willing to concede on some points, notably a law change to force fishers to stay with a set-net. This would not impact heavily on amateurs but would badly affect commercial operators.
Commercial fishers are expecting a ban on drift-netting for mullet and kahawai in the Waikato River. But there is concern that extending the existing bans into harbours from New Plymouth to the Far North will kill the local supply of flounder, kahawai and mullet. Quotas are not caught as it is.
Anyone wishing to comment can go to www.nzfishersurvey.com or phone (09) 625 9002.
Bay of Islands local and owner of charter boat Te Ariki Nui, Stuart Hamilton, made a 56-hour trip from Greymouth to take the local Swordfish Club's first pin for a southern bluefin tuna. The fish weighed in at 259.7kg at Paihia on Wednesday.
The Te Ariki Nui and skipper Jason Wooton spent six weeks fishing around the hoki fleet and hooked 23 bluefin - 22 released, one to be smoked.
Snapper fishing has improved in the Bay, says BOISC weighmaster Dave Cadell, though trophy fish are rare. Kingfish to 22kg are being caught all around the Bay.
At Ngongotaha, the "Trout Man" Harvey Clark reports good-sized browns being taken, in contrast to Lake Rotorua and Taupo. A warm spring is predicted and Clark says the fishing should be excellent as trout move from the warm to the cold of the stream mouths, both to feed and to re-oxygenate.
Lake Rotorua has been patchy but fishing is improving. The Taupo rivers are producing plenty of fish but few of good size.
The runs of larger fish up the Tongariro are late, Clark says, most of those hooked in the 1 to 1.5kg range. Jared Goedhart at Turangi's Sporting Life store says rain is needed to cloud the rivers and set off the spring spawning runs.
Nymphing has been productive, he says. The first evening rise was noted this week and dry-fly fishing is expected to take off accordingly.
The Fishing NZ show that was on Sky Sport last year returns on October 2 and will this year run on Prime TV as well, starting on October 30.
Presenter Adam Clancey focuses on locations accessible to the average Kiwi.
