The Mercury Bay Game Fish Club has also had good fishing as conditions allow. Already four mahimahi and two short-billed spearfish have been landed, with a 186kg blue. Another blue the anglers estimated at more than 300kg was dropped as they tried to boat it.
There are big snapper on the sand just out from all the islands, and they'll take anything you put in front of them, said MBGFC manager Tony Fox.
The swell and high easterly wind off the back of cyclone Juna depressed the fishing out of Whangarei, with nothing landed this week. The annual Anniversary Weekend tournament is expected to lift their catch.
"The water is 21C, there are manta rays, sunfish and sharks all over the place, and it's looking very promising," said Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers club president Pete Saul.
A 230kg blue marlin was caught from Silverado and two stripeys were taken out from the Bay of Islands late on Wednesday. Good numbers of yellowfin are being caught and marlin catches have been reported every day weather has allowed boats to get wide, said Bay of Islands Swordfish club president Dave Arrell.
Whangaroa still has just two marlin recorded, the best a stripey of 113.4kg and the best yellowfin just 24.1kg. They also expect a jump in the tally this weekend as they host the junior interclub contest and the small boats tournament. The best snapper is still a 13.12kg fish caught by Kyle Thomas fishing with soft plastics from Mainlander.
Snapper fishing continues apace and you don't have to go far to score a feed. Off Auckland, the East Coast Bays are fishing well morning and night and the Rangitoto and outer Motuihe Channel fish well for 1-3kg reds all through the day. There are bigger fish to be found among the schools that are out wider, from 40-50m..
The Bay of Islands continues to fire, with snapper all through the bay. The Northland coast has been hot, with multiple trophy fish being taken off Rangiputa and Rangunu.
MFish and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research have been conducting research into the recreational snapper and kahawai catch from Northland to the Bay of Plenty, with officers at boat ramps measuring fish and asking if they can cut the heads off kahawai, so they can do age and DNA sampling via the otolith or ear bone.
Help these guys out if you can. The info they provide will assist the recreational case on kahawai - there are few being caught.
The Manukau Harbour is undergoing a change: the gurnard gone, small snapper in plague proportions in the places the gurnard were feeding such as Big Bay, and larger snapper finally moving in. These are being caught on foul close to shore, for example at Destruction Gully, at the west side of Puponga Point, and at Kaitere Point under the lighthouse.
Fish an hour and a half either side of low tide using as little weight as possible, advises John Moran the Manukau guru. And use berley. Usually, this just brings rays and sharks, but it works well on snapper right now, Moran said. The harbour is full of mullet, with kingfish chasing them. One boy nailed a 15kg kingie on 7kg braid - neat effort.
At Taupo and on the Rotorua and surrounding lakes, hot temperatures have forced the fish into deeper water, and downrigging and jigging are coming into form. Boaties are doing better than fly-fishers.
There have been few signs of smelt so far, said Jared Goedhart at Sporting Life in Turangi, but the cicada hatch is just starting. "There are still heaps of fish in the Tongariro, lots of spent fish, but the rain has seen some big browns pulled out too."
More on fishing and boating Weekend Marine back of section C
