Sea fishing conditions improve off Whanganui coast

Feilding fisherman Paddy Toyne holds a blue cod - one of many caught off the Whanganui coast on Boxing Day. Photo / Laurel Stowell

Paddy Toyne and friends left the Whanganui boat ramp with a good haul of blue cod and a chance at a kingfish on Boxing Day.

The group, in three different boats, were out fishing from 8.30am until about 2.30pm. Two of the boats each caught about 20 blue cod, weighing around 2kg each. The third had a line snapped by a kingfish.

Kingfish are more common further north, but as water warms more are being caught in the South Taranaki Bight. They can reach 1.5m long and weigh as much as 30kg, and they make beautiful eating.

"We caught five or six at the end of last summer, and we've already caught two in the last two days," Toyne said.

Sea fishing conditions are improving, after a rough, windy spring. Toyne and his friends assess conditions at sea by looking at an online swell map.

For conditions in the Whanganui River mouth, they can usually check the Horizons Regional Council website for views from two webcams - one focused on the mouth and the other on the harbour area - but those were not working on Boxing Day.

A total of 1200 boats are registered at Whanganui's Wharf St boat ramp, and on Boxing Day there were nine empty trailers waiting for fishers to return.

That made it a slowish day, Toyne said. It can be really busy when a good fishing day happens after a stretch of bad weather.

"We have come here on days when there's vehicles 2km down the road waiting to get in and get a boat launched."

The upgrades to the ramp and parking area are good, he said, especially the addition of a toilet.

"Kudos for that. It was well-needed."

But the place was still often crowded. It would help if people pulled off the ramp before finishing their unloading, or if there were more places to unload before boats were pulled out.

"Personally I believe it needs more room. The ramp could definitely be twice as big."

Whanganui District Council could follow Foxton's lead, he said. People using that ramp are asked to pay $10. They fill in a form, wrap their money in it and put it in a box, with a piece of paper in the vehicle window to show they've paid.

The car park is checked randomly, and the money gets put into wharf upkeep.

"The money needs to go back into this, and not into council coffers," Toyne said.