One positive with the winds recently being mostly offshore, the swell has dropped its guts out a bit, making the inshore fishing pretty good.

All the way up the coast from Papamoa to north of Matakana, there have been some positive reports of solid catches of snapper, trevally and gurnard.

Out past Karewa Island in about 80 metres there's been some excellent gurnard and tarakihi fishing.

Trevally are in their peak season, and can be picked up anywhere from the harbour to deeper waters, and without doubt these fish make as good a ceviche or sashimi as you could wish for.

Try fishing small soft baits or micro jigs and you'll be sure to pick up some trevs in the process.

On the big game front, I expect there will be more catches of southern bluefin tuna reported after this weather passes, but our contacts that have been working pretty hard out past Mayor, and towards the Rangatiras covered a lot of ground without seeing a thing.

The tuna are being caught north of Waihau Bay around the Alderman Rise, and that means their trek north past our closer fishing grounds is inevitable and they are likely to be found for those willing to put in the miles.

Closer in, the harbour is traditionally pretty quiet this time of year and apart from a few strays it's not really firing, but spring is only around the corner.

Here's to getting through winter and out the other side sooner rather than later!

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Cheers

Russ

RUSS HAWKINS ...OWNER/SKIPPER FAT BOY CHARTERS

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