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NZ Fishing World has been over in Waihau Bay for a week having a crack at the bluefin, and getting in a bit of ‘bottom fishing’ with super skipper Aaron Sargent from Coastal Fishing Charters.

It’s a long way to tow a boat for many anglers visiting Waihau, so heading out on a charter was comparatively easy going, and made it that much better for us to get a bit of action on film (watch out for video later).

There are some real advantages to heading out with Aaron that soon became apparent and really worked out for us.  First and foremost, he’s a good bugger that heads out almost every fishable day during the season, which gives him a current, and historical knowledge of where the fish are and how to catch them.

He knows pretty much every rock and has marks that go back years showing where the tuna school has run previously, so your chances of getting into the zone are pretty good.

The gear on board the big ‘Strictly Fishing’ Senator is first class, and kept in pristine operating order.

Detail went all the way from being fully decked out with matching black and gold Accurate game reels, down to top quality Red Gill lures all rigged and run flawlessly.

The boat is launched 40 minutes north east of Waihau from Hicks Bay, using a customised tractor unit for a dry beach launch into the bay.

No waiting at the Waihau ramp queue, and a shorter run out to the tuna, or Ranfurly Banks.

It’s also a bit more sheltered here in a sou-wester, the wind we had for the trip.  

Last but not least, it’s nice at the end of a sometimes pummelling day at sea, to have someone else fillet and prepare the fish, and clean the boat while you talk about the day’s adventure over a cold one.

Yes, charters will cost more than taking your own boat, but it’s a good option to consider.

The Waihau Bay phenomenon is not new, and although we have heard the annual influx is not always popular with all the locals, we experienced nothing short of great hospitality from everyone there, and made sure we always treated the place, and the people with the greatest respect.

We managed to boat a very nice, fat 75-80kg bluefin after only a couple of hours out there, and they are a spectacular fish in every respect.

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The first run is a scorcher and the fish are very exciting to get up beside the boat.  A real bucket list game fish, and it’s no wonder they are so popular.

There’s plenty of meat on even a small bluefin to satisfy all on board, so we opted for the Ranfurly Banks for day two.  

The Banks are a huge area of foul, far bigger in the flesh than they look on the map.  We were with a couple of the Catch Fishing crew, and wanted to give a few of the deepwater jigs a workout on hapuka and kingies.

With Aaron putting us right on the honey holes, we could get hooked up fairly effortlessly, but a bit of grunting was required to continually haul even the ‘small’ 20kg kingies up from 100 metres plus in big swells.

Hapuka, bass, kingfish, king terakihi, we got the lot and the gear got a good workout, with the 500 gram Giant Squidwings accounting for plenty of good fish.  This is a great lure by itself, but adding a bit of bait to the bottom hook doesn’t hurt either for dropping in the deep, as it sometimes help avoid the kingfish and get through to the puka.  You also have the reassurance that if your bait is stripped, you can just keep fishing as the lure is always working.

One of the novelty highlights was fishing a small dropper rig for king terakihi, and coming up with a Hapuka, a kingfish head, and a fairly decent bronzie trifecta.  More of a workout than was expected, but that’s fishing the Banks.

There are often huge currents and big swells out there, despite any wind, so it’s not for the seasick prone, or poorly equipped boats.

We didn’t use them, but the livie tank was full of 2kg kahawai, standard live baits out that way for the 40kg plus local kingies.  If you really want to connect up with a PB king, this is a good place.

To get straight to the marks, and be pretty sure of some good fishing, give Aaron a buzz at Coastal Charters.

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