Hauraki Gulf

fishing report

October 21, 2021

Supplied by

Note: If map is showing it is created by LINZ / New Zealand Hydrographic Authority and made available by Creative Commons 3.0. Maps should not be used for navigation

Ed note: Having been out and about this week, the fishing pretty much anywhere around Kawau is really firing up, with plenty of good sized pannies around 40 – 45 cms being caught from the mouth of the North Channel right down the east coast. You’ll find fish from 15 to 40 metres, and there don’t have to be that many on the sounder for a good drift to produce plenty of consistent action.

Three casts for three fish was a good way to start the day, with soft baits are deadly out there at present.

I’m using my own brand of Jiggy’s jig heads (available at Yeehaa tackle or Marine Deals HERE for 2/0 and HERE for 3/0)

Matched with new Catch Black Label 5 inch bodies, or whatever other 5 inch jerk shads are floating about in natural colours they seem to do the trick nicely.

The new softbait bodies from Catch are a huge improvement on previous models, and are well worth a go. Here’s a bit more info

The bright orange softies are also very reliable at the moment.

There’s plenty of workup action happening in the region, and when the bite is on its pretty hot and heavy.

Kingfish are on the chew, and many will have seen Ben Starnes from Daiwa with a magnificent 40 kilo or so monster that was returned after posing for a few photos. Truly a fish of a lifetime and an incredible size to be seen in the Gulf.

The long weekend is shaping up to be a windy one, but Monday, a ‘day-off’ for those who are still working, looks like a cracker, with a pretty nice window of weather. Expect plenty of boaties to be hitting the water.

Tuesday even better at this stage:

***Click the Swellmap image for a live update***

Fishing is in true spring form, and Monday sees the passing of the true full moon, and with a waning phase theoretically the best fishing should be on the incoming tide. With High tide at 11.00am I’d be hitting it early and getting into the action.

Should then be another bite later in the afternoon before low tide at 5.00pm.

Any of the inshore areas should be fishing well as snapper come in to spawn, and we’ve been getting good reports from the Firth also, so action should be spread nicely across the whole Gulf this weekend.

Good luck, tight lines, and enjoy the weekend. Here’s the Espresso report for this week.

ESPRESSO REPORT 21 October

Never a dull moment in the local gulf with big Brydes whales now much closer into the actual gulf, Orca enjoying their hunting in the Firth of Thames and tuna being caught too!

What? Yes that full moon this week bringing it’s usual twist to fishing adventures out in the Hauraki. But tuna being caught on the famous Catch Betabug is classic stuff, especially in October and not too far from Little Barrier makes for epic fishing.

A welcome surprise and stunning catch, congratulations to the crew of @Haurakiadventures! If you can get out and target these tuna Lil' Squidwings trolled is another effective way to target and enjoy the sound of your reel in full flight.

Labour Weekend is often a wild and woolly weather affair with wind speed all over the place, so if past years are any indication, and forecasts look to align with tradition – inshore area fishing is the go bro…kayaks, landbased or boat based but close, nice and close most of the weekend, and if Monday’s calm comes true – unleash!

And the further north you are, the closer snapper are to home base as the inshore water temperatures are on the rise.

Speaking of up-north here’s another guy doing great things in the beautiful Bay of Islands for fishing friends and family alike, Greg Tucker .

A family based team passionate about all forms of fishing sustainably, sharing the outdoors and BBQs with friends and whanau. Greg also does a wonderful online fishing tackle service with his can-do attitude. Definitely worth a click and browse, great stuff.

BIG baits, Big Fish!

Next level softbaiting is here…

An old adage that so often rings true – so Catch Fishing is releasing the answer to our dreams, a true 10inch amazing looking softbait for doing just that, using big softbaits to catch BIG FISH.

Imagine what you could target and catch with a monstrous Black Label LIVIE, that’s 25cm long!!

Take first look at the new release with Espresso LIVE on Catch Fishing Facebook and Instagram Sunday 10:00am. Simply stunning – join us and be a part of this exciting new release, see the NEW COLOURS and what you could do when you unleash this beast!

Good looking workup activity is moving right around the gulf, great to see and watch gannets diving amongst the dolphins, smaller workups spreading out whether closer in by northern Kawau, or down from the Moehau range, spring fishing is on!

It’s blue-bottle mania out westside, with gas-filled sacs that float, they can alter their orientation to sail with the wind. While not a true jellyfish their tentacles are poisonous, do not handle!

See you Sunday…

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Espresso

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This report is supplied by Grant 'Espresso' Bittle from Catch and Wave Dancer Charters.

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