Kawhia / Raglan

fishing report

April 1, 2021

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The fishing is still pretty damn fantastic out over the bar, and this is one of the best months of the year to fish. Judging by the water colour in close, you could easily think you were at any tropical Pacific Island far from here. Unlike our previous report, there are lots of skippies, about and we are still seeing marlin in less than forty metres. There’s lots of bird action around as well, to draw your attention to where the action is happening.

Over the last week the makos have been a bit of a pain in the butt to us snapper fishermen, some occasions heavily taxing fish throughout the whole day, but I guess it’s their domain to do as they please.

Bottom fishing is easy, and we are still getting as many snapper as we need most days, and some are real stonkers.

We have fished the south west reef a few times and been experiencing very hot bites, with some over-sized Raglan ‘pannies’ coming up as doubles.

You’ll find this out in seventy metres, south west of Gannet Island.

Another great spot has been in arounf fifty five metres south of Albatross Point. This is an area we fish regularly and has been fishing well, with more pannies than donkeys.

The thirty to forty metre marks off Aotea Reef has also fished nicely, and some days we are getting a really good haul of decent sized gurnard and a good mix of snapper of all sizes, from small-mediums right up to eighteen pounders.

Kahawai can be very plenty full some days, and although they are certainly able to test your patience, we have found that if you hang in there, the snapper are also there, alongside some good kingfish.

On a side note, the Kawhia Fishing Club have weighed some notable game fish recently, including a magnificent 72kgs yellowfin tuna caught in only fifty metres, and a blue marlin pulling the scales at 218.5kgs hooked around the 150 metres mark.

To keep the tropical theme going, we have seen mahi mahi in 50 metres congregating around a log, but they were not interested in what we had to offer.

So, still plenty of game fishing opportunities out our way for sure.

Although we have enjoyed some great conditions due to the easterly flow, the short-term weather is looking a tad average, but not too bad at this stage. You be the judge and make the right call for your experience.

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Tight lines

Cheers

Rob

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Rob Fitzgerald is owner and skipper of Venturer Fishing Charters, operating out of Kawhia.

Venturer fishing charters