Bay of Plenty
fishing report
October 11, 2024
As the water temperature rises, local fishing across harbour and deeper ocean areas is improving, offering diverse catches from snapper to kingfish amid more manageable sea conditions.
First off, at last, we have some warmer weather and the water temperature has risen by a full degree to 15.3°C. A nice bonus is that the harbour fishing has started to improve around virtually all areas, but the channels between Rangiwaea and Motuhoa Islands at or near the lower tides have produced some nice pan-sized snapper, along with some trevally and kahawai in the mix.
The deeper areas, out in 80 meters plus, whether it be the Penguin Shoals, Pinnacles, or the “80 Meter” areas between Motiti Island and Schooner Rocks, still have some good tarakihi and a few golden snapper. Mayor Island, on the deep drop-offs on the southern side of Tuhua Reef, still has some beautifully tasting pink mao mao, and of course, in those areas are your larger predators, the great kingfish, lurking to devour these fish.
It is always worth a jig or even casting a popper right up in the shallower areas. We have found that poppers, even right near the top of the reef, can produce some adrenaline-producing hits and chases. My best catch in this area for a kingfish was at 37kgs, and in reality, I would think I would be extremely lucky to beat that in the future, however, never say never.
Not much happened last week (2nd & 3rd October) when we had swells up to 5.6 meters at A beacon, and that was on an incoming tide! The seas, of course, have dropped dramatically since then, with some beautiful days like today with variable winds at 5 to 10 knots, and the weekend looking pretty benign with winds around 10 to 15 knots and not much swell.
I have still not had any reports from the deep knolls out wide, but there are some great areas to even try for a broadbill, which I have personally not had any success with but have been very lucky to have been given some beautiful steaks off these fish, which, as most of you know, are superb eating.
As for the gemfish, bluenose, and hapuku/bass, sorry, no news at the moment.
Finally, we are so lucky to have so many options locally with our harbour areas for snapper, kingfish, and trevally when it is too rough outside, so don’t despair, just get out and spend some time wherever it may be.
Cheers
Russ Hawkins
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