Wellington / Kapiti

fishing report

Supplied by

Pete Lamb

Pete Lamb Fishing

Wellington & Kapiti Coast: December
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

Summer arrives with a bang, and the fishing has been as good as the weather.

We’ve been pretty much out very day recently, and the snapper fishing has been amazing.

We thought last year was the best we’ve seen for a long, long time in Wellington, but so far this season seems to be shaping up even better.

We were throwing back as many legal fish as we were keeping, snapper were everywhere we tried in decent numbers, so it’s very encouraging knowing that there’s a good chance of picking up some good action any time you head out.

Some fish have been really good size too, and I think we broke the 20 lb mark with one fish off the back of Mana.

As well as snaps, we’ve caught john dory, puka, and the usual terries and cod quite easily off the west coast – Pukerua Bay, Plimmerton, South of Mana and down to Boom Rock, it’s been all go.

Ohau, Hunters, and Fisherman’s are all fishing really good during the right tide movements and we are flat out supplying bait and berley to the local stores, so there are plenty of boats out there reaping the rewards.

Just in the last few days there have been some particularly good surf casting snapper catches, including 10 plus kilo fish off Tehoro.

Surfcasters have been doing well on the snapper at Palliser Bay, and picking up a few moki too, but there has been better moki fishing at Long Beach.  

Conditions are primo and that makes the fishing pretty pleasurable and productive.  There’s more snapper close in than we have experienced for years now, so it’s worth putting in the extra effort to getting to good spots early, investing in decent bait and gear, fishing into the night etc.  

Effort in is often rewarded with a good feed at this time.

With a dead mahi mahi washed up on the Kapiti coast this week, it’s not surprising that there are also a few good albacore tuna now being landed, both off the back of Mana and out back of Kapiti.

We have heard rumors that there have also been a couple of bluefin in amongst, which would not be at all surprising, the water is in beautiful condition out there at the moment.

About the only species that has not really fired up for us recently, are the kingies.

Although we often don’t specifically target kingies, we do fish a lot of live bait, and usually pick up far more as bycatch than we have over the last few weeks.

Obviously, there are still whoppers around, and really targeting kings is often required to get best results around the usual haunts of Hunters, Kapiti and Boom etc.

It’s not been too bad out at the Trench, no real red-hot action to report but some solid bluenose have been landed really deep.

That about wraps it up for the year for us.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the reports again this year, and we look forward to seeing you in the shop if you ever want to have a chat or know a bit more about what’s happening on the day.

Take care, stay safe, and have a great Christmas

See you out there

Cheers

Pete

https://www.petelambfishing.co.nz/

027 443 9750

Petelamb2@gmail.com

Shop - 15 Kingsford Smith St, Rongotai

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