Summer 2019/20
Fishing report 13 feb
1. Albacore are getting caught out wide from Kapiti and Hunters at present. The water temp is around 19-20 deg. Hapuku spots often have albacore around them at this time of the year so it’s worth having some tuna lures in your kit.
2. Puka, bass and bluenose - the trench is fishing pretty well when you can get out, particularly for bluenose. Good numbers of small to medium fish south of Baring head with bigger ones on the far side spots.
The back of 5 mile (woba) has bass on it and the gemfish and tope have been common by catch at most spots.
Puka fishing out west is good. Most spots are producing good fish at present on the turn of tide. We have been fishing Makara and Ohau with good results lately but I hear Fishermans, the sth Mana patch, 78mtr rise and other spots are firing on and off.
3. Snapper - they are pretty much widespread up and down the west coast now. Limit bags and 20lbers are on the cards. Fishing on the sand or reef (25 -70mtrs) will produce fish with the help of Berley or slowing drifting over hotspots. There's been alot of small ones (1-2kg) around Mana and down to boom with bigger ones (3-5kg) northg of Pukerua bay. Slow jigs have been working well as well as bait and berley.
On the south coast the airport reef and east of Sinclair head (35-45mtrs) have been producing nice snapper and good numbers occasionally.
Surfcaster’s in Palliser bay, the harbour and out west have all had good results of snapper with 3-4 fish around 7-8kg caught recently. It's prime time for north of Fisherman's table to start firing off the shore for snapper if anyone's keen.
4. Tarakihi and other species - out west These places have gone well for us - Boom rock (50-70mtr) Makara (25mtr), Verns (70mtr) and south of the bridge (40mtr).
5. Kingfish - it’s going well in the harbour for land based anglers. Lures, live and dead baits have all been producing fish up to 20kg over the last week. Live mackerel and slidebaiting have been the best method and all these places have produced good fish up to around 20kgs recently - Oriental bay, Sunshine bay, Greta point & Flat rock.
In the boat places like hunters, nth end of Kapiti, Aeroplane island, Fisherman's, Wiraka rise, Ohau and Boom, plus ward island, the wreck, point halswell, Jenningham and Barretts reef should all produce good kingfish at this time of the year.
If you want to catch a kingi, use your heaviest tackle with a good drag and put a livie or or two out, tow a rapala or get into some mechanical jigging
6. harbour - if the weathers good Ward island has been good for kingis, snaps, trevally, gurnard and kahawai. Around the leading light is a good place to start. Point Gordan (20mtrs) is always worth a crack as well as falcon shoal. point Jenningham and Halswell in 20mtrs are good southerly spots
7. Surfcasters have been doing well on snapper and they are in real close on the west at present so if you want snapper off the shore, now is prime time! There has been a sprinkling of moki around but kahawai and gurnard are the mainstay for shore fishers particularly in the harbour.
Tight lines
Pete
3 Feb 2020
Weather - What a windy period we are just coming out of. It’s looking lightish wind from Wednesday to Friday so get ready for a few good days out on the water.
Wirh northerlies on Saturday and southerlies on Sunday on the forcast, there will be plenty of opportunities to wet a line off the shore and then boat.
This time of the year anything can happen.
1. Albacore should be around the 100mtr + marks out west and south. Hapuku spots often have albacore around them at this time of the year so it’s worth having some tuna lures in your kit.
2. Puka, bass and bluenose - the trench is fishing alright when you can get out. Particularly in bluenose. Good numbers of small to medium fish south of Baring head with bigger ones on the far side spots.
The woba has bass on it and the gem fish and tope have been comon by catch at most spots.
Puka fishing out west is good. Most spots are producing Jude fish at present on the turn of tide. We have been fishing makara - ohau with good results lately and it’s been quick to come in for snapper and tarakihi which are around in good numbers.
3. Snapper - they are pretty much widespread up and down the west coast now. limit bags and 20lbers should be reported soon I’m picking. Fishing on the sand or reef (25 -70mtrs) will produce fish with the help of Berley or slowing drifting over hotspots.
On the south coast the airport reef and east of Sinclair head (35-45mtrs) have been producing nice snapper and good numbers occasionally.
Surfcaster’s in Palliser bay, the harbour and out west have all had good results of snapper with 3-4 fish around 7-8kg caught last weekend off the shore.
4. Tarakihi and other species - out west it’s been boom rock (50-70mtr) makara (25mtr), verns (70mtr) and south of the bridge (40mtr) which have been good mutilple species - JDs, trevs, warehou, bluecod and gurnard.
5. Kingfish - it’s going well in the harbour for land based anglers. Lures, live and dead baits have all been producing fish up to 20kg over the last week. Live mackerel and slidebaiting have been the best method and all
These places have produced good fish up to around 20kgs recently - oriental bay, sunshine bay, greta point, flat rock.
In the boat places like hunters, nth end of kapiti, aeroplane island, fishermans, wiraka rise, ohau and boom, plus ward island, the wreck, point halswell, Jenningham and Barrera reef could all produce numbers of kingfish at this time of the year.
If you want to catch a kingi, use your heaviest tackle with a good drag and put a live or or two out.
Good luck if your fishing the charity fishing comp at Petone this weekend. Shore and boat sections and over 50k worth of prizes up for grabs.
Fishing Charters - we have a bit of room Thursday / Friday if anyone’s keen on a 4 or 6hr trip and possibly Saturday night as well.
Tight lines
Pete
https://www.petelambfishing.co.nz/
0274439750
Shop - 15 kingsford smith st, rongotai
open 8am-4pm thursday, saturday, sunday and 7.30am-5.30pm on Friday this week.
24th Jan
Fishing is just one of those things that goes up and down, some with factors we know about like full moon, temperatures and tidal run, and some factors that will forever remain a mystery affecting the way our favourite target species behave. Spots that fish hot one day are almost dead the next at the moment, but luckily there are a few areas that are more consistent and that is where it pays to start. We can never expect every day to be grouse for fishing but that’s why we love it. With a line in the water anything is possible, and just like gamblers we all roll the dice waiting for the good times to roll our way.
What we do know is that a big run of southerly weather generally has an adverse effect on the Wellington fishery, delivering swells and rough conditions to the strait, and the south coast, whilst dropping water temps and subsequently also cooling the bite.
We’ve certainly had the southerlies, and that has put the focus of most fishermen to the west coast, which has continued to produce some nice fish albeit in patches.
Anniversary weekend last week just about cleaned out all our bait stock, so there were a lot of fishos out there doing it, even though we found the fishing a bit on the hard side.
We found some good terakihi and puka fishing off Boom Rock and Makara, but our usual favourite spots around Pukerua Bay and Mana have proven to be patchy at best, especially for snapper.
A north west forecast for the next week will be very welcome, as it should bring the warmer sea temps back to these areas and really fire up the bite, so expect some great fishing in the next couple of weeks.
Snapper fishing further north up the Kapiti Coast has been pretty solid, and there are good fish right in to 5 metres, so this should only get better with warmer water.
This will also apply to the east coast of Wellingtons outer fishing limits, where albacore tuna are there to be caught out from Tora, as well as a few sightings of broadbill.
The south coast is doing it pretty tough after the recent weather, and we don’t really have a lot to report from that way given the lack of traffic, but there are certainly good fish there, including some bluenose up to 20kgs that have been boated by those who have the wherewithal to get out there.
Over the next week I’d be focused on the west coast and targeting puka, kingies and terakihi.
Kingy fishing has been great, both from boat and from shore. The slide baiters are getting some fantastic catches with fish around 20 kgs plus off Eastbourne. Grab your livies off the local wharves first, and head to the coast with your aerated baitfish ready for action. Here’s a little bit of info on this method in action from our Aussie mates ….https://www.nzfishingworld.co.nz/posts/slide-baiting
If you are looking for kingies from a boat, Hunter’s is just a never ending kingy factory at present, so head out there with jigs and live baits and in 30 – 50 metres off the main pinnacles you should be good.
Surf casting off Ocean Beach and Lake Ferry is improving with snapper starting to be picked up here on a consistent basis. With the northwest arriving there’s no better time to get off here or, in fact, anywhere along the Palliser Bay coast.
Fishing report 7th jan
The water is warm and when you can get out there is some amazing fishing happening.
It doesn’t always mean the fishing is going to be easy but if you do your homework or know the good areas to fish you should catch a good feed at this time of the year.
I’m happy to help you out with spots to go and techniques etc. Drop me an email [email protected] or text on 0274439750 or Facebook message me
I’m also running plenty of charters and have space during the week and on weekends for individuals and groups coming up
https://www.petelambfishing.co.nz/index.php?page=Calendar-of-Wellington-fishing-trips
West coast
Snapper and kingis are biting all over the place. The frustrating thing is they are full on at a spot one day and you go back the next and they are gone.
Reef areas have been most consistent with us recently particularly the 50-80mtr spots like boom, hunters, verns and various other spots. All of species are getting caught - trevs, JDs, gurnard, tarakihi, bluecod, albacore, snaps and kings.
Harbour
It’s been kingi mayhem off oriental and sunshine bays for slide-baiters of late. There were 30 rods out the other morning for 12 kingis caught.
Other places worth putting out livebaits and throwing out lures are - greta point (niwa) and points north of there, flat rock, point halswell, scorching bay point, breaker bay, seatoune, Lowry bay point
Snapper are also fairly common for boat and shore anglers but not as good as our west.
South coast
Snapper and kingis have been around from the airport reef out to the 50mtr wreck.
Trumpeter and puka have been caught on the 100mtr mark from Sinclair to Karori.
Blues nose are still going well out from homes rock.
Surfcasting
Some good spotty sharks and moki are still getting caught on the south coast. White rock and cape palliser have both been good spots. Recent catches - A 25/30lb kingi was caught on a hex wobbler at breaker bay and a decent spotty shark at greta.
If you can add to this report please place your comments/photos /catches below
Happy new year
Pete
December 20th
Into summer now and it’s 17.5 degrees warm in the water. That means fish get active and we are seeing plenty of that. Heaps of snapper and kings in all usual haunts you would expect to find them. That is, where they are usually supposed to be, but often are not, they are now Weather always up and down but fishing pretty good when you can get out as per usual.
We have a young customer who is a keen jigger, and to be keen on mechanical jigging you generally want to at least feel young, and he caught a 30kg specimen last week. That’s a lot of kingy and must have gone pretty good. They generally fight harder on a jig, perhaps it’s the lead rod banging about their head, but 65 pounds in the old books is a bloody good fish anywhere.
Snapper wise, good numbers all down the west coast moving in nice and close now. If you are doing most things right, you should be into snapper all the way from Ohau up to Waikanae coast.
That will please the surf casters who have been getting a few good early season moochers between Waikanai and Te Horo.
It’s been pleasing to see the teri’s turning up again now. We’ve found them a bit scratchy this year, but now they seem to be back on the bite.
Out wide has been rough conditions wise, but last time we got out the fishing was great. Puka are around but the bluenose are fishing better, with some great hauls out of the Trench.
South coast has been a winner for snapper with Owhiro performing pretty well and some good fishing also off the airport reef systems. We have it on good authority that these spots are firing so could well be worth a look over the holidays.
As we predicted the kingies have moved in close and we are now seeing the slide baiters and surf casters hooking and landing some nice fish from shore.
Sunshine Bay, and downtown Oriental Bay seem to be the action stations for this, and the boatie brigade are getting kings in the harbour as well.
There are a lot of juvenile snapper around which is a bit out of the ordinary. Hopefully this means there are greater numbers spawning and we are in for a bit of a snapper bonanza in the next few years. Wouldn’t that be nice?
South coast is in good nick with the swell ideally dying down a bit for a few fishing windows. Try and get clear of the murky water if you can, and move out until you see some decent visibility.
Have a great Christmas break, stay safe and take it easy out there.
Wishing you all the best luck for the Christmas period, and we look forward to bringing you more info next year. Check our Facebook page or website for store opening, but we are working through so should be there to help.
December 6th
Despite some howling winds, there are a lot of positives to be taken out of this week when it comes to the fishing. Before the big blow we had some good action, and there is likely more to come in the next week or so. Hapuka are back on the chew and some good numbers have been taken from both out west and south out in the Trench, so it looks to be gearing up already for a bumper season if we are lucky.
You don’t have to travel too far for puka at the moment. We had some great fishing straight out from Makara, fishing the big shelf that drops off from around 130 –150 metres. This is a big drop off and you can find puka all the way along it at the moment. I’d say this is the closest puka spot to land in Wellington that is a consistent producer of fish. We didn’t fish this drop last season, but trying it again last week was surprised at how well it was going. It just shows that you don’t necessarily need to go all the way to Fisherman’s or Ohau to get good Hapuka action.
We also caught some big terakihi, gemfish and a few tope out off this area so all on board returned home pretty happy.
Of course puka are a big fish and getting one or two on board is usually all you need. If you limit what you take and then move back in shore to target snapper, cod or other species that keeps the puka population healthy for next time.
We only run several puka trips per season, but if you are keen on targeting this species best get in contact as we are booking out available spaces between now and the end of January pretty quickly.
The moki comp we talked about last week, out at Ngawi, was fished in near perfect conditions and we saw some really good results, with around 300 rods out, and 22 moki weighed in. Undoubtedly many more were caught and not weighed, possibly as many as 70 – 100 we estimate. My mate, for example, caught seven fish but only weighed in the two biggest.
Winning fish was just under 5 kilo’s. A lovely moki.
Cape Palliser is such an awesome spot if you care to make the journey and have an explore. There were people out there climbing into the water and gathering crayfish, not something you can do in very many places nowadays. The fishing is awesome from land and by boat,so when the weather allows perhaps get over there and check it out for yourself.
So after that, we had some crazy winds this week, with Wellington making the news again for it’s famous, as yet un-named, wind. The good news was that this wind was from the north-west, which blows up a storm but generally brings in warmer water, and this, plus all the stirring up of the ecosystem can often mean a really bumper fishing time to follow, especially for snapper.
From what we can tell, the temp of the water has come up in shallow at least, and the results could bode very well for fishing right up the west coast. Usually you’ll find awesome snapper and kingy action gets pushed in nice and close, and areas like Pukerua Bay, Makara, and the southern coasts of Mana and Kapiti even, could really fire up.
If you can get a day off mid-week, from Monday night to Weds morning looks like a fantastic window, and we are looking very forward to getting out there ourselves.
It might also be a good opportunity to give the Trench a go,as we had reports of some very good bluenose fishing last Saturday, one boat landing 24 fish for their efforts. There are a lot of smaller fish about, but a bit further, the far side of the Trench in around the 250 metre mark, seemed to produce bigger specimens.
The terakihi have been a bit thin on the ground lately, orat least they have been noticeably harder to catch, however the blue cod are making up for it, turning up in a few places we don’t normally expect to be catching them.
After this big blow we might see the south coast start turning up the great fishing for both these species that we are used to though.
The inner harbour is still fishing well with plenty of gurnard, and the surf casters are regularly catching snapper now.
Snapper will be moving in to Evan’s Bay, and then usually move in around Eastbourne if they follow the traditional pattern.
Out west Pukerua Bay in around 40 – 60 metres, The Bridge,and south of Mana should be producing good snapper now, so let’s hope we are proved right out there in the coming weeks.
FISHING REPORT 22 November
Fishing is great in Wellington, there’s plenty of snapper around at the moment, and they are spread all over the place which is encouraging.
Straight out from Mana and Pureua Bay getting good fish in 40 – 60 metres off the sand
The puka seem to be back on the chew with quite a few boats doing well at Fisherman’s and the 78 metre rise, around behing Mana and behind Hunters are good places to try.
There’s a great forecast tomorrow and every man and his dog will be out there if they can. Moon phase is good and there’s a long morning bite time forecast so fishing could be epic.
We’ve had reports of plenty of bluenose out in the Trench, and boaties who have been frustrated by the swell should have a narrow opportunity on Saturday to get out before the winds pick back up.
Kingies are in the harbour getting caught from boats, and pretty soon now the land based guys will be picking them up we expect.
Kapiti is firing up nicely with some good snapper fishing off the north and south reefs. The fish seem to be moving further south however, with Pukerua Bay and Mana being better and not to mention easier to get to. Warmer temps of 15 – 16 degrees now mean the snapper are there to party.
With the big crowds on weekends, Kapiti could be worth a go though, if you prefer a bit of space. It has not been fished too heavily of late due to the conditions, so may well turn out to be worth the effort to get there.
Surf casting
There’s been no swell on the south coast for some time now and the fishing’s really picking up as a result.
This weekend sees the moki 1000 surf fishing comp based in Ngawi happening, and there should be a good influx as conditions look to be great.
If you want to target moki in the future, the comp is a good opportunity to get out there and see where people fish, what baits and gear is working and where the fish are being landed. Watching and learning from other anglers is a great way to lift your own game so perhaps check out the event if that’s of interest.
The surf casters are picking up a few nice snapper and still some good gurnard around most of the popular coastlines.
Palliser Bay will be a great area to fish both from boat and shore over the next few days, with Sunday forecast 6 knot north-west wind. This huge area is one of the best places in the Wellington region to fish bar none.
You’ll pick up a range of species here, but try using crab for bait and the chances of catching moki and good snapper are really high. We like to use the smaller crabs whole, or halved and cottoned on to a recurve hook (2- 3/0 fine gauge). Bigger crabs need the shell and legs removed. Cotton keeps the bait on both during the cast and protects from the pickers. They are often a harder bait to find, but we stock them in the shop and are happy to talk to you about rigs etc if you drop in.
The Bay fishes from Turakirae Head all the way around to Cape Palliser. It’s a vast fishery with massive scope for surf casting from the western and eastern rocky coasts to the shingle and sand beaches around Lake Ferry.
Over the last few years the snapper fishing has been the best ever here so this weekend will undoubtedly produce some good fish.
White Rock (on the east coast around past Cape Palliser) remains the hot spot for moki as it has been for quite a while now. It’s a distance but most great land based locations take a bit of getting to. The lack of swell over the last couple of weeks would make this a great destination this week if you were keen to give it a try.
With a good run of decent weather, we soon start picking up more info about where the fishing action is happening, so stay tuned or drop in to our Rongotai Store for a chat anytime.
p
8th November 2019
There’s big bluenose action out at the trench at the moment. These stalwarts of the deep are always a great catch for the table and we’ve seen some good numbers of nice fish getting caught if you can get the weather and the time off to cooperate with each other.
Bluenose often hang out up off the bottom a bit, so if you see sign sitting up higher than you might expect for puka then it can often be bluenose. This time of year we expect they will be there for a while so it’s a matter of keeping an eye on the conditions and being ready to go.
Snapper and kingies have come on a bit but at this early stage of summer they are not exactly raging just yet.
Mana and Pukerua Bay are producing good fish but not yet in the big numbers we expect closer to Christmas.
We are now starting to see the south end of Kapiti fishing well too. It’s been a bit quiet there to date, but good to see some fresh action at one of our better fishing locations. Here you can get good terakihi off the southern contour changes and reefy pins, and off Pinnacle Rock (see map), and also trevally and the odd decent snapper.
With strong north-west winds forecast the weekend looks a bit average for boaties everywhere but close in to the south and east coast. There’s no swell there at the moment though, and nice clear water so perfect for surf casting and shallower diving missions.
Launching off Owhiro Bay and staying in really close watching out for the marine reserve could be an option, and it shouldn’t take too long to pick up some nice blue cod and terakihi at least.
Five Mile reef is still good for big cod and terakihi in 50 – 75 metres if you fish the turn of tides when there’s not too much current running.
The weather might be a bit uncooperative this week, but when you can get out Sinclair Head to Karori Rock, and out deeper around 80-100 metres there’s a good chance of catching Hapuka and trumpeter.
Trumpeter are a fantastic fish, and they have been appearing in a few spots lately.
Normally they are more of an east coast fish, but we’re seeing them more south now. There’s a good bank out past, and to the south of Nicholson’s Trench where some really nice specimens have been landed. It’s a huge area between 100 – 150 metres that gives you plenty of options to cruise about with the sounder and pick up sign.
Being at least 10 miles offshore it’s a bit further to travel, but as such, has not had the angling pressure and can therefore produce unexpected results.
Trumpeter are a fantastic looking fish, a bit like a big moki with distinctive horizontal stripes. They can grow pretty big, up to 25kgs, and they are a great fight and will scrap like a kingfish all the way to the surface.
They make great eating so are a good reward for the effort.
Trumpeter are usually caught on normal puka gear, but have much smaller mouths than the groper family so a smaller sized hook is better.
Out west looks pretty unfishable in the short term, but those that have been able to fish Hunters are being rewarded with some really nice kingfish. These are mainly on jigs, but of course livies also work well, often a big live bait being responsible for hooking the bigger fish.
South-west of Hunters we hear the 78 metre rise is fishing well for kings. It’s primarily a well-known puka spot but being a rise with a bit of current running the kings are there too.
Surfcasting
Where they have been catching gurnard the surfcasting crew are now steadily picking up a few snapper in the harbour now at places like Evan’s Bay. Greta point has been good but inconsistent, and it’s supposed to be a good time to be moki fishing at White Rock (even though the surfcasting club did not do so well off Wainui last week).
