2021

Fishing Report - 8.1.21

I can’t believe how good the fishing is in Wellington at the moment. Palliser Bay is on fire and surfcasters and boaties alike are cashing in on some spectacular fishing. When the water is clean it’s dynamite for gurnard, kahawai, snapper and in particular some epic blue moki fishing. The moki action is like I’ve never seen it before. For no apparent reason there just seems to be a big population increase and they are hanging in there. It’s just crazy, and it’s no secret with proverbial picket fences of anglers vying for space on some occasions to get into the fish.

We have novice anglers bagging several decent moki in a single session from the shore, normally you just don’t see that, but long may it continue.

Bait stores are running dry, and we are flat out ourselves delivering bait and berley.

The weather has stopped us, and most of the other boaties, from getting out there on occasion as per usual.

The northerly flows seem to have kicked off some more great snapper action, that had previously gone a bit quiet with the southerlies dominating. Now these fish appear to be back with a vengeance close in, all up and down the coast by land or by boat.

The albacore tuna are now running strong and have been in easy reach out behind Mana. We had a customer that caught ten fish last week out behind the island. It’s the usual story if you are targeting these fish. Look for any bird activity, breaking surface water or temp/current lines etc and get your small tuna lures through them at around 6 – 7 knots.

Albies are a great eating fish if you get them bled and on the ice.

Puka fishing is pretty good too, and we got a great haul on our last trip off Makara coast

Kingies sheltering up in the lee of Mana from the northerlies. Hunters and Boom both going well for kings when you can make the most of the limited windows of opportunity the weather allows. Morning missions have been the best option before the wind gets up too much.

From the shore the kingfish action has been really hot, with slide baiters in Oriental Bay catching fish in good numbers and up to 20kgs!

South coast is just so good recently, and we’ve had some very happy clients getting great results from shore. We are running land-based charter trips if you want to learn how to surf cast, or just improve your knowledge, or maybe just prefer not to be on a boat. Ask about prices and schedules at our Rongotai shop and we will gladly talk through the options, there’s been no better time to get into it.

2020

FISHING REPORT

24/12/20
From the shore There’s starting to be a good run of snapper and moki in Palliser Bay now for surfcaster’s. I’ve heard of a few good catches recently. One of my mates got 3 moki and 3 snapper the other day east of lake ferry. Traditional moki spots like longbeach have produced a few good moki as well - a bit closer to home. There’s been a good number of snaps and kingis caught in Evans Bay and also off Ngaranga. Good size snaps to 5-6kg and kings to around 20kg
From the boatThere’s been some great bluenose fishing in the trench but like the snapper around mana, it can be hit and miss.
Puka fishing out west has been similar - good one day, tough the next.
Pukerua Bay has been good for snaps recently fishing around 40metres, and Kapiti has also been performing consistently as well.
We had a run of kingis the other day off the Mana Bridge but places like Boom, Hunters and Kapiti have been a safer bet for kings.
We’ve been getting annoyed by Seven Gill sharks lately at Mana but a good variety of species has been keeping the customers happy on most trips, including john dory, trevally, gurnard, teris and cod and of course kahawai.
Snapper have been rampant for a few days then have been going off the feed a bit. Pretty much business as usual.
Let’s hope for some better weather so we can get out to the hotspots more often. Lately the weather has improved but is still pretty windy.
Have a great Christmas and see you all in the new year.
 
11/12/20
Good news is that the snapper have arrived back at mana in big numbers. Although it has been very difficult to get out in the wind of late, when you can, it’s been pretty rewarding. From famine to feast, the snapper appear to be everywhere at the moment and are also quite easy to catch. We’ve caught a lot of nice fish even on half-day trips in the last few weeks. We’ve predominantly been fishing the Bridge, where we can get a little more shelter in the northerlies.
‍
If you’re unfamiliar with the Bridge, it’s an area of rise and foul that runs between Titahi Bay and Mana.  It comes up to as shallow as six metres and drops off to twenty, and it’s about 500 metres wide, providing good foul ground to shelter food, terrain to create good current vortexes and it can hold a lot of fish.
A nice plate favorite making a few appearances are the john dory, that often jump on smaller fish hooked on dropper rigs.
Although you can anchor up and berley right on top of the system, it’s often best to fish off the banks where it drops down either side.  Turn of the tide can see some amazing action including snapper, trevs, and kingfish.
The only caviat is that it can be difficult to fish when current is running at full steam, so catching it in the hours either side of the tides is best bet, and at the moment you are virtually guaranteed a good bag if you are fishing the right way.
Snapper will also be running in all the other popular areas up and down the coast, they have just been protected by the conditions stopping us getting out there and having a crack most days recently.
There’s some good weather patterns approaching for next week, so it’s going to be all on I’d say.
Surfcasters have been getting a few good five to six kilo snapper off flat rock, and there have been plenty of kingfish caught off the rocks around Evans Bay and Oriental Parade in the last week.
Moki are still a prime target for surf casters around the south coast with plenty of good specimens being landed.
Out wide puka are still firing big-time, and out at the Trench, in the first fishable day in a while, there were a few bluenose up to 12 kilos landed out there.
Also out wide off Ohau Point in around 300 metres, look for sign in the widespread foul ground. It can be a good place to plug in your electric reels and hit the deep.
Kapiti has been a real struggle to access but there are good snapper there now, and when the conditions allow we expect Kapiti will provide a great opportunity to nab some bigger fish.
The deep areas of foul all around Kapiti lend themselves well to fishing slow jigs, particularly at this time of year when the water temps get the fish a bit more active.
We usually fish the south end simply for convenience as it’s a bit of a steam, and anything from 20 to sixty metres plus over structure or sand seems to produce snapper, gurnard, blue cod, trevally and terakihi.
The channel north of Kapiti in 30 – 50 metres is also a good spot if you can identify fish on the sounder and get into them.
Makara is also going well when the bite is on if you are prepared to make the effort to get there from mana, but often well worth it as the fishing is usually pretty consistent there especially coming into summer.
 
12 nov 2020

The biggest and most exciting thing for me at the moment is the ‘return’ of the blue moki. It’s been going off, if you wanted to catch some blue moki now is the time. All through Palliser Bay there is great moki fishing, and they are not requiring the greatest of skill to find. Normally moki can be quite fussy and particular about where they hang, sticking to specific areas where foul meets sand or structure, but at the moment they seem to be everywhere out there, happily schooling out over the sand allowing even novice fishermen to catch several in a trip from the shore.

It’s the best moki fishing I have seen in a long while, and there are some really nice sized specimens up around 5kg being caught.

There are a few spotty sharks frequenting the same area, and I had my rod buckled out of it’s spike by a decent one.  They certainly can give you a good go and a bit of sport if that’s your thing.

Moki fishing should hold steady for a while now, especially off Palliser and further around to White Rock, so if you are a keen land based fisho, this is a rewarding species to target when you get onto them.

Snapper fishing seems to have buttoned off a bit after a great season all year.  There are still some good fish north and south of Kapiti, still holding in the deeper water 50 – 60 metres, and often the big ones will move in towards Tanimoana at this time of year.

Gurnard have been firing big time in the harbour for shore and boat fishers with a few nice snapper and kingfish caught as well.

When fishable the south coast has been producing good cod and teris at the usual haunts. Karori has been good on bluecod as well.

Otherwise it’s been a bit slim-pickings around mana on the snapper. Luckily kahawai, trra all and the odd JD have kept us busy on recent charters.
 
23 oct 2020
 
The terakihi have been a bit short in supply, but this can often change just as quickly for the better around the Wellington region.

Kingfish are going well though, around the reef systems at Kapiti and hunters in particular.

The puka are also back on form, and Fisherman’s would be a great go-to at the moment.

There’s good reports from the south coast, the trench and also Palliser for puka, which is pretty standard for this time of year.

As soon as the weather opens up a window, get on out there, the fishing should be awesome.

Pop in and pick up some of the fresh crayfish and skipjack burley I’ve been making up.  It’s a messy business putting these together but you know the fish love it.

Right now, on a Friday afternoon I am sheltered up on the north end of Mana in 25 knots. It’s fishable out wider but uncomfortable! The harbour is fishing pretty well, particularly for gurnard which are naturally an awesome eating fish even though not much sport. The south coast is starting to calm down, and out west is fishable and looking ok if you are happy to shelter up in the lee of Mana or other areas of coastline. The swell on the south coast is supposed to ease to half a metre so it should be pretty good if that happens over the next few days.
There’s a few whitebait still around, and if the water clears enough should be good on the moki off the south and east coast.

There is usually a pretty good run of big snapper between Kapiti and Foxton around this time and over the next month traditionally.

Fisho’s make a beeline from Te Horo to Tangimoana with kontikis and kayaks, or whatever it takes to get amongst it, so I expect this will happen again as the snapper fishery has been very healthy this year.

Even though we are seeing the usual spring run of snapper, and kingies being caught off Hunter’s etc, the real highlight is the spring run of gurnard that make great table fare and are in great size and numbers at the moment.

In the harbour there are a lot of gurnard off Evan’s Bay and Ward Island, and down toward the harbour entrance.  Point Journingham and Point Halswell are also great spots to try from both boat and land. Off the south coast Fitzroy Bay and Lyall Bay are also good options for chasing carrots and they tend to be a bit deeper here, like 20 to 30 metres. 

To target gurnard, usually anywhere off the sand in 15 to 20 metres is the best go-to, and although they can be picked up often on lures, fishing with good quality fish bait like skippy, is the best way to get good results.

Gurnard are a colourful looking butterfly of a fish, and they equally like a nice colourful bait, which is why fancy flasher rigs and lumo beads are often employed with great success by gurnard fisho’s.

To be fair, they are pretty easy to catch on a bog standard, simple dropper rig, and there’s always the chance of picking up kahawai, trevs, teri’s, and snapper as by-catch.

If you are not having any luck on the droppers, try a running rig that pins the bait a bit harder to the bottom where the gurnard feed.

I’ll often anchor up off Point Gordon, and swing back and forth picking up cod, teris, and gurnard as the boat swings back and forth across the edge of the foul turning to sand.

Weather looks a bit iffy this weekend, but there are some good days coming end of next week so see you out there.

14 Sept 2020

Harbour

boat - some nice snapper, gurnard and trevs have been caught recently from Pt Halswell to Falcon Shoal as well as south of Ward Island. the edge of the shipping chanel and around the harbour entrance have been going well for some big bluecod, gurnard and kahawai

shore - its nice to see the return of the the kahawai along with whitebait pretty much all over the harbour at different times and days. Evans bay has been particularly busy with kahawai mayhem from the Coastguard building along to Cobham drive and to Miramar wharf. There's been a nice spring run of gurnard at places like Greta Pt (Niwa) and various other points around the bay as well.

South coast

boat - good cod and teris from 40mtr down to 100mtr at most reefy spots. As a gerneral rule, Karori is better for the Cod and Turakerei is better for the tarakihi with other places like baring head, the wreck, around the marine reserve and airport reef. Fitzroy bay is a nice calm spots for a feed of cod, teri, gurnard and trevally if conditions are a big rough out wide.

shore - Kahawai, the odd nice bluecod, gurnard and trevally are around places like Fitzroy bay, Wainui, Pencarrow while White rock and 'the Spit' are a good bet for spotty sharks, a possible moki or elephantfish and a general mixed bag of other ooglies

West Coast

Plenty of kingis have been hooked out at Hunters bank lately. Its been quite productive over the last two winters but of course not every day. The fish tend to be a bit deeper in the winter (50-70mtr).

shore - Its a good time to target tarakihi, tervally and warehou on the shingle beaches from Titahi bay down to Ohau pt. The odd snapper may still be on the cards

K‍apiti - Better snapper fishing in the 50+ mtr areas. good tarakihi on the south end and still Kingis on the North.

Durville - Big snapper and Kingi time at Stephens passage (80-120mtr)

Fishing report 21 August

The surfcasters are happy at the moment, because it’s whitebait season. That doesn’t mean that they will be downsizing their hooks, it means that the kahawai are on the chew, especially in close around any of the river mouths, estuaries, or any places inshore that they can herd these little baitfish. Fishing from shore with small spinners is a great way to have some fun on light gear, and any small shiny lure or even little soft baits can provide epic action. Back in the day we used to throw the ¼ oz Stingsilda around, who’s out there that’s old enough to remember those classic weapons You’ll see a few hopefuls out with their nets in the river inlets hoping for a few grams of river gold that are certainly a delicacy when generously spooned into a pan with the fritter mix. All the big species are fishing well at the moment, plenty of big puka, bluenose, snapper, terakihi, cod and kingies coming from all around the usual popular spots we talk about in our reports. It’s good to see the puka fishing pick up from a few weeks ago off the west coast too. Some really good results in both size and numbers coming in from the popular 150 to 200 metre mark, and puka fishing out at the Trench and beyond is still going really well. Snapper have been steady for this time of year mostly out deeper in 70 – 80 metres, but you’ll still find them in closer to shore. The kayak fishermen do really well with soft baits in close, and winter is a good time to use the bigger seven inch patterns moved nice and slow for the big fish. Big Zman and Catch livie bodies go well in either natural or orange colours. Otherwise it can be good stray lining or casting whole pillies into the wash for the win. There’s truckloads of kingies out at Hunters still, and generally jigs are firing them up so it’s worth a crack out there. Also off the south coast just on the edge of the Trench where there are bluenose has been producing some nice kings too.

8 Sept

Harbour

South coast

West Coast

boat - still some puka getting caught off Makara and Ohau but the bigger ones are harder to get at this time of the year due to spawning. There's been some good schools of warehou around place like Boom, Ohau, Hunters and fishermans. Snapper are biting better in the deeper water (over 50mtrs) but there are still some shallower ones especially from Pukerua bay northwards.Plenty of kingis have been hooked out at Hunters bank lately. Its been quite productive over the last two winters but of course not every day. The fish tend to be a bit deeper in the winter (50-70mtr).

shore - Its a good time to target tarakihi, tervally and warehou on the shingle beaches from Titahi bay down to Ohau pt. The odd snapper may still be on the cards

K‍apiti - Better snapper fishing in the 50+ mtr areas. good tarakihi on the south end and still Kingis on the North.

Durville - Big snapper and Kingi time at Stephens passage (80-120mtr)

You’ll see a few hopefuls out with their nets in the river inlets hoping for a few grams of river gold that are certainly a delicacy when generously spooned into a pan with the fritter mix.

All the big species are fishing well at the moment, plenty of big puka, bluenose, snapper, terakihi, cod and kingies coming from all around the usual popular spots we talk about in our reports.

It’s good to see the puka fishing pick up from a few weeks ago off the west coast too. Some really good results in both size and numbers coming in from the popular 150 to 200 metre mark, and puka fishing out at the Trench and beyond is still going really well.

Snapper have been steady for this time of year mostly out deeper in 70 – 80 metres, but you’ll still find them in closer to shore. The kayak fishermen do really well with soft baits in close, and winter is a good time to use the bigger seven inch patterns moved nice and slow for the big fish. Big Zman and Catch livie bodies go well in either natural or orange colours. Otherwise it can be good stray lining or casting whole pillies into the wash for the win.

There’s truckloads of kingies out at Hunters still, and generally jigs are firing them up so it’s worth a crack out there.

Also off the south coast just on the edge of the Trench where there are bluenose has been producing some nice kings too.

August 8

It’s been a fantastic run of winter weather here in the balmy capital, with three good weekends in a row and packed boat ramps. Sure enough the fishing has also been worth the wait with some really good results from around the Wellington region, particularly off the south coast. There’s been a big influx of Puka out of the south coast, and deep dropping the Trench and beyond appears to have been far more productive than the west coast.

‍We have had some good intel from one of our commercial operator customers about some great puka and bluenose fishing spots that are out about twice as far as the Trench.

I’m happy to elaborate a bit more on precisely where these spots are if you pop in to see me in person at the shop. Another commercial operator we know well is pretty impressed by the number of fish out there at the moment, and the general state of the Hapuka fishery.

They believe the fish may be moving around a lot more than people give them credit for. They are also not necessarily glued to structure, but will venture out onto the sand a fair distance, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the sounder and possibly continuing a drift a little further than normal off the main foul ground if you have not hooked up.Especially at this time of year prior to spawning, the fish can be quite mobile, so if they are not at old favourite spot X, they may well be out further on the sand.

Recreational anglers are also picking up good fish on jigs at the moment too, up to around 30 kilos.The puka are heading deeper, and it can be 300 metres down, so fishing the turn of the tide is important as that’s the only window that will allow lines to stay vertical in the current.

Good numbers of bluenose are also being caught, in fact, they are bloody near everywhere out by the Trench at the moment.There are even a few kingies out deep too, often just grabbing baits as a by catch, so keep the jigs handy and it’s well worth having a go for puka and kings with a good big jig in lumo patterns.

Snapper fishing has been ok, with more individual fish than big schools. Although the odd good moocher will always be caught in close, often picked up by the kayak anglers or surf casters, most of the good snapper fishing has been out deep in around 70 – 80 metres, but even out to 120 off the west coast, in all the usual reef structures and popular areas such as off Boom down to Ohau etc.Having said that, Fisherman’s appears to have gone a bit quiet, but that can always change.

If you are hitting it with no luck it’s probably best to move on fairly quickly to another area.The usual staples of blue cod, trevs and terakihi have all been pretty easy to pick up in general fishing, so getting a feed out there is pretty much a given. In any weather or wind direction there’s always somewhere around the coastline to pick up these species.

The good weather can’t last forever, and it looks like another wintery patch heading our way soon, so best to get out there while you still can.

july 17 2020

FISHING REPORT
We’ve been out quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, making the most of our weather windows and picking up some good fish.

This snapper season has been undoubtedly one of the best the Wellington region has seen in recent years, and they are still being caught in good sizes and numbers.

Although there will always be big residential moochers in the shallows, sheltering in the weed and foul, it appears that most of the fish have moved out deeper now to around 70 metres.

In particular, Vern’s reef has been producing really good fish. Traditionally a good terakihi spot, it’s been turning up some very nice snapper and trevs lately, again in 70 to 80 metres.

In fact, most of the west coast has been returning some solid results, with the southerly swells rendering the south coast a bit lumpy and tough to get out to the Trench comfortably, the west coast has been a good option from Ohau right up past Kapiti.

Hunter’s has seen some great fishing, and the kayak boys have been pulling several double figure snaps out from Pukerua Bay.

The kingy fishing has also been good, and there are great specimens right in shallow at the moment. We recently put a young lad onto a king that pushed his limits, and with a bit of help from dad he pulled a 15kg fish out of 10 metres just in behind Mana Island.

We also got stuck into some blue mackerel fishing the likes of which I’ve never seen previously, with big fish up to 3 kgs taking most anything on offer. That’s a meaty sized mackerel for the smoker or to be thrown straight back over as live-bait for kingies.

Speaking of live bait, this method is the best ever for catching john dory, and the JD fishing has really started firing up now. Targeting john dory also gives you the chance of scoring a decent snapper or kingy, so it’s often worth the effort.

For a bit more detail on how to catch them check this video article: https://www.nzfishingworld.co.nz/posts/how-to-catch-john-dory-and-why

The other favourite eating fish that has been firing up is the old blue cod, and the cod fishing on the west coast recently has just been outstanding.

Perhaps it was the massive southerly activity that was bad enough to cancel the ferries, that has forced the blue cod around the corner to the west coast up as far as the Makara Fenceline. The big cod are turning up all over the place, including in the harbour. We had some absolutely epic cod fishing last week off the fenceline, with cod up to 3 kilos running like kahawai. Pelagic cod! Didn’t get a jump or tail-walk out of them but they were great in the old frypan.

Good luck over the weekend, tight lines and we look forward to seeing your photos in the comp.

‍Cheers

Pete

June 2020

inshore fishing is pretty good on the whole at the moment, and better than this time last year for snapper. Plenty of terakihi, trevs, snapper, and kingfish still around the local inshore fishery including the harbour. In fact, just last week out on my little Mac off Point Gordon it was fairly easy to get a good boat load of terakihi, snapper and gurnard in just 20 metres. West coast and harbour has been the place to be, with the southerly swell roughing up the south coast a bit much.

Out west snapper are still prevalent in shallow around the structure, out off the sand and even out deep. Brilliant season. Use a good bit of berley when you find a decent spot and that should get them on the chew usually, although drifting with lures such as soft baits or kabura style jigs is also well worth a crack.

The full moon last week made it a little tougher, but that has passed now and there should be some great fishing coming up over the next week or so.

Right now it’s puka ‘season’ so to speak as they are in roe and in prime condition.

This does raise the argument that we should be leaving them a bit to spawn for the future, but in reality if we all manage our take and don’t get too greedy there will be plenty of fish for the long term. A puka is a big unit and you don’t need more than one per person to make a bloody substantial feed, and have some left for the freezer.

Puka spots to explore are just north and just south of Fisherman’s. Just take some time to look for the fish and when it fires it really fires.

Just out behind Mana Island can also be good if you can spot some little features in about 135 metres. It doesn’t take much structure at all to hold fish, so spend a bit of time looking for the rewards and mark your spots for a quicker job next time.

Heading out wider you need to be looking in 200 -300 metres for your sign.

The Trench is starting to fish well for bluenose when you can get out, and a few guys that come into the shop are doing better pushing it a little bit deeper. Electric reels and decent braid means there are a lot of good spots yet to be found out there in all that bottom detail.

Sunday looks like a pretty good day to get out there at this stage, or give us a bell in the shop if you’re keen to join us on a charter to see how we go about it first-hand.

‍

above) Peter Otis Yiannoutsos with an 'almost' 20lber caught at Paraparaumu in level 3.

I’ll tell you what! The snapper fishing here in Wellington is as good as I have ever seen it anytime, including the height of summer. They are everywhere. The surfcasters are getting them, the boaties are getting them off every coast, it’s a really exciting prospect for the fishery to see this popular fish in such decent numbers here. It’s incredible, no matter where we fish we are getting juvenile snapper, good pannies, and more than the occasional big banger.

One of the local surfcasters got his limit from the shore over the weekend, fishing the beaches from Paekakariki north, with fish up to 8.5 kilograms.

Night fishing is proving very successful, with at least two fish over the magic twenty-pound mark caught last week that we know of.

Out on the boat we have been exploring new spots in behind Mana Island with great results, by getting in close, as shallow as 20 metres sometimes, it’s surprising what good fish are in there when the conditions are favourable with not too much tide.

Even though all the common reefs and popular areas are fishing well, it just goes to show that sometimes it pays to try something new and take the gamble that a bit of patience will pay off.

The kingies are still around too, and land based anglers are commonly landing them on everything from lures, cut baits and livies.

The usual reefs are producing nice kings for the boaties as well. Check out this 31kg beast caught by John Crawford on the south end of Mana. The usual spots such as Hunter's and Fisherman's are also producing good results.

‍

Kev from KP marine with an epic bluefin tuna catch

For the more adventurous, we have a customer Kev, from KP Marine, that landed a 60kg southern bluefin tuna out wide from Cape Palliser. If you are keen on a bit of that action, you could launch at Ngawi. Feel free to come in and have a chat if you want to know a bit more about fishing out that way. Kev reckons there are more out there and is heading out again for another go this weekend.

One thing we have found a bit harder is the puka fishing. Despite everything else going well we’ve had a lot of feedback that chasing bluenose and puka out at the trench has not been great. I’m sure they are there but it might take a bit more prospecting to find them.

‍

Report provided by PETE LAMB FISHING

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

0274439750

[email protected]

Shop - 15 Kingsford Smith St, Rongotai

PLACES TO FISH from the SHORE

(Photo above - an excellent snapper caught by Peter Otis Yiannoutsos at Kapiti 1st week of covid level 3)

14.5.20

HARBOUR

Oriental bay and Point Jenningham - kingfish, kahawai and most other species
Greta point (Niwa) - gurnard, kahawai, possible snaper or kingfish
Flat rock (evans bay) - kahawai, snapper, kingfish
Petone Wharf - gurnard, red cod, trevally, kahawai
Seatoune wharf and beach - gurnard, kahawai, kingfish
Point Halswell - bluecod
karaka bay wharf - kahawai, elepantfish
Queens wharf - kahawai, tarakihi, gurnard
carpark next to point Howard wharf - bluemoki, snapper, kahawai
Sunshine bay - trevally, kahawai, snapper, kingfish
Eastbourne - snapper, kahawai,
mahanga bay - tarakihi

SOUTH COAST

Breaker Bay - kahawai, bluecod
Wainui beach, spotty shark, blue moki, kahawai, bluecod, trevally
Ocean beach - spottyshark, kahwai, snapper, redcod
Lake Ferry - kahawai, redcod, spiney dog
Just past Ngawi - bluecod, blue moki, kahawai
beaches past Red Rocks - bluecod, kahawai, blue moki, tarakihi
Lyall bay - gurnard, kahawai

WEST COAST

Makara beach - kahawai, tarakihi, snapper, trevally
Plimmerton / Paremata - snapper, gurnard, kahawai
Paikakariki - spotty shark, snapper, rays
Raumati northwards - snaper, kahawai

EAST COAST

White Rock - gurnard, moki, spotty shark, kahawai, trevally
Tora - spotty shark, moki, kahawai
Riversdale - spotty shark, gurnard, kahawai

I have google maps of these spots if anyone's interested

Summer 2019/20

Fishing report 20/3/20

What a great weekend it was for fishing just past. It doesn't look as good this coming weekend but hopefully it will change. With northerlies forecast the south coast and harbour should be ok particularly for surfcasting and rockfishing.

The snapper have been a bit harder to catch recently and the deeper spots - 50 to 70mtrs have been more productive. There's still been good action in close but not in the same numbers as the last few weeks. The southerlies havn't helped much as they reduce the water temp and put some fish off the feed.

Kapiti - the 50-60mtr mark has been better for snapper. A few albacore tuna have been but certainly not in big numbers. The hapuku fishing has been pretty good apparently.

West - There's been plenty of gemfish at the 78mtr rise with a few puka too. Fisherman's has been a bit quiet but north of fisherman's has been better fishing. Snapper and trevally have been more consistent down towards Ohau but there is still the odd good catch from Makara up to Mana. Many anglers have reported tough fishing but most have been getting a few snapper mixed in with tarakihi, gurnard, trevally and kingfish. This season there certainly hasn't been as many kahawai around but the ones that are out there are in peak condition prior to spawning. Tarakihi fishing has been pretty good at spots like Verns, Makara fencline and the south end of Kapiti

Harbour - Just south of Ward island (6-8mtrs) has been good for snapper of late with some good trevs and gurnard too. Kingfish out in 15-20 mtrs at Ward have been around as well. The kingis have been a bit harder to catch off the shore in the harbour and many have gone deeper. Point Gordon, the Wreck and Falcon Shoal are generally good for kingis at this time of the year. Point Halswell and Jenningham are great in a southerly for gurnard, tarakihi and a mixture of other species (20mtrs). There have been a lot of smaller kahawai around the harbour this season.

More to come..............

13/3/20

Have you ever heard of a butterfly tuna? Also known as a butterfly mackerel, there have been several of these very unusual fish caught this week out off the west coast among the albacore. Imagine a cross between a tuna, a tarpon, and a kingy and that is sort of what you have. A bizarre species that is certainly an eye opener at the boat. These fish grow up to 40 plus kgs, but the specimens we’ve been seeing a bit more modest. The most distinguishing features are the large silver scales, unusual to tuna, and the flattened head profile .

Actually a member of the mackerel family, these fish are absolutely delicious pan fried crumbed, floured, battered or grilled.
Albacore have been about in great numbers recently, and out west from Ohau upwards they are right in close as shallow as 60 metres, so watch out for sign of them under the boat, or just have a troll with some small tuna lures.
Just off Ohau point has been the hot spot for these.
Otherwise the fishing has been put down a little bit by the bout of southerlies dropping the water temp again.
Around Mana and Pukerua Bay the fishing has been running a bit up and down, so it’s anyone's guess at the moment when you head out that way.
The weather forecast this weekend is pretty good, with winds from the north offering opportunity off the south coast.
We’ve found it better offshore than right in close mostly, but generally all the good areas like Hunter’s, Fisherman’s, the Trench etc are fishing pretty nicely on most occasions so it’s a matter of getting a bait in the water.
Good luck for the week. Perhaps go see if you can score yourself a butterfly tuna 🙂

20 feb

Fishing Report

A pretty good looking weekend ahead, choice!! A good forecast is in store for Wellington for this weekend coming up particularly late Saturday through today until Monday, best day Sunday with seven knot variables on the cards. Mid-week goes a bit pear shaped, but it looks to be clearing up again for the following weekend too, finally a bit of cooperative timing for the nine to fivers.
At the moment fishing is all go with pretty much every common species being caught in good numbers and pretty consistently at the moment.

There has even been marlin seen at Tora and Terawhiti recently.

West Coast

There are plenty of tuna out wide from Kapiti, so this could be a great opportunity to get out and target the little speedsters for the table, and search for a few puka marks while you’re on the move out deeper.

The KP marine tuna comp winning albie weighed almost 13 kgs so that’s a great fish on light gear.

Check out this article for a bit of albacore inspiration:

https://www.nzfishingworld.co.nz/posts/how-and-where-to-catch-fillet-and-cook-albacore

Boom rock and Makara have been producing good terakihi and trevally in around the 20-40 metre mark, as well as fishing pretty good for snapper on occasion, both from boat and surf casting.

Out wider off the west, Hunter’s has been fishing well and the warehou have been making an appearance again.

This week should be a great opportunity to target Kapiti, Fisherman’s, Hunters, or even take the opportunity to get down to Ohau.

It’s great conditions for puka dropping on Sunday with dead high tide at 09.50 so good fishing window is from 08.00 until lunchtime.

The kahawai have been in short supply but the ones were getting are very fat and getting ready to spawn, so if you are keeping a few for the smoker the extra fat will add to the taste.

An avid bait fisherman, I am slowly seeing the ways of the lure working well, and I got my first Wellington gurnard on a lucanus the other day (my 2nd fun fishing trip this year!).

Snapper are commonplace up and down the coast, and the surf casters are getting into some good ones now as well.

Kingfish (and puka) are getting caught at all the usual haunts - Hunters, 78, Fishermans, back of Mana, Makara and Ohau.

There’s some really good sized cod coming out of Mana at the moment too, if you like that for the pot.

‍

South Coast

There is good bluenose and gem fish turning up from the trench, plenty of snapper off the airport reef and Red Rocks. You’ll always find plenty of cod and teri’s at all the usual haunts there as well.

‍

Inner Harbour

We’ve seen some good catches of land based game kingi action out at Sunshine Bay.

There’s also nice kings and snapper off Point Gordan and Ward Island.

‍

Tight lines

Pete

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

[email protected]

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).

October 2019

22 October

South - have heard of a few snapper getting caught off island bay. I presume they are on their way into the harbour.
Fitzroy bay is full of tarakihi, gurnard with a few trevs

West - the best snapper and kingfish have Been caught on the north end of kapiti recently. Hunters was full of Teri’s last time we were there with some boxes big trevs and bluecod. Slider jigs have been doing the damage on the snapper and kingis. We await the warmer water and more consistent snapper fishing around mana, pukerua bay and down to makara. At the moment it’s a bit hit and miss.

Trench - I’ve heard of some good trumpeter and puka on some of the seamounts sth of Nicholson’s recently. That’s a place worth some serious investigation as it hasn’t been fished much by recreationals. Small bluenose still biting well off Wainui in 120-180mtrs

Harbour - good gurnard and kahawai around ward island with the odd elephant and Trev.
Evans bay is still full of gurnard as well as pt jenningham, halswell and seatoun.
One or two snapper getting caught off pt gordan and some nice Teri’s there too.

Surfcasting - Greta point has been rampant one day and barren the next for gurnard. Some anglers have been slide baiting oriental and moki fishing at white rock. It’s perfect timing for those places to start producing a few nice fish. Who’s going to be the first?

10th Oct

WEST - Theres been a resurgence in numbers of snapper in the last week after a quite a few 20lb+ fish over the previous month. Slow jigs and bait have been doing the damage and Plimmerton, Pukerua bay and Kapiti have all produced some good fishing. 40-60mtrs has been more productive for numbers but the biggies have been anywhere from 15 - 70mtrs. Tarakihi have made a comeback around Mana and Makara, hopefully they will continue to improve. Kahawai which have been harder to catch have been a biting a bit better particularly around the Mana bridge. Some good kingis have been caught at Hunters and Kapiti. As usual Trevally have been in good numbers around Mana, Makara, Pukerua and Hunters - its just a matter of tracking them down!

SOUTH - There are plenty of crays around if you're a diver or keen to set a pot or two. Tarakihi and cod are around the normal haunts but its been hard to find conditions that aren't swelly over the last week or two. Howewver today there is virtually no swell on the coast and it looks great when the northerly drops out for fishing and diving over the next few days. Divers have reported kingfish on the coast and plenty of butterfish.

HARBOUR - Its still gurnard city particularly in Evans bay but the initial spring run may have ended with numbers taking a bit of a hit over the last month. Now its almost snapper time which should happen over the next dew weeks and then its kingi time especially slidebaiting off Oriental Bay Wall. Point Gordan has been good on tarakihi and gurnard and a few elephantsfish and trevally have been caught at Seatoune and around Ward.

SURFCASTING - not too much to report but it is perfect time to catch bluecod close to shore on the south coast shingle beaches particularly when the water is clean. Theres been more kahawai building up but its still not really firing as it does throughout summer. The blue moki are normally at there best from october - december so places like Cape Pallsier, White rock, Fitzroy bay, Karori light and Wainui should all be worth a crack over the next wee while. The usual spotty sharks (rig) are the most abundant quality fish being caught recently - use crab for bait!

TRENCH - The bluenose are still biting particularly off Wainui - bluenose heaven. The turn of tide for bass on the far side is always worth a crack as well. Ive heard of a few puka getting caught off the back of 5 mile and down Windy Point way inside Palliser bay

September 2019

Win this boat with the shimano last man standing comp

Friday 27th

It looks like Northerlies for the weekend so todays the day if you want to get out west or brave the swells on the south. The harbour is perfect! Hopefully the 1.5 to 2mtr southerly swell will dissipate over the weekend for surfcasters to go east and south. It looks like medium to strong northerlies through till next Wednesday or Thursday

West - there were plenty of tarakihi around the reefs south of Mana Island last weekend but a shortage of usual plentiful kahawai. We picked up one or two snapper and come trevs and the occasional gurnard. Around Plimmerton, Pukerua bay and Kapiti there were some excellent snapper caught with a few around the 20lb mark. Hunters and Kapiti also produced some excellent kingfish. While trying for the (mana out wide) puka we picked up some very big blue cod and scarpies which were exceptional good eating. I don't think it will be long before numbers of snapper turn up in our waters as Kapiti and north of there are starting to produce some good early season numbers.

Marlborough Sounds - Good reports of big hapuka and cod at the Brothers last weekend. They normally turn up on the south side of the strait after spawning.

East coast - good reports of bluenose from Tora and the usual bluecod, tarakihi, trumpeter and 'schoolie' puka

Harbour - Gurnard galore in Evans bay, trevs at seatoun with a few snapper starting to show as well. SOme big elephants have been caught recently around Ward Island and Eastbourne. People are picking up blue moki in new places as where there are mussels, rocks and weed its probably going to be moki territory, particularly around wharf structures.

South coast - big schools of kahawai around in Lyall bay recently and some good cod and teris in the usual 30-40 and 50-70 mtr spots. Some kingis have been seen by divers close to shore. Its been good to see the the swell die down to be fish-able and dive-able over the last week.

Surfcasting - Last weekend it was tough going on the 1st WSAC shore comp with a few spotty sharks and gurnard. Sinclair head to Karori light is normally good for legal bluecod with kahawai, moki and trevally on the cards too. Time will tell if White rock will fire moki and gurnard. Wainui, Fitzroy and pencarrow are all worth a crack for all of the above species as well. Out west I would try South Makara & Boom for a trev, or early season snapper and some tarakihi and going north of Raumati for some early season snapper.

Sept 15

Gurnard are going off all over the place currently, and providing a tasty feed for both boaties and surfcasters alike.

They’re easily accessible from within the harbour and the top spot is Greta Point.

If there is not too much swell running, and you can get yourself off the east coast and fish from White Rock, Castlepoint and Ocean Beach, there are some absolute monsters to be caught. Big gurnard make for a really good feed and are awesome cooked just about any way you like.

Palliser Bay has been really hammered by big swells recently, good for the surfies but not so much for the fishing. Luckily the swell has timed dropping out to coincide with the local surfcasting club having an open day at Ocean Beach this weekend. If you want to know a bit more about surfcasting take a walk down the beach and talk to a few people about rigs and so on.

If you have the ability to get out to the Trench, which has been pretty character building lately, the bluenose fishing is going well. Not massive sizes but really good consistent numbers.

Best spot appears to be just straight out from Wainui Beach as per the maps above, looking for sign when you hit the steep banks or structure. If you have not already got the Navionics app, it’s well worth getting so you can really see the bottom contours and find your most likely looking ground.

Puka fishing has really tailed off, in particular off the rugged south coast.

We are not sure why, as fishing pressure is nothing out of the normal, perhaps an effect of the earthquake movements or something of that nature, as the cod fishing which was always reliable has also gone from there.

This has been a bumper year for big snapper in Wellington, with a 28 pounder caught off Plimmerton Point recently.

It’s great to see more and more big fish about, and also good to see more being put back.

We have found the fishing around the west coast, Mana and either ends of the Bridge to be pretty good, and expect it to get a lot better as the weather and water temp warms up. Fishing the contours, the foul, and the sand have all produced good fish. Spots off north and nor-west Mana, and the reef structure off the south coast are always worth a try with some nice stray lines or even flasher rigs.

Terakihi and cod fishing is as good as always to be expected too.

Further out, Fisherman’s has gone dead quiet lately. Nothing much happening there for a bit now so I’d be trying other places.

We gave Hunter’s Bank a good go last week and apart from a few terakihi got not much at all for the effort, where just two weeks previously there were kingies galore in the deeper 70 metre reef areas.

The 78 metre rise between Hunter’s and Fisherman’s which is easy to find on nav charts is a spot that will often produce good fish, including the biggest scarpies you’ve ever seen, which may not sound very exciting but they make brilliant eating. We have had Japanese customers specifically wanting to target this type of fish over all else for their eating quality.

If you can take a bit of time off late next week there looks to be a bit of a weather window coming at this stage.

Sept 10th

The trench - Bluenose galore with the odd bass and puka.

best spots - bluenose heaven off Wanui, the bass patch on the far side.

Wellington harbour - heaps of gurnard, a few snapper and a mixed bag of trevally, kahawai and other species.

Best spots - point Jenningham, Seatoun light & point Gordan

West coast - There continues to be big snapper coming in up and down the coast with the odd kingfish, plenty of tarakihi, gurnard and bluecod with the odd JD, trevally, porae and warehou

Best spots - Ohau point, Makara fenceline, Hunters bank

Surfcasting - the South coast has had limited opportunities with swelly conditions but as soon as the swell goes try these spots - White rock, the Spit & Wainui beach. Inside the harbour there's been a few gurnard off Greta point, a few moki from Kaiwharawhara and Point Howard and kahawai appearing on and off around the traps. West coast - try Otaki and Tehoro for early season snapper or Opau bay for trevally & bluecod

great days fishing - 24 August

There were plenty of snapper, kingfish, trevally and other stuff caught out west for the keen anglers who braved the elements. The day just got better and better weather and fish wise with 2 snapper around the 20lb mark taken around Mana Island plus snapper, kingis and trevs caught south of Makara. It was a real mixed bag for us just south of the bridge with bluecod, tarakihi, trevally, snapper, kingfish, gurnard, butterfly perch, kahawai and assorted lesser species

August 2019

16th august

Wintery weather has made it fairly challenging to get out much, but that in turn is what protects our fishery so it is good when the weather gods inevitably smile.

We’re noticing the puka have dropped away at the moment, and may be welcoming a break from anglers around their spawning time.

There are plenty of bluenose to take their place in the fish bin at the moment so it’s better to target them when you get the opportunity.

Snapper are, as expected, not too prolific at this time of year, and when you do find them they are usually out a bit deeper in 50 – 70 metres.

We have been doing really well on extra heavy weight Jarvis Walker sabiki rigs lately. Everything from gurnard to snapper grab these, and the line is 30 lb with number 4 or 6 hooks, so capable of landing a decent fish.

Give it a go when the fishing is tough, sometimes downsizing a bit works when things are quiet.

Next week looks pretty awful on the weather front as well, so we will be welcoming the opportunity to get our Rongotai store in order with all the stock shipped across from Seaview (10-50% of everything).

Now we are consolidating into one location we have a lot of gear and some really good clearance specials to make some room so feel free to come and have a look while the weather is better for talking about fishing rather than actually doing it.

Harbour fishing might be the go this week and there are plenty of fish around the usual haunts including some decent sized gurnard. Seatoun is my fav place at the moment using crab as bait

august

Boat - The snapper and kingfish are still around in good numbers at the 70-80 mtr mark. Out deep its still good fishing for hapuku (out west) and puka, bass and bluenose on the south and east. Tarakihi and bluecod, gurnard and trevally are also regular catches inshore with the occasional warehou, john dory and blue mackerel. If it was warmer you may be fooled into believing it was still summer with the good fishing at the moment.

Hot spots - Hunters bank, Boom, Turakerei, Falcon Shoal, Tora

Shore - good kahawai on the south coast with spotty sharks, gurnard and the odd moki and trevally. Perfect time for nice bluecod when the water is clean. Out west its warehou & tarakihi time from Makara to Titahi bay (especially Boom). In the harbour its gurnard time with kahwai at queens wharf and the hutt river entrance.

Hotspots - Queens wharf, Greta point, Hutt river mouth (harbour), White rock (east), Longbeach and Wainui (south)

1st august

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks with amazing snapper and kingis our west, bluenose at the trench and good inshore fishing pretty much everywhere. The snapper and kingis have been around the 70 mtrs marks off makara and hunters bank. Further north at foxton the snaps and kings have been good on the 40ntr mark as well as kingis st Tora on the east coast. I was out on the harbour yesterday and the gurnard weee in the bite off seatoun in 10mtrs and I even caught a couple of snapper as well. I’ve heard point Howard wharf car park has been quite good for moki recently. As soon as the weather comes right I strongly suggest you go and give your favourite haunts a go because the fish are biting well. The hapuku should still be having a final feed before the September spawning run.

July fishing report

Boat Fishing report -29.7.19

great fishing, great weather!

The fishing has really been firing lately, due mainly to the 6 days of flat calm weather and that there's been excellent snapper, kingfish, hapuku & bluenose getting caught in numbers.

Out west I've had numerous reports of multiple kingfish hooked/caught/released. Hunters and nth end of Kapiti have been mentioned but i'm sure places like Boom, Makara, the 78mtr rise, Fishermans and other places will have kingis hanging about. Definitely try deeper at this time of the year 60-80mtrs is a good depth but fish will be down to 150mtr. Longjigs have been great but for a real monster I would favour a big kahawai livebait put down to the bottom on 200lb trace and 130lb braid.

Snapper have been caught up and down the coast but again deep is better, try the 60-80mtr tarakihi reefs from Makara - Pukerua bay, Try 'sliding' slow jigs like kaburas and ocean assason. You may need 120-150gm to get down. the good thing is about the lures is the spiney dogs don't like them so much. I've had good reports of fish in 20-40mtrs too but there are bigger numbers in the deeper stuff.

Bluenose fishing in the trench has gone BOOM. limit bags have been common last week with alot of small fish off Wainui 'bluenose heaven' in 180mtrs - 3-6kgs. If you go deeper there will be some much bigger ones around. Some people have been fishing 300-350mtr with good success.

Tarakihi, bluecod (on the reef), trevs and gurnard on the sand) have been pretty good at most 15-40mtr spots up and down the south and west coast. The airport ree and Turakerei on the sth coast and Verns, sth end Mana, Tecam reef have had good fishing on the west.

more to come..........

July 13

Our last report (see below) still stands as pretty much all the fishing is affected by the weather conditions which have prevented us getting out much of late.

We are hearing from customers reports of good warehou fishing returning, with one fish of 8kg landed off the south coast inshore along the airport reef.

The airport reef, as the name suggests found on the southern coast off the airport, can be a great place to fish all year round, if you concentrate efforts along the southern end in around the nooks and crannies in the 40 – 45 metre mark.

Stay away from anything too shallow as the 20 – 40 metre zone will often host nothing but parrotfish and varies other rock – nasties.

This south coast spot is very handy to small boats launched from in the harbour or off Moa Point ramp and is less than a couple of kms offshore.

Snapper in late summer can be found in good numbers, as can some big blue cod, terakihi, warehau, and trevs. Head out a bit wider and there are good gurnard off the sand

As this reef is in nice and close it is not too badly affected by the straight’s tidal flows.

WARNING! The biggest ‘hazard’ as such is from the ferries piling past and they can get quite close and be pretty intimidating. If you expect them, respect their size and be aware to move if you need to it’s not an issue.

The reef is quite extensive and is mecca for crayfish, as it is unsafe to dive due to the ferries, and cray pot lines get cut off by the ferries also. If you set out some pots, expect to lose a few to the big ships. However, wherever there are crayfish there is usually good fishing.

Also be aware of the Taputeranga Marine Reserve marked out from shore (see map) which is a no fishing zone.

Our Fishing comp is on next weekend and if it’s not good weather we will postpone, so stay tuned for details mid next week.

This comp is a measure only and we hope to see as many of you taking part as we can J. All details on our website as Facebook page

July 3rd

Thankfully, we have had some pretty good fishing, with weather smiling upon us in some good spells, with a bit to come in the week ahead.

Pretty much everywhere has been producing fish of one sort or another, with snapper, Hapuka, kingies, gurnard, and tarakihi leading the charge in most of the usual haunts.

West coast around Mana and Makara has been fishing particularly well recently, and in quite close right up into only 15 metres of water.

This time of year you will find big snapper mooching right in amongst the shallower foul, but they also move out quite deep.

Many people don’t realise that snapper can be readily caught in up to 100metres of water plus. Quite often you’ll get the big ones where you might not have otherwise expected.

You can also try fishing big heavy (150 gram plus) Inchiku jigs and kabura style lures for snapper and kingfish with good success. In fast currents these lures jet straight to the bottom well but you will want to be drifting over a likely passage.

If the fish are not firing on lures double your chances by dropping some good old flasher rigs down loaded with a bit of kahawai, skippy or half pilchards.

The harbour is going ok too, with a stack of gurnard coming in around Eastbourne.

Surfcasting has been up and down with the swells.

We’ve had some good trips and some dry ones out around Red Rocks.

The warehou seemed to come and go pretty quickly as we have not had many reports of good catches this week. They will still be out there though, so be ready with the net as they do have soft mouths.

It’s been great puka fishing though, with one of the charters boating a fish over the magic 100lb mark down south. We know there have also been good specimens of 50 – 60lb caught out by Fisherman’s in the last few days.

If you make it as far down as Durville at this time of year big double figure snapper are around in good numbers around 90 metres in the channels.

John dory are popping up a lot as by catch recently, just on normal baits, not their usual favourite livies. We’ve soaked a lot of live baits but they seem to prefer the plain old bait at the moment.

With these awesome table fish appearing to come on in good numbers, it could be worth targeting their preferred areas with live baits or slow moving soft baits though. JD’s like a lot of cover so fish for them around weed lines or broken rock zones, and if you are using livies there’s always a chance of a good snapper or kingfish.

The trench reports have been pretty quiet mostly because of the swells more than anything.

What has been really noteworthy is reports from the Wairarapa guys who have been smashing some really good puka right in shallow and out deep.

Areas like Riversdale, Ngawi, and Castlepoint has been just the place for good puka fishing and a few trumpeter.

Puka go really well in the shallow so not only are they great eating but good sport if you get onto a nice one.

It’s all firing and the weather is not too bad even though it’s a bit cold. Those that can harden up and tough out the temperatures are being treated to some awesome fishing, so don’t be afraid to set that alarm early and give it a go

fishing report 24 may 2019

Well we have a week of heavy wind from the north west ahead of us, so getting out in the boat is going to be for those not faint of heart.

It will be better for the land based crew or boaties that are happy to stick to the inner harbour.

When you can get out the fishing is going pretty well for snapper, kingfish, trevs and of course cod and terakihi.

The harbour is fishing well, and west and south coast are ok in the right conditions.

Ward Island, Point Gordon, and Point Halswell still top spots.

Last weekend a mate managed 30 snapper, and a couple of kingies out at Kapiti.

South end of Kapiti up to Aeroplane Island is the zone. Nothing too adventurous in the technique, just good old squid and pillies with a good berley trail, ledger rigs and the odd strayline when current allows.

We like 3/0 to 5/0 flasher rigs on the charter. The circle hook versions that hook fish in the corner of the mouth are great for releasing unwanted fish unharmed.

They may not last that long but they are worth it, and it pays to have a quality one as kingies are often happy to grab a piece of squid on a flasher at any time.

If you are keen on trying some of the new lures available for fishing deeper, our friends up north have been having great success on the new Shimano Tiger Baku Baku lure in jet black.

The big performer though, is for deeper water targeting kings, puka and bluenose, which is the Catch Fishing Giant Squidwings. We sell a few in the shop here, and they have been working really well up north according to my Editor, so no reason not to give them a crack down here.

Mana is going ok, with good snapper south of mana on the pins and foul there.

South end is good but there are a lot of kahawai around there that can be an issue if you don’t want them.

Surf casting and targeting moki off Palliser Bay, Rock Point, and White Rock should be ok in the Nor-wester.

We like to use mainly crab and mussel baits on a smaller recurved hook for moki. And these are also good for snapper. Generally, take the legs off or cut the crab in half and secure to the hook with a binding thread.

Two hooks on a ledger rig with an upside-down pyramid sinker usually holds nicely.

It’s a good time of the year for moki, and you don’t have to cast too far. What you’re looking for is shingle beach meeting weedy rock, so if you can get a bait to sit in the right zone it can be better than hurling out as far as you can cast.

Where all the dead weed is floating around after a bit of a blow is a good place to target fish, as they are often there foraging amongst the fresh nutrients.

Moki hit pretty hard so it can be a good wake-up call if you’re drifting off J

The Trench has produced some awesome bass lately, 25 – 30kg for the boats that have been able to fish it, but west coast has been the talk for big puka.

Out a bit deeper than usual both north and south of Fisherman’s around 300 metres rather than 200 has been good for really nice sized fish, up in the 30 – 40kg+ mark sometimes.

It will probably be a week or so before it’s very fishable out there, but once the wind clears out it could be all on.

Good luck

Pete

Fishing reports

Wellington Fishing Report 5 April

It's a good time to be chasing tuna at the moment, as plenty of albacore have been caught between Mana and Kapiti.

The weather is not so cooperative for us this weekend, but there is a window on Monday/Tuesday (wouldn't you know it).

This is a good time of year for snapper fishing as they begin to really feed up before winter sets in, and you can expect to get good catches in the usual productive spots such as:

Kapiti Island - Off the northern reefs of Kurukohatu Point, west side Kaiwharawhara Point and West Point. There's good fishing in 20 metres so try stray lining or fishing soft baits on the drift.

Also right in close into 10 metres just north of Tareremango Point offers shelter in an easterly and good fishing.

Ohau Reef - You really want to fish the edges and often big snapper can be found where the foul finishes and turns to sand.

Boom rock - always worth a crack for both kings and snapper. Straylining is good, and if you can get a livie or two down even better.

Pukerua Bay - Fish the 20 - 30 metre mark just off the reef structure of Wairaka Point.

Mana - off the north reefs are fishing well at times. The upside is that you will usually get nice terakihi and blue cod here in closer, and if the weather permits you can head out north west to around the 100 metre mark and look for any small signs of structure appearing on the bottom which can produce hapuka, bass, warehou and even blue cod and terakihi. It's difficult to anchor in this depth and get right on the mark, so try and hold the boat over the spot and drop gear down to the action when you find it. Also mark anything immediately on your sounder as a good spot can be difficult to get back onto.

The south coast is also fishing well with another broadbill swordfish seen at the 100 metre mark chasing tuna around. It's all on to target both the tuna and the swords if you are looking to step up into a change of scenery while it's there!

In the harbour, it's still Ward Island that is the hotspot again if you are targeting snapper and kingfish. In the shallows, six to eight metres that is, just south of the Island. It's very important to be fishing here while wind is with the tide.

Out wider to the south we are still getting good reports from the Trench if you can get the conditions to make it out there.

Good luck

Pete

4.3.19

There have been a lot of exotic and often untargeted fish turning up this year.

Sometimes we all think within our box and don’t actually set out to target fish that would really be something special.

The fish are there, so why not have a dedicated go. Broadbill are a good example. The only way you’ll catch one is to set out to do so.

Here are a couple of videos to help you get set up, https://www.nzfishingworld.co.nz/latest/2017/05/daytime-swordfish-rigs

next move is up to you to find a good area on a good day, and have a drop or two.

We have several reports of broadbill in anything from 30 – 40 metres of water off the south coast, several off Fitzroy Bay, and out past the 100metre mark towards the trench, all on the surface during day.

If you are really up for a challenge, these fish are there to be hooked, but it won’t happen by accident, you need to commit.

Try targeting good knolls out in 400-500 metres with a daytime drop, there is always the chance of also hooking good bass or Hapuka as a by-catch on the type of big baits that attract broadies.

Another fish to target at the moment is albacore tuna. We are getting a really great summer run of these fish out wide.in areas such as 100metre mark around Hunters bank, back of Mana all the way to Kapiti, and out the back side of Kapiti. These fish are fun to chase and catch, spectacular eating and are a real summer treat that you can target for a change of pace.

They are brilliant fun on light gear and are not that hard to pursue. Simply get some small 4 – 5 inch tuna or skippy lures and tow them at around 6.5 knots heading for any birds, tide or current lines, water temperature change zones etc.

Have some run right in close only 5 – 10 metres behing the boat and another further back and you are in business.

Palliser Bay been hard to fish due to weather but good spell coming up this week, so there could be a good opportunity to get out there soon enough.

There’s been a few good kings, big terakihi, and Hapuka off Turakerei head fishing around 220 metres.

Baring Head and the inner harbour is still fishing really well.

The good hauls of snapper are coming off the Eastbourne side . Most consistent results more north of the Eastbourne bus shelter towards Rhona wharf being the good place for shore based snapper.

Surf casters are doing well off Evens bay, with really good kahawai, trevally and a few snapper too.

This has really been the year of the trevally.

Last year it seemed to be more gurnard being commonly caught, but this year the trevs are around in greater numbers and size.

There are good fish off the sand around Ward island and other areas in the harbour.

These fish are premium sashimi and great smoked, particularly the bigger ones that can be a bit tougher raw.

The kahawai are on steroids at the moment. It is the best fishing we have seen for ages for these fish, thick with roe and often going 4kg plus,we are seeing absolute barrels in amazing condition.

This makes them great sport and great eating, particularly if you are limited to being land based.

The humble kahawai is still the staple of the surf caster, and it’s great to see them in such good nick.

Try kahawai sashimi, or fresh cooked just cut the dark meat out and you might be surprised how good they are fresh.

In the freak-catch bag, we caught a couple of really good crayfish the other day on dropper rigs off Wairaka point in Pukerua Bay, which usually only happens about once a year, so to get two in a day was highly unusual.

Snapper fishing pretty good, especially west coast places like Pukerua Bay.

When it’s too rough to get further out top sea, we like Rocky Point, a good spot to fish close to shore out of the tide protected from the current.

Kapiti is fishing well off all coasts with good mixed bags of all the species from cod to puka, so just target wherever is the most sheltered. There’s good consistent snapper fishing off all the reef structures around the island at the moment..

There’s a great spell of weather coming up which should open up the fishing doors for some nice opportunities, whether you choose to stay in close or head right out wide.

Cheers, Pete

latest catches (below)

Fishing Report

Jan 11th

We've been lucky to enjoy such a great spell of weather, and at the moment west is best.

There are now plenty of snapper and good kingfish being caught consistently off the west coast.

Hapuka are also good to target as they have moved back in to full feeding up mode. Out wide searching the contour lines with you sounder or just targeting Fisherman's Rock and it's surrounding structure would be the way to go.

The Trench has sparked in to life a bit when you can get out there, with bass, bluenose and hapuka all being caught recently.

Really good snapper are being caught by surfcasters in Evans Bay. I'd be going for a very early start or fishing in to darkness as the tide is moving.

The challenge at the moment is that the bite is all on one day, and then dead as a doughnut the next, with no particular rhyme or reason. The only answer really, is to have a line in the water and hope for the best.

The southern end of Mana seems to be very reliable lately, with good catches of terakihi, trevally, and kingies.

If you are hunting snapper, we've been getting the best results by trying a likely spot in 25 metres for about half an hour, then slowly move out to 35 and then 45 etc until you can actually locate where they are holding.

Sometimes you have to move around a lot, but we have seen the best fishing result from moving around as necessary between Mana, Pukerua Bay, Boom Rock, and Makara.

January 3rd 2019

The fishings been pretty good lately, I've had a couple of very busy charter periods over the last three weeks. Weve been lucky with some pretty good weather out west. The snapper have been a bit flighty - sometimes we get em, sometimes we dont. Kingfish, gurnard and trevally have been a bit more consistent to catch, even if we're sheltering up behind Mana Island. Hapuku fishing has at its most consistent at Fisherman's Rock but im sure there are other places firing as well.

December 2018

For snapper try 40 metres mark off Pukerua Bay off the sand.

We have had a great run of weather providing the opportunity for some fantastic fishing when the bite is on. Happily, the forecast looks good for the next while too.

West is best currently, and fishing from Ohau right up north to Kapiti is where we have been concentrating our efforts.

The hapuka fishing continues to produce really good results - Hunters, Fishermans, out from Mana still seems to be the best and most productive area.

The snapper fishing has started to pick up with some really good fish, in both size and numbers. The best fishing has been from 15 - 50 metres depending on where you are. Good fish have been caught off the sand, the mud, and in close in the structure, so there is no real silver bullet to finding them. This is a key point really, with fish moving about you have two options.

Either invest a lot of time slowly and quietly prospecting with your sounder to identify fish, and then get baits and lures down fast when you do. Or, locate a good area and try to keep fish around or attract them with a good berley trail and just be patient.

As good as the fishing can be, the fish will only bite for a certain time, so there are never any guarantees, you just have a line in the water.

The outgoing tide on the west coast has proven best for snapper. They can be quite widespread so searching or drift fishing is a solid option. Make sure you have a drift chute on board of course, as you'll need to slow a drift down to keep your gear moving naturally across the seafloor.

Also fishing the later hours and evening has worked well if you can manage to stay out a bit longer or just want an afternoon fish.

Kingies are still around in good numbers for boaties and land based anglers, so targeting this species specifically will mean you are always in with a good chance. Nothing beats livies for kingfish, so try slow trolling a small kahawai or jack mackerel inshore, or using a running rig to get down around the structure out deeper.

We have seen some awesome fishing when it is on fire. A surf caster got 9 snapper in the harbour last week, another got 15 or so moki and broke the all time points record for the Wellington club, so what better time to get out there and get into it.

23/10/18

here are a few snapper, kingis and hapuku around now, but it has been very hard to get out with the southerlies. Thankfully the south coast is now flat as with minimal swell and is clean.

There are still good gurnard and kahawai in the harbour, and someone caught a 5kg moki surfcasting which is not a typical catch for inner harbour.

We caught an 18 pound snapper last week in Pukerua Bay (off Wairaka Point) that might have cracked the magic 20 mark if it had been in better condition. There have been a number of big snapper caught and a few smaller ones in good numbers north of Pukerua bay

Hunters has been producing some excellent kingfish so that is worth a jig or live bait session there now particularly early morning or on the turn of tide.

If you are keen on targeting snapper or kingfish, I would head to Mana or better yet Kapiti. It will have not had a lot of fishing pressure so the north. Fishing 30 – 45 metres seems to be the magic depth, and this would be the plan to target snapper. Berley up off the sand north of Kapiti in 30- 40 metres, or try the boulder bank for kingfish and terakihi. Gurnard have been numerous on the sand north of kapiti as well

Heading south off Makara around Boom rock would be worth a go for an early season kingfish or a late season warehou. It is also really consistent for blue cod and terakihi here so at least you should be guaranteed a good feed.

Fishing Ohau point is much the same story, a guaranteed good catch of cod and terakihi for the table plus the chance of hapuku out wide and the odd kingi and trevally.

There have been a few Hapuka starting to come back from spawning now, so with good weather it could be worth targeting any of the deep spots such as can be found off Hunters or out at the trench on or around slack tide. There should also be bluenose out at the trench now also.

Karori light is your guaranteed blue cod fishing, but Baring Head would be one of my favourite go-to places to head with great blue cod fishing in around about 50 metres. You might always pick up a school hapuka, warehou or good trevally out here and with good weather conditions the beauty of this spot is that you can head out to have a look at the trench as it approaches slack tide.

Taking the leading line out from the harbour (see map) it’s worth fishing the 100 metre mark for big terakihi and kingfish, and then out a bit deeper on the same line to target the deepwater species.

There seems to be a window of good weather this friday and next monday but the weekend looks a bit breezy from the north. perfect conditions for surfcasting the south coast particulary the Red Cod Classic comp at Lake Ferry this weekend

11.10.18

We’re in the transition between winter and summer and so the snapper fishing is yet to really kick in, although there is still a good chance of getting fish a bit further north from Makara, Pukerua Bay and out at Kapiti. Some real stonker snapper turn up at the begginning of our season in Wgtn and thats been the case recently. Ive heard of two or three 20lb+ fish caught already including one off the beach at tehoro.

Makara and other spots on the west coast such as Opau Bay, Ohau point and Cape Terawhiti are fishing really well for cod, trevally and terakihi, and there’s always the chance of a good snapper out that way. Fishing the edges of the reef with berley around the turn of the tide is a good way to overcome the tidal currents and catch the bite either side of the slack water.

Heading out to Kapiti there is good fishing around the south end for cod and terakihi.

The northern bank grounds are also good for terakihi and kingfish.

If you don’t want to head out that far you can just shoot out to the 30 metre mark off Waikanai and there’s good fishing off the sand for gurnard and snapper. Anchoring up and berleying will work, or you could get good results drifting with soft baits. Just make sure you have a drift chute to slow the drift speed and fish by casting ahead and working the lure back towards the boat.

Still good surfcasting around Greta Point for gurnard, cod and a few terakihi.

There have been a few bluenose caught at the trench, but the Hapuka fishing is likely to be dropping off due to spawning.

Palliser Bay is good for crayfish paua, and kina at the moment. It’s real tiger country of Ngawi out amonst the reefs for terakihi, kingfish and cod.

Cape Palliser is the Moki fishing hot spot, particularly off White rock It’s also really great for cod and kingies, and then if the weather allows it’s only a skip out to the trench to have a crack at the deepwater species.

Turakirae head can also offer up some of the best fishing on the south coast especially for big terakihi. Just drop the flasher rigs into 70 – 80 metres anad you could expect some really good results.

There are some really big kingfish around here too, so dropping livies on a running ball sinker you have a chance of hooking them.

fishing report 1 Sept

Absolutely brilliant fishing for this time of year, especially the kingfish action we are getting both in the harbour and around the coast.

Not only are the kings around in good numbers but the size is good too.

You don't have to be too technical about using live baits and jigs, although these will work. We've been seeing stunning catches on strips of squid drifted down a berley trail.

Speaking of squid, one of our favourite fishing spots saw a giant squid wash up this week, just a little too far gone to use for bait but impressive to see such a crazy monster wash up.

The harbour has been producing good snapper, up to 10lb, surfcasting from Oriental and Kau Bay..

Fisherman's rock has been slow for a while now. You may want to chance your arm, but from our experience it's just not happening out there. Hunters on the other hand is really firing.

Kingfish, trevally, john dory, and a few other species are munching out a bit deeper off the pin in 70 - 80 metres. For good results, get yourself anchored up so that you can drift a berley trail and fish down into where the weed and foul turns to sand. Use your sounder to invest in a bit of time spent getting your position right, this will make a big difference to results.

Turn of the tide is best here.

Mana is fishing well off the south coast at the moment, especially for trevally in good sizes.

Wainui Beach has been good for surfcasting. We've seen really nice trevs and moki being caught on shellfish baits. Mussels are reasonable economical baits, but crayfish or crab is better if you can get your hands on it (without eating it first maybe use the stuff that is just past human consumption grade eh?)

For city bound land based guys, there's a nice early run of gurnard off Greta Point.

Bluenose fishing is fantastic. Still consistently producing from all the usual spots like Nicholsons Trench in around 150 - 200 metres. The outgoing tide has been producing the best bites recently.

Follow the shipping line directly out to this mark and you should find yourself in the money. Hapuka fishing has slowed off and they may have even moved on now.

august report

It was a great spell of weather last week with some great fish getting caught too. I got out to Fishermans (tough going) and Hunters (plenty of fish) and there were boats at all over the place.

West coast
Kingis, trevs, snapper, JD's, warehou, big teris and cod
Pretty much up and down the coast from Pukerua down to Ohau. Kapiti is also going well for inshore species and snapper a bit further north.

Bluenose still going well at the trench

Harbour fishing - elephants around Somes and Ward Islands.
Kahawai everywhere one daqy gone the next.

Surfcasting. Still more moki and trevs getting caught at wanui, kahawai and bluecod at longbeach, sharks, reddies and kahawai at Whangamoana.

Rosie the dog caught this crusty old spiney dogfish at Whangamoana recently

June fishing reports

24.6.18

Overall the fishing is as good as can be expected this time of year, with some really good catches of hapuka being a welcome feature. The tricky part is that the fishing can be quite sporadic, with an area fishing very well, then not at all next time around.

It's peak hapuka season, with fish in their best condition. The trick is to not thrash away at areas that are just not producing. Move around and track contour lines looking for where the fish are on the sounder. Time and patience spent looking can easily be worth it when you eventually come across the fish.

For hapuka the most consistent areas are around Fishermans rock at the moment, with the trench being both difficult to access in inclement weather, and fishing is quite hit and miss when you do get there. Karori light and Turakerei 200mtr marsk are also worth a crack at present.

Probing areas with a combination of baits and big hapuka jigs such as the Catch giant squidwing and Diamond eye can give some rewarding results at the moment.

As can be expected for The colder temperatures the snapper fishing has become much harder. Big winter resident fish can still be found, but they are fewer in numbers so harder to target.

Some really good fishing off the last three bays of the west coast - Ohau/Opau etc.

Fishing for cod and tarakihi is good in all the usual coastal haunts.

Now is prime season for trevally, and surfcasters can reap some great rewards targeting these fish as well as boaties. Boaties might want to try some small soft baits or flasher rigs to score some of the best sashimi on offer. Off the shore they come in close after dark at beaches like Pencarrow and Makara and can be caught during the day at places like Boom rock, Castlepoint, Cobham Drive and Point Gordon.

Elephantfish have been a common catch for boaties at Ward island and Eastbourne and around the sandy areas off Seatoun.

Warehou are present off most tarakihi reefs around Wgtn at the mo and can be taken on the same gear that teris like. At deeper reefs like hunters, 5 mile, fishermans and at Ohau and Karori, they school up well off the bottom and can be caught in numbers on jigs, flasher rigs and squid baits. The kahawai are plentiful as usual, but there have been some seriously big fish landed upwards of three kilos. Kahawai of this size give a really good account of themselves and provide some great fillets for the smoker, or sashimi platter.

The large amount of rain recently has made harbour and river mouth areas very muddy which tends to put off the more quality table fish, so best steer clear of those areas until they wash through a bit.

Dont write off the kingfish at this time of the year. Places like Point Gordon in the harbour, Hunters bank and the 78mtr rise can produce big fish as Steve Brown found in the harbour recently with his 17.3kg fish.

10.6.18

Good to see some nice weather over Queens birthday weekend after a couple of weeks of cold and sometimes strong southerlies. Overall the fishing was pretty good but certainly the numbers of snapper and kingfish were down a bit. Hapuku and bluenose fishing was pretty good as were the bluecod and tarakihi.

West coast - some good snapper have been caught from Ohau to Opau bays, Plimmerton Reef and north of Kapiti. Ive heard of good gurnard fishing at Makara and some good puka fishing at Ohau and fishermans rock. Theres been a few puka at verns mixed in with the tarakihi there. The best snapper was 24lb caught at Plimmerton at the weekend.

South coast - Prior to the southerlies there were some great snapper getting caught off the airport reef and east of Sinclair head. Im not sure if there are many left now. blue cod and teris have been good at most locations as well as a few warehou and gurnard. Breaker bay has produced some nice gurnard over the weekend.

Harbour - good snapper fishing at Seatoun recently with an 8kg fish the biggest reported. fishing 20mtrs depth of point gordan and 15mtrs west of ward are traditionally good snapper places at this time of the year. Ive heard the elephantfish have made a comeback with good catches reported off ward and Seatoun recently. The kahawai have been there one day gone the next - evans bay has been good along with point Hallwell and Jenningham.

The trench - some good bluenose were caught on the weekend along with a few puka as well.

Surfcasting - spotty sharks, moki at white rockl. Bluecod, kahawai and the odd moki at longbeach and batch beach. Wainui is certainly worth a crack for a big moki and spottyb shark this time of the year. There maybe a snapper or two lurking at Ocean beach as well. Don't write off the kingfish. There is a real chance of a biggie off the beach or rocks at this time of year.

May fishing reports

West coast

The snapper and kingis continue to be in good numbers up and down the coast as well as hapuku out wide. A few warehou are getting caught as well. We got a nice one around 4-5kgs off the north end of mana yesterday. Havnt heard of any tuna. The water temp is around 16/17 degrees but that can change from day to day up and down the coast. The last southerlys which came through were more from the east and didn't plummet the water temps the previous one did.

Snapper spots - 30 to 40mtrs depth south of the bridge, 30 mtrs off the plimmerton quarry, south end of Kapiti

Puka spots - fishermans, eastern side in 200mtrs

trevally spots - hunters in 30-50mtrs, on the edge of the mana bridge in 20mtrs

cod and teri - makara fenceline 25mtrs, tecam reef - 40-60mtrs

South coast

Some good kingis have been getting caught of homes, turakerei and into pallsier. the trench has been a little quiet but a few bluenose and gemfish are around. havnt hear of any bass or puka. its perfect time for puka at karori when the weathers good. Weve had alot of swells on the coast recently which given the fish a bit of a break

Wgtn Harbour

Ive heard of quite a few snapper caught around Ward island , Pt Gordan and sth end of Somes. Some good trevally have been caughgt in amoungst the gurnard at Ward and at Steeple Rock. Elephantfish have made a bit of a comeback recently around Ward and at Seatoune.

Its coming up to a pretty good time in the harbour for snapper and kingis as they move out or go into hibernation.

Surfcasting

Theres been some really good Blue moki fishing of late. These places have fired - White rock, Batch beach, Oteranga. Otgher places worth a crack are Pencarrow/Fitzroy, Wanui, Cape Palliiser and Long beach.

If the swells stay away there should be some good fishing over the next month. Ocean beach can be good for spotty sharks, gurnard, moki and snapper

Before and after shelly bay in the harbour has produced quite a few snapper in the last 2 weeks. a few at eastbourne and greta pioint as well. Mahanga bay has been good for teris after dark. Sunshine bay has been producing a few snapper the odd kingi and trevally as well.

Theres still a few kingis around. May has traditionally bee a time to catch a real biggie off the shore in wgtn.

March/April reports

April 15

SURFCASTING

There's plenty of blue moki getting caught by surfcasters on the sth coast at the moment. Places like Batch beach, Longbeach, White rock, Cape Palliser, Cave and Windy bay as well as karori light are all worth a crack. Flat rock in the harbours been a good landbased spot for snapper recently with good numbers caught there last weekend after dark. Greta has been good for gurnard and Sunshine bays been producing a few snapper, trevally and the odd kingi. The kahawai were working up there yesterday when I was delivering bait to Sunshine Service Station. Eastbourne, Makara, Pukerua bay, Paikak and Tehoro have all producing snapper recently when the conditions have been good.

BOATFISHING

Blue mackerel have been in good numbers in the harbour. Nice small bait size ones with bigger eating size ones as well.

We had a good day on the snapper at the Makara fenceline last weekend with good cod and tarakihi off Opau Bay. Generally the snapper and kingi were a bit harder to catch last week after the southerly plummeted the temps down about 3-5 degrees but hopefully after the latest northerlies the temp has gone back up again. Puka fishing out wide on the west is still pretty good but I hear the Trench has been quiet. We are coming into the best hapuku time over the next 2-3 months when the fish are in top condition and the big ones move into the local deepwater reefs around wellington.

South coast cod and teri have been good when the conditions have been good but unfortunately the swells lately have made fishing tough recently.

April 1st

Still plenty of albacore and skipjack tuna getting caught off the back of mana and kapiti

Plimmerton reef and points have been great for snapper and trevally recently, a friend got a 24 and 30lb (released) snapper there.

Hunters has been amazing for kingis of late. livebaits and jigs going well

The mana bridge and nth end have been great for snapper and trevally. we picked up a 22lber there the other day

March 15

Snapper and kingfish are still fishing well particularly on the west coast.

In the harbour - some great snapper fishing off the south end of Somes island recently, the south seas wreck and around ward island have been producing kingis of good size too.

Many surf casters have been doing well off Oriental Bay catching kahawai, with a few nice kingis as well on slidebaiting rigs.

Eastbourne has been a good night fishing spot for land based fishers too.

Out west places like Hunters, Pukerua, Mana bridge, Boom Rock and Kapiti have all head there fair share of kingfish and the snapper have been good up and down the coast.

I've heard of a few bluenose getting caught at the trench but that's about it from the south coast. The usual cod and teris from baring head to turakerei in 50-70 meters are worth a crack and also homes rock for kingis

February reports

2.2.18

Its good to see plenty of albacore getting caught from mana to kapiti recently, some skipjack as well. There's been rumors of some bigger tuna getting hooked but lost and a chance of a billfish this season seeing the waters so warm. New Plymouth caught 10 marlin the week before the king tides.
Snapper and kingi fishing out west has picked up recently. A 26kg and 22kg kingi were caught recently amongst many others.
Surfcasters in the harbour and out west have been doing alright too with fish up to 4.5kgs caught last weekend with one angler catching 7 legal snapper off the shore.

Albacore have been caught out wide from the trench so i wouldnt be surprized if they are caught on the south coast soon, its certainly the time of the year for it

Good luck if your fishing the WSAC shore fishing comp or the Petone workingmans club boat comp this weekend

january reports

31.1.18

What an epic month for weather and fishing. The albacore tuna have started to come on now with a few skipjack tuna as well. There are plenty of kingfish and snapper around the deepwater fishing has been firing as well. surfcasters have been doing well on snapper in the harbour and on the west coast with a few in pallsier bay as well. moki fishing fired recently with white rock being the hot spot. gurnard fishing in the harbour has been quite good bt not to the same levels as last season. tarakihi and bluecod continue to dominate the southcoast fishing and when the waters clean and not to tidal the fishing has been great. I had the last charter on the daniel on the 17th of Jan and we finished on a high. 2 x monster bass 22 and 28kg with gemfish, bluenose, cod and tarakihi as well as frostfish, a blueshark with dolphin galore and a couple of sperm whale sightings.

8.1.18

Prior to the bug southerly things were going pretty well in the wgtn fishing scene. deepwater fishig has been very good out west for hapuku and reasonable at the trench with a mixed bag of puka, bass, bluenose, gemfish ling and hoki.

We played with a pod of orca off baring head the other day which was a real highlight. the dolphins have turned up recently in good numbers as well. wont be too far away before the sperm whales make an appearance.

snapper fishing out west has been a bit harder but if you wrk for them you'll get them.

kingis in the harbour havnt slowed down but the fish were hard to find yesterday maybe because of the earthquake the day before, who knows?

pictured here is richard chambers with his dad al and inga in background - xmas day in breaker bay

December reports

5.12.17
west - good numbers of puka out wide, snapper and kingfish have been a little harder to get onto with slightly colder temps after the southerlies, they shold be back in full swing after these strong northerlies psuh the warm water back in.
john dory, trevs and gurnard are around if you target them. not much to report from the shore

south - the cod a teris have been hit and miss. the 50mtr wreck has been pretty good i hear. theres been a number of kingis and a few snapper around on the inshore and deeper tarakihi reefs.

the trench - theres been some excellent bass fishing at the trench with patches of good bluenose and a few puka as well. trumpeter and puka have been caught from sinclair to karori recently.

surfcasting/rock - the return of the kingis have got the oriental slidebaiting brigade out there doing it again. some good snapper have been caught at great point, pt gordan and in evans bay. a few over at eastbourne too.
Some nice moki have been caught around the harbour and on the south coast along with some good gurnard a few trevally and spotty sharks as well

15.12.17

What a great spell of weather we're having

The trench - plenty of gemfish around at the moment with the odd good catch of bass as well

West deepwater - good puka fishing continues off most known haunts

West inshore - snapper continue to fire up and down the coast but not as consistent as previous summers

Surfcasting - moki have started to fire in good numbers White rock has been the best spot although they are all around the east and south coast at present. a few snapper are getting caught in the harbour and up past Paikak. kahawai have been good one day gone the next.

LBG - the kingis have been firing well off oriental bay and in evans bay

Harbour - a good mixed bag of teri, cod, gurnard, snaper, kingi, trevs and elephants. the entrance in around lambton harbour have been good fishing as well as point gordan occaisionally. ward island has been a bit tougher fishing

30.12.17

Probably one of the best decembers for fishing and weather that i can remember. Although the weather wasnt quite as good for the last week, overall it was a good month.

All places produced good fishing but sometimes you really had to work for it. I suppose when the tides were big and the water was dirty it was harder fishing,

the snapper fishing out west has been a little tougher of late but the puka are still firing out wide

water temp has been 18-20 around alot of the coast with albacore seen but not caught

November reports

13.11.17

a crack. There's been the odd large moki getting caught there as well. We're now in the heart of moki season so its worth giving places like White rock, Cape pallsier, Ocean beach, Wainui, Pencarrow, Long beach and Karori light beach a bash with mussel, crab and paua gut. Its also prime time for some large blue cod in the same areas. Gurnard,spotty sharks and the odd elephantfish are also getting taken from White rock through to ocean beach and along to Wainui and at eastbourne.

Good luck for the moki 1000 at Ngawi on the 25/26 Nov.

The trench - its been great fishing on the outgong tide for hoki and bluenose. on the turn some nice puka and bass have been caught. Incoming tide has been harder fishing.

West coast - Some good hapuku have been caught in numbers off the back of hunters - 130mtrs. Fishermans is also producing the odd stash and north of fishermans as well - 200mtrs. Snapper fishing continues to get better spreading further south by the week. Theres been some excellent fish over 20lb caught and plenty of smaller ones. I wouldnt mind betting the surfcasters have been catching a few too but they are keeping schtung. Some beut kingis are getting caught too at hunters, kapiti and further south down to boom rock.

South coast - the usual cod and teris around the 40mtr marks from lyall bay down to sinclair head and 60 - 80mtrs off baring head to turakerei. theres been more trevs and gurnard around the harbour entrance and fitzroy bay although the gunard have eased back a bit may due to spawning,

East - some good solid trumpeter, cod and teri with a few puka and bluenose are getting caught at cape palliser, snapper are becoming more comonplace out there too which is a good sign.

Its prime time to pot some crays, they are in good numbers on the south coast anyway. Come and see us for a range of craypots and tips and tricks to set them.

pete

October Reports

23.10.17

Its been a good week of variety. On thursday I got out with my mate Roscoe for a snapper fish in his 4.7mtr surteese centre console. although the tide wasnt favourable until the afternoon when i had bait deliveries on we did manage some good snapper, gurnard and kahawai. we fished the 35mtr south of bears head. On friday werer out to the trench for a mixed bag of bass, bluenose and hoki. the fishing in the deep has been good particularly with the outgoing tide. bluenose and hoki are around in good numbers with basss and puka on the turn of the tide. On saturday we caught our first two kingis for the season at west ledge, unfortunatelly they were fraction undersize so were released for another day. Trevs, gurnard, bluecod and tarakihi made up the rest of the catch. The harbour was a bit quieter than normal, as was breaker bay but all in all it was a good four days on the water

17.10.17
It was a tough weekend out for us with the weather.
We had a good catch of gurnard at Kaiwharawhara on Friday afternoon, A mate of mine Tane, caught a good stash of gurnard off cobham drive on sunday morning *surfcasting"
Saturday was rather more blustery than expected. We managed a nice hapuku at the trench before the tide turned and a stash of big tarakihi on the 100mtr mark just inside Palliser bay. Once the gale northerley got up it was off to breaker bay for bin or kahawai a few large gurnard.
I hear some elephantfish, kahawai and gurnard were caught in the harbour on sunday but the sth coast was virtually unfishable with the 20-30knot southerly which hit about 8am.
Surfcasters had a good weekend on the bluemoki on the stgh coast with about 15 being weighed in the the WSAC comp.

2.10.17

We got a couple of bass and ling at the Trench on Sunday and a dozen teris on the way home at the Wreck and West ledge. There's been a number of big snapper caught on the west coast recently, looks like an early season out there.
The Harbours been going well for gurnard, kahawai, trevally and elephantfish (boat). One surfcaster did well on the gurnard in Evans bay last week as well.
Some good whitebait catches have been reported from the Hutt river mouth.

September 2017

FISHING REPORT

1.9.17

Harbour - plenty of kahawai have turned up this week

South coast - bluecod fishing seemed to be good around the 30, 50 and 80 metre marks but the tarakihi were off the bite on the weekend (for us anyway). Ive heard of a few trevs and warehou caught

Trench - it was pretty tough on the weekend. good reports of ling and the odd bass and blulenose prior to the weekend

West - no reports

Surfcasting - a few spotty sharks and a trev caught at Ocean beach on Sunday along with the usual spineys, reddys and kahawai. Theres been a few trevs getting caught off the shore recently in the harbour and on the coast. Makara point, White rock and Pencarrow have all produced good trevs in the past and are worth a crack now. Boom rock is another good winter spot for tarakihi, warehou and the odd trev off the rocks.

8.9.17
Harbour - we did reasonably well on the gurnard on sunday off point Halswell and Jenningham along with a few nice tarakihi and kahawai
White bait - ive heard theres a few been caught at the Ferry and at waikanae but the Hutt is a bit quiet
Surfcasting - Some big kahawai at Wanui with the occasional legal bluecod as well. this is a goood time oof the year for legal bluecod off places like pencarrrow, longbeach, red rocks, the batch and waireek beaches.

Theres been a resurgence of gurnard for boaties on the sth coast and harbour

17.9.17

Some good bass and bluenose have been caught recently at the trench, good size but not heaps. Ive just had a report of a heap of hapuku caught at the top of the Sounds recently by a commercial fishermen.

The teris and cod on the south coast have been pretty good with a few trevally mixed in as well.

Inside the harbour its been gurnard fever once again. The western side has been better than the east. We picked up a stash of tarakihi off point Gordan the other day. Ward island and Falcon were quiet,

There was a nice trumpeter, bluecod and moki caught at the beach beach surfcasting the other day. Those beaches west of Sinclair can produce the goods at this time of the year if your a keen surfcaster

25.9.17

It was good to get a few trips out over the weekend. The south coast produced some very good bluecod from Lyall bay down to Sinclair head mainly around the 40mtr mark.
Breaker bay has been the bomb on the kahawai with more gurnard around than in previous years too. Most trips have produced a trevally or two on the sth coast.

harbour - heard of a good john dory caught in Evans Bay recently. Bluecod, gurnard, tarakihi and kahawai have been biting well on most harbour trips for us particularly in the western spots more than the east. We also caught a good size spotty shark at Kaiwhara yesterday. I have heard of a few reasonable whitebait catches on the Hutt river this week.

surfcasting - a few moki and trevs have been caught on the Sth coast and Wairarapa along with the occasional elephant fish and number of spotty sharks, gurnard and bluecod

Deepwater - some good bass and bluenose were caught recently in the trench

West coast - a few snapper are starting to show kapiti northwards, good teris, trevally and cod around makara

august reports

18.8.17

Looks like a good Saturday coming up this weekend - 10 knots variable, hopefully that wont change,

We had a day at the trench on Monday. It showed signs of improvement from the previous trip which was really tough going. We lost a bluenose close to the boat, got a bass and some big ling. A commercial friend of mine caught a 32kg bass (headed and gutted) and a recreational mate got a 35kger out there too recently. I hear the puka have been biting west of Sinclair, fishermans and makara.

Inshore fishing has been consistent when the the waters been clean for cod, teri, trevs, gurnard, warehou and the odd snapper and kingi

26.8.17

Harbour - plenty of kahawai have turned up this week

South coast - bluecod fishing seemed to be good around the 30, 50 and 80 metre marks but the tarakihi were off the bite on the weekend (for us anyway). Ive heard of a few trevs and warehou caught

Trench - it was pretty tough on the weekend. good reports of ling and the odd bass and bluenose prior to the weekend

West - no reports

fishing report 30.7.17

Fishing report form the weekend

It was ling city out at the Trench on Sunday. One of my mates got a nice bluenose and bass after we left the far side.
The tarakihi were biting at the back of 5 mile on the 100mtr mark and some good mackerel, orange perch and big scarpies helped fill the bin.
Out west theres been some nice puka taken out wide and some good gurnard and snapper in close.
Kahawai have been good on the south coast for surfcasters and theres a few elephantfish, gurnard and trevally at Seatoun. When the harbours been dirty the fishings been good at Halwell and in Evans bay

This trumpeter was caught in August a few years back by Craig Henderson our charter boat Melicent (now owned by John Fargher). It was 42lbs and caught on a Penn gti330 with 3/o hooks in 50mtrs while tarakihi fishing

We've got our classic ''dehookers" back in stock if anyones interested - they are the best fish dehooker on the market. as used on our charters.

see the knoves and tools section of the buy products page

11 july

West coast still producing good fish ie Kingies and Snaps,Warehou have shown up around the traps as well with one boaties taking 12 in half an hour.

Blue cod,Tarakihi fishing is abundant around the south coast currently.

The red cod and spiny dogs should be loading their suitcases and leaving for their winter holidays in the Wellington waters this week,as our first real polar rodent blows into town.

Some very good catches of mature Blue Mackerel(slimies) still continue to plague the local waters.

Big Trevally and good sized Barking carrots are still making an appearance also,shell fish baits is a good option for these two species.

Puka,Bass and Bluenose are thin on the ground with the odd report of 'ones' and 'twosies' being taken.

It's mid July and still very good fishing despite the incoming forecast,thermals on and stay warm,spring and its wind are not far away.

fishing report 27 june 2017

Fishing report

West coast - Theres been some good fish been coming in over the last week. I had some blokes in the shop the other day who caught 4 john dory, 3 kingis and some good cod off makara in their kayaks last week.
Theres been some nice hapuku getting caught out west at fishermans, makara and ohau.
Inshore the snapper have been biting well south of Makara but have gone a bit deeper further north.
Tarakihi fishing has been pretty consistent off Plimmerton, Mana and around north Makara.

South coast - theres been a real resurgence of bluenose out at the trench recently with nice fish coming in from both sides up to 12kgs. Fitzroy has been great for trevally, gurnard, kahawai and tarakihi. One boat landed 4 trevs there the other day.
The kahawai at the harbour entrance have been in plague proportions.

Harbour - We caught 12 snapper last sunday with a good amount of tarakihi, kahawai and gurnard too. Quite a surprize in a strong southerly. Some nice trevs are getting caught around the leading lights and off Seatoun.

Surfcasting - the return of the mighty red cod has all but the faint hearted shaking in their boots! Point Howard wharf has been seeing alot of gurnard caught on the good days with a mix of couta, kahawai and reddies as well.
Its warehou season - a berley bag off queens wharf should produce 500gm - 1kg warehou thistime of the year and if you want a big one Boom rock or Armchair point could the place to try over the next month.
Makara point is known to produce tarakihi and the odd trevally at this time of the year.
Ocean beach in Palliser bay is a good winter spot for a variety of sharks and scalefish. there may even be the odd snapper and elephantfish there too.
Spotty sharks are a worthwhile target at Wainui, most Wairarapa beaches and off Burdans gate in the harbour.

Its only 6 weeks away till whiebait season, We have nets, waders and screens in stock if ayone's keen

We also have Jimi the fish onsite at the Seaview shop who can do reel/rod maintenance and repairs sometimes on the spot or within a day or two.

Shimano Tld15's on special this week for $175

Wellington fishing is awesome!

FISHING REPORT June 2017
Theres plenty of fish out there, the snapper are still biting with the odd kingi too. The west has been red hot and the harbour is still producing the odd good fish. Definately fish a bit deepwater when the waters colder.
Deepwater fishing has been a little patchy but the puka are out there if you put the time in. The commercial guys have been getting some good bass and bluenose at the trench and puka on the west coast.
ITS WAREHOU SEASON
Out west its worth targetting warehou at places like Fishermans, Hunters, Boom, and the north and south end of Mana/Kapiti islands - fish up off the bottom with jigs and flasher rigs. We also count to 10, 15 or 20 seconds freespooling ourt lines to find what depth they are hanging out. We catch a few off Island bay, 5 mile, Sinclair and Baring head with smaller ones coming into the harbour.
OTHER STUFF
Gurnard, tarakihi and bluecod fishing has been excellent on the sth and west coasts particularly when the waters been clean. Gurnard and kahawai are still in good numbers in the harbour with a few elephantfish and trevs too.
Surfcasters have been catching nice spotty sharks with a few gurnard and moki on the south and east coasts. Reddies and spineys have moved in with kahawai in good numbers at many spots.

fishing report 26.2.17

Well there's certainly been a change in the weather in the last couple of weeks, summer has struck Wgtn WHICH IS GREAT.

WEST COAST - snapper are up and down the coast in most locations, some really big ones too which is promising, Theres been a few albacore tuna caught off the back of Kaipiti but they havn't really fired in good numbers yet and are hard to catch. Kingis are hanging in the usual haunts but are pretty much all over the place terrorizing unprepared anglers on most reefs up and down the coast.

The hapuku are getting caught of the back of hunters on the 130mtr patch

SOUTH COAST - cod and teris are pretty much all over the place and certainly biting well when the tides are too big and when the waters clean. Gurnard are being caught on the 30-40mtr mark out from the harbour entrance and in Fitzroy and Lyall bays. The kingis haven't been so good for us thiis year on the coast but the harbour has made up for it

HARBOUR - kingfish seem to be everywhere but the hotspot is definitely off Oriental bay and Point Jenningham. We had our best snapper catch off Ward Island this week and caught some nice elephants there too. Gurnard are all over the place (on the sand) .

THE TRENCH - its been a bit hit and miss out there recently. Good bluenose have been there one day gone the next. Lets hope it improves soon. Puka have been caught from Sinclair to Karori

SURFCASTING - some good snapper were caught at Whangamoana on the weekend. Moki have been caught on the south coast particularly at Caoe Palliser and around Karori light. Snapper fishing around the harbour has been pretty good as well as on the west coast. Overall its been one of the better landbased seasons in Wgtn. The Eastborne gate/bus shelter has been a good after dark spot for elephants, moki and snapper. Wire rock at Pukerua bay is well worth a berley up for a big snapper or kingfish now. Paikakariki and Tehoro are prime surfcasting spots after dark for snapper too!

If you want to see some kingi action then go down to Oriental and wait and see, There must have been around 50 kingis caught there this season up to abou 20kgs. Most have been caught slidebaiting livebaits. Most points around the harbour are worth livebaiting for the kingi now. If you want to catch one, this is the time and season to do it. Use 80lb braid and 130lb trace to maximize your opportunities

ITS THE ANNUAL PLIMMERTON BOAT CLUB'S FISHING COMP NEXT WEEKEND, GOOD LUCK IF YOUR ENTERING

fishing report 4.2.17

while the weather continues to play havoc in wgtn the good days are certainly producing the goods

out west - its snapper mayem with plenty of limit bags getting reported and fish generally bigger in size than last year. there has been a few albacore taken out wide from kapiti but nothing reported south of that. kingfish are all up and down the coast with reports of captures coming from the boulderbank, hunters and boom rock. hapuku have been caught in reas...onable nubers out wide from hunters and down ohau way. plenty of cod and teris from makara south

harbour - the snapper are getting caught in numbers from time to time but not as consistent as out west. gurnard are in excellent numbers with kahawai a bit more hit and miss. kingis have been caught all over the place but the best fishing has been off point jennningham and around ward island. theres still a mixture of cod, teri, trevally and elephants appearing in the catch around pt gordan, ward isl and seatoune.

south coast - inshore fishing is great with cod and teris, gurnard and a few kingis, trevs and snapper. the usual haunts of fitzroy bay, west ledge, baring head and the airport reef have been resonably consistent. for us the back of 5 mile has really turned it on with xos size cod and teris with the odd kingi too. homes rock and turakerei 100mtr marks are also pretty good for teris and kingis

the trench - after a couple of excellent days on the bass, bluenose and puka it was a bit quiet on the last trip. there was a a medium sized earthquake centered just out frm the trench the previous night so that spooked the fish a bit. One of the buenose was over 20kgs, most of the bass were under 10kgs and the hapuku was around 15kg. I hear karori has produced a few puka of late.

landbased - Pt Jenningham/Oriental bay has been a revelation for kingis this summer. they may be getting a little gunshy now but its still worth a visit. The suceessful anglers have been transporting in live macks caught overnight and slidebaiting them with great sucess. the biggest so far is around 18kgs and the best morning recently produced 6 fish with one angler catching 3 fish up to 16kgs.
snapper fishing out west is pretty good if you know where to go. north of paikak is certainly the most consistent. i heard a double figure snapper was caught at the raumati surfcasting comp last w.end.
moki and spotty sharks over the wairarapa have bee pretty good along with gurnard when the waters clean. havnt heard of any snapper at ocean beach yet but when the conditions are good its worth a crack, for sure. gurnard and snapper of greta point and round the eastburne coastline have been pretty good and flat rock has been another kingi place worth livebaiting. kingis have been smashing unprepared anglers all over the place recently.

fishing report 10.11.16

surfcasting
west coast a few snapper getting caught. Titahi bay rocks, nth of makara, paikak and tehoro all worth a crack

sth and east coast spotty shark, gurnard and moki all getting caught but we havnt had perfect conditions yet to really get into them. large bluecod in close too on the shingle beaches. white rock/tora worth a crack. big kahawai getting caught at wainui/lake ferry. some good sea run browns have been caught at lake ferry recently.

harbour - big kahawai with a few gurnard the odd moki and small warehou. there have been kingis hooked and caught in evans bay recently. flat rock would be worth a crack and kau bay for a moki

boat
south - inshore - nice clean water out there with cood cod, teri and gurnard in close. the crays are also worth potting in close as present.
the kingis were absent from homes last saturday although the big teris were abundant

south - deep - still good bluenose, puka and bass around. this is the time the trench really fires so hopefully the weather will improve enough for everyone to get a taste of it before xmas.

harbour - theres been a heap of plankton which has made fishing tougher than expected. plenty of kahawai around with a few cod, teri and gurnard. a nice big trev was caught at ward island on the w.end.

west - better snapper fishing with the water temp increasing. some good kingis have been caught in the last week or so up and down the coast - up to 50lb. the wiraka rise is worth a crack for snapps as well as the 35mtr bank in from verns. boom has produced good cod and teris recently

We had an awesome jam session out on the harbour before the fireworks on saturday

Fishing Reports

20.10.16

Its looking like a really good weather window this weekend so it should be good on all coasts. The southerley on friday may put a swellup for a time on saturday but its forcast to be a metre or less for the weekend.

Deepwater - We've only had one session in the deep this week and the fishing was a bit tough although we did manage a few bluenose, hoki and ling before cutting our losses and heading in for some cod and teris which were also a bit ellusive wth the big tides last week.
This weekend with small tides it should be very good fishing all round, fingers crossed.

Normally its good bluenose and puka fishing this time of the year so we'll give those a crack this Saturday.

Harbour - the gurnard fishing has been pretty good with kahawai a close 2nd.
Tarakihi have been in good numbers as well. I havnt heard of stray snaps or kings caught last week but with the water temp is over 16 deg now so there should be a few lurking around. If your not too sure where to go try the edge of the shipping channel off ward island and falcon shoals and around the leading lights and seatoun light.

West coast - Its been pretty rough out there recently which is good for pushing the warm water back I havnt heard of much caught apart from the usual cod and tarakihi and a few snapper further north. It will be interesting to see the results from the weekend. There will alot of people out fishing. The Wairaka rise, Mana bridge, and Makara fencline will beplaces i would give a crack

Surfcasting - theres been a marked increase of kahawai around this week and some big gurnard getting caught off the back of the airport. One our our regulars got a nice moki off the rocks this week around 2kgs. Ocean beach is my pick for spotty shark, moki and elephantfish and even maybe an early snapper! Dont forget your crabs...

fishing report 6.10.16

We've had a great spell on the weather with light easterlies mainly over the last week, although things have changed just in the last couple of days with the old norwester and gale southerly to remind us that its still Wellington.

Deepwater - the trench has started to be a bit more consistent with bluenose recently which is good, especially in the west. We expect the bluebnose will come back in good numbers soon as the water temp has shot up to 15.5 on the last trip. We got a nice 20kg puka the other day in amoungst the bluenose too. Hoki and ling can be prolific some days which is good to fill the fillet bags up.

Inshore - A nice 18kg kingi was caught in 20mtrs just inside Palliser bay the other day. Hunters bank has been producing good numbers of trevally, The snapper have been there one day gopne the next up and down the west coast but more prolific north of Pukerua bay. Plenty of cod down Oahu way

Surfcasting - some excellent bluecod have been coming in at batch beach of late. Longbeach, waireek, waihui and pencarrow beaches are all worth a crack for bluecod as well. kahawai are becoming easier to catch and are fat (with whitebait)

White baiting has picked up with good catches reported from lake ferry and the Hutt river this week

Harbour - we've had some really good bluecod, gurnard and kahawai this week along the ferry terminal to Kaiwhara strectch

The puka should be returning soon and the water temp is up to 16 deg in the harbour so snaps and kingis should become more common in the near future (fingers crossed)

Latest fishing report

29.9.16

Great weather and fishing this week. There's been the odd time when the fish have gone off the bite but generally its been good. We had our best bluenose fishing at the trench on Saturday for the season plus a nice 20kg bass. Inshore for cod and teris is going well with gurnard and kahawai as well. The harbour has been producing excellent gurnard along the Halswell to Gordan stretch with the odd snapper, elephantfish and a few cod and teris. Out west the snapper have started to fire with good numbers and the odd biggie as well. Kapiti has been better than further south but I'll bet they will be everywhere very soon. The water temp is up to around 15 on the south coast and harbour and a bit more out west. Hav'nt heard of any kingis but its time to start looking. Surfcasters and whitebaiters have been quiet but they are a cunning bunch that's hard to extract catch info out of. No reports of quality fish from the shore but plenty of kahawai, redcod and spineys

15 Sept 2016

We've had great fishing and absolutely crap fishing lately
Its happened to us in the harbour on the south coast and at the trench. very unpredictable
Last sunday we caught a nice bag of bluenose, bass, ling and hoki at the Trench. Every drop of the day day produced fish with some nice bass and bluenose up around the 20kg mark. Yesterday we hit the same tide and water conditions but the fish were not there. Bugger

The harbours been similar with great gurnard fishing one day then tough the next. Theres been plenty of kahawai around the harbour entrance and gurnard around Point Hallswell.
I think it pays to move around this time of the year and not go back to a spot you did well at on a recent trip. Its hard because your gut instinct is to go back to where you did well last time but it can sure backfire on you. I suppose the opposite can also be correct. thats fishin!

Theres been one or two very nice snapper getting caught out west recently. It maybe the advance big fish which usually turn up once the water starts to warm, or it could be the hardy resident fish which have been around all winter.
Its probably spawning time for puka now. Bluenose are supposed to spawn at this time of the year but the ones we have been catching have had little or no spwan in them. Can anyone shed some light on this? I used to think march/april was bluenose spawning time.......

Surfcasters continue to be ellusive. It was the first shore comp for the local WSAC club last w.end. It as fishable on the south on sunday but too swelly on saturday. I have heard of a few spotty shakrs getting caught in the porirua/paremata area. It is a good time to surfcast makara for tarakihi, trevally and kahawai. If the south coast cleans up there could be some early season moki around for those who put the effort in. Nice bluecod come in close to shore this time of the year and get caught at longbeach, batch beach, pencarrow and cape palliser

20th august 2016

deepwater
had one report of a good catch of bluenose at the trench but generally fishing out there has been tough with mainly ling around. some small puka have been caught near ohau.

inshore
the best fishing has been anchoring up at places like west ledge and fitzroy. Tarakihi, gurnard and kahawai have been going well. we got a big blue mack and a blindy in fitz the other day. quite unusual.

harbour
mainly kahawai and gurnard this week.
workups along the ngaranga stretch.

surfcasting
some nice spotty sharks at wainui and palliser bay.

cant complain about the weather but the fishing was a bit tough over the full moon

weather link

use this for forcasts

metservice forcast

fishing report 5.9.16

deepwater - plenty of ling but bass and bluenose have bee hard to find. no-ones really been giving the puka a hit either but there may be still a ferw around the usual haunts, particularly the fish under 8kgs

inshore southcoast - Fitzroys been the place with good fishing and shelter. Baring head for the turn of tide in 60-70mtrs for big teris and cod

harbour - some good elephantfish and kahawai around the edge of the shipping channel, but the gurnard have been harder to catch. Its trevally time at the entrance on the sand. Point Gordans also worth a bash if you get the wind with the tide.

westcoast inshore - no reports but Makara down to Ohau is always good at this time of the year for trevally, tarakhi, cod and the odd surprize

surfcasting - Good kahawai around most areas but here opne day, gone the next. Good time for a makara or pencarrow trevally. spotty sharks in Pallsier Bay.