There is a distinct lack of consistent good sized snapper in close or shallow yet,they appear to be still out deep and wide

Over the last few days, we put several large fish in the boat,,Snapper,Trevally and Kingfish, the water is so alive with Trevally and Kawhai.

Our trevally yesterday was near 4kg,,,our snappers wereconsistently around 4-7kg with several bust offs,,,The preffered bait is whole pilchards.

There are large schools of trevally, and kawhai around the Chicks,which make for exciting drift fishing with the seas being so calm

We Caught 2 pups her on Fri morning water temp 15.5 at 30 meters. Snapper starting to appear in better numbers.Plenty of blue cod and tarakihi,and yes the coutas are still here.

Some nice kingies are here on the coast and there have been some catches of 15-20kg

The scallops on the coast are nice and fat,,I did notice that for every 10 shells I swam over only 2-3 were legal size,,so all the guys dredging around here are damaging the beds,,,The research teams from niwa have tried re-seeding with spat on buoys, but the snapper are to aggressive.

The Cray pots are out in force around the coast here at Mangawhai I counted 30 pots in a 400m2 area  and another 20 pots in another 400m2 area  These are amongst our nurseries.  as documented by Wade Doak,, my dives lately have shown large numbers of small crayfish,soft and in egg,,should be good for the future if not decimated by the commercial pots.

Don’t forget our labour weekend  Mangawhai Fishing Tournament sponsored by Timber world.

Carters Fishing Competition 9 September Fishing starts 6.00am  $30 entry fee includes breakfast sausage sizzle and dinner

Sponsored by Timberworld there are over $5000 worth of prizes up for grabs.

Start time 6.00am. Weigh in time 3.00 – 4.00pm at clubrooms.

So get a trip organized for you and your friends, family…Ph Gordon on 0800 347 467

I will endeavour to make your day as rewarding and enjoyable as possible

Ridgeback Fishing Charters

Ph 0800 347 467 Contact Gordon

So get a trip organized for you and your friends, family, or enter the tournament,  Ph Gordon on 0800 347 467  I will endeavor to make your day as rewarding and enjoyable as possible,,

Individuals catered for from $115 or make up a group for fishing or diving or combine both

A Beautiful Calm Day

We decided to do it all, Simpsons, Naivre Rocks, Burgess Island, Fanal island, Maori rocks, Groper island, and armed with some of the Burgess island light house keepers, fishing spots … taken from his records when he lived on the island back in the 60`s we were off.

The brisk morning opened up to glorious sunshine for our trip to the Moks.

80 mins later we were drifting in and around Simpsons Rock from the 60 meter mark right up to the face and close foul (no swell, no wash, and just dead flat) within minutes we were getting bites, while enjoying the basking seals on the rocks.  Several drifts through and around Simpsons provided several small snapper 40cm and deep red in color, but nothing great, no kingies,,

We then motored a little towards Naivre Rocks,, where we started our drift hoping to drift through the large schools of Kawhai that haunt that area all year round,, As we got a little closer, the hits came and the fish ran.. We landed several large snapper 6-8kg and some kingfish although all around 650-700cm, we watched the birds begin to dive on several large schools of kawhai, and the ocean came alive, and died all within 5-10mins the acres of kawhai were gone.

The Action Begins

We then motored over to the huge 60-70m drop offs on the SE corner of Fanal where we hooked some more kingfish but nothing big, some Blue Moki, good size blue cod, and more snapper…Fantastic Fishing we had already caught and thrown back some very nice fish and still had fish in the huge fish tank,we were in fishing heaven,,

Kingfish

The Moks had welcomed us with open arms,,,time to stop for coffee, soup, and some food,, soaking in the atmosphere on the southern side of Fanal island, basking in glorious sunshine, we Drifted down and in no particular hurry,, to the large work ups in front of The Maori  Rocks, the talk turned toGreat Barrier, which looked so close and was so tempting, heading east and not going home that day?? We were kings with riches to choose from.

Snapper

Common sense prevailed and we had arrived in front of the Maori Rocks, where we enjoyed some big hits, big snapper, we kept a couple more and through back heaps, Lures, slow jigs and bait all proved successful,, although one side of the boat was better than the other, Isn’t that always the way J oh the skipper had 3 drops for 3 fish !

We feasted on landing and throwing back snapper and trevally, before heading over to the northern side of Burgess for a little lunch in the canyon area,, where we planned our assault on the deep bricks and drop offs on Groper island,,

We arrived at Groper Island on a full tide with no wind, no current and couldn’t drift anywhere,, great?, out came the braid, jigs, bait, floaters, and burly,, and  we couldn’t get a bite/strike no nothing…Then the tide started to move a little ,we drifted off the island a little, and the fish started to come on the bite and we were amongst fish again for at least ½ an hour before we had to bid farewell to this wonderfully remote fishing destination, heading home on a sea that was flatter and calmer than the morning if that was possible ,,

Back at Mangawhai boat Ramp and pontoon  5-30pm,,Reflecting on a boat trip to remember, the talk turned to the next trip, and would it be possible to better this one while we unloaded the fish, and bid farewells.

Happy Customers

My guys were off back to the farms of northland, hustle of Whangarei and Auckland, they were a great bunch of friends who schemed, and planned this trip, that they will not forget.

The fish are still in on the sand so we, and haven’t moved out deeper as yet?

We are catching our dinner in very short time including some very nice trevally 2-3kg and snapper that are schooling, feeding together on the bottom, including the odd kawhai ?

The blue water seems to have moved out deeper and the shallower water has got dirty over the last 10 days, we have noticed flasher rigs, and soft baits doing the most damage.

The easterly swell has now been here for the past 4-5 weeks which has kept the water temp quite warm, and some interesting moments when we have been crossing the Mangawhai bar.

.

Just the other day we left the pontoon here at Mangawhai 8.00am and headed around to Langs Beach Reef area, some 10 mins away, we were heading out for a morning fish, and dive,, well we had enough snapper and trevally by 10am ,,,so that kept the girls happy, and the boys had time to go diving and back to Mangawhai by midday with a great catch of  crayfish, snapper, trevally, and kawhai followed by an afternoon of filleting, thanks to the Honda Cars staff, and friends.

The Kawhai are moving in close to the beaches and bays at nights, staying there over night, and then moving out deeper in the day, and schooling all along the Mangawhai coastline which makes a great sight to see. It appears that these fish are back in abundance and are critical to our ocean and part of the food chain, some damn good sport fishing on light tackle with fish up to 3.5kgs.

We are lucky here at Mangawhai as we have easy access to the Hen & Chicks, (30mins) and the Mokohinau Islands,( 90 mins) which provide some wonderful autumn and winter Kingfish and Hapuka,

The next couple of weeks will be busy with Easter and The Mangawhai Fishing Club Easter Weekend“ Timberlands Tournament“

So get a trip organized for you and your friends, family, or enter the tournament, I will endeavor to make your day as rewarding and enjoyable as possible,,

Individuals catered for from $115 or make up a group for fishing or diving or combine both

As PADI Divemaster, I also enjoy taking small groups of Divers out to the Mokohinau Islands, Barrier, and the Hen & Chicks.

Feel free to contact us on 0800 347467      email gordon@fishing-diving.co.nz

A Mornings Fishing