Whangarei/Tutukaka - June 2010

Red hot marlin bite

Anglers have enjoyed a red-hot marlin bite off Tutukaka recently

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Tutukaka Gamefish Club members have experienced awesome marlin fishing.

In two magic days towards the end of April, 33 marlin were caught and many more hooked and dropped. Most of this action happened in quite close, off Elizabeth Reef. Birds, schools of marlin moving on the surface like dolphins, individual marlin coming in and hitting four or five lures then swimming up and eyeballing the boat – many anglers watched the action all around them in amazement.

Livebaits were working better than lures, but at times the well-fed marlin just swam right past the livies; one angler hooked up using a blue maomao! As of May 6, marlin are still being caught in reduced numbers. Many anglers believe we could see a few more weeks of game fishing.

At the Onerahi end of the harbour, the snapper fishing has slowed considerably, but experienced anglers are getting good catches on the middle harbour’s channel edges during the first couple of hours of run-in, especially early in the morning. A message from Basil Ford I received at work in mid-morning recently simply said, “nine before eight!” A couple of days later he repeated this, but this time it took until 9am to get his snapper limit.

Those who know how to fish Takahiwai report some big snapper being taken from this shallow and exciting area. The Rip at the harbour entrance is also fishing well during the first two hours of tide run, both in or out. Long traces are essential.

With a little effort, some reasonable catches of snapper are being made in Bream Bay. Soft-baits are working well, and although some good fishing has been had in as little as five metres, more consistent results are coming from 17-25m. I have been using Black Magic Rainbow Braid in the deeper water, as quite often the snapper schools are well up off the bottom. This braid changes colour every 10m, which makes it easy to put your soft-bait right where the fish are – more time in the strike zone means better and quicker results.

The Mad Mile and the Hen and Chicks are fishing well for snapper, trevally and some very big kahawai. There are still quite a few kingies around, too.

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