Thread: Fishing tomorrow!

Two days fishing and the comparison between them......

Sat 2nd Nov. Charter of 20 fisho's. Out over the Kaipara bar and anchored up in 53m. Sounder showed fish all the way out. Headed back over the bar 2hrs later with most guys taking close to their limits of snapper. Gurnard, Trevally and Kahawai present added to the bag. Plagued by kings mainly rats, landed 41 in total, 7 over 80cm kept , the rest were released alive.

Sat 9th Nov. Charter of 21 fisho's. Out over the Kaipara bar and anchored up in 54m. Sounder showed little sign of fish all the way out. Fished for an hour and landed 7 snapper. Moved inshore to 25m, then tried 30m, 38m, 42m, 60m+ and moved 8 times in all. No Kings despite thrashing the water with a variety of jigs. 7 hrs fishing in total. Most guys got a feed (3-5 snapper). A few Kahawai, no Gurnard or Trevally. The sounder showed a few small pockets of fish but most of the time it was bare.

Biggest difference between the 2 days were the 2 trawlers that were running back and forth up and down off the Kaipara.
Inspection of the fish showed that the snapper havent yet spawned and were ripe with roe.

Draw your own conclusions............

I spent a few days up the Coromandel years ago. We were targeting kingies off the rocks. Saturday there were kings and bait everywhere, Sunday, not a sign of anything. Conditions were the same and we fished most of the day both days. That's fishing....

Originally Posted by Shearer

I spent a few days up the Coromandel years ago. We were targeting kingies off the rocks. Saturday there were kings and bait everywhere, Sunday, not a sign of anything. Conditions were the same and we fished most of the day both days. That's fishing....

I agree, thats fishing........

But having fished the West Coast off the Kaipara for over 45 years and have the same thing happen every year during spawning season and noted the effect that the trawlers have, I dont think 'Thats Fishing' has a lot to do with it...............

Just my opinion. YMMV

(Meant to add in my OP that the trawlers have been hammering the area for the last 5-6 days........)

Nipped out this morning and caught a couple of snapps and gurnard. No fishing photos for ya

But how about these two.....

Pulled 5 of these out of the stomach of 1 gurnard !!



And whats up with these bony lumps on the snapper frame, anyone know?







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Originally Posted by kukuwai

Nipped out this morning and caught a couple of snapps and gurnard. No fishing photos for ya

But how about these two.....

Pulled 5 of these out of the stomach of 1 gurnard !!



And whats up with these bony lumps on the snapper frame, anyone know?







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Wow five little flounder in one gurnard! The greedy little bugger.

As for the snap I have seen it quite a bit but usually only on the lower dorsal part of the frame.....I guess and thats all it is is a guess that they are predated on when small like everything else and these are the survivors of some attack?

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Wow five little flounder in one gurnard! The greedy little bugger.

Too greedy cam he ended up in my chilly bin.

I think you might be right about the snapper, we did notice a subtle deformity in that fish before filleting.

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Many many years ago while fishing off 90 mile beach we caught a snapper with lumps like that. Because it was unusual, we froze the half filleted fish and ended up bringing it home and subsequently sent it to what was the DSIR. They contacted us about a month later to tell us it was a Protozoic Parasite (sp?).........

Apparently it enters the gut of the snapper, burrows its way into the flesh and attaches itself to the bones behind the gut. The snappers immune system kicks in and throws a layer of bone around it....the parasite becomes encapsulated and eats the bone so the snapper keeps building up the layers.

Thats what they told us then, and back in those days it was very uncommon. I have been fishing the Kaipara for the last 50ys both inside the harbour and mainly offshore. It is now a very common sight and most snapper have them. Biggest lumps I have seen were on a 28lb snapper, it had 3 golf ball sized lumps.

Doesnt seem to affect the fish and I have never suffered any ill effects from eating fish with those lumps...........apart from increased hatred and intolerance for politicians who are hell bent on screwing this country up and changing the outdoor lifestyle most of us enjoy...............

But maybe thats just me

Thanks for the info ..interesting how a body reacts to an parasite! Always wondered how the couta handle the worms...guess a protein based diet helps!

@Allgood cheers mate, interesting !!

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Early start and early finish, due to wind. 1.5hours fishing. And a few returned


Turned it into...

With a purple kumara and potato mash - that photo doesnt look good.... But Tasted bloody great.

Everybody is slaying the snapper today in Tasman bay according to Facebook.
Its driving me nuts not being able to fish.... especially whrn there is good weather..... I recon I might be able to wind a 4000 series reel now ?

Tinny punt is on its way to kiaks with a couple of keen young blokes.

Weather looking good this weekend for Tasman bay.........

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Everybody is slaying the snapper today in Tasman bay according to Facebook.
Its driving me nuts not being able to fish.... especially whrn there is good weather..... I recon I might be able to wind a 4000 series reel now ?

Tinny punt is on its way to kiaks with a couple of keen young blokes.

Weather looking good this weekend for Tasman bay.........

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That actually sounds a bit shit -
Can't fish, someone's using your boat and it's great fishing weather.

Use the other hand and a rod holder? Ie American fishing.....

Originally Posted by Beaker

That actually sounds a bit shit -
Can't fish, someone's using your boat and it's great fishing weather.

Use the other hand and a rod holder? Ie American fishing.....

Yea its shit but for the better in the long run I hope.

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Finally someone took pity on me and took me out.
I couldn't do much at all and things went very well indeed so maybe I should do less .



Stingray slayed it on the rods and we ended up releasing fish off the longline( shallow water)

They gotta all fit in.



Paying for it now tho.

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Wicked evening fish , with the one winged warrior! Chose to fish this side of the bay after reports of kingi's on the boulder bank. Out found some very clean water ...anchor , burley , rods down wind current etc all going same way. ...very nice.

Even two straylines out ...taking risks there ...bang fish on , half an hour of solid fishing ..ended when the burley ran dry ...next bomb over the side took a while to break down but when it did fish on again ...both of us dropped fish , but when it was this good ...well things seem a little less painful....ran out of burley and with some nice eater in the bin...pulled hooklines ...took only the deep hooked and blown fish , released the rest , plenty of half grown kawhai about, a epic spell of fishing ..really one of those days ...got to ramp shared a fish with a bloke who hadn't been so lucky , he shared his wash down gear with us so a win win!

Thanks VC many people will enjoy a feed of fresh fish tommorow! Heal fast mate!