BOI Fishing Report - July 6, 2026

Having spent the week weighing Kingfish, I decided that I deserved a fish and so we shot out to the middle ground to catch a feed of snapper. We went out to the 65m and found some sign around small bait schools and proceeded to drop jigs. Luc and Helene from France had never fished before so I spent most of time coaching – Luc managed to put the 1st 3 snapper in the bin whilst Helene struggled to keep her fish attached. Later on I got my slow pitch gear and tried out the new Catch Seducer lure that I had picked up at the boat show. It produced a couple of snapper then boom, all hell broke loose with something with a heap of grunt ripping line out. It took about 20 minutes to subdue the beast which I was hoping was a 30lb snapper but eventually a tired kingfish arrived boatside! As if I hadn’t seen enough Kingfish over the last week! But always a welcome bycatch!
 
Last Monday was my next chance to get out and this time it was my fishing buddy Pete’s turn. The Ocean Angler Fish Finger is bruised banana continues to attract Kingfish whenever it’s deployed to catch snapper. I think its “accidently” caught 6 or 7 over the last few months. Pete’s kingy also gave him a good scrap on his light slow jig gear. We didn’t find many snapper in the middle despite finding considerable sized bait balls but a short trip into the shallows to deploy some smelly baits, provided for our Wednesday night club dinner.

The fishing continues to be very good with consistent reports of good fish being caught off the rocks, in shallow and out in middle depths. Kahawai caught are spewing up heaps of anchovy’s and bait balls are plentiful from 35-60m. Despite the cooler air temps the water temperature was still 18 degrees. I heard a yellowfin tuna was caught while livebaiting for kingfish near the Hole in the Rock? Wouldn’t be surprised if its true! But for now I’m looking to Waihau Bay to get my annual Bluefin fix… hopefully some success to report next fortnight.