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Labour weekend Saturday was a great day for fishing and then it went pear shape! Those who got out on the Saturday reported some nice fish being landed or released. The Kingies were attacking jigs around the Hole in the Rock while some XOS sized snapper were snagged! One customer came into the shop and brought a net because his one was too small to fit the snapper and some scales as he wanted to weigh it! Friday evening I snuck out and found that the school fish were still deep at 70m plus. Heavy jigheads and softbaits and heavier...

 Hit and miss! This describes our fishing efforts over the last fortnight. We have had the most success with slow jigs out at the 60m mark but one days its’ good and the next nothing to be found. I suspect I might have put my strayline/bait gear away a little early as reports of good catches on baits and live-baits around the Black Rocks have been heard. Workups have been few and far between and often short lived when birds have finally been found. Last Monday we had a cracker morning with Snapper, Terakihi, Gurnard and a large Blue Mackeral...

Kaide Parish with his fish of a lifetime! At the start of this report period we ventured out into the Bay to be greeted by bait balls and gannets! The fishing was great with some nice pannies falling to the “lazy” softbaits drifting out the back and a few more to slow jigs. The snapper are in great condition and already have roe which indicates an early spawn. However yesterday we tried again and struggled to find the fish or at least get a bite! Lots of bait and sign on the sounder and we did pick a nice pannie...

Lilia, visiting from France, happy with her first snapper! Strayling has been producing the goods although the largest fish we have caught most days are on an unattended softbait drifting way out the back. We’ve been fishing around 10-15m and most days we catch enough for a feed although we are plagued by high numbers of undersized fish. Fortunately using the non-offset circle hooks means most are quickly and safely released. Locals Ryan and Bryon have been doing well up the Waikare inlet fishing from the shore and report at the change of tide they have landed some nice fish...

On Fire! The Bay of Islands is simply on fire as the school fish have arrived and the weather has been great! Happy to report that every time we’ve been out, some great fish have been caught. The bite times from fishing.net.nz have been spot on, we fished for 3 hours with little to show for it and them boom, at the predicted time all hell broke loose! Interestingly, I haven’t come across a single work up in the last 2 weeks, but there this plenty of bait showing on the sounder. Find the bait sign, and drifting through it...