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Kingfish on 3kg line, monster broadbill swordfish for junior anglers.

A strong week of Bay of Islands fishing, with snapper on the bite, surprise kingfish on slow-pitch gear, plentiful bait schools, and more quality fish reported from the rocks, shallows, and deeper water.

XOS Kingfish and a trip to Waihau Bay to fish for Southern Bluefin Tuna!

The McDonald’s Northland 56th International Yellowtail Tournament kicked off last Sunday with 32 teams comprising of 114 anglers (including 21 Juniors), targeting kingfish caught on 6kg or 8kg line. To date (with the final day 4 being fished today), a total of 90 kingfish have been weighed – I know because I’ve weighed them! The heaviest to date has been 20.6 kgs on 6kg line and although not a target species, I weighed at 7.5kg snapper for Christine Moses on Day 1.

Finally a break in the SE winds that have been constant over the last 2 weeks, so we took the opportunity to get out. Judging by the number of trailers at the boat ramp, so did everyone else! Our plan was to check the deep and snag a few snapper for a feed. We didn’t quite get to the target spot as came across a large raft of birds sitting over huge bait balls around the 50m mark. We did the usual slow drift across the area and started off with some sizeable blue mackerel taking the jigs. Few snapper...