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Fishing Report:   Our very short winter season for giant Bluefin Tuna is ending and, although, numbers were slightly down on previous years (though one boat still managed 25+ fish), there was still plenty of excitement & some notable captures.

Most fish are now tagged & released but extra large fish & record claims are being taken. Fish as large as 700lb were released and one nearer 800lb was also let go, as a second angler took over the battle to relieve his exhausted mate!

To date, there are claims in for a junior world record, ladies world record & a line class record.

We are trying to protect this amazing fishery but, with the unpredictability of such things, the advice has to be… try it sooner than later.

Our Marlin season seems to be extending over recent seasons and this winter has yielded some extraordinary news. Mid January to May has been the recognised period for as long as anyone can remember. More recently Stripeys have been taken into June, when anglers stop trying. A reliable sighting of a fish on the surface in July and offshore commercial boats taking Stripeys along with Big Eye Tuna, as I write, begs the question that a few eyebrows would be raised if greater angling effort were made in these unseasonable months.

With water temperatures already up for the time of year & Snapper in roe already, we are hoping for some early inshore action from the pelagics.

Tight lines,


ID: 4600
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Fishing Report:   Our very short winter season for giant Bluefin Tuna is ending and, although, numbers were slightly down on previous years (though one boat still managed 25+ fish), there was still plenty of excitement & some notable captures.

Most fish are now tagged & released but extra large fish & record claims are being taken. Fish as large as 700lb were released and one nearer 800lb was also let go, as a second angler took over the battle to relieve his exhausted mate!

To date, there are claims in for a junior world record, ladies world record & a line class record.

We are trying to protect this amazing fishery but, with the unpredictability of such things, the advice has to be… try it sooner than later.

Our Marlin season seems to be extending over recent seasons and this winter has yielded some extraordinary news. Mid January to May has been the recognised period for as long as anyone can remember. More recently Stripeys have been taken into June, when anglers stop trying. A reliable sighting of a fish on the surface in July and offshore commercial boats taking Stripeys along with Big Eye Tuna, as I write, begs the question that a few eyebrows would be raised if greater angling effort were made in these unseasonable months.

With water temperatures already up for the time of year & Snapper in roe already, we are hoping for some early inshore action from the pelagics.

Tight lines,


ID: 4599
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Fishing Report:   We have enjoyed an excellent summer season of mostly glassy seas and good offshore gamefishing.

The big blue marlin were thinner on the ground than usual but the smaller blues made up for it in big numbers.

Yellowfin have been plentiful with lots of fish up over the 100lb mark and some good mahi mahi mixed in for extra action whilst out marlin fishing.
GT popper casting has been fast and furious around the bigger tides with many fish to 70lbs and this year's record calculated by formula at a whopping 44kg (97lbs). The Kadavu seamount has fished well with plenty of blues, wahoo, yellowfin and mahi mahi to keep anglers busy. We have even dropped jiggs taking a number of dogtooth tuna to 100lbs.

The first signs of winter are starting to show with a few breezy days here and there but the upside is the water is now cooling and soon the wahoo and Pacific sailfish packs will start to form up along the Great Astrolabe barrier reef. We will soon be dusting off the light tackle gear and getting ready for some wahoo pack mass attacks and bait & switch fun on the sailfish.

Can't wait !





ID: 4351

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Fishing Report:   ‘Icing on the cake’ in NZ
It has been a truly memorable game fishing season in New Zealand.
Our ban on commercial fishing for Marlin, seems to be paying real dividends.

As previously reported, the numbers of Striped Marlin on the coast have been the best for years, with repeated stories of pack attacks and some very big specimens amongst them.

I have received two reliable reports of Striped Marlin seen or hooked in only 30 metres of water and two further reliable reports of huge schools of Stripeys, both around fifty in number (but in different locations) herding up baitfish.
In the last instance, the intensity of feeding on Saury made the fish completely disinterested in lures or live Skipjack Tuna. These were the visions of the Three Kings at its peak and the Wanganellas…not to be expected close to the coast.

The Three Kings has returned to the best fishing in over 15 years, with one boat releasing no less then 18 Marlin in one afternoon! Green water has come in over the King Bank at the moment but we can expect a return to some spectacular fishing before the season ends…which could well go into June, this far north.

Rumours of sightings of a large Black Marlin close to the rocks at the Bay of Islands led to a local angler loading his heaviest tackle (50lb class stand-up) into his tiny 14ft dinghy when venturing out for a day, targeting the local Yellowtail Kingfish


ID: 4065
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Fishing Report:   A superb start to the summer season has seen glassy seas and acres of Yellowfin and skipjack tuna smashing bait balls as far as the eye can see. Most of the yellowfin Tuna are schoolie fish to 30lbs but lurking a little further offshore are good sized yellowfin to 100lbs. These school fish are excellent fun on light tackle and of course even better as livebaits and skipbaits for the blue and black marlin. Average blue size right now is
around 300lbs but expect that to climb rapidly by February.

The popper casting and deepwater jigging fans are in seventh heaven with the millpond conditions. Best GT so far was an 80lb model which fell to Phil Calderon visiting from California with angler Dan Ryan coming in a close second with a beautiful GT of about 70lbs. Right now and for the next few months, anglers casting poppers can expect to catch GTs, dogtooth tuna, jobfish, red bass, bluefin Trevally, barracuda and even the occasional grey reef shark. The bite is so good you never now what's going to smash your lure next.

A burst of monsoonal rain run-off early January has filled Fiji waters with all manner of floating FADs and the mahi mahi are everywhere. The current difficulty is deciding which log holds mahi mahi and which log holds a school of baitfish with a lurking blue marlin.

Capt Adrian Watt
Bite Me Gamefishing
www.GameFishingFiji.com


ID: 3705

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Fishing Report:   Charter Operator – Matava Resort Gamefishing
Average Water Temp – 26.0
Average Weather - Yes, decidedly average. Often 20kts and rough, Occasional excellent days
Water Clarity – Variable inshore, good offshore

The fickle winter weather conditions continued to frustrate with weeks of trade wind chop separated by perfect weather days and big fish numbers. Wahoo and sails have dominated with plenty of winter Yellowfin for added variety.

Warmer water currents moved through in August to quiet the wahoo bite a little but with it came huge numbers of mahi mahi for excellent light tackle action. Most are small around 20lbs but some good bulls mixed in to 50lbs.

All in all, the winter wahoo season didn’t live up to early expectations, mostly because of unusually poor weather. The GTs however love nothing more than crashing barrier reefs breakers and the popper casting has been and continues to be absolutely outstanding.

Still seeing a few nice black marlin along the reef edge for the heavy tackle fans who don't mind spending all day watching their carefully rigged baits being smashed by the razor gang. Its usually worth the effort when a big black gobbles a bait and puts on the normal spectaculor aiborne display.

October will see game boats start to move offshore and dust off the heavy tackle with blue marlin and Yellowfin the main targets. Expect the usual by-catch of mahi mahi, wahoo


ID: 3394
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Fishing Report:   NZ Game Season still full of hope.


The continued La Nina weather pattern continues to frustrate the would-be hardcore game fisherman in New Zealand.

With most of the tourist game fishing trips over, it is left to the serious fishos to pursue to game fish in the brief fine weather windows.

With the water still warm and recent catches of Blue Marlin and Mahimahi, the potential is likely to be there, as the water cools, to still catch Striped Marlin on the coast even into early June.

The past season has been one of the best ever for Mahimahi and, although still relatively few, the numbers of Wahoo caught have been much higher than usual.

The season’s best Striped Marlin, just a shade less than 400lbs, has yet to be beaten but this is still a possibility as these fish are now fat after a summer’s feed.

As an illustration of just what is possible in these waters; a top skipper has just returned from a 9 day safari to the Three Kings Islands (in rough conditions) with the following amazing catch statistics:

32 Striped Marlin to 390lbs tagged & released, 2 Blue Marlin approx 500lbs lost, 180lbs Yellowfin lost on the leader, no less than 10 Broadbill to over 600lbs in battles lasting up to 9hours, 6 of these fish were tagged & released.
A further 9 Swords lost during the fights.

There’s still plenty to aim for in the big


ID: 2970
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Fishing Report:   GAME ON IN NEW ZEALAND!

Well, it seems the earlier predictions were right as the first game fish of the season have been taken to herald the start of an early season.

Yellowfin Tuna have arrived and early reports put the fish in the 80-130lb bracket.
Very few boats have put in any serious effort as yet, though this news is sure to get a few more boats firing up the engines in the marinas.

A commercial fisherman reported a good size school of Yellowfin in relatively shallow water in the Bay of Islands and general reports indicate widespread shoals of Skipjack.

Just out of reach of most recreational anglers, some larger commercial vessels have seen numbers of Mahi Mahi and Marlin out wide.
The current La Nina weather pattern from the North East can only help push the warm water closer, so it shouldn’t be long before these species also hit the headlines.

The presence of Mahi Mahi so close already means a sea temperature peak of a couple of degrees higher than usual is likely for us this summer.
The bonus is higher Blue Marlin numbers are likely plus possibly more of the less frequent visitors as well, such as Wahoo.

Time to dust off my reels and get out there!

John Kimberley

http://www.fishingpro.co.nz

email: marlin@fishingpro.co.nz



ID: 2612

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Fishing Report:   Very early start to New Zealand’s game fishing season?

After a late start to last season’s game fishing, the prospect of the other extreme happening seems highly probable this time around.

Although far earlier than seemingly possible, there have been reliable reports of Marlin sightings on at least four occasions.

Added to this, one boat towing small Tuna lures had a Striped Marlin lit-up and darting amongst the pattern before slowly sinking from view.

A second boat dropping a mullet head into the depths for Hapuka (Wreckfish) were astonished to become hooked up to a leaping Stripey.

After 1hr 20 mins, several jumps and being right alongside on a couple of occasions the hook pulled whilst the task of wrapping taut braid was being pondered with trepidation!

There are pockets of warm water relatively close to the coast and the Snapper are spawning early, so it could be that the game fish are arriving almost three months early!

Bearing in mind that Marlin were still being caught inshore in early June and that there are few boats out at the moment (and none fishing for Marlin!) the prospects seem very good indeed.

On another point, the short Bluefin Tuna season has come to a close after some fantastic catches.
Later to arrive than expected but compensated by good numbers, multiple catches of these tough adversaries were commonplace.

The


ID: 2461
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Fishing Report:   For the waters around Kadavu Island- Fiji Islands

Charter Operator – Matava Resort Gamefishing

Boat Names – Bite Me (Offshore) and Offensive Tackle (Inshore)

Average Water Temp – 25.5

Average Sea State – Wind chop to 6ft, Occasional groundswell to 4ft

Average Winds – Breezy to 20kts mostly ESE

Water Clarity – Good inshore, good offshore

We are now well into the winter wahoo and Pacific sailfish run but this year continues to disappoint a little. The large packs of marauding wahoo that congregate along the barrier reef are fewer in number than normal. Though packs are being found in some of the usual places, some sites that normally hold wahoo packs are just not firing up yet. The average wahoo size is also lower than normal at about 20kg rather than 26kg though some big solitary fish have been seen. The sails have also been down in numbers though some very nice fish to 60kgs have been tagged & released. Normally the average sail pack consists of about 5 to 6 fish but this year, so far, sails have been raised as solo fish or in pairs. It may well be that the late fall in water temperature is leading to a late season here and September may be the peak month rather than the usual July / August.

The upside though is the blue marlin fishing. Normally fairly quiet at this time of year, there seems to be significant numbers of blues close in to the reefs ranging


ID: 2395
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Fishing Report:   Weipa Fishing Report
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au March, 2006

March was a quiet month for me fishing wise. I was on a family vacation for 3 weeks down on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Now I have no problem wading in croc & shark infested waters or chasing a wild boar though the Cape York bush lands but put me on a Gold Coast roller coaster next to my 10 year old and I’ll break out in a cold sweat. Much to the amusement to my 10 year old I must add.

Weather:
The weather had turned bad with a strong Northwesterly winds causing a large swell in Albatross bay.

Fishing:
Because of the large swell fishing was restricted to the river systems for most of the month. All fishing reports where pretty patchy. A couple of local fly fishers went out, to catch 16 good size Barramundi, only to go out the following day with similar conditions and not turn a scale. Barramundi where more regular of a night, up at the Mission River bridge was one of the best spots. Most Barramundi where caught on soft plastic’s. Finger Mark & Grunter where also biting, the creek mouths where the best locations. April sees the start of my 2006 charter season; I’m looking forward to bringing you an insight to my fishing season as it unfolds.

Looking for forums on fishing Northern Australia? We’re looking for members. http://forums.strikezonesportsfish.com.au/

Sea ya in the “Strikezone”

Craig Jenkins


ID: 851

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