Ohope Fishing Update - June 2010

Hi All,

Been a wee while since I have posted an up-date on the fishing and diving around White Island and the inshore group called the Raus. I am pleased to inform you that the fishing has been spectacular to say the least. The months of October and November were making me very excited at the prospect of seeing an explosion of fishing activity and that's exactly what we have had.

White Island is fishing as good as I have seen for at least three years, Kingfish especially are biting their heads off, very fit healthy specimens in the 18-20 kg bracket and some fish extending into the late 20's and early 30's and the odd 40 kg fish as well. Favored mode of capture has without doubt been live baits and flying fish followed by jigs and stick- baits. To be honest most of the people we have been taking are relative new comers and so live- baiting suits them better.

We have been fishing our 80 w Tiagras and harnessing folk onto them and basically locking people into some boomer Kingfish. If we catch 30 livies in the morning that equates to 30 Kingfish during the day, we still have a 1 Kingfish per person policy which sees people getting plenty of fresh fish for the table. I get a real boost to see people catch their biggest ever fish and then release it back to fight another day. I had a group of 60 year old plus women come and fish with us and they absolutely caned them (Kingfish). These girls had a great can do attitude and with a little tuition they were getting stuck into them.

For the more experienced at jig fishing the rewards are definitely there, as there are some absolute hogs lurking about, experimenting with jig styles and jigging technique will deliver, Anesh and Quinton have been fishing with me for a few years now and their techniques have gotten better each year, they are in the expert bracket for sure and both guy's took some very nice fish just recently with us, including some ripper P'B fish on stick-baits. Graeme Patterson from Synit rods was also out this day and captured some nice fish on his beautiful rods. The deep water fishing for bluenose has been slow to get going but to be honest with the kingfish going nuts demand for deep-water action has been minimal, I expect if and when we start getting serious in the deep we will find the fish willing to oblige, both on baits and on the jig. With the holiday period well and truly upon us I have had only a few days off to get out for a dive and have found the viz a bit milky for my liking and the local crayfish a bit harder to find than usual, I expect an improvement in water clarity and in cray numbers when we get more time to look.

Bookings are fairly strong leading into February and early March, we do have mid week spots available and for self help jigging only trips we are doing it cheaper to White at $1150 which will save $100 . That means no deck hand and tie your own knots and bring your own gear. After the recent weather bombs we have seen a definite drop off in game-fish activity but that won't last it simply can't, all indicators are pointing toward a great season, skip-Jack and albacore are around in big numbers and I guess the billfish especially will follow. The Bay Of Plenty is shaping up for a great if not a later season, make sure you are part of it, all the best

All the best

Lionel Korach & Hilary Kearns