West Coast The fishing is slowly starting to heat up with kingfish already beginning to show up on some of the more popular reef structures, along with schools of trevally. These fish are best targeted with smaller whitebait style imitation soft baits either fished on a jig head or even on a ledger rig, letting the tide move the soft bait as this will entice the fish to bite. For kingfish, jigging seems to be the go.

Inshore, there are some lovely fat gurnard around, along with a few snapper and trevally. Flasher rigs with small strips of bonito or fresh trevally work very well for gurnard. Provided we don't get any big southerly fronts we could be in for an early start to the fishing season – here's hoping! Hot Spot on the West Coast would be off Rocky Bay just south of Titahi Bay, or 20 – 30 metres off Raumati Beach.

South Coast
Fishing has been improving with lots of big tarakihi, some thumping big blue cod, as well as some small bluenose out wide in the 170-metre mark. For catching tarakihi and cod try anchoring in 40 – 50 metres just off the foul ground, and between Arabella Rock and Bearing Head. Using burley will help increase the size and numbers of the fish you can catch.

Harbour Fishing has been a bit slow in the last week, however, there are usually always some kahawai around to make it a fun day out. Make sure you fish light traces and soft tip rods as this will significantly increase your catch rate.

If you need any help setting up for the kinds of fishing I have talked about in this report, give me a ring, or Steve, we are always happy to help. Good luck out there with your fishing, and we hope you have been making the most of the lovely run of nice fishing conditions we have been enjoying.

Pictured is Richard Deeble with a lovely 15.5 kg Kingfish caught at Makara, nice one Richard!

Cheers, Felix