> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report June 16
Out west the fishing has been a little hit and miss lately mostly due the change of seasons weather, it’s been unseasonably warm but the wind has been up and down back and forth never really settling for more then a day giving us very short windows to get out for a fish.
When we have got out we have found numbers of Snapper still lurking around the reefy areas in the 50-70m along with Tarakihi and Blue Cod. There have been Puka out deep around Fishermans rock with Warehou on the top edges of the rock, well worth a look around if the deep drops get tiring. In closer there are some lovely Trevally and Gurnard available in the normal sandy areas, but you might find yourself filtering through the spiny dogs.
There is plenty of good fishing to be had over the winter and I’ll now start to fish the south coast for Blue Cod and Terikihi along with Groper and Blue nose over the cooler months … [more]
Fishing Reports: 2015
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report December 15
Kingfish and Snapper are now being caught regularly on the West Coast. We have had good numbers of groper on the south and west with great Bluenose fishing at the trench when you can get there and that hasn’t been a problem with this amazing spell of weather.
One thing I’ve noticed this season is the quantity of Gurnard on the West Coast, it hasn’t been uncommon for us to catch 20 or more Gurnard while fishing for Snapper.
It’s well worth a play with soft baits if you feel like doing something different while waiting for other fish to turn up. We have also had some good catches of Warehou and have had a lot of fun targeting them on small lures and light tackle. A good place to target these … [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report October 15
This month I would like to talk a bit about Tarakihi and how to catch them. Using your sounder, take some time to have a good look around the place you’ve chosen to fish, usually a rock or a area of foul.
Look for bottom to midwater sign, they will usually show up as quite a solid mark. As they are a schooling fish and can be very localised, on my sounder they show up as blue and red – don’t forget they can be up off the bottom sometimes up to 15m.
When I was trout guiding down south I got to learn where the fish sit in the current, I find fish in general are quite lazy and if you think of a reef in the ocean as a rock in the river the fish will often sit behind/down current in the lee letting the food come to them … [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report June 15
Groper fishing has been starting to pick up towards Ohau and the western end of Cook Strait. They like to gather up in numbers this time of year before the annual spawning run.
Bluenose are usually pretty consistent this time of year too, although I haven’t had a chance to get out chasing them recently I’m sure they will be there if you spend a bit of time looking around for them … [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report May 15
Out west the Snapper are still fishing well despite a few cold snaps, I was out on the weekend and even with the forecast being way off and wind blowing at lot harder than it was suppose too we managed some lovely Snapper and Trevally.
A good way of combating the wind is to find a sheltered spot, burley and be patient. I like to fish as calm as I can. I have come to realise if you fish somewhere calmer that might not be the “hot spot” you will catch more fish due to being able to stay longer and fish smarter, rather than getting bounced around, struggling to keep your balance and the boat making lots of noise in a “hot spot” that might be better fishing, but you won’t stay as long or be able to fish as well … [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report March 15
The snapper fishing on the west has been some of the best I’ve seen all season and catching a feed hasn’t been too hard most trips. The Tuna and kingfish have been out in force at the normal spots but lots of small kingfish are still making themselves known and snapping at any jig or lure that passes them by.
Out wide, Fishermans rock has been producing some good numbers of Hapuka and some quite large, I saw a 36kg getting weighed at the boat ramp the other day. Harbour fishing has been great too with loads of elephant fish, snapper, gurnard and the old faithful Kahawai to be caught. One thing I find with the harbour is always try and fish it with the wind and… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report February 15
Summer seems to be here one day and gone the next, we had an amazing run of weather for a couple of weeks and the fish responding accordingly with lots of Kingfish and Tuna around. Last week on our full day trips we caught good numbers of albacore we were releasing quite a few fish as we already had a good feed but they are so fun to catch.
Kingfish have almost been as prolific as the Tuna, there are loads of small fish around almost everywhere and if you put a livey down it is not uncommon to pull a legal fish out of them. Just remember to handle the little guys gently and make sure they get back to the water quickly to avoid damaging them too much… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report January 15
Fishing has started with a bang this year with two main things standing out to me, the first is the amount of Snapper in the harbour, we have had regular catches of Snapper, Gurnard and Trevally inside the heads and are not the only ones. The second is the influx of Kingfish on the West coast reefs all the way down our coast from Kapiti to Ohau.
Kingfish are being caught regularly and sometimes in numbers and we have had several big fish take us to the cleaners, just the other day a Kahawai we were winding in on a jig got swallowed whole! Jig and all, it smoked us into the nearby reef, I would have put that fish in the high 20kg mark… [more]
Fishing Reports: 2014
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report December 14
Wellington has been living up to its name this month with howling northwesters being pretty consistent and only offering a few small windows to get out for a fish.
Saying that the fishing is really starting to heat up when we have got out. The inshore south coast and Harbour is producing good numbers of Gurnard, Trevally and Kahawai but when venturing out a bit further the Tarakihi and Puka have been quite responsive too. We had some nice Puka last week in the 200m-170m depth and scored some nice Tarakihi around 70m. When fishing for Puka some little things do make a difference… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report November 14
Kingfish are starting to show up around Kapiti, Snapper are popping up here and there along the West coast, with the better catches around Ohau and Makara.
The Puka have been fishing well in the Trench, Ohau and Fishermans rock with great catches being reported from most of the main areas but they can be a tad inconsistent as they receive a large amount of pressure when the weather allows, but like I said last month use the charts and technology available to you and look outside the square for new spots you might be surprised with the results. The first Albacore Tuna showed up in January last season. Gurnard have been great on the south coast on the normal sandy spots and if you’re after a change I have been using soft baits for years now and they prove very productive… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report October 14
Spring fishing is starting to fire up with Gurnard, Tarakihi and Blue Cod being regular catches. Both coasts have been productive but if I had to choose one to go on this side of Christmas it would be the South.
The Gurnard will be consistent for a while now and you can target these on any areas with a sandy bottom both inside and outside the harbour. If spiny dogs become a problem try using a soft bait or a slow jig, you might find that you catch less pesky fish and more quality fish. Over the next month or so Puka should start to come back and I am expecting to see a few of these along with Bluenose, Hoki and the odd Bass when venturing out wide… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report September 14
What an amazing spell of weather we have been having and like with most easterly wind patterns the weather is great, but the fishing can be a bit tough and varies day by day.
If you get away from the crowds and explore different areas you might be surprised with what you find. The Puka and bluenose should only start fishing better as we move into spring so it’s a great time for some exploring. With the detail of modern charts it’s not hard to work out a few new contour lines to put bait down and see what happens… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report August 14
Well another month has past and to be honest I haven’t had the boat out a lot due to the weather, but I have done a few trips and the results have been pretty good.
It is still a great time of year to fish. The last trip I did we headed out around the South coast and it was a red letter day, we left at 8am and had a dozen or so nice gurnard by 930am and then proceeded a little deeper and after a few drifts secured a nice bag of Tarakihi… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report July 14
We are well into winter now and the fishing has remained great with lots of calm days too.
I have fished both coasts since the last newsletter and haven’t caught a snapper for a while now – so I guess they’ve gone north for a wee while. However, the Tarakihi fishing has been great we are catching good numbers on both coasts anywhere from 20-80m deep over the usual bits of foul and rock. We have also been rewarded with some nice Trevally and loads of Kahawai… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report May 14
Its all good news on the Black Pearl this month, the boat is in the shop as you read this getting a new fit out due to recent events, It will be back on the water early next week!!
So I would like to start this newsletter by thanking all the people that liked or shared my recent post on facebook regarding my boat being stolen, this was the sole reason for the boat being recovered as it was people from facebook and people that saw the stuff article who called myself or police to say they had seen it… [more]
> Black Pearl Charters Fishing Report February 14
Well we are now almost at the end of February and we are still waiting for some more settled summer weather.
The last couple of months have been a bit up and down but we have had some great fishing when the weather allows to get out… [more]