On_Board_556_July201.. - Mana Cruising Club

FISHINGFishing over the last 6 months would start with Christmas in Queen Charlotte Sound. Every day started with a scallopdive in the Inner Sounds. The fish were uniformly big, tasty and plentiful. Snapper were not abundant, but they were there.Nearing the end of the Blue Cod ban, a by-catch of many trips were blue cod up to 48cm in length, the biggest of these beingcaught south of Luke Rock. Only on one day did we catch fish that were small enough to fit within the current legal catchwindow of 30 - 35cm.It is interesting to look back over 6 months fishing records and seeing patterns that aren’t immediately apparent. Forexample, every second trip seems to say “lumpy with little wind”. A good smattering of panny snapper, the odd bigger fishand the usual blue cod and terakihi offerings are recorded. Several days record plaques of spiny dogs , with a record 12 caughtbefore giving up on the day of the Club Fishing Competition.A couple of noticeable absences, no john dory recorded in this period, whereas in previous years they have been quite prolific,especially around the isolated inshore rocks both north and south of Mana Island when fishing soft plastics. Also for me nolegal Kingfish landed, although kahawai have constantly provided great sport on light tackle. They are often under rated as asport fish on 4kg gear. Lately the kahawai have been in very good nick with plenty of fat, fiesty fish about. Reports of schoolsnapper being caught recently, even though the water temperature one day was down to 13.5 degrees at 78 and with warehoushowing up mid-water. There may be something in global warming after all. The drop offs at the back of Mana and my “getout of jail “ spot at the North End fired as usual. We live in a great country, where we can head out and get a feed of freshfish whenever we feel like it.Dave S6