hey guys we are based ruakaka and up till few weeks ago sending out seahorse kontiki but havnt any luck for awhile now we are using squid so wondering if we should change.Is it just the time of year etc for bugger all catch cheers

I agree..fishing out in Marsden Bay has been the pitts. We have been heading further and further out after fish...last trip out got as far as Ocean Beach area and got a !@%# load of Barracuda...I think that's what they were...must have been in a swarm of them. But it made our day as there was nothing else out there and they were fun to pull in---unless they cut our lines hmy: !

How about squid fishing?
They are around in good numbers at this time of the year and very delicious.

I went out the other day and had some giant squid attacking my softbaits.
Best time seems to be early morning just after sunrise combined with high tide and major or minor time.
Also its best to pick a very calm windless day.

They seem to prefer a depth of around 7 meters over weed close to structures.

The big ones are actually quite hard to catch - difficult to keep them on the squid lures. They got quite some power.
I lost about 5 really big ones after quite a battle - just when I had them close to the kayak. They just managed to get of the hooks. Perhaps my squid hooks were to small. But boy they were heavy to reel in.

I found out that because they seem to prefer gulp softbaits, its a good idea to buy a normal squid rig and then just instead of a bait fish rig it with a 6 inch softbait.

That gets them going.

Normally I fish and drift around with softbaits just rigged onto a standard jig head first.
As soon as I can see that squids are around (little triangle bite marks on my softbaits ) I use a squid rig instead of jig head.

The good thing about squid fishing is that they have a very short life span and grow quickly. They contain hardly any mercury and can be used in almost any dish.

Hi mate if you are not getting baits back and also no fish that means the crabs will be eating the bait while setting. cheers