Shark fishing in the East Cape area is excellent. Species available
are: Tope, blue , mako with the occasional hammerhead and tiger
in the summer.
A glance at the IGFA records shows that all but two of the tope
world records have been caught in New Zealand. They are present
in large numbers year round in this area. We consider them to
be a nuisance and unhook and release them, it is unusual not
to catch several in a days fishing with fish over 20kg common.
Should you wish to target tope you would be assured of fish to
record size.
Blue sharks likewise
can be a real pest, at times it can be difficult to get a bait
past them. They arrive in the spring (October) and are at their
peak in November - December, tapering off through the warmer
months of January February then returning from March to June.
Size is mostly from 30kg to 60kg with the occasional bigger fish.
The largest weighted locally this season was 140kg, a friend
of mine has the jaw of one of 191kg caught two years ago.
Mako's with their habit of taking fish, sometimes as large as
20kg, from our lines must be close to the ultimate predator.
To see a large mako follow up the severed head of a groper and
try to chase it into the boat is awesome. My boat bares the teeth
marks of several such encounters. They are present year round
and it is normal to see at least one in a days fishing. Peak
time is in the warmer months from October to May, when a trail
of fish scraps will attract them within minutes.
Average size would be between 50kg and 100kg with occasional
fish of over 300kg seen. Recently a visitor of mine from the
USA Mrs Jackie Olander caught a woman's world record claim mako
of 79kg on 4kg line from my boat.
Few people fish for sharks in this part of the country, so most
that are taken are released.
I would be happy to take you shark fishing and could provide
you sport equal to any in the world. |
