Good to see the days are lengthening and warming up after a few bleak weeks.

We went out on Saturday and found the wind[SW] was a bit stronger than predicted so checked some of our closer marks in the hope that the fish had moved in a bit shallower, which they often have by this time of year. No evidence of it yet, so we tried around the Okaparus, Brewis, then outside Motiti, where it was slightly better. Quite a lot of current from the NE though and that generally does slow things down.

Sunday we had another look around the Okaparus. The fishing was still slow, a few snapper, but we did see a small[6-8m] humpback whale, slapping and breaching for a good 30 minutes as we watched. It seemed a bit small to be a humpback, but the long pectoral fins, white underbelly and tail confirmed it after a Wikipedia visit.

The first one we’ve seen around here, so a bonus for all.

We then went deeper, 80m odd and did better with the tarakihi, less current and a calm clear day helped our cause here. Picked up a few snapper and red snapper also, an excellent day all in all.