Mixed Bag at Peel Sunday Morning

[Peter4]

Kyle & I made a late start and didn't get to Peel until 9.00am. Tide was low and the wind had disappeared for a total glass out....

A boat was sitting right on our eastern mark so we decided to drift amongst a carpark of other boats in the calm conditions. We stayed between 10 - 15m of water where there was wireweed and rubble on the bottom. There was bait everywhere! Almost immediately maori cod of all sizes started coming aboard followed by some undersize snapper.

My deadstick buckled over and a healthy 40cm snap comes aboard. A small touch and a big take on my other rod and a 38cm tuskie also graces our net. The maori cod kept coming plus the occasional grinner and a flathead. A small moses perch rounded off our session.

We then decided to have a quick try with poppers over the reef and immediately nailed a couple of big pike (40cm). Kyle missed another three strikes. The wind came up so we headed home.

Final tally for three hours of fishing was 9 maori cod, 4 snapper, 1 tuskie, 1 sand flathead, 1 moses perch, 2 pike plus some vermin. All were caught on soft plastics and released unharmed....oh, and a couple of bust-offs by unstoppables.

Regs

Pete & Kyle

[Callop]

Well done Pete. Remind me to put a tracking device on your boat next time you go so I can do a tag a long from a distance. I never have much luck over there.
Dave

[Leighton]

sounds like a great session
The Pike are really thick there at the moment

[Peter4]

Thanks Dave - you're welcome to tag along anytime. We go nearly every weekend. Just drop me a PM.

Leighton - I had a new R2S stickbait. It wasn't retrieving very well so I sat it on the water a metre from the boat to see how it floated and it got smashed by a pike....lol.

I reckon the maori cod are thicker than the pike at the moment, but all undersize. Our biggest went about 35cm...smallest around 20cm.

Also a lot of chopper tailor on the north side on saturday evening...

[Callop]

Much appreciated
Dave

[gregw]

I agree re the Pike, I've never seen them so thick. Been fishing Wello and GI and they are everywhere in the shallower water. Bit of a nuisance. I've been using them for bait plus the crab pots. Not as successful for crabs as the mullet though.
Cheers

[Jeremy]

sure you don't mean estuary cod? Maori cod are not common in the bay in my experience, but estuary cod are. Any pics?

Jeremy

[Peter4]

sure you don't mean estuary cod? Maori cod are not common in the bay in my experience, but estuary cod are. Any pics?

Jeremy

Definitely maori cod, Jeremy. We also catch estuary and gold spot cod there...

No pics from the weekend but have attached a pic from one caught in the same spot last year. They are quite common around Peel...

[Peter4]

I agree re the Pike, I've never seen them so thick. Been fishing Wello and GI and they are everywhere in the shallower water. Bit of a nuisance. I've been using them for bait plus the crab pots. Not as successful for crabs as the mullet though.
Cheers

We stuck to deeper water and they didn't bother us. Some big shows of bait in 12m which could have been pike schools...

[marty+jojo]

sure you don't mean estuary cod? Maori cod are not common in the bay in my experience, but estuary cod are. Any pics?

Jeremy

I have caught a few Maouri cod at Peel as well, i think they must be quite common there as i have only fished there half a dozen times.
Marty.

[nipsta]

well done pete. barra , maori cod , snapper ou are on a roll nice work keep it up

[BR65]

Yup, thats a Maouri all rite mate, noice work if you can get it, are you using the sweet water tub Pete?

[Peter4]

Yup, thats a Maouri all rite mate, noice work if you can get it, are you using the sweet water tub Pete?

Brian, a poor bloke like me can only afford one boat. My bay rig is my barra rig!

She does seem to like the sweet water better though....

[slyman]

Sounds like a fun morning peter, we kept an eye on seabreeze and it was virtually zero wind for around 3 hrs at peel on sunday. We made the call to hit the river for a thready sesh, and of course as soon as we left home the damn wind came up!

Plenty of maori cod around Peel, caught loads of undersize around the 10-15cm mark. Never seen them there the size in your pic though.

[Peter4]

Cheers Simon. We had a good sess.

Our biggest maori cod from Peel is around 40cm which is still under the legal size of 45cm. They tend to school on the eastern side in the deeper areas from 10 -17m. If you get one you tend to get a few, more commonly after a rainy period.

We lucked out with the wind as it was dead calm at Peel for the three hours we were there. With the weather looking the way it is I reckon Peel will fish very well over the next couple of weeks...

Regs

Pete