Biting Back in the Bay with Pinky Green

Western Bay of Plenty recreational fishers cannot agree: some maintain the fishing is getting tougher and some insist it remains pretty good. There are also those who argue that it's mainly a matter of luck.

On Papamoa Beach, our veteran kontiki fisher's best haul over the last week has been three snapper and a gurnard. The best overall that he had heard of was six snapper and a gurnard. One surfcaster fished all day to be rewarded with one kahawai.

Russ Hawkins (Fat Boy) in the middle ground on Saturday landed some snapper, trevally and blue cod. Sunday they had an excellent day at the Penguin Shoals, landing around 70 fish including trevally, golden snapper, snapper and tarakihi. It was so good that they packed up early.

Brett Keller (Manutere) caught some good fish around Motiti on Saturday, including tarakihi and snapper. They had a good morning on Sunday, but it then tapered off. They found the going hard around Motiti on Monday but they did manage to get some snapper and tarakihi.

Garth Le Lievre (Deepstar) fished deep towards Motiti and landed some good tarakihi on Friday.

Bottom fishing at Mayor on Saturday, they picked up some good tarakihi, and got more on Sunday round near Motiti.

Monday towards Mayor brought a good day of tarakihi and snapper.

Mark Armistead (Extreme Sport Fishing Adventures) landed a number of fish, including two good-sized kingfish.