Better weather means the fish should be biting
The weather continues to plague those wanting to fish, but this weekend is looking better — and there are plenty of fish around from the Bay of Islands to the Bay of Plenty.
For the past few weeks it has been a question of when the wind eases off, and there were some windows of opportunity over Labour weekend which traditionally marks the start of the holiday season.
But it will be all on when the weather settles down, for snapper are being caught in good numbers on the Worm Beds — where the biggest individuals are reported — between Rangitoto Island and Tirititi Matangi Island, and at the bottom end of Waiheke Island where the fish are in close. Straylining with berley over the shallow reefs has been hot, and the pinnacles out in the middle of the Firth of Thames are also fishing well.
Scallops at the Noises have moved out into deeper water, probably to escape the fresh rain water which has been soaking the coast. The reef at Maria Rock is holding kingfish, and some good specimens have been taken in the past week. Live baits like mackerel fished under a balloon, or slow trolling a live kahawai, will attract these magnificent fish, then it it a question of coaxing the hooked king away from the reef to deeper water before it wraps the line around a rock.
The channels at Crusoe Rock have started fishing well, and squid is the top bait. Most of the snapper in close are males which are preparing for spawning next month, and they fill up on squid which helps their metabolism produce the milt which fertilises the females’ eggs.
Snapper are serial spawners, which means they may spawn several times over the summer, and the activity is sparked by water temperature. When it reaches 18 degrees the mating starts, and takes place in water about 20 metres deep which is why the Hauraki Gulf is such a good environment for the fish. It has huge areas of flat seabed of 20- 30 metres in depth. The spawning ritual sees large numbers of fish rise to the surface at night as they come together in a phenomenon which i s rarely seen by human eyes.
Fishing around Little Barrier Island has also improved, and hapuka are being hooked on the outside of Great Barrier Island at about 130 metres.
Work- ups are attracting boats everywhere from the Coromandel township side of the Firth of Thames to Kawau Island. When fishing in this sort of activity it is usually not hard to hook fish. You can drop metal jigs, soft plastics or baits. The problem can be getting through the fast- moving surface feeders like kahawai and mackerel and down to the more sought- after snapper closer to the bottom. Barracouta are still in evidence, a sign that water temperatures have some way to go as these silver When looking for fish that are feeding over the sand and there are no obvious indicators like birds or dolphins, the sea bed is the key. Look for contour lines on the chart, and for little nooks and crannies or small patches of foul bottom on the depth sounder. These are places which will hold fish, and can be checked by drifting if the wind is not too strong. Or, anchor up- current and drop berley and baits. Bite times today are 11.55am, and tomorrow at 12.15am and 12.40pm. These are based on the moon phase and position, not tides, so apply to the whole country. More fishing action can be found at www. GTtackle. co. nz “snakes” prefer cool water and head for the offshore depths over summer. Bright jigs and swivels will attract the sharp- fanged ’ couta and make tackle shops smile, and people all have different ways of dealing with the problem.
Some use black swivels or no swivels and heavy sinkers to speed the terminal bits through the mid- water, or the tricks have been around for generations — like securing bait and sinker together in a ball wrapped in bathroom tissue, hoping it will get to the seabed before the tissue disintegrates and releases the gear. Another solution is to use light wire trace and keep a bunch of ’ couta for bait and berley.
The inchuku jigs, which is a metal jig with a plastic squid- type lure with small assist hooks on the end, are proving popular with more and more anglers. While metal jigs and soft baits are worked continuously with the rod, the inchukus are dropped to the bottom and then barely moved.
The line is wound in slowly and when a fish bites the action does not change. A strike is not needed. Just continuing to wind the line will secure the hook- up, and they catch fish. Snapper up to 15kg have been caught like this in the past year while fishing work- ups in the firth.
At Tauranga people are waiting for fish to move into the harbour, but there are kingfish over the offshore reefs and snapper in 15- 20 metres of water off the beaches and still plenty of gurnard on the sand. Tauranga Harbour i s reported to be full of whitebait.
Fishing off Waihi Beach i s also picking up, with torpedoes producing well from the shore and setting a longline on 20 metres of water is working better than bait fishing with rods. Trout fishing in the Rotorua lakes was hard with strong winds over the long weekend, but early morning harling is proving the best methods on the lakes. Now that three flies are allowed for jigging, this approach can also be adopted when harling. It is a question of how to rig the flies, and it can be as simple as having a fly resting above a small swivel, or on short droppers tied to the main trace. Or, a lure like a toby or Tasmanian devil can be put on the end with two flies ahead of it.