Boaties hunting snapper need to reach deeper water
The snapper have moved out into deeper water all along the coast, from the far north to the Bay of Plenty. This i s probably related to spawning, which should kick off any day.
In the Hauraki Gulf fish can be found anywhere from 20m to 40m, and while snapper are getting closer to the channels, the better fishing is still outside on the flats at about 20m of water. Close to Auckland this means between Moutihe and Waiheke Islands, and on the worm beds between Rangitoto and Triritiri Matangi Islands.
Hopefully the good- sized snapper will turn up in the channels, but for the past three years there have been more small fish than keepers.
Out in 20m drifting and working jigs and lures can be productive, but the tried and true approach of anchoring and fishing baits with berley is still hard to beat.
The area south of Kawau Island is still full of bait fish and plenty of snapper, and if fishing is hard it is a question of sitting it out with plenty of berley and the snapper should turn up. Of course if a work- up starts up it is hard to resist the temptation to upanchor and check it out.
Further out in the Hauraki Gulf there are some good concentrations of fish at 50m, but if the wind picks up this weekend it will be uncomfortable. The area between Channel Island and Great Barrier Island is also fishing well, and in the Firth of Thames the Black Rocks and Happy Jacks islands are holding fish.
With high tide at dawn tide today on the Waitemata Harbour it will be a good time to be on the water when the tide turns, but with small tides the best current will be in the channels. So if fishing out wide it will be worth trying drifting.
Snapper are starting to run in the Manukau Harbour with the occasional big fish taken on a very long trace in the channels, and trevally can be found over the flats on a rising tide using small baits. Fishing off the west coast at 60m can be good when the weather allows boats to get out.
In the Bay of Plenty some large snapper are coming from Mayor Island straylining over the reefs, and also around Motiti Island. There are also school snapper on the sand off Matakana Island and in the Tauranga Harbour at Bowentown.
Scallops are in good condition and there are good numbers in Home Bay, at Great Mercury Island, and school snapper can be found in the middle between the Mercs and the mainland.
Another feature of the fishing this spring has been the appearance of baby hapuku in the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames. The occasional one has been caught north of Gannet The question of when to strike when a bite is felt is the subject of much discussion among anglers, but what is clear is that many people react too quickly and fail to hook the fish. They are pulling the bait away from the fish, when you actually want to make it as easy as possible for it to get hooked. For example, when fishing with a trace below a sinker it is a good idea to drop the rod when a bite is felt. This gives the fish time to swallow the bait, but it goes against natural instincts to do this. And when using a very long trace, as a lot of anglers like to employ in the strong currents on harbours like the Manukau and Kaipara, if recurve hooks are used by the time a bite is felt the fish is already hooked. It is more a question of waiting till the line goes tight and then reeling in line rather than striking with the rod. Raising the rod is not much use when you have a lot of line out. With a flasher rig which has recurved hooks the fish should be allowed to hook themselves. In fact leaving the rod in a rod- holder often catches more fish than holding the rod. Many predators like sharks will bite the tail of their prey to disable it, and this can happen with soft baits. How often does the lure come up with the tail nipped off? One response is, when a bite is felt but not hooked up, to drop the lure back to the bottom and leave it there. The snapper will then often pick it up, and you have another chance to hook it. Bite times are 10.40am and 11pm today and tomorrow at 11.20am and 11.40pm. More fishing action can be found at www. GTtackle. co. nz. Rock, and in deep water off Coromandel township. In the past couple of years quite a few ‘ puka pups’ as they are called have been reported, something not been seen for many years. Hapuku are slow growing fish and resident populations can be easily decimated by fishing pressure, which i s why they are now regarded as deepwater species. They used to be common in shallow water but have long gone from inner coastal waters except for isolated areas like Fiordland and the Chatham Islands where school groper — as they are known locally — of 10- 15kg can still be easily caught in water as shallow as 10m.
In the top half of the North Island the daily limit on hapuku is five fish, and there is no minimum size limit. A close relative, the spotted black groper, i s protected and may not be taken. Trout fishing was hard over the full moon two weeks ago, but has picked up and Lake Rotorua is fishing well with tobies and cobras around Mokoia Island and off the airport when the wind is right. The rivers at Lake Taupo have been disappointing.