Tossing them back no good

With the minimum length of snapper raised from 27cm to 30cm in the main fishing area of the east coast of the North Island, anglers find they are having to return more fish to the water. While good for the future it can be frustrating when fish after fish comes up short of the mark.

One solution is to keep trying different spots and, more importantly, different depths. Changing the approach can also help, such as using chunks of fresh kahawai or yellowtail for bait which will deter the little pickers. Lures such as soft baits and jigs also tend to target bigger fish, so this is another option.

But when small fish are brought to the surface, the way they are treated will impact their chance of survival.

For example, a snapper’s eyes were not designed to be exposed to bright sunlight so keeping them in the water is best. The hook can be flicked out with long-nosed pliers and the fish released without touching it, another key part of the process. Dry hands can damage the coating of slime protecting the skin from infection, and if a fish must be picked up, use a wet towel or wet hands.

Fish were not designed for flying and one slipped gently into the water will be in better shape than if tossed into the air. Squeezing fish to grasp them does not help, either. Internal organs can be damaged.

If a fish has swallowed the hook it will surely kill it if the hook is torn out. Better to cut the line close to the mouth and leave the hook there — fish can survive seemingly fatal injuries and hooks will rust away. Most treatment involves common sense, but it is disappointing to see how some people treat fish being returned to the water.

The Waitemata Harbour is holding good numbers of snapper, as are the channels, and sometimes fishing the shallows is worthwhile. This type of fishing is more specialised than dropping baits to the bottom in a channel. Noise is a factor, and small boats or kayaks are obviously better suited than launches, and light line on spin reels with tiny sinkers is the best tackle. Fishing the shallows at dawn or dusk is preferable to bright sunlight, and berley increases the chances. Spots to look for are areas of rocky foul, with guts leading out to deeper water. These are the “highways” fish use to move around, and potential fishing spots can be checked at low tide when reefs are exposed. Keeping in touch with the bait is important, as if left to lie on the bottom it can sink into weeds or be pulled into rocky crevices by small fish. A slow-moving bait often works better than a stationary one, so raising the rod now and then is a good idea.

This is a good time of year for hooking snapper and kahawai from the rocks, and this summer has seen some great fishing from rocky points all the way along the Thames coast, the Coromandel coast from Whangamata to Kennedy Bay, and from East Coast Bays up to the far North on both coasts. When casting into weed and rocks, a floating bait with no weight is better than a sinker which will become stuck, but if casting into clear sand a sinker is fine. Berley can be fired from the rocks in small quantities with a spoon. This will attract bait fish, which can be used to target kahawai and kingfish. Dawn and dusk are the preferred times, on a rising tide, but care should always be taken when rock fishing.

The occasional rogue wave will arrive, and the high tide mark should be noted and an escape route planned. Fishing is always better where a point interrupts currents, compared to a quiet bay. Generally, a spot requiring a little effort to access will fish better than one by the road. This has been one of the better years for this type of fishing.

Freshwater

Fishing on the Rotorua lakes, like the snapper fishing everywhere, is patchy.

Deep trolling needs super deep lines like copper wire, or downriggers, to get lures down to where the trout are at 30m.

Jigging on Lake Rotoiti is still producing big fish, including a rainbow of 4.2kg from the west bank.

The hole at Vercoes is also seeing action.

The stream mouths on Lake Rotorua are producing fish to the fly. The Ngongotaha Stream is holding plenty of rainbows and browns.