Snapper fishing about to heat up
Pockets of fish moving closer to Auckland as spawning starts
Snapper continue to move closer around Auckland, with pockets of fish showing up in 15 metres off the Rangitoto Lighthouse. There are also good concentrations of birds 3km north of the lighthouse, and further out in the Hauraki Gulf there are still large schools of spawning snapper three or four miles north of The Noises.
The water temperature has reached 19C, which will trigger spawning, and the bulk of the fish have remained in the area between Tiritiri Matangi and Kawau Islands, and out to the cables zone.
When spawning, snapper feed only occasionally so patience is needed, waiting for the bite to come on. They are serial spawners, which means they will spawn several times, but they will start to eat to regain the condition lost during the rigours of laying eggs. So fishing is not always hot, with some people struggling to catch them during the day, but this weekend should be a good one as there is a new moon on Sunday. If fishing is hard one technique which can make a difference in light currents is to use small sinkers and keep the bait moving. A moving bait will attract fish while a bait anchored by a heavy weight will prove unattractive.
Fishing out of Kawakawa Bay is still better in the deep water and the increase in boat traffic over the holidays will not help fishing in the shallow flats. Slow jigs and soft baits are producing good results in water of 30 to 40 metres.
The Firth of Thames and the mussel farms have been fishing well, with snapper to 6kg. But sharks are turning up as they chase the flounder, which are also running in good numbers.
It has been a good year for hapuku off the Mercury group of Islands and Cuvier Island, with ‘puka being hooked in water as shallow as 90 metres, along with big snapper. Speed jigging for kingfish on the deep pins out off the Mercs has also been producing hot fishing with large numbers of fish hooked and released.
The west coast has been fishing very well and the blue water is in close off Raglan so marlin and tuna wont be far away.
Fishing in the Kaipara Harbour has also improved with snapper starting to appear in the upper harbour.
In the Bay of Islands snapper have moved closer to Russell and are being caught in shallow water just off Tapeka Point and Long Bay. The popular technique is to put a double at the end of the main line and attach a shock tippet of around 40kg mono trace to protect it from the powerful teeth of large snapper.
The first blue and striped marlin have been landed in Northland and Bay of Plenty waters, and skipjack tuna have arrived in our waters. These feisty little battlers can be caught on small trolled lures like red and white feathers on a bullet head. Skippies, as they are affectionately known, make top bait for marlin and also as cut bait for snapper. They can be eaten as sashimi, like all tuna, but should be bled and cleaned immediately when caught and kept cold in a slurry of salt ice and seawater.
Freshwater
Hot, settled weather since Christmas has also sparked trout fishing in the Rotorua lakes and the first trout are appearing at the Awahou and Hamurana Stream mouths at night. This will only improve as summer sets in, but if January brings a lot of westerly and southerly winds it may not be a vintage fly fishing summer.
The best action is coming from Lake Rotoiti where the hot jigging has taken off. The trout accumulate in schools anywhere from 20 to 60 metres deep as they follow schools of smelt. On Lake Tarawera fishing has improved with both deep trolling and harling in the evenings producing plenty of fish. One boat reported catching eight trout one evening while harling off White Cliffs. Harling with a fly over the shallow shelves like those at White Cliffs and Kariri Point is best when the water surface is chopped up and a northerly wind produces the best conditions. Harling at dawn can be good, but it is usually calm which is better for water skiers than fishermen. Trolling with lead lines while following the drop-off under the mountain has also been good.
The water level at Lake Taupo is high, and the rips at the stream mouths are hard to locate, making night fishing a little hit and miss. Jigging on the lake has been patchy, but deep trolling is producing fish and some fish are reported to be full of green beetles so harling with a green fly will be worth trying. There are good numbers of trout in the Tokaanu tailrace, and on the Tongariro River dry fly fishing in the evenings can be spectacular, and the lower river is holding some large brown trout.