Kina, fulltank...10/5/12 no softies

Sure was a typical January alright what with snapper right Downtown feeding, yet out in the wide open gulf, lots of combatants lurking, but a cease fire is being adhered to most of the time. Still that doesn't stop Amatuer and I trying to start our own little battles out there - ever the optimists.

Metservice was 24hrs out with its forecast - so instead of flat calm fields of fire, we got the chop. Lumpy and bumpy sea and those oh-so-tentative bites that rarely result in a hookup, well testing our wits and presentation.

So many mackerel are around again (same as last year looking back). And since word on the street has it that the macks have been doing OK in terms of livebait - a few were brought aboard for some live firing. So while we worked the various baitfish imitations from the tiniest of Gulp grubs to the Catch Anchovy, along with metallica like the blue Jitterbug, it really seemed to come down to how we could slowly entice a strike with a tentative retrieve up from the sea floor. We threw down the entire gambit of weapons.

Tough fishing on the softies so a nervous mackerel or two were randomly volunteered and sent out on recon'. Neither were to make it back.



The first livie was all perked up and twitchy-as 40m below, but the predatory antagonist won a free feed. Another livie was given a good trim, doing the funky butterfly...this was enough to get a grunty fat kingie to succumb to temptation. Great fight on the spin gear



Gulf conditions below average to head out wider, so we headed in to try our luck out of the wind in the Motuhie. Alas the morning bite was over and with wind against tide it was time to head home with just a few pan-snapper.

Good to see my new GPS works well, the last one was killed in action and has been laid to rest along with all its secrets.



In close still the place to be!

Great info there, chasing waves and my mate Marlin out west.

Great read as usual. Any albies or skippies seen this side Grant?

..was supposed to be doing the Clint Eastwood today, way out west with the big guns loaded , but mainly due to weather forecasters unable to remotely agree on todays likely weather meant after a few later caffeines this a.m., time for just a local foray before taking some whanau out tomorrow instead, heads up kinda thing. Still the various sizes of yellow tailed fish are the ones to target out past the islands I reckon...many mackerel and their bigger cousins here 'n there. But not everywhere...you'd think something big 'n hungry for a live mackerel was under this KY school, or one of three like these in the vicinity



But no. So back closer to home to find out someone else had some firepower, and a big king made quick work of the first big mac sent down. The one that got away ay! Then mackerel 2 and 3 went west so to speak but without the hook doing it's thing. Then a few more drifts and a couple of smaller kings made the play. Cool fun.



Snapper weren't the go out there at all, well not for me anyway, so it'll be off to different and shallower pastures tomorrow for just a few hours. Life is like a box of chocolates so I here...

Yeah reckon those big toothies are around a fair bit lately ay Ski?! I've had a few 'mysterious' bustoffs while bringing in a snapper or two lately...the whole kit and caboodle gone, half way up to the boat, very suspicious...my knots aren't that bad?
Saw a huge splash yesterday in the distance north of Waiheke and immediately the brain thought 'free jumper!' .
Probably Mr Mako - I gotta go out to get a marlin fix soon maaaannnnn I'm living on the edge

I had the pleasure of taking some friends of family out yesterday for a quick snapper trip, from England so the sunscreen was poured on! Into the shallows we go looking for that lucky break when motionless seas, bright sun and all around looks relatively fish-free, yes it was slow. A stop at western Rangi and a small snapper along with a chat to TL2 and Amatuer, then a stop quickly downtown, another small fish but slowwwwww...and only an hour or three to bring home the bacon. Motuhie next stop - 'twas a quiet restful place, sod that, out into the gulf to at least show my crew the expanse and to get the feeling of being out there (a couple of crew had never held a rod before). The wind was perking from the north which meant only a nudge out into the big puddle, and even though yesterday afternoon there was possibly a tiny spark, just an inkling of a hint of a glimpse of a wee workup , but it's not really reality, yet.
So a drift over some excellent fish sign turned up just a few more keepers and only a couple dropped. A nice juvenile kingfish took up the challenge and a good solid battle ensued  released for another day but a great battle won by the fair maiden.

6 snapper were kept and filleted of bones, perfectly prepped and presented for the freshest of fresh meals, gotta be happy with that. Small and smaller SPs were the go, with the green anchovy the hero of the day by a long way thankfully, we tried all sorts!
Feeling that colder nip to the air...could that be the sign? The turn of the tide so to speak, the switch just flickering towards snapper autumn feeding mode?! 

Hmmm dirty bait tiiiiiiiime

last 3 trips out from manly/tindals smal workups producing a few KY. Kings amongs't them as well.

Green Guy - heh, yeah expecially when it's blowing, def. a tempting option to do the bait 'n burley anchored leeside, straylining those snapper..
Yeah that fish-tax man sure does skulk around the place at this time of year Snap, Damo and Climbaboy - interesting so far and wide and right into the shallows, must be a lot of 'em.

At least they're not as bad as the land based sharks, my IRD full audit turned up zero this week, apart from the thousands of dollars it cost me and a year of extra stress just to re-supply exactly all the same information for the past 7 years!.    So or something like that!

Yep - without the dolphins in their autumn/winter groups i.e. much bigger pods, not smaller spread out ones unable to hold a baitball so a workup can form, perhaps why the 'ghost workups' at this time of year aren't 'real' workups, more of a teasing illusion, fast moving, few snapper able to congregate along those lines. Even workups at Great Barrier have been by and large short lived and hit/miss.

Sure is Plow, Autumn fish get into feeding up large mode before the winter slow down, the opportunity of marlin fishing presents itself, some stunning days of cool crystal clear air and stationary 'highs' in the Hauraki Gulf smashing snapper, most fish in excellent condition and real (big) workups . And in general a bit like early spring the bigger fish seem easier to find and having the light gear getting a full working over in deeper water - hard to beat

After checking and re-checking the weather foecasts so many times I decided not to go over the Manukau bar to chase marlin yesterday, ended up being a good call as the wind was 15-20kts westerly out there and building, a 5m boat called in a Mayday during the day, hopefully they made it in before the gale force winds hit last night

So yeah the water looked flat out from home and after enjoying a number of trips showing others on Wavedancer how to shallow water soft bait, time for a personal treat - go and do it myself for just a few midday hours

Scooting quickly just over to western Rangi on delightfully smooth water found lots of juvenile KY chasing tiny anchovies around the place - not really interested in lures etc



Here's what the KY regurgitated onto the tank floor....



And with the small snapper only doing that tentative take routine...best I head around the corner and drop in to downtown, just to see and scope some hopefully new inner areas too



Generally slow in here unlike a week or three ago, this nice 50cm job was excellent on the tiny 2lb braid, singing its happy tune off the Stella for quite some time!



So off scoping new areas, looking looking...then back out to westside..well western Rangi and out over the flats. Lots of sign but again really tiny takes and hard to get a hook set. So down with the slow jig to match the sneaky snappers tappity tap...... fish on!



A couple or three more tasty fish, what bite there was stopped just short of high tide, time to rifle back to my local bay, to sit and chill awhile, reflecting on the wonderful fews hours of fishing and zen-time. Fresh snapper, cold drinks...happiness is.

Nice report again Grant - it was much the same for us, both sides of the Rangi channel and around the naval base for only half a dozen reasonable pannies. The best spot was out off narrowneck then the tiny Yachts turned up and invaded the drift. Still nice to get out and catch a reasonable fish dinner in close.

Light tackle, shallow water, finding fish, right tactics and catching them.  Most fun.  Good stuff Grant!