Well winter seems to have really taken a grip of us at present. The fishing has been very slow to average, with those willing to show some patience being rewarded.

 The outer gulf area has had plenty of bait, with hungry whales and dolphins herding the bait to the surface and feasting away. Gannets waiting patiently above are a sure sign of where the action is.

For those hunting snapper this seems to be most reliable way to get to get a feed. There seems to be a large variety of fish feeding on these workups, with John Dory, snapper, kaiwhai, king fish all feasting on the action. These work ups however are taking some patience to get fish from -- even with plenty of sign on the sounder often the fish are very lazy on the bite, with baits, soft baits and jigs all struggling for action.

The fish seem to be waiting to feed later in the day, possibly as the water warms up during the day. The water temperatures changing over the course of the day has been very noticeable. The other day we had 11.5 degrees out the back of the Noisies; by late afternoon it had risen to a balmy 14 degrees and the bite had improved as the water warmed. With a bit of patience we managed o snare some fabulous Johnnies and some reasonable snapper late in the afternoon, with all these fish landed on jigs.

 Another area that is worth a look around the gulf is the Tiri channel; this area has been seemingly fishing well all day on both tides. Although the fishing is not red hot it has been very consistent with some reasonable sized fish to those who are venturing out. With the strong current in the area, a snapper flasher has seen the best results, with either squid or bonito cubes working the best.

 For those wanting to chase some big reds during some of the still winter days we get every now and then, Great Barrier Island has started to produce some outstanding fish, in particular the rocky heads with plenty of current. A good burley trail and some big bait cast into the white water have resulted in some excellent big snappers.

It’s not all doom and gloom -- a bit of time on the water and some patience will reward those with a great day just being out there doing it. And with only 7 weeks till summer it’s a great time to get some practice in.

 

From Terry Williams-King

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 13 July 06

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