Fishing Reports

Frosty Boy – often licked, never beaten

Cold, COLD! How cold? Well frost-fish have been caught in the Gulf that’s how cold and the Snapper fishing has reflected the temperature a lot of the time. Highly variable levels of success this past week around the Gulf. Zillions of undersized juvenile Snapper a.k.a. Goldfish, to big chunky 10lbers, and even stories of deep water species landed close to downtown Auckland proliferate the fishermen’s winter round table.

Fishy tales abound, especially at this time of year..why? Probably because fishing is harder and more time is spent fishing/boating rather than catching. And so story telling takes over, I’ve heard just about everything imaginable this week including Marlin sightings at Little Barrier.

This past week the seemingly ever-hopeful weather forecasting has meant many keen fishos heading out into somewhat unexpected and rather blustery, uncomfortable sea conditions. However the flipside to this is that some fishermen heading out in tough forecast conditions have encountered sudden calm with subsequent bragging and gloating rights with their mates. Salt in the winter wound. Solid 10lb Snapper are hanging around various deeper foul areas and still susceptible to dinner plate presentation, but you’re unlikely to be catching a bin full of them right at the moment, the water is just 14 degrees.

Keeping an eye on the actual wind conditions (the other eye on your work I guess) meant those localized and intermittent mental depressions were avoided with some fancy footwork. Just the other day - two days before it was supposed to be calm, it was, well relatively, flat…

Ground Hog Dolphin Day

Dolphins are very smart cookies. After several sessions of following the Dolphins and enjoying the great Snapper action they led me to…the Dolphins decided to turn the tables somewhat. I was out there in the Gulf, taking prime position in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with binoculars primed. No Dolphins. The Gannets were high but searching hard and flying around a little aimlessly, probably only seeing the odd Dolphin or baitfish below the surface that I couldn’t. O.K.

I’ll just drift fish for a while and ‘patiently’ wait for the Dolphins…it was a nice enough afternoon, so down went some new and colourful Soft Baits…and along came a nice 50cm Snapper to say g’day with not a single sign on the sounder, can’t complain about that. Just as I was near boating it – a Dolphin leapt several feet in the air, right close to the boat as if to celebrate with me, then immediately submerged and disappeared.

A short while later, another nice fat fish liked the look of a new lure and it was like Ground Hog Day.. as I was near boating it – a Dolphin leapt several feet in the air, close to the boat as if to celebrate, then disappeared...I never saw a Dolphin other than when bringing a Snapper aboard. And so it was for the next hour, some fatties hooked (a couple dropped) but every single time a Snapper was boat-ward bound, a Dolphin leapt about. Delightfully weird. After a nice cache’ of Reds was placed in the chilly, the wind freshened and the chop perked up so time to head home and enjoy the evening fare. A quick stop for scallops turned up just a few, and so the surf n’ turf dinner was highlighted with these tasty morsels. Incredibly mouth watering.

What’s working?

No I’m not implying you don’t know what work is, or that or I don’t (however I am an advocate of using fishing as a work substitute whenever possible) I’m mean here’s what’s been working lately. The deeper foul areas around the Gulf’s entrance channels (Colville and Craddock) still hold a few nice sized fish when it’s possible to get out there – but unless you’ve got a big boat or have the opportunity to drop everything at work and leave at a moments notice, the chances of reaching the deeper foul are few.

And even with fish sign, they may not like your offerings, but trying different baits especially the different colours, sizes and brands of Soft Baits can spark a solid strike and get results – otherwise it might pay to be prepared for catching zilch fish i.e. have the eftpos card ready for fish ‘n chips of the way home. Change, change and change again – new things and new ideas and new (hopefully successful) results are sure to follow. For example I was slowly catching a few pan sized Snapper the other day when I decided to try a new Squid Soft Bait, nothing on the sounder. I only had two plastic Squids – they both only lasted for the one fish, such was the menacing chomp received, but what great fish :)

So if what you are doing isn’t really doing the business, change, what have you got to lose? You may avoid returning empty handed, whipped and beaten by frosty fish. Bring it on winter Snapper!

See you out there J

Espresso