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The antics of the baitfish in the Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf are hard case right now. Big healthy schools of anchovies, mackerel and yellow-eyed mullet are all over the show at the moment.

 

Out wide, around the middle and in so close you can trip over them while taking an evening stroll along the beach. Most evenings of late you can watch workups while sitting on the North Shore beaches enjoying fish ‘n chips for dinner with your toes buried in the sand.

 

Just the other day the Shore area was treated to an extra-special sight. Thousands of birds spied the Kahawai, who had spied the bigger baitfish, who spied the smaller baitfish, who…well who knows, but the ensuing frenzy right at peoples feet was mind blowing.

 

We watched the big Kahawai surfing through the waves, clearly visible just metres from shore, hungrily eating their fill of anchovies and sprats, while the birds above also joined in. And by birds I mean thousands of them, the sky right down to the sea surface was thick with whirling, screeching and squawking seabirds of all descriptions.

 

The baitfish had no option but to hightail it into as shallow water as possible, but with the wave action hundreds and hundreds were being stranded on the beaches. Kids flocked to the area straight from school and had a ball catching live fish in the shallow waves – what a wonderful sight. A few locals grabbed whatever rods they had, shoved stranded baitfish onto all manner of rigs, and hey-presto fish on!!

 

The Kahawai are feeding up big time, and the size of them is big time too. Several kilos per fish are not uncommon, and fight?! Oh yeah they put up aerials like mini-marlin and stretch reels and line weights to their limits.

 

They’re hungry and will take just about anything right now, well worth keeping a couple because bled well and put into the smoker, they offer a great pre-dinner snack while refreshments are served around the BBQ. Adding a bit of chopped chilli or Cajun to the brown sugar/Manuka honey spread over the fish makes a chef out of all of us.

 

Even though there’ve been a few easterlies chopping up the water there are some of the most enjoyable days on the water to be had right now. In fact this time of year is often the best for fishing I reckon.

 

The daytime temperature doesn’t fry those on board the boat to a crisp, especially the young ones, the water temperature is still good and the fish are feeding ready for their winter lay-over. Sounds perfect. So where to go? Well where not to?.

 

From Downtown to Great Barrier the Snapper are still prolific. Fishing under bait-schools showing up on the sounder out wide, alongside high current/reefy areas in close, following the birds, anchoring in the inner harbour channels in the late afternoon – all are turning up excellent fish. And if what you’re doing isn’t catching fish, simple – change the circumstance.

 

 

So with the mornings now having a little chill to them, daylight saving over, the satellites barely confirming the slightly lower ankle temperature as I’ve been launching the boat…the big chill is on it’s way soon. While maybe not an ice age, it does tend to slow the easy Snapper pickings we’ve been getting used to over the past several months. The fish are moving around, feeding and sooner or later, it’ll get a bit tougher to snag those snapper. So I guess we’d better get out there and enjoy it!

 

Oh yeah, if you’re fishing Soft Baits and not much is happening, try fishing them quite aggressively from the bottom to several metres up if you’re in 30metres+ depth, some lethargic but healthy sized specimens are hitting fast moving SBs well off the bottom, action stations!