Fishing Reports

  Eeyore
Haven’t been out fishing much, you?
Thought not. Not that winter is depressing or anything, but to me it’s like trying to cheer up Eeyore, Pooh Bear’s sullen mate, a bit of a downer at times. Sometimes weeks of wind and rain just put a dampener on things. Bah humbug to winter I say, take the Red Pill and deal with reality to fight the winter iceberg blues trying to kick in with the wind changing to the bitterly cold southern quarter. There are some cheerfully enticing reports from the 12 foot brigade who’ve hunkered in close lee-side and cottoned on to some good fish all around the Gulf at different times depending on the direction of gale. Reef habitat and stimulation with good quality burley seems to be one of the keys to success.

Me, I prefer coffee

Out wider, past Anchorite Rock the work-ups have still been happily working away on  many occasion, some of them captivating in intensity just without many human visitation rights being issued (definitely no in-water filming by me, it’s just too cold).

So when the weather cracks a window open, either in very close or out much wider are both reasonable bets to take. One such long-shot bet paid off recently and whether you enjoy Eddie Izzard’s, Monty Python’s or Ewen Gilmour’s humor, ‘tis no matter. Watching some hilarious comedy on a stormy night prior reminded me while out battling to get some big Reds to strike near Anchorite, so we tried a more humorous approach to catching Snapper by cross dressing a skirted Catch Depth Charge with a Jolly Roger and screwing on a Catch Pink Piper...and blow me down, a Catch Soft Jig was born, effective? Oh yes!  Many fine winter Snapper chortled aboard to much human hilarity, the strikes were immediate and powerful, smacking hands onto the side of the boat, winter fun fishing at its best.

And when the weather decides to pump up the volume once again, well there’s nothing like just dropping by your Local (fishing store) and spying some new and essential piece of performance improving equipment, or some such similar justification, there’s always cool fishing stuff to buy, a lot of it catches fish as well. (I happily justified a new Japanese jig rod to handle jigs over 500gms…to target Snapper).

Big, is good.


  80/20
Yes the old adage is still on form. Not necessarily with spot X's as such, just who more often than not returns home from their fishing trip with bounty, more by pre-fishing planning really i.e. planning the hunt, rather than just heading out and hoping. So yes there are fish in close, there always has been, and yes there are fish out wide, and fish in the middle. What tends to happen at this time of year in the middle ground is that is has low lying ‘singles’, a lot of Snapper that unless you have a megawatt powered sounder, something most trailer boats don’t, you simply wont see. Relying on electronics to find fish isn’t the be-all and end-all at all. A drop of a lightly leadered Soft Plastic (say 15lb mono) on light braid (4 to 6lb) with something resembling a small struggling livie like a dull colored trying-to-hide Catch Green Anchovy can work like magic, slowly but surely pulling tasty 40 – 50cm pannies with nothing showing on the sounder. Less use of luminous material can help reduce ‘Couta strikes too.

If you’re going out past the 35m mark north of Waiheke, take note of the bite times and be very aware of Mother Nature’s clues, they really do shout at you if you are prepared to listen e.g. any birds sitting around on the surface having a sleep or a Twitter, stop ‘n drop your Soft Plastics (or a Flasher rig with some longer strips of dangling Squid works) and most of the time you should land a nice fish or two. Keep a constant vigil skyward...it can take only 1 bird flying and spying to give you enough information to put you onto some outstanding fish catching sessions with BIG hungry Snapper rising well up in the water to greet your offerings with open mouths.

Lately we’ve also been enjoying using some big gear and massive 600gm jigs to land very nice Snapper nearing the magic number when the fish are in feeding mode (see I told you I could justify a new jig rod). Out over the mud in 50 to 55m’s the damage inflicted by big Snappers teeth is severe as this hefty 600gm metal jig shows.

Yet one of my neighbours on the exact same day, spent just an egg cup full of gas, taking his 12ftr along the southern side of Whangaparaoa Peninsula right in close, a bit of (Salmon) burley for the oily slick it produces, wind and tide all lined up...limit of Snapper in two hours. Delightful. The key here…carefully leave the reel in free-spool, use good quality burley, alongside a drop off, straylining half Pilchards (angle or lengthwise cut to reveal blood line), or just caught and cut strips of Mackerel (from the burley trail), little or no weight, any resistance on the line and the bigger fish ignore or drop the bait quickly, with the little guys swooping in to demolish your bait supplies.  Single hook, mono, half Pillie, no weight, freespool, in close with burley flowing…hmm sounds familiar recipe for success.

The North Shore reefs have been producing some good fish too when the easterlies abate and turn sou’ west.
So to me winter means just thinking a bit more, adjusting your wants to where and how the fish will feed, then going out and making the hunt work for you. 80/20 rules.
 
Smoke ‘Em if Ya Got ‘Em
Winter also tends to mean a refreshingly pleasant variety of fish species being caught, earlier this week in the Tiri channel for instance some nice Snapper pannies were coming aboard along with Octopus, Kahawai, Gurnard, small Sharks and so on, all good eating. So with more time spent ashore lately we’ve been devoting ourselves to perfecting the fine and deliciously rewarding art of preparing and smoking the tasty varieties of fish for friends and family (it’s mouth watering just thinking about it) from Mackerel to Marlin and everything in between, including this rather nice Rainbow Trout. Winter – what you make of it.

The Catch Patch

To make a Catch Soft Jig, get hold of a Catch Jolly Roger deep water rig, swap the Harpoon hook out for a skirted Depth Charge, add a Soft Plastic to the Depth Charge by screwing it onto the retaining coil and you have the best of both worlds..Soft Plastics and Slow Jigs combined. KEY: Use a very slow gradual wind to retrieve the slow jig from the sea floor, when struck at if not hooked up keep slowly winding, the Snapper repeatedly chase and attack the tantilising treat...be ready!

Cheers!