Fishing Reports

Rewarding Labour
No-one was wanting for company out there over the Labour  Day holiday weekend that’s for sure, pretty much anywhere on the water there were plenty of happy kids (young and old) catching fish, the adults expounding their various masterful skills on the unsuspecting,  boats anchored, boats drifting and almost without exception a rod/reel or two poking out in eager expectation. Mother Nature provided an amazingly bountiful display of goodwill, horn of plenty type stuff most of the weekend, and now it’s all on!
All subsequent weekends and right through to Christmas month (yes it is upon us) the fish and seafood in general are everywhere with many signs to see specifically where to find them (random luck works to). Extended bite times of several hours lately means many Fisho’s are doing well and by the banter around the traps, very well indeed. This is an impressive pleasure industry we’re all part of and one that continues to grow positively.
The action is now almost non-stop, over the past few weeks the entire Gulf’s activities have been firing red hot, even if the water is still giving us a bit of a cool reception, which unfortunately has meant the ‘Couta have lingered like the last to leave a late night party – time to flick the halogens on and just GO will ya!

Signs
All the signs on where, when and how to catch your desired target abound and as human Fisho’s we just have to learn to interpret them properly, and add a dose of lucky salt.
Gurnard are prolific eastside and Snapper have already joined the silly season in force out there, they’re literally going nuts! All the way  right up to the top of the food chain it’s happening in our backyard marine playground…Sharks, Whales, Orca, Dolphins…humans? Well we’re well down the rungs of the marine ladder at times, as has been very well pointed out to me while attempting to film Orca hunting Dolphin and watching life’s circle. Even if somewhat of a shock, the true nature of life in the sea unfolds and abruptly wakens senses to their peak while watching feeding frenzy’s of near Biblical proportions in the Gulf.
Intense workups with several Whales creating the main feasting table, Dolphins gasping for air just long enough to get back down to feed on the panicked Pilchards, Snapper rising from 40m up to 20m under the boat feeding hard among the mayhem, King fish here and there already, Gannets absolutely pummeling the sea surface over wide areas – sometimes it’s been so full on it’s exhausting just to watch.  We certainly do live in a wondrous place.

A lot of Snapper are right in close now, around the inner islands and shorelines, it’s only taken a few short weeks for a mass movement of fish of all types to be within reach of land based Fisho’s and 12 footers, let alone trailer boats and launches. All islands from the Firth of Thames to Kawau, from Waiheke to Barrier, Half Moon Bay and up the Waitemata Harbor are now holding excellent Snapper, gagging for a feed.

Either stop, anchor and burley up even in just a few metres of water stray-lining half Pilchards when things line up like tide, wind, moon – the fish will come, and come a plenty. If drifting, I wouldn’t be going out past the islands much at all these days, no need, the fish have swam their way to us – no use in driving way out over them! I’m finding the smaller Soft Plastics are working better lately, the small 4 and 5 inch ones, action is the key so take just a few moments rigging whatever style you use goes a long way to a successful hookup, especially when the fish are not on the bite as such. If you get onto a workup try a big metal jig there are some excellent Snapper specimens in the workups, oh and I mean BIG and LONG jigs, the Kingi’s are lurking there too.

Gurnard are in good form and to target them on Soft Plastics, best done on a those very slow drift days using smaller SPs with as light a set up as possible – you’ll feel them tapping it, use a short sharp strike, if a miss, drop back and let the SP settle for 30 seconds or so, it’ll come back. Gurnard, delicious! So next time you’re out and you feel a little tap-tap, or maybe retrieve your SB with its tail bitten off by a barely a detectable tug – think target Gurnard. The technique also nabs a few delectable John Dory. Just don’t haul them up fast, or try and set the hook too fiercely, nice and easy brings them to the boat. This is another benefit of using really light gear, being able to tell what species is hounding your lure, hooking and landing ‘em. Again smaller SPs have been bringing home the goods on all species when the fish have ‘stopped biting’.

Flasher rigs, the go-to terminal tackle for many weekend warrior have been put to good use, they sure can catch a lot of fish in a hurry, certainly an easy way of targeting a feed by anyone who can hold a rod, young and old. Nice big flappy bits of quality squid look the biz, what doesn’t eat Squid out there I don’t know.

What Knot
Probably one of the most common questions I get asked is what knot to use. Well when I found out that I have zero ability in remembering a number of knots, now I only use one. One knot for just about everything. The best knot is the one you can tie with wet hands, with a bit of fish slime on them, shaking with excitement as the fish are biting, on a rocking boat with the breeze adding to the difficulty factor. My knot of choice is the Uni – here’s an easy step by step ‘how to’ www.catch.org.nz/images/knots/Uni%20Knot.pdf

Panda’s
Watch out for the tell tale and kind of weird looking monster black dorsal fins of Orca aka Killer Whales while you’re having a fish, no matter what depth you’re fishing. There has been a family of Orca in the Gulf for a while, hunting all over. An impressive predator and the Mother/Young’n combo so very special to see either feeding or relaxing. Glimpses of the stunning dorsal fin is maybe all you’ll get but with a bit of patience and keeping your distance a true natural spectacle may well unfold as they chase and eat their prey, which includes Rays and Dolphins. Some magic fishing times are to be had out there when the Panda’s are around, and some quiet fishing times too. It’s all about the food chain, so when the business is going down with Orca sometimes even the Snapper high-tail it out of there and it all goes eerily quiet.

Cicadas and Bumblebees
The memorable sights and sounds of Summer! As well as those lighter coloured legs than have been hidden away are starting to show themselves periodically in the ever changeable warmer weather. Fortunately the Spring influx and all that that entails with breeding ‘n all, the fish now have two things on their mind, as always food, and now add breeding.

This means some mega action and absolute mental displays of feeding at times. Naturally this can’t go on all day (and night!) but when the buffet is open, it’s all on. When it’s closed well, the fish might be occupied in other activities which preclude scoffing Anchovies on their Pizza…however the male fish like the one pictured will still have food on their mind no matter what (typical!) so even when there’s no apparent bite, you can entice a predatory strike and hook-up from some of the bigger male Snapper on the smaller SPs.

GOTO..
Your local area, forget hoofing it out wide the grass is not always greener at places like Channel Island, Great Barrier, The Mokes…more like Tiri, Rangi Channel, Rakino channel, Rangi worm beds, and the upper Harbour shallows!
When? Whenever you can, before or after work midweek, or all day in the weekends when the wind allows.

If drifting, it’s all on in the naughty forties or shallower i.e. 40m depth is the place to be. Oh and if you’re into Squid rings – there are plenty of Squid around to try your hand at catching too, delightfully delicious!

I can hear the Snapper Splashing and the Whales puffing – see ya on the water!

Cheers
Espresso.

General Business

Catch Hatches
The recent and next level of Catch Soft Plastics includes what we’ve been researching as a new Soft Plastic presentation for Snapper for the past year, new more effective deep water ‘Jolly Roger’ rigs, explanations as to why we use certain colour, hooks, a swinging rig, do it yourself spare parts, special luminous colour combinations, uniquely shaped sinkers to avoid tangles, better presentation…the results and fish caught have been exciting and inspirational. Places like Fish City, Smart Marine, Sportsmans Choice and even online deliveries to your doorstep are now available. Find out the good oil on www.catch.org.nz .

There’s no greater thrill to me than to have an excited Fisho, whether Novice or Pro, rave how great it was to step up to using Soft Plastics and catch those bigger fish. A truly rewarding sport and always exciting to share in other Fisho’s successes. Catch also sends out replacement Soft Plastics to those Fisho’s sending in those pictures that tell a thousand words.