Should I Anchor or Drift Fish?

Traditionally, when targeting snapper from a boat, it is done in two ways – either at anchor or on the drift. Grant Dixon looks at the advantages of both, as well as offering a solution that gives anglers the best of both words.

In the first – fishing at anchor – you bring the fish to you; in the second, you go to the fish; and now there is a third option – an electric motor where you can have a choice of both techniques at the flick of a switch.

When I first started fishing with my dad in the Kawhia Harbour in the early 1960s, there was no such thing as commercially produced berley. The keener fishers among us made their own, filling containers with their special brew to be stored in the freezer and brought out for the next trip where it was dispensed via an onion sack.

Dad’s method was more along the lines of chumming where the likes of the trevally and skipjack frames, once the fillet had been removed, would be chopped up or the flesh scraped off, and then flicked over the side to create an irregular flow of tasty morsels. I recall watching the fish being filleted and Dad showing me the chunks of chum among the stomach contents of caught fish. While not wanting to get distracted from the main story, that act of dissecting the stomach contents was of great interest. It was good to know what the snapper were feeding on where we were fishing.

Chunking the likes of pilchards and fish frames can be a substitute for, or add to, a berley trail.

Berley and bait soon went hand in hand – over the years I rarely went to the bait shop without purchasing a selection of both. Today the choice of berley is endless – paua, mussel, mullet, skipjack, kina, pilchard and salmon – and it all works. The only one I trialled that didn’t was made from koi carp. When it was put in the water, the baitfish in our trail moved around and away from it. When it was replaced with conventional berley, the baitfish happily swam through it, nibbling away at the finely ground morsels.

Berley is an essential component when fishing from an anchored boat to bring the fish to your baits.

We are coming into a time when bait and berley seem to be more effective than lures. Bring out that overhead rod and reel combo spooled with mono – is it time to replace the line perhaps? – tie up some strayline rigs and go to it.

Berleying from an anchored boat works best when the current and wind align. If that sees your berley trail running down a weed line or back into some foul ground or a drop off, then you have it nailed, giving yourself the best shot at a decent snapper.

There is something about straylining that gets my blood going. There is that first inquisitive enquiry, followed by the pick-up of the bait then the run, but when do you engage the drag and strike? – the million dollar question. And if you are using circle hooks the technique is different on the bite. Instead of the strike, there is a more even application of resistance, allowing time to roll the hook into the corner of the fish’s mouth.

The writer’s two-hook straylining/deep drifting rig for baiting up with pilchards, piper and jack mackerel. Note the top rig is not IGFA legal as both hooks are not fixed to the trace.

While I am fully engaged with the new-age lure movement, I still thoroughly enjoy a good strayline session – although I don’t get much of a kick out of washing bait and berley-stained clothing and the boat clean-up takes longer.

On the drift

While most of my early snapper fishing was done at anchor, as I began fishing deeper with more open bottom, this was done on the drift. I had also discovered jack mackerel which I consider to be the most versatile bait in our waters.

Fishing the open, deeper water, or over the likes of rubble or light foul, had several advantages when targeting big fish. It was easier to stay on top of them and they were less likely to rub you off on the bottom. Fishing mono, the natural stretch was more forgiving of any poor angling technique or lumpy drags.

An integral part of any drift fishing setup is the sea anchor. ‘Cheap’ does not often equate to ‘good’. I have made no secret of my preferred drogue and these are the ones manufactured in Whangarei by John Hewinson Canvas. I still have my very first one, although it has been back to John for a refurb, and I have added a couple of floats to the trip line. I like to set my drogues up to be fished both off the bow or the stern, which is easily done if you have a centre console or a centre cab boat but requires extra length ropes if you intend to run it off the bow and operate it from the cockpit of a cabin boat.

There is no substitute for a decent sea anchor when drifting.

Many anglers fish on the drift with a ledger rig and that is one option. My preferred terminal tackle is a double fixed 8/0 hook rig on 60-80lb trace, with egg sinker/s sitting on the nose of the bait. I have nominated egg-shaped sinkers as there is less resistance when retrieving from depth. These are pinned in place with a toothpick to prevent them running up the trace on the drop. The jack mackerel are fished either as livebaits, a whole dead bait, or butterflied. Piper are another great dead bait for snapper, and can be fished the same way.

I regularly fish to 60-80 metres depth this way and just when you are lure fishing, it pays to be ready to engage the spool on the drop. In more recent times I have changed my hook style to recurves for this style of fishing. Firstly, they will set themselves; and secondly, when using lighter mono (my preferred line weight is 6kg) there is a lot of stretch, making the hell strike a pointless exercise. On feeling additional weight, I let the rod and line load up by taking a few winds on the reel, which takes out the slack and ensures there’s enough pressure to set the hook.

I prefer an overhead lever-drag reel for drifting at depth – and snapper fishing generally – because I have more control at the bite. Spin reels don’t offer the same finesse. The likes of the Shimano 6500 Baitrunner, as the name suggests, go some way to alleviating this. This style of reel is often fished out of the rod holder, but I prefer a more hands-on approach.

Another option

The introduction of electric motors has added another dimension to my snapper fishing, especially on the drift. Traditionally two elements have dictated drift speed – the wind and the tide.

Electric motors allow you to control your rate of drift, and the direction. I use the electric motor on our centre console Tackle Tester to hold us over a patch of fish or to slow the drift. On those very still days you can still cover the ground when prospecting for fish ‘on the drift’.

An electric motor is particularly useful when targeting schooling fish as it can hold the vessel over sign.

When on the drift, I sometimes use a combination of sea anchor and electric motor. I will drift until I come across the fish, then deploy the electric motor to hold us in that spot. This is particularly effective when fishing lures, especially the likes of slow-pitch jigs. Anglers who like to chase kingfish, especially on topwater gear, will find an electric motor a great advantage. Just find the fish and stay on top of them – easy.

There are some considerations that include cost, including the need for a separate battery system (the biggest electric motors require 36 volts – three 12v batteries), which requires charging capacity, extra storage and the ability to carry the extra weight. Lithium batteries, while more expensive and smaller, go some way to dealing with these issues.

Many electric motors can be deployed automatically from the helm, making for convenient use. They can also be retro-fitted, which is easier to do on an alloy boat than a fibreglass one – but not impossible.

June 2021 - Grant Dixon
New Zealand Fishing News Magazine.
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