Winter Fishing tips

I love the winter – and why wouldn’t you? The weather is more settled, with sunny, windless days that may start cold in the morning, but heat up during the day to a very comfortable level by mid-morning. And while the water temperature drops (to around 14.5 degrees Celsius in the Hauraki Gulf at the time of writing this article), the pilchards move in en masse, providing the basis for some outstanding fishing.

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The pilchard work-ups during winter are the most intense I have witnessed, sometimes covering vast areas of ocean, giving anglers more fishing opportunities than available in the summer. The larger the baitfish size, the bigger the predators feeding on them, and the whales, dolphins and raining-down gannets can be a spectacle to behold.

Now back to my puzzlement mentioned in the introduction, and an example of why many anglers have got their priorities all wrong...

We were fishing an area just south of Flat Rock, midway between Tiritiri Matangi and Kawau Island, on a Saturday in mid- June, 2017. Normally this place would be filled with boats looking for a feed on the weekend, but we shared the area with only one other boat – and it was going off!

Pilchards were being herded up over a massive stretch of water by huge numbers of dolphins and three Brydes whales. The gannets were raining in around us, and we were spoilt for choice regarding which meatball to carefully approach, then fish downcurrent from (this is where all the injured pilchard and bits drift down to the hungry snapper waiting below).

However, there was a big problem – we could not get down to the snapper, as there were so many kingfish around, both down deep and smashing baitfish on the surface. This saw four-way hook-ups on light slow-jig gear and 11 legal kingfish eventually being landed, along with just a few good-size snapper. We decided to move away.

A one-nautical-mile shift saw us on another smaller, but more concentrated and longer-lasting work-up. Then, upon fishing the ‘exhaust’, we started filling the bin with good-sized (45-55cm) snapper, along with the occasional moocher. Interestingly, we only caught a couple of kahawai amongst all the mayhem; maybe they were hiding from the hundreds of kingfish?

When the fishing is fast and furious like this, I keep a tally of my clients’ fish on the back window of our high-speed charter boat Gulf Cat. We also put the ‘King/Queen of the Boat’ up, and this produces some healthy competition for the day!

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A week later I went back to this area and found the work-ups had moved east about five or six nautical miles to the other side of the cable zone. We still enjoyed similar fishing for snapper, but the kingfish were not around and the kahawai had taken over again.

The next day I came out and found the baitfish action and attendant predators further south, and a day later the schools had moved right up to four or five miles north of Flat Rock (10-12nm away). This demonstrates the need for the baitfish work-ups to be hunted down and re-located from day to day. (Just because you see a report on the Internet about where they are at the time, don’t expect to necessarily go there the next day and find them again.)

I use a process of elimination and follow specific routes when hunting work-ups. I watch the gannet behaviour through binoculars to try and predict where the action will take place, and stop in areas where rafts of seabirds are present.

Lures in winter

A lot of people think that lures do not work in winter and that they have to change back to the smelly stuff. Well, they’re wrong. We catch good fish – including snapper, kingfish and big trevally – on jigs in winter. Wherever baitfish such as pilchards are being herded up, jigs will out-fish bait.

I get our clients to use heavier jigs in the work-ups to ensure their offerings get down quickly to the hungry snapper and squeeze in more hook-ups. The 100-200g jigs work best for this, and while the kabura-style slow-jigs can be very effective, I prefer the inchiku (or Bottomship) style for this type of fishing. In all cases though, a jig presented to snapper within a 45-degree arc will be more attractive. Heavy jigs ensure this more vertical up-and-down action occurs.

Also, as is the case with bait, big jigs catch big fish. My son, who also deckhands for me, was showing my clients how to mechanical-jig kingfish off a reef a couple of weeks ago in early June. He had deployed a 400g knife jig and was mechanical jigging when a decent weight came on about halfway up, but only short runs took place afterwards. Well, what do you know – a nice 65cm snapper popped to the surface. It must have chased the jig off the bottom and hit it at high speed halfway up the water column. Goes to show that snapper can still be fast and aggressive in the winter – and we used to think they slowed right down! So get out there while this fantastic winter fishing lasts...

Nik Key is a tutor, guide, lure tester and charter skipper. Visit www.snapfishingventures.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/Snapfishing.

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

August 2017 - Nik Key
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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