Hauraki Gulf Fishing Report - 051219

  • General Saltwater

I know being a fishing guide sounds like a great life but it sure as hell can drive you crazy when, trip after trip, the wind has been from 25 – 35 gusting over 40 knots. To make it even harder for most trips, it's been wind against tide! You try finding a spot that is safe and fishable in 30 plus knots to anchor a 70-foot flybridge boat that sails all around the place at anchor – its enough turn make you reach for a Captain Morgan or two. 

The good news is there is a truckload of snapper spread from Rangitoto Light, out to the worm beds and across to the Noises, as well as heaps of small workups. The problem is they are in that spawning mode when, no matter what you toss at them, they often will not touch it. When this is the case, I generally head for an area where some close contour lines indicate a steep drop off, and the current will be stronger or into shallower water where I can toss floating baits. 

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Just yesterday I was out at the Noises (spot 15 area 5 in the Hauraki HotSpots book) where the Furuno sounder was showing a heap of big snapper yet we could not get one to take a bait, so moved to spot 13 on the northern side of Otata. The sounder showed a few good marks in the foul where the bottom rises from 20 meters into around 16. With a northerly wind and incoming tide toss very lightly weighted bait or floaters at different distances and angles to set a pattern of baits. Watch for any line movement and slowly take up any slack line as you will find the fish will be just mouthing the bait. Lift the rod tip slightly to feel the weight of the fish and strike to set the hook. Albeit, the fishing was what I call 'slow', we still nailed several snapper up around the 5-6 kilos mark, plus a couple of monumental busts offs.

When the snapper are in the pre-spawn fussy mode, I often find that the best fishing will be for the first hour and a half after the change of tide, with that in mind I have been fishing at spot 3 in area 2. By dropping the wobbly pot halfway to the bottom, it gives a wider coverage but once the current picks up, drop to within a meter of the bottom. Start casting a pattern of floaters till the current picks up and then you need only a 1/4 oz sinker to get the bait down. The snapper that are holding on the foul are mostly pannies, but there are a number up in the 50 cm mark, big slabs of fresh kahawai or butterflied jack mackerel will always nail the bigger fish.

For those who want to have an early start before the wind gets up, Administration Bay has recently had a lot of small work ups. When they are close in towards the beach, drift quietly past the workups, cast a lightly baited strayline well away from the boat and then cover your bases with either micro jigs or soft baits. It's well worth looking on the western side of Motutapu (spot 17 in area 3) if the wind and tide are right as it has also been holding a few good snapper and kingfish.

Again, please just take enough for a feed as the snapper are full of spawn ready to go and every fish we take now is one that will not get to breed.

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