Hauraki Gulf Fishing Report 190219

  • General Saltwater, Auckland and The Hauraki Gulf

I have to say I am almost looking forward to a bit of wind and rain should Oma make its way down the coast in a few days.

Depending on the length of time it takes for the intensity of the swell it can be a signal for the snapper to go on the bite. Generally, if the storm is going to be here for a few days, the snapper start to move either out into deep water or in behind the islands that will give them shelter. The best fishing I have ever had was the moment it was safe to head out for a fish after cyclone Bola passed by, having beaten up the coast. The big swell had torn off masses of kelp, dislodging huge amounts of food like limpets and snail to roll about on the bottom which became a vast smorgasbord for the snapper to feed on. Trying to find a spot to fish with all the kelp in the water was a mission, but the fishing was ballistic with the biggest snapper estimated between 32-34 pounds being released. Let's wait and see, but if it is going to be big and strong when it hits the coast, the snapper should go hard out on the bite 12-24 hours before its arrival and again once it has passed.

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Meanwhile, I have been out guiding as well as fun fishing a few times in the last week and it great to see the first of the flocks of mutton ducks turning up in the area of the northern side of Rangitoto and Motutapu looking for the workups of anchovies. It has taken a while, and they are still very spread out, but it will not be long before it is the easiest place for anyone to catch fish from snapper, kahawai and john dory to kingfish.

Lately, Administration Bay has had more work ups than in Gardner Gap, and they don't last long, but even when you see them right up in the shallows of Sandy Bay, there is snapper below them. All I do when a workup starts is to go to the windward side and let the boat drift back down through them. I'll cast a couple of unweighted stray line rigs baited with a pilchard well away from the boat so that they slowly drift down and either get taken by a kahawai or by snapper once they hit the bottom.

On the eastern side of Administration Bay, there is a little bit of low foul that is a great place to target snapper and john dory. It was there that I anchored for a relaxing, cold ale while waiting for the fish to bite. That plan turned to custard with every bait being taken. The adrenalin got to boiling point when a couple of kings around the 80-90cm mark turned up. We had a couple of 2kg kahawai on board, so we decided to drop them down and try our luck. The first kahawai was deployed and had a life span of around three minutes before (yes, you guessed it!) I was taken to the weeds and busted off. If you don't try you will never know, so I deployed the dead kahawai on the live bait rig and to be fair it lasted a bit longer but suffered the same fate - it had to have been a bloody good kingfish that hovered it down!

On the way both to and from Administration Bay from the Rangitoto Lighthouse in a straight line, there was a lot of good size fish showing on the Furuno TZ touch.

For the next four to six weeks the northern side of Rangitoto and Motutapu should be well worth a look it the baitfish keep coming in, so get out there and rip into life team.

-Bruce Duncan

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