Hauraki Gulf Fishing Report 200318

  • General Saltwater, Auckland and The Hauraki Gulf

Hi team,

With the Autumn weather being what it is, the best laid plans of mice and men seem to turn to custard. Plans to get out when then wind and tides are right have not worked out sadly. While putting up a couple of boats in the travel lift for a scrub at Westhaven, I got to thinking outside the square.

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Despite the weather being foul, once off the slip and heading out - I just could not go another day without a fishing fix. With that in mind, I steamed across to Bayswater until just outside of the moored boats.

Looking at the chart you will see that from the moorings towards the South, the bottom is 7-10 metres deep with a flat muddy sandy bottom which shelves down towards the channel. Over the years I discovered that this is the spot to catch a feed of snapper up to 4kg. I simply sound around on the incoming tide from the fairway channel into Bayswater and up into the shallower water. In this depth you need to bear in mind that the footprint you see of the bottom on the sounder is quite small, so it's best to do a zig-zag course to get a better overall idea of where the fish are.

This area is also a great place to soft bait, especially in the Summer months. This post spawning period is when the snapper come up into the inner harbour to feed on the shellfish, crabs and worms, before heading out into deeper water for Winter.

Drifting along the edge of the drop off, you can cast out into deeper water. As the boat drifts, you can work the soft bait up the edge of the bank and back up into the shallower water. When the current is strong, I do a series of drifts to cover the area from the moorings out towards the channel. I use a 1oz jig head with either a white/clear or brown 3-4inch jerk shad, as the tie drops of a lighter jig head is far more effective.

On the slack water, target the deeper water close to - but not inside of - the fairway, or from the fairway back toward the naval base where the water is deeper. I find this is often where the bigger fish hang out over the slack water until the tide turns. For those wanting to learn how to or experiment with different ways of fishing soft baits, it is an ideal place to play, despite the occasional wash from ferries and large launches coming out of Westhaven.

In a few weeks' time the majority of the fish will start to move out, so you are best to target the resident fish that remain in the area over Winter, with a burley trail and fresh baits.

Long story short - every time I have targeted this area I have picked up fish, with the biggest fish all taking a very light jig head on the slack water.

Cheers all, Swish

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