Strong winds means options have all been inshore

The plan for Boxing Day was to head out for a week on my mate's new 50-foot launch, dreams of yellowfin tuna steaks and sashimi along with crayfish, snapper, and john dory all turned to custard. Only once before in my life can I recall the weather being so bad and not letting up for weeks on end, to be fair it is enough for me to go from grumpy to septic, needing a few wee rumbos to keep my sanity. Although a new 50-foot boat was well capable of handling the conditions, as we were not that familiar with the setup it would’ve been pretty dumb to head out in winds of constant 25-45 knots only to get spun around on the anchor watching others dragging towards us. Apart from a stint in hospital this would be the longest time I have gone without catching a fish.

Got to turn a negative into a positive, out with the water blaster paint brushes for a major clean up in the castle, with everything now up to speed there is nothing to hold me back. As I write this there is a small window coming so at least we will get out for a few days.

Basically most of the fishing I have been told about has been off beaches and the rocks, this is not a bad thing in the sense it teaches people to fish their feet first and some have really surprised themselves with the size and number of fish caught.

Asked for some advice, I told one guy (who really had no idea about fishing but wanted to learn and be involved with his family) to take the kids down to the beach two hours before the top of the tide which was just on dusk and toss out a couple of baits on floaters (no sinkers), keep the rod tip down out of the wind, watch the line for signs of movement, and strike only when the line goes straight. How cool is this – the end result was two nice pannies and a couple of throwbacks. He is so fired up as he and the kids had such a good time that they now want to buy a boat.

Being totally focused on getting the castle in order I turned down a couple of early starts before the wind really kicked in for the day, Early starts and a boat that cruises at 40 knots gave the team a small window of a few hours to get to the Noises and back before they had their backs and brain realigned by smacking head-on into a short sharp chop. Straylining back into the rocks they nailed some really nice snapper in the 45-50cm range whereas the other boat being slower and smaller fished in the lee at the back of Rangitoto and caught the same number of fish but all in the 32-35cm range.

I know a hell of a lot of people are at their wits end wanting to get out wide but why risk it and why should Coastguard have to risk their lives going out to drag you back if something goes wrong. To be fair, even if you do get out it’s not that pleasant or relaxing rolling around constantly watching the wind and sloppy sea conditions.

Desperate for a fishing fix? Sit in the lee of the land, be it in just a few metres of water off St Heliers, Kohi, Takapuna Beach, etc., and fire out floaters as there is always a snapper or two to be caught. Back in the day when I was building my house I had just an eight-foot ply dinghy. Out at dawn I fished all along the beaches from Mission Bay to St Heliers and never came back without a few fish. In late summer I caught king fish up to 16kg close in and around the local reefs. Fishing the change of light was the key but it also meant I was back on the tools feeling great having had a fishing fix.

I have always said the closer your bum is to the water and often the shallower the water is the more you will learn – give it a try, you won’t know unless you give it a go.

As frustrating as it is, no fish is worth risking a life for, so play it safe and if in doubt don’t go out or stay right in close.

- Bruce Duncan