Schools of baitfish bring kings and big snapper

We’ve all had enough of the constant strong, cold equinox winds! Normally the wind would drop off, giving you a break for a day or two when the wind would go from the east back to the south, but this year it’s not the case. On a couple of occasions, I have managed to get out for a few hours on the water when it’s been semi-calm before the wind really kicked back in.
 

As I have said all this winter, things are not what they would normally be, and the last couple of weeks just prove my point. The major change I have seen – as well as a number of other reputable fishos – is the state of the roe in the female snapper. Two weeks ago, all of the snapper we were keeping in the 35cm-plus range had very small, immature roes sacks but now any fish over 40cm have roe sacks that are fully ripe and ready to pop.

In the last month I have caught a few juvenile kingfish, but not one going anywhere near legal. Baitfish have been few and far between, yet in the space of two weeks there are large schools lurking mid-water, and best of all is the number of good-sized kingfish, along with some big snapper, giving them a hurry-up. With the snapper and kingfish nailing them, they are moving around at pace, so you must be ready to drop a sabiki rig and drift with them. With a few live baits on board, have them rigged and ready to drop the moment you relocate the school, go slightly ahead of the school, then drop, move ahead and drop again till you hook up. I find that the bait schools are more active just before and after the turn of the tide. The only thing that’s still missing is any sign of kahawai, with only one caught in the last few trips out.

The snapper are still very bait shy, just mouthing pilchards and squid baits, but when using fresh jack macs or slimy macs they hit hard, with solid hook-ups.

To the south of Little Barrier to Kawau there have been some reasonable workups with snapper and kingfish feeding mid-water. Mates using jigs bouncing along on the sand bottom found they still needed to add strips of squid to get solid hook-ups.

Reports from those who did get out found the fishing fairly average from Kawau east to the top of the Coromandel. Closer in on the top, from Channel Island south, the number and size of the snapper has been staggering; as one mate said, it was kind of surreal to have spent one-and-a-half hours getting out there to having a limit of snapper and a couple of kingfish in under an hour, then having to head home.

In the Firth of Thames there appear to be more snapper on the Coromandel side, and those fishing the mussel farms have all done well.

South of Shag Rock you will see on your chart a few rises; these can be very patchy but are well worth a look as they have been fishing well, mainly on an incoming tide.

Right along the northern side of Waiheke the snapper are in greater numbers in18-23 metres, with the best fishing at the change of light. It’s well worth an early fish here, especially if you have fresh bait.

One report I got from the Ahaahas is plenty of snapper around the reef structure on the south side, but some big fish are on the northern side in deeper water.

The snapper are mostly holding closer to the rocks and reefs around the Noises and Rakino, but I would suggest on the slack water you move out and check out deeper water and target bait fish.     

From what I can gather there is no one place to target out on the worm beds, it’s just a matter of doing big zig zags at around 7 knots to find the fish. Don’t expect to see any large schools; look for blue dots and patchy red smudges hard on the bottom, and again target bait fish you see mid water.

Both the Rangitoto and Motuihe channels have been fishing okay for those with jigs and softbaits, but the better fishing has been off the sides of the channels, either on the edge of the foul or in 10-12 metres on the sand where the current is slightly less.

My picks for the next couple of weeks are based on the weather being just the same:

Area 1 spots 3, 9 and 18 (Harbour Bridge east – North Head; Bean Rock – west Bastion Reef; (North Head – Rangitoto Lighthouse)

Area 2 spots 3, 5 and 20 (southern Rangitoto – Islington Bay; southern Rangitoto)

Area 3 spots 8, 15 and 17 (northern Rangitoto; western Motutapu)

Area 4 spots 12, 14 and 17 (Billy Goat Point; Billy Goat Point – Otahuhu Point)

Area 5 spots 1, 3 and 18 (Waiheke north – D’Urville Rocks; Ahaaha Rocks; Rakino Island – Awash Rock)

Area 6 spots 17, 20 and 21 (Thumb Point – Owhiti Bay; Onetangi Bay – Woodlands Bay; Onetangi Bay)

Area 7 spots 17, 21 and 22 (Pakatoa Island – Rotoroa Island)

With the weather so unpredictable, don’t take any chances out on the water and if you haven’t had the motor serviced yet, now is the time to book it in as most dealers are now at least a month out.

- Bruce Duncan

Bruce’s Hauraki Gulf Fishing Hot Spots Guide has 150 proven spots including information on tides, weather, rigs and how to fish each spot. Get it here.