Options aplenty as snapper move in

Again it's been ground hog week with constant wind speeds from 20-45 knots and I am not happy. Trying to plan a day out on the water has been reduced to getting up before sparrow’s fart and out for a couple of hours before the wind really kicks in and just to top it off the wind and tide have been opposing each other every trip making for a very sloppy seaway.

Taking the positive out of the negative, at least I have the whole boat ramp to myself to launch and no parking hassles.

I am finding that the snapper are either in 20-plus metres or in close from the rocks out to around 14 metres with very little in-between. I don’t think that I have ever seen the snapper in such good condition – thick, fat, juicy fillets that make for great eating.

We all need to keep in mind that now we are in the spawning season so just take what you can eat fresh and give the rest a chance to breed. In the last couple of weeks, their roe has enlarged to the point they are ready to pop. If you take a look at the underside of a snapper and it has dark markings from the jaw back to the belly it's more than likely male whereas the females are mostly pure white. I make a point to release the female fish where possible at this time of the early spawning season but after Christmas I keep a few as the boss loves her smoked roe on crackers.

With the weather being so unpredictable and generally rough on the weekends (plus Christmas nearly here) a lot of my mates are actually working so the reports I get are fewer than normal.

In the outer Gulf the kingfish are lurking on the pins at the northern end of Little Barrier and straylining in on the Boulder Bank has produced some nice snapper in the 44cm plus range. 

The spot I fish a lot is in 23 metres around 800 metres to the east of Ti Point but you need to move around the contour line to find them.

From the Kawau area, the northern end of Bostaquet Bay has been kind for those using softbaits but again the fish seem to be constantly on the move.    

South of Tiri there have been a few workups, with the snapper that have now come down from the north spreading out right across the inner Gulf with a good number making their way into the channels and then into the upper harbour.

The great thing about the Hauraki Gulf is no matter what the wind direction is there are a lot of options to fish in close – one overlooked spot is St Heliers Bay Reef. Over the years I have caught a lot of snapper plus some good kingfish while I watched boats heading off deep burning a truckload of fuel (Area 2, Spot 1 and 2 from my Hauraki Hotspots book). 

Once the snapper pass through the Rangitoto Channel they either turn left or right – those heading right can now be found lurking around Meola Reef or just off Bayswater Marina (Area 1, Spot 3). Those fish heading to the left can be found at Spot 10, Area 1 where they come up onto the flat muddy sandy bottom out of the strong current to feed before heading up the Tamaki Strait.

On the northern side of Rangitoto, it's been a bit quiet by all accounts but along the western side of Rakino there are plenty of smaller pannies around the 34-38 cm range on Spot 19 and also to the north where you see the bottom shelving out into deep water.

With the southwest wind, mates fishing the outgoing tide around the Noises have done well on Spots 5, 6, and 7.

On the northern side of Waiheke, softbaiting close in off Onetangi Beach at the change of light is working or tucked in close out of the wind straylining on Spot 19. Hooks Bay is a good option – go in close to the beach, catch a few piper, then anchor out of the wind on Spot 12 – it’s worth putting out a livebait as the kingfish lurk around the low foul.

Right down the bottom end of Waiheke (Area 7) the two stand-out spots recently have been Spots 7, 8, and my never fail spot for a feed of pannies – Spot 17.

Even though the wind still has a chill factor make sure you iki the fish and put them on ice. I put them in a bucket of saltwater with a frozen ice bottle to chill them and then put them on ice just the way the commercial longliners do.

- 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.