Once it finally died down we headed out a couple of hundred metres from Taiharuru entrance and set the burley flowing. We'd been out for a couple of hours by now and hadn't even had a bite. At about quarter to 5 my mate gets a couple of little bites and manages to hook a fish, up comes a decent panny of a few pounds. Next bait i'm watching him and he starts getting tiny little taps and nudges again, lowers the rod, nudge, nudge again then he's into it, and this is a solid fish. His tiny little rod and real screamed on the first couple of runs, nearly down to the spool but manages to slowly get some line back. I've cleared my lines and seem to wait for ages until we see a pink shape slowly coming up knackered. A quick gaff and into the boat with a beauty snapper (Weighed 5.7Kg when we got home so 13-14lbs?). We got 6 more between us and a medium trev before the bite finished and we headed home.

Ended up being a great evening after cursing our luck earlier in the trip. All the fish caught were very tentative on the bite and there were quite a few missed because i got the timing wrong on the strike. Interestingly the big one and half the others were caught straight under the boat by my mate with me catching the other half by casting unweighted baits further out.

 

Did the water look dirty?

 

The reason I ask, is cos I have had this happen to me twice just up the coast from where you went, just after storms and SouWesters like what we have just had... By Twice I mean same spot, same tide, two weeks apart, rotten weather in between wknds.

 

And we caught big 'uns directly below the boat in 20ft of water in the winter, where as, just after the storm this school sort of came up the berley trail direction and then slowly surrounded us for a mad hour before they moved off and in that time the biggest were straight below the boat, where as casting the floating bait out, as you do, with straylining, we were getting only the small snaps, trevally and kahawai.

 

This was really bizaare and maybe meant the big fish were perhaps more hungry and not afraid of approaching the noise and shadow of the boat, water viz was about 6 ft if that, it was overcast with patchy skies and passing showers with the SW squalls that come with it, and just as you describe the bites were finicky and small, but once we had sussed that and changed hook sizes it was all on...

 

So get out there after storms this time of the year ...

 

 

 

Well done on the fishing Bakes. Good to hear.

The water was quite murky like you say, and conditions very very similar. It was a good few days after the swell had died off though. Would love to get out there just as the swell starts to ease next time.

 

:))

otherwise we will be chocked up with jafas even in winter!!