Saturday 25/7/20 7:15 to 11am
Did what Muppet said, and targeted gurnard out from Browns Bay reef. Started with a couple of small gurnard, released, and then we caught 4 good gurnard keepers. Also caught some jack macks, used as baits, but most gurnard caught on small pieces of bullet tuna. Bite slowed right down at about 9, but we stuck around for another hour waiting for another wave of grunters. Spend the last hour fishing into Browns Bay reef for snapper, and nabbed 3 up to 38cms.
Lesson for the day - fishing with 2 x 3-hook ledgers, and a sprat line is a recipe for tangles, and we got a doozy. Probably missed a couple of grunters in the time taken to sort it. So now I carry 2 spare sets of gear set up for gurnard.
Was satisfying that the plan came together, and got some of the target species.
Monday 27/7/20 7:30 to 12:30
Tried to raid Gumboot's carrot patchon the Huia bank in Manukau harbour. Excellent weather, light breeze, moderate tide by Manukau standards. Tried 4 different spots on the Huia banks, and another spot on the bank off Kaitarakihi while the tide was changing from outgoing to ingoing, but this spot was dead as (maybe the slack tide). Usually KY are a by-catch when targeting gurnard, and if you catch less than one KY per gurnard you're doing well. This time, KY took over on every spot, and they were coming aboard 3 at a time on the 3-hook flasher rigs I used. I lost count of the KY, but there were over 20 of them, with at least 3 triples and 3 doubles. Tried mullet, bullet tuna, pilchard. Not one other species, all KY, unusual for the Big Muddy.
The second report will also be posted in the Manukau Fishing Reports thread.