End of the day Snapper mayhem

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    Posted: 19 Jun 2019 at 4:48pm
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I really love this time of year out west, the water temp starts to cool down and the smaller snapper start to depart leaving behind some better models to try and catch before the bite really slows down.
I do love that hectic fishing we can get through the warmer months. Saturday was looking good so we hatched a plan to see if the smaller Snaps had moved out, there's also a good chance when this happens of a few carrots coming aboard. I herd one of our spots had been going off with some good fish, liking to fish this area on the incoming Pea turned up at home at 4.30am so we could fish the last half of the rise
Berley plays a big part as we fish a channel that fish seem to use like a highway. once on the bite you want to keep them close and not wonder off in search of food that rides the channels currents. Dropping in off a bank from 2mtrs to 10 we dropped the pick and set the berley, I also noticed the temp was still around 16-17deg. It hadn't cooled down as much as I thought it might had and knowing how the area works I pretty much new there would still be a few smaller fish hanging in there.
We started with a couple of Kahawai that are always present in the Harbour, for us that's not a bad thing as Pea sometimes likes a few fresh slices for lunch - for me it means fresh bait and a bait that stays longer on the hook. Our first few Snaps were small and I knew then straight away the plan was going to be hard, once these smaller fish catch a whiff of the berley they can turn up in plague proportions. Most times it's not a bad thing as most of them are from 35-45cm but we had been catching fish like that here for a few weeks, we do get a few good models in among them but it's great when these smaller fish bugger off.
The bite does get slower but the fish as stated are of better quality size from 50-70cm, it's a lot of fun when your getting very little bites then a school of good fish turn up and it's all go. We also managed a couple of carrots and Pea picked up a couple of nice fish around 50cm, we both got a couple of nice hits also showing us there was better quality there but more numbers of the smaller fish. Having those better hits every now and then with a couple of better fish in the bin we were reluctant to shift. We fished to the top of the tide and sat through a silent period on the slack, once the tide turns and the boat swings round it fires up again. I was hoping that the outgoing was going to give us some better fish.
As the boat swung as stated the bites came on and it was all go again, there were plenty of fish once again but still the little 35-45cm fish. Sometimes it's hard to leave fish and as they say "never leave fish to find fish" it was pretty hard to hang in there knowing the plan was to find better models. We gave it an hour then pulled the anchor and did a shift, I decided to try a spot that Stevo and I fished a couple weeks ago but that still didn't give us the fish we were there for. I said to Pea lets chuck it in and head over to one of our carrot spots, sometimes this place can also hold some nice reds.
Dropping the pick and deploying the berley once again this was our last spot for the day, at first we didn't get any Snapper and we managed a carrot and a couple of Kahawai - then I had to open my big mouth "sweet no snapper as yet" as soon as said, I was hooked up to a Snapper. The spot felt a little different with very little current and we dropped right down to 1/4oz sinkers, I just love this kind of fishing in Harbours when you can get away with light straylining. We sat in 4mtrs but behind us it stepped down a couple of times - the first to 7mtrs the second to 12. This is where fish can lay in wait and mooch waiting for food to come by or topple over the drop offs. It is a place where you expect big fish to hang and 20mins in of fishing straight down in the berley I decided to lob a few baits back 20mtrs.
My first bait was absolutely smashed and smashed good, I was hoping it wasn't a one off and the second, 3rd, 4th proved there was a school of nice size snaps sitting in those drop offs. I always talk about before moving spots try the other side of the boat, cast a little further or out to the side or even just do a 10mtr shift. This proved the point because Pea was still dropping straight down only to hook up to 35-45cm fish while I kept casting back 20-30mtrs only to be smashed again and again by nice fish to 50-60cm fish. Once he realised they were further out the back he to started hooking into solid fish.
We ended the day how we wanted to start it and after catching a nice 6-7 fish up to 65cm we called it a day, we had a couple of carrots and Kahawai which helped top the day off with a nice mixed bin. It got quite hectic but this time at least they were nice fish this time. We don't really chase big fish that much anymore but it's quite cool to have those kind of seshes once and a while.
Tight lines


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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Far Quirk Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jun 2019 at 9:36am
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Another great video JaseThumbs Up  Good to see the detail of how you prep the KY.
Far Quirk - I'm goin' fishn!
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote GoBro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jun 2019 at 1:16pm
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Mean video
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Grunta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jun 2019 at 2:31pm
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Great work Jas.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Steps Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jun 2019 at 5:13pm
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Out West?
Manukau?
I always like the late arvo, change of light end of day on the east coast... the big fish seemed to come out when the ramps got MT.Wink
 Seems work same on the West coast as well.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Sole M8 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jul 2019 at 6:59am
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Great video Jase. Looking forward to coming up that way for my first fish soon.
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