smudge wrote: Our best snapper bait recently has bee Jack mackerel, frozen kahawai and fresh gurnard

How dare you use gurnard as bait when I can't even catch the bloody things

Saturday just gone, set out from Blockhouse bay. Was very slow going and almost zero sign on the sounder at my spot and also around no14 marker post in the Wairopa channel, the current was ripping thru there and no-one by the looks of it were catching anything
Saw an old dungger of a boat that had 6 chunky looking guys on it powered by a very under powered old Johnson outboard., looked like the stern wasn't that far above the surface and none of them wearing a life jacket going full tit around 8-10knots.... you heard before you saw it haha
Back to my spot off Lynfield, got snaps around 36cm and plenty of throwbacks around 30cm including a bloody frisbee, all on squid then it stopped an hr before high tide... couldn't catch any fresh macs

Got out on Wednesday. Fished Ropers during the incoming. Moved around a couple of times as was a lot of red weed around and current. Caught a hammerhead in the first spot.

Moved into 5m and started feeding the nursery. Finally caught a decent Kahawai which was destined for fresh bait as I was fast running out of Bonito. Didn't really change a thing. Caught a few smaller snapper around the 27cm mark but all went back thinking surely they'll get better and bigger from here....but they didn't.

Tried the Waiuku channel right on slack tide but it was dead, the wind finally came up and I was over it. Two trips in a row without anything decent to take home for dinner.

Ended up putting the boat in for a service yesterday and she's back in the driveway ready for redemption. Might have to venture out over the bar and try and redeem myself! Once conditions allow of course.


Question...anyone here net mullet in the harbour ? Looking at getting a net but can't decide between a mullet net or flounder net.

Usually I do well this time of year...I was using a Shimano bait runner 12000D though and usually I'll use a smaller spinning reel for snapper...wouldn't think this would change though..same rigs same spots.

Others have done wellin this area so probably just me.

The conditions on Friday were beautiful. The water was dirty and murky, with a lot of debris floating around.  But the fishing was hard! I had to really look for the fish.  All my go to spots weren’t producing, so I paddled out wide to find the fish.  

There were large schools of bait fish in the harbour.  The birds were having a feast!  I caught some jack mackerel and small Kahawai which I used for live baits. Unfortunately, no kingfish.

When I finally found the fish, I anchored and prepared my strayline rig.  I set up my rig to catch Trevally, but all I caught were snapper.  The snapper have so much fat!  It was like lard.  Their stomachs were full of crab.    

Looking forward to the cooler months when the gurnard arrive in the harbour.  There are still plenty of stingrays lurking in the shallows.  The water is a balmy 22.5°C.

As I paddled for home, the dreaded south-west wind arrived, and the harbour quickly turned into a washing machine, but I arrived home safely. 

Good luck if you’re fishing this weekend.

FlawOne wrote: Apologies for the kill shot but it is a fishing site after all

What is the 'Fishability Index' Nova and why are you posting from Croatia?

Kevin.S wrote: smudge wrote: We had a tough time yesterday on our Fish'n Chicks tournament.  We did get 12 snapper for the three ladies but it was hard work and we got nothing big. Three hammerheads, one tiny stingray and an even smaller tope rounded it off.  Ohhh and two Jack mackerel Yes, it was hard going for sure.  All we caught all day, in several different places, was undersized snapper by the dozen.  Every time it seemed like a better fish it was just two small ones.  Managed a couple of decent pannies for tea, but that was it.  No other species at all.

I did an early morning paddle to catch a kai and do some exercise. I bagged a few snapper, but snapper fishing was tough!  It's the same story as last week.  I had to paddle around to find them. 

Got out yesterday to try the new Mullet net. First time using one so it was more of a trail and error mission.

Speaking of flounder at Titirangi..... Few years back i was paddling a tippy multisport kayak in the harbour and was just out from Titirangi. Hell of a splash and thrashing in the water ahead, and when I paddled over there was a good size kingi with a fat flounder stuck in its mouth!
Thought about grabbing the kingi tail, or contemplated somehow smacking it with my paddle but would have ended up swimming for sure 😄

Eventually spat the flounder out and went their separate ways. Was one of those cool things you see on the water, right time right place.