I've been out fishing 4 times following the bite time calendar on this website trying to catch a snapper but I've only ever caught small kahawai (~20-30cm).

I'm fishing on the east coast in Big Omaha and tried once Pakiri beach.

I'm using a black magic longreach tackle with a 5/0 recurve hook and a 3/0 suicide hook at the back. I'm using frozen squid as bait, I tried cutting them in chunks with or without the innard or in pointy strip (just the flesh) of ~7cm. I also tried to add the head with the tentacles every now and then with no noticeable difference.

What am I doing wrong? Is it not the right time of the year? Is this region known for not being a great snapper spot? Should I use bigger hooks? 

What I'm gonna try next is:

- Buying frozen pilchard bait to try that instead of squid. I've seen a few videos and posts of people using that. 

- I also want to buy some bait cotton to make the squid hold better on the hooks (I noticed often time when I retrieve my line the squid has slid along the line just above the big hook). 

- I'm wondering if I should be using the small kahawai I catch as bait but I believe that's more for Kingfish fishing, right?

I surf cast  up at langs so not to far from where you fish.

As already said dusk or dawn around high tide .If you can manage a few hours into dark can be awesome. 

Pilchards well wrapped with bait cotton is worth a try  . 

I buy squid and pilchards in 2kg free flow bags and take some of each every trip.

Kahawai is good if you are being plagued by small fish. 

Scale it and cut diagonal chunks to suit your rig.

I find the frozen Squid from bait shops are probably my last choice out of the options that are there. I get why people use it, if the fish are biting it works, it stays on the hook, it is cost effective.  

Sometimes it out competes other baits (not in my experience but I believe it when people say).

If I go with squid that is sold rather than catching my own (there is no better snapper bait in Auckland than your own caught female squid for Snapper, theory is the female squid contains hormones Snapper can scent from a long way off).

I dunno if that thing about female squid is true or not, all I know is that watching guys use their own local fresh Squid around the inner city breakwaters, Wharves, Fanshaw Street etc over the years, they cut the precious 'female' squid into inch sized chunks and catch monster snapper right in the city - especially near the harbor bridge'on the southern side and the Northshore.

How theses blokes tell female from male? don't ask me...I am not an Ichthyologist and neither are they. Still it makes for a good legend.

Correct me if I am wrong here Egi folk, if you can explain the difference I would like to know. 

When it comes to buying it, I buy the refrigerated stuff from food stores like Pack and Save etc (ok so some is pre frozen before being put in a fridge, but the freezer burn factor is lower than the bait shops and the price is cheaper per kg often times at a supermarket - downside is that these are not bite sized baby squid). 

Food grade seafood is the best bait you can buy.

Using freshly caught by your own hand is the best bait there is bar none (the Snapper are there looking at your small Kahawai swimming around and dreaming of munching them right?).

My preferred store bought Snapper baits in places where there are a lot of Kahawai is fresh Mullet (many Asian food marts have fresh Mullet for eating, the stuff in the big supermarkets is fine too, shop around, you will find good bait, and if you look after it, you can bring any left over mullet home and smoke it).

As all the experienced guys in here have said, using the Kahawai you catch for bait is right up there for Snapper fishing.

The same is true of most bait fish, Yellow Eyed Mullet is very effective when used where it was caught (I mention it because it is an under utilized bait) Yellow tails, Piper, Anchovies.

You could try casting Sabiki flies for bait catching (In the surf just use a Surf caster to find the zone, a mid sized Sabiki set is needed in this type of fishing as you do not want the small Kahawai destroying your dainty black magic / whatever brand Sabikis - 1/0 flashers or 2/0 are ideal where you were fishing to quickly catch those small Kahawai you describe and therefore leave plenty of time for your snapper session using the fast caught small Kahawai).

I slide bait mostly so fresh bait fish for snapper baits is in my realm hey, alive and kicking. In South Africa locally caught bait fish is the go, Australia too, I presume it is the same all over the world because it works all the way out here in NZ just as well as anywhere I have tried.

If you are in possession of Sardines or Pilchards as you call them here (I see you were going to try switch to them) the only downside is that they are top Kahawai baits.

A Whole Pilchard where you have small Kahawai will last longer, long enough to attract either much bigger Kahawai or the Snapper you are after.

If you can, try night fishing for snapper in the places where you were being plagued by Kahawai and take a few Mussels from Countdown for the Surf (food rated, live, will pick up Snapper and Trevally more readily than those annoying little Kahawai - shellfish baits are so under utilized in NZ because of the softness-picker factor.

Anyway good luck. Spring, Autumn, winter for east coast snapper fishing near Auckland - change of light...for me I prefer dusk, because I hate the bite going silent when the Sun comes up, I prefer being able to fish longer in any fishing scenario. 

I'm still a bit conflicted about killing my freshly caught kahawai for bait. I'm more used to fishing for sport and the handful of fish I killed so far were for food only. I don't know how I would feel about killing a fish for bait and not catching anything with it.

I know it's kind of hypocrite since I do already buy fish/squid killed by someone else for bait and not catching much with it but regardless I still have somewhat of a moral dilemma with killing the fish myself for now.

I like your suggestion of using food grade seafood as bait, I'll definitely give that a try!

I'll give your post handy for future reference.

Nothing wrong with having an ethical code/moral ambivalence around killing fish. As for hypocrisy - well I don't like killing fresh water species like Trout, Perch, Tench, I will kill Carp per law but don't like doing so, we all have our ways/comfort zones.

I strictly catch and release in fresh water apart from noxious pests.

Same is true of game fish, I do not like killing King fish and bigger animals like Tuna/Marlin etc...but I sure do enjoy catching them. 

Better for the ocean hey, garden fertilizer best avoided too if you can compost etc - and don't buy fish in tins or farmed Salmon.

My experience of Mussel farms is that over the last thirty years, the fishing has improved among the habitat created.

DOC have issued a warning report about Mussel farms, but when you read it, they have no evidence and make sweeping claims based largely on non Mussel farm aquaculture and bad international practices.

The only down side I can see of the farms is that the other varieties of Mussel get out competed by the farmed stuff (again no evidence for this).

Buying Green lipped Mussel baits are the most sustainable commercial option I can imagine. 

"I'm still a bit conflicted about killing my freshly caught kahawai for bait. I'm more used to fishing for sport and the handful of fish I killed so far were for food only. I don't know how I would feel about killing a fish for bait and not catching anything with it."

Trout - I have put them all back for decades - maybe choose to take one in a hundred. Marlin - all go back. It is whatever works for you so you get the best of the day on the water.

Yeah I think food chain when I livebait too, helps me sleep at night, although one of my sons calls me a fish terrorist (I have no issue with his views either, it's good when kids think for themselves, most of mine keep aquariums so I call them fish jailers - admittedly I introduced them to the world of fish keeping).

I do have a quirk with live baits, if they survive the whole hooking and landing process (often happens) I release them (comes from my time working in Prisons, never hang a man twice and all that).

As the fish swims away with a hook puncture through it I tell myself fish have amazing regenerative healing powers.

I have a lot of respect for the Kahawai, when I first started fishing here, people told me it is only good for bait or a Lobster pot.

Some of course like them smoked.

I enjoy catching Kahawai on livebaits or light tackle as a sport of its own. And I enjoy them as a table fish, my go to Sashimi.

If only everyone was so thoughtful, but as others have said, catching your own bait is better than buying it in the same way as catching your own fish is better than buying it from a supermarket. 

Have you considered lure fishing? It can work from the shore. Admittedly, you have to put a lot more work in compared to fishing from a boat, but it has numerous advantages, not least taking bait out the equation.

Tell you what I struggle to go passed some crumbed Kahawai deep fried. If you bleed it and keep cold its bloody good.

As the fish swims away with a hook puncture through it I tell myself fish have amazing regenerative healing powers."

I have released many live baits - gamefishing usually.

They did their job, nothing ate them, they earned their freedom. It is a good feeling being able to put them back after trying to tempt a big fish. If you leave them too long and they tire, they become shark bait. Best (in my view) to release them before that. Let the sharks find their own food - they steal enough of mine.

Alan

I prefer not to catch and harm smaller snaps, so big fresh kahawai baits are my preference best being medium 30 -40 cm kahawai. Fish below was caught week or so ago at mototap was on kahawai head and gut section, basically one third of 35 cm kahawai, Was around 6 kg snapper when most people were being plagued by 30 cm and below fish. Also caught in 4m water close to the shoreline. We catch the kahawai and mackeral first thing to use as kingfish livies and then if don’t get taken or have left over recycle them as snapper baits.

I will give it a go next time, I have had fried kahawai out of interest sake one time at band camp but did not put much effort into looking after it, basically hacked a side off one of my baits that should have been on ice and not just lying in the chiller neglected. Tasted ok from memory but I get where you are coming from with treating fish properly and how that will elevate the flavors out of site. 

I prefer feet pics myself

Nice fish, I love fishing for snaps like that.

That's very interesting to hear about paketi as bait Shane.  It's not a fish that gets mentioned a lot on here, bait or otherwise.  I've often wondered whether I should have tried it as a surfcasting bait in my early days around Red Beach.  Whole, filleted or cut into sections? (not that they were ever very big in the first place).

We used to crush head when rock fishing and using them. Great big snapper bait as really tough, hard to get off a hook. I caught and used one last week. Snapper were straight on to it.

On the mullet front. Have you found fresh mullet is not as tough as use to be,same for squid.all seems a lot softer today.Found needing to use elastic to stop it being stripped in one bite.

The old boy next door swears flounder head is the go to bait. Have tried it and head most likely still floating around,never got a bite.

Wife buys flounder from supermarket which we eat but she chops heads off and saves them for bait. It was her dads favourite bait. They used to net heaps in woolshed bay waiheke, then he used gut them from the family launch. Apparently they put large flounder heads on large hook on floating heavy handline, and would catch the curious kings attracted by flounder guts.

I’ve had limited success with flounder heads… they are not a huge sized bait but very tough. The one time they really worked for me was in winter over five years ago in kayak off campbells… fishing couple of kms out off sand, further than I usually paddle. Recall 2 snapper took flounder heads and another took a kahawai head. All fish were over 15 lb, and biggest would probably gone 20lb. I put 2 back and kept one. Best kayak snapper session I’ve ever had. But on few other occasions flounder heads have gone untouched, possibly unnoticed, or larger fish partial to them weren’t in area.