day to remember
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Fishing Reports
Forum Description: Share information about your latest fishing trip
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=97207
Printed Date: 11 Jun 2026 at 1:29am
Topic: day to remember
Posted By: of2fsh
Subject: day to remember
Date Posted: 28 Dec 2013 at 11:31pm
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fishings been very good around my neck of the woods,thought i would post up a few things that im doing to maybe help out,mixed in with a fantastic trip i had last night. its incredibly hard to look at a flat ocean and resist the urge to head off fishing,hot days ,lots of boats moving about,bad fishing reports on here.. just a few things that will put me off,mucked around at home as long as i could then thought bugger it im off yesterday i launched at hatfields at 4.30pm,headed to my spot, stopped looked at the sounder. lots of bait no bottom sign and more importantly no drift. while everything looked less than ideal its still worth a cast or 3. flicked a s/b around in every direction,not a touch. marked the bait on the sounder for later then moved off. what to do ? headed to flat rock to fish the deeper water on the edges of the foul.  did a bit of a reccie around the place,out to the east can be good on the incomming tide,fish seem to like sitting here. nothing at all showing,still did a few casts to make shure. headed back in to flat and set up to drift the eastern edge of the foul. wind was about 12knts of northerly  the marks are all spots where good size fish have been caught on previous trips so a good area to start,the drift was almost perfect. very little sign but i knew there would be a few fish here. lightly weighted s/b,5 inch shad 4 pd braid. while this rig works for me it may not be everyones cup of tea. the most important part is what ever lure be it s/b or jig needs to be light and as small as possible and flutter down. spawning fish may not be hungry but they are protective,they dont want anything in there space and will lash out in anger. with this in mind you want the lure to hang around in there face as long as possible to get that reactive bite. Remember as well they are spawning so a big meal may not be what there after,do you sit down to a 3 course meal after bedroom acrobatics ? No probably not so dont be afraid to put on a small lure. All my large fish this season have been on small baits. hope this is starting to make sence,its a hard thing to do as it might take a few drifts to get 1 fish and may take while to get your technique right. Dropping lightly weighted baits can be a bit of an art,if you cast it out in front of the boat/ drift just let it sink ,keep any slack line on the reel and wait till the lines out the back. After a while you will hone this technique to the point you know when its on the bottom and when to retrieve. Dont be fussed on to much movement,concentrate on presentation. Even a 1/2 ounce weight will get bottom time with a 1.7 knot drift in 40 mtrs of water. In saying all of this its still important to strike at anything that feels like a touch. How long do you drift for ? i just drift till i think its time to go back or ive travelled off the area im targetting,if i get a fish i push the M O B button and temporarily mark the spot. If i get another fish in the same area on the next drift ill shorten up the drifts concentrating on the area where the fish are.  1 hour gone and multiple casts for 4 snapper in the bin. no specific colour s/b but they were all caught on the drop and 5 inch or less size baits. with the fishing hard and evening aproaching i thought back to the bait i marked earlier. 2 gannets flew past in that dirrection and that was enough to get me moving back. perfect,sun going down a few random gannets diving. headed up well past the bait i had marked,this is important as you want to be set up well before you hit the spot,wind was a good 15 to 18 knts of SW. drift was fast (1.7 knts)as i has lost my good sea anchor and had a bucket and a small drougue out. sounder looked awesome,snapper in mid water just like the last few trips  this shows snapper and bait,the red patch mid water has been typical of this spot. The dark red spot is bait with snapper around it,these bait balls have been pushed up to the surface by what i can only belive is snapper,no kahawai or kingies caught or seen. Why else would the bait surface to get attacked by gannets? not wanting to give to much away  but this depth has been good.1st cast good size snapper in mid water,s/b swallowed. 2nd cast another good snapper in mid water. back for another drift (drifted 550 mtrs) went back past the start of the 1st drift by a good 100 mtrs. 3 rd cast limp line,wind in the slack and its on,fish ran back under boat or ive drifted over him ..awesome run,good scrap and nice fish released around 6 kgs. 2 more smaller fish fish on this drift ,so far a fish on every cast moved back up to drift again this time into 10 mtrs off the weed line. cast a 1/2 ounce jighead with a 5 inch gulp curry chicken crazy legs (my favourite bait). what happened next was pretty special,great fight with 2 long runs. fast drift so pulled the sea anchor and put motor in reverse. something told me this fish was a wee bit bigger than the 6kg fish i released earlier . all those horrible thoughts ran thru my head,is this my 1st over 20pd ,will the 4 pd braid snap,should i have retied my loop knot,is it hooked proper.. was getting dark when the fish surfaced,20+ minutes to the net. fish came in dead,didnt even kick when in the boat,hook fell out of her mouth in the net.. was certain it was a PB, couldnt get fingers around tail,and it just looked big. threw her in the bin  went back for another drift,still hitting baits but now they were seeminly just under the surface. next fish was around 5 kg,let him go still buzzing about the big fish. pretty good fishing when your in a hurry to release a fish like this to get another cast in. this session carried on for another 6 drifts..unforgetable fishing, i certainly wont forget it . released around 20 fish.brought home a good feed photo below of the main area for the last 2 trips,you can see theres alot of drifts there. ive cropped out the area im hitting the bigger fish but those weigh points are large fish. sometimes its many drifts for a few fish but theres usually a good fish mixed in with pannies   got home at 10pm,weighed the big girl at 19.6 pds. very hard to be disapointed in that,not far off a new PB photo on the mat for the fishing comp.  78 cms,more than happy with that. so that was it,many memories in the memory bank,truly epic fishing. my little spot has been producing consistently for nearly 6 weeks,very specific bite times that can be as short as 30 minutes or as long as 2 hours. can be early morning or late avo or even start as late as 8 pm .. Has never produced during the day... Most important thing is to do a bit of home work,dont be afraid of a wee bit of wind,read the reports on here,ask questions etc. Most importantly dont get hung up on a certain style of fishing,try everything,you just never know when the line will go limp and that big fish has your hook in its mouth... ------------- 2009 and 2010 BERKLEY SOFTBAIT COMP CHAMPS,Runner up 2013 ( solo),winner 2013/14 longest kingfish nz fishing competition |
Replies:
Posted By: Lethal
Date Posted: 28 Dec 2013 at 11:41pm
Brilliant Wayne, "Thanked" ------------- Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing |
Posted By: Jet_ski_fisher
Date Posted: 28 Dec 2013 at 11:42pm
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Well done :) ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">  MH... Catch measure release...<*))))< |
Posted By: Otto
Date Posted: 28 Dec 2013 at 11:51pm
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taken some of those comments on board, thanks
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Posted By: Uncle
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 12:11am
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Great report & nice pics~~the sounder in particular. Well done Wayne~~thanked.
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Posted By: footy
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 5:58am
| Bewdy trip. Good to have a session that will stick in your mind. So close to the 20 |
Posted By: brmbrm
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 6:25am
| Great report and well done - thanks. |
Posted By: Sufishent
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 7:15am
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Fantastic report - well done and thanked. ------------- You can never have enough fishing tackle |
Posted By: dirtyharry
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 7:21am
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Great report, thanks for passing along your knowledge. ------------- I waste most of my money on fishing tackle. The rest I invest in women and booze. |
Posted By: wotfish
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 7:44am
Excellent stuff - thanks for sharing!!  ------------- What? Fish? Where? |
Posted By: roughy
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 7:44am
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Awesome report - cheers !! |
Posted By: Fletch
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 7:46am
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Cracker report, full of knowledge, great tips and intell. "Thanks" and what great fish, well done. ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: hogdog
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 7:57am
| Good to see they are in that area, the spots up by flat I had my best fishing at on the 1st of Jan last year, might hit a early morning mish tomorrow for a go. |
Posted By: kaveman
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 8:14am
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No secrets there Wayne, brilliant report and congrats on the PB Thanked!! -------------  www.kavemantackle.co.nz
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Posted By: lingee
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 8:21am
| real nice report thanks |
Posted By: MJ
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 8:24am
| Great report with plenty of useful info. |
Posted By: Potty
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 9:12am
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Excellent report of2fsh, so close! Going to happen soon for you mate. ------------- Love fishing, love my job. It's a bloody shame that they clash. http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Blue Asparagus
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 9:16am
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nice mate good to see that area holds fish. Used to be an old haunt all around there and in closer but a little to the north and some massive kings in the shallower area ------------- Ultimate GAME Fishing Adventures. Northland |
Posted By: tugboat
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 9:35am
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Skills wayne, love the report quite a few secrets of the trade in that lot, nice fish bro!! Few drifts in that lot, don't give away 2 many secrets mate  |
Posted By: of2fsh
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 10:27am
Still a few secrets left,ive had some blanks as well,this storm weve had will push food into orewa. Will be worth a fish off the beach in 7 to 10 mtrs tonight ------------- 2009 and 2010 BERKLEY SOFTBAIT COMP CHAMPS,Runner up 2013 ( solo),winner 2013/14 longest kingfish nz fishing competition |
tugboat wrote:Posted By: Harmony
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 10:34am
awesome post 
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Posted By: cirrus
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 11:30am
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You did it again |
Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 12:06pm
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Top post Wayne and thanks heaps for sharing all that info. Great stuff and a nice fish for the NZ Fishing Comp too... ------------- Online... |
Posted By: Eastender
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 12:50pm
| Top report, this is what makes this site great. Good work. |
Posted By: Jiggy Jig
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 1:55pm
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Fantastic report! ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: The DJ
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 1:59pm
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Awesome report - well done on divulging some of your hard earned information. DJ
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Posted By: smelli
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 2:06pm
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Great stuff and awesum report, some very nice fish there mate.. Well done.. ------------- http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=717361 |
Posted By: Boz19
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 5:06pm
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Awesome post mate. That 20 must be just round the corner surely. I got my first one in October up north on an inchiku when I least expected it. Lost count of the number of big bloody baits I've thrown off the bricks and out the boat for plenty of teen fish but no 20, then bang one on an inchiku out of the blue. Hatfields has been my local for the past 3 years now and Deacs and I are doing alot of fishing out of there, but of late heading much wider. Were doing really well in that general region you're fishing through Oct-early Dec but our spot is quieter now. Your post is inspiring me to fish closer to home next time out. ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Clay
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 5:28pm
| Great report - lots of great info. Cheers |
Posted By: green guy
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 8:25pm
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Mean bro Mean ------------- http://www.facebook.com/hauraki.hillbillys |
Posted By: fozzie
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 9:34pm
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"Thanks " Wayne, hoping to go out that way New years evening. ------------- Dont take life too seriously.....no one gets out alive any way. http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: of2fsh
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 9:39pm
Might see ya that aways ------------- 2009 and 2010 BERKLEY SOFTBAIT COMP CHAMPS,Runner up 2013 ( solo),winner 2013/14 longest kingfish nz fishing competition |
Posted By: savager
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 9:59pm
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I dived there a few years back.Plenty of old fishing line ,bronzies and a few crays to boot. ------------- if its not worth eating its not worth killing |
Posted By: Fishing Addiction
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 10:09pm
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ssweet trip out mate. day to remember alright |
Posted By: Twocan
Date Posted: 29 Dec 2013 at 11:30pm
Amen to that. What makes it even better is that I will be fishing this area pretty solidly for the next 3 weeks! ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Snappa Geoff
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 6:44am
| Top report, fish And photo's! Wayne. Big thanks. Cheers |
Posted By: skunk
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 8:05am
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Nice one ..well done on all fronts! ..thanks! ------------- "Team Skunk 10th equal Grunter Hunter 2020" |
Posted By: Dax
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 8:29am
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Hi Wayne Really interested in your comments on the snapper balling up bait fish in the late afternoon. I think we utilise the same occurrence too. I fish the late afternoon / evening / dark in Whangaparoa Bay over the sand and target areas which hold baitfish - mostly jack macks. Instead of soft baiting, we catch mackies and live bait. No burley, just deploy large baits and livies. I think you are right, that as darkness sets in and the bait rises, the snapper come in an hunt the bait schools. Oct - Nov is normally the peak season for us with the bigger males being more common but this continues bailing up of bait on through the schooling season. We find even the smaller fish will hit a livie, I caught a couple of 1.5kg fish on livies the previous trip. We find the schooling snapper have sharp teeth as they are not living off the kina / shellfish and it is nothing for them to bite a large mack in half - are you finding the fish you are catching schoolies with the sharp teeth? Is this what you are finding? Do you have a season where this works for you? I went out on Friday and had a session very similar to yours with the best fish at 78cm and a number of fish at 60cm. Had people on our boat fish pillies and squid side by side and all they catch is small - medium pannies. I can imagine softbaiting triggers the predatory instinct and so you are getting the larger fish too. Let me know your thoughts on this. Cheers Dax |
Posted By: of2fsh
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 9:55am
Hi Dax,ive found the fish in the bay have always hung out mid water in the hours of darkness doing there spawning thing,this was the 1 st time ive seen them on the surface over a large area. Recently ive seen masses of kingfish push pillies to the surface and seen gannets sitting on the water scooping them up which is a 1st. The kingies range from 400 mm to nearly 900 mm. traditionally theres been good standard gannet/ dolphin workups thru spring from challenger to the saddle.this year its been patchy on this front,the dolphins just havent been here doing there thing i think due to lack of decent bait schools in october. Im also wondering now if the dolphins start there season in the whangaparoa bay area before heading out wider then into the firth. Latley the baits flooded back in,from challenger to the nth end of motuora is stacked with bait. This has seen a resurgence in the numbers of fish in the area. The bait vs livebait thing is interesting. 2 weeks ago we burlied hard for 5 hours one avo/ night,fresh jacks and trevally baits,cubbed pillies. We got 2 snapper and lots of sharks for 3 boats 6 anglers in the same spot. Before we set up for the burley session we did 1 drift with s/bs and got 3 snapper,best going 5 kgs,this from 4 casts. One would of thought the fish were there and burley would of dragged in some big fish which was the intention. Really hard to fathom we didnt get bugger all. Its plain to see the fish want lively in there face baits,do they want a snack while spawning ? Do they switch over from spawning to feeding agressivly for a short time to build up energy then get back to it ? Still a hard one to work out,i found big red crabs in the bellys of 3 fish last week,the sort found around rocks,others had baitfish and some empty ( would of regurgitated during the fight) This is why i did a drift in close to the rocks the other night,just to get an idea of the area the fish were in. Do you find the fishing comes on fast,good flurry of decent fish then tappers off to smaller fish ? Also what depth are you finding the fish ? ------------- 2009 and 2010 BERKLEY SOFTBAIT COMP CHAMPS,Runner up 2013 ( solo),winner 2013/14 longest kingfish nz fishing competition |
Posted By: John_Ra
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 11:01am
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Nicely done mate. just had our club hand help scales calbrated at Wedderburn. Brill fishing there when it happens... Has that area turned to a car park yet.... thanked.. ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: of2fsh
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 11:22am
Because it was close john i shot to work and got a brand new set of callibrated scales to check,im not going to be happy till i know its definatly over ,the area has been a carpark for weeks,love drifting around other boats  .Most of them are still using snapper snatchers or inchiku jigs,good for catching pannies and thats about it .. I try to go out on the windier days if possible,drives the holliday makers away ------------- 2009 and 2010 BERKLEY SOFTBAIT COMP CHAMPS,Runner up 2013 ( solo),winner 2013/14 longest kingfish nz fishing competition |
Posted By: John_Ra
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 11:42am
Shows I havn't been out there for awhile (hint) buddy pal mate.... Too bad on arvo shift Mon,Tues & Fri would seem an Arvo, evening bite... Good Luck on getting that 20lber some day soon... Hmmm how about trying Kaipara when weather allows. just inside the bar or over... ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: tightlines2
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 12:46pm
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Good report Wayne ------------- Remember it's not the number of breaths you take that is important in life, but rather the number of times that life takes your breath away. |
Posted By: PJay
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 12:51pm
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Great report (and thread), Wayne. Yes, we've been finding in the BoI for the last few weeks, too, that it's easiest to catch good snapper by finding a bait-ball in mid-water and drifting over it. This contrasts with my usual mantra of "structure and current". The gannets have been diving over widespread areas, and you need to be a lot more precise in targeting than they've been showing, too. (It's a bit frustrating on the Team Obsolete kayak without electronics, though. We've been 4 hook-ups at a time for 4 on board the Stabi, drift after drift, the last twice we've been out, and the fishfinder's been indispensible. Fish 18-25m down in 40m +/- water depth.) ------------- PJ |
Posted By: of2fsh
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 3:35pm
Ive fished the kaipara a few times,just dont like the current out there,had some very average trips home ------------- 2009 and 2010 BERKLEY SOFTBAIT COMP CHAMPS,Runner up 2013 ( solo),winner 2013/14 longest kingfish nz fishing competition |
Posted By: of2fsh
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 3:38pm
What weight jig head and what baits are you using out of the boat ? Presume its your usual 1/0 1/2 ounce ? Have the fish been feeding for short periods ? Also do you think the waters warmer than normal ? ------------- 2009 and 2010 BERKLEY SOFTBAIT COMP CHAMPS,Runner up 2013 ( solo),winner 2013/14 longest kingfish nz fishing competition |
Posted By: PJay
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 4:30pm
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Hi, Wayne - yup, your guess as to our usual jigheads was bang on (I noticed the other day that they're very similar in dimensions to the longline hooks we use livebaiting for kingies - apart from the hook shaft diameter, that is). You know my reasons for liking the 1/2oz weight on the 5" jerkshads in many different water depths.* And, yes, the water's warm, really warm. Snapper spawning started up here about beginning of October. * Notes for others that haven't been part of my discussions with of2fsh over the years: 1. I think that these weight jigheads suit 5" jerkshads best in shallow water because they impart a fast, darting movement; and in deeper water (I use them in <50m depth) the same. 2. Over years, I've confirmed for myself the now old wisdom that 5" jerkshads are pretty much the general starting point. I use longer grubs and Nemesis Gulps with heavier jigheads, and just let the weight of jigheads work these. 3. But because I'm a lazy old grouch, I can't be bothered changing bait and style most of the time, so 95% of my softbaiting is with the 5" JSs. ------------- PJ |
Posted By: loodafish
Date Posted: 30 Dec 2013 at 11:07pm
| Mate I have missed reading reports like this on here for some time now! Awesome report and cracking fish mate well and truly thanked |
Posted By: Dax
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2014 at 7:41am
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Hi Wayne Fishing in 25m - 30m over sand / mud so we are a little way from the closest land. Looking at your reply to my post, the common thing I notice is when you are soft baiting and our technique, is neither of us are burleying. I know it goes against common theory for bait fishing but we find it helps get rid of smaller fish and sharks. All I know is that it works without berley - maybe the livies draw in the bigger fish? Maybe the bigger fish are there and without the berley, the bigger fish do not need to out compete a hoard of smaller fish which the berley attracts? We have had others on the boat fish with us who have persisted in pillies and squid baits while we fish livies / lg cut baits and we come away with about double their average weight and always more weight of fish. Haven't found crabs in their gut but we are 0.5 to 1 mile offshore. Maybe if we fished closer we might find this too? I will be out this evening taking my 8 year old out so lets see what happens tonight Cheers Dax |
Posted By: Dax
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2014 at 7:51am
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Hi Wayne To answer your question, we find the fish do come in waves with two or three rods loaded but we also catch them as individuals. No real pattern experienced that I can identify. Fishing is generally best in the 1.5hrs before dark and into darkness. Some nights the fishing continues right on through darkness. Often we are listening to the roar of outboards heading home as the best fish are caught. Cheers Dax |
Posted By: of2fsh
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2014 at 8:07am
Be interseting to hear how you get on tonite,last night was a bit of a dead duck,pulled 2 snapper and a good gurnard from an area where there was some absolutly amazing snapper sign,mate dropped a very good fish that ran off a good bit of line.fished thru till 8.30 pm.wind was all over the show ,was NTH. Then went variable then SW ,high tide was 8 pm. Still cant get over the bait and snapper stacked up where we were....will try same spot today 1 hour before low tide ------------- 2009 and 2010 BERKLEY SOFTBAIT COMP CHAMPS,Runner up 2013 ( solo),winner 2013/14 longest kingfish nz fishing competition |
Posted By: Naki-Fisher
Date Posted: 02 Jan 2014 at 4:27pm
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Awesome report mate well done that fish would have been 20 on the water. ------------- The 20lb+ Snapper club No Longer Eludes me Broken with a 12kg new PB Goal for the next 12 months: catch another 20lb+ Snap and watch it swim away Hook a King LB here in the Naki. |