New Bait & Berley Fishing Tricks

Most of the anglers from my generation cut their fishing teeth on bait and berley, learning from a variety of mentors. My start came courtesy of my parents and grandparents who had a holiday home at Kawhia during my formative fishing years. To keep me amused, Dad would catch a kahawai and let me play with it on the trace for hours until either my attention span or the poor fish would give up. There was fishing on the wharf, followed by dinghy trips, and then more serious missions aboard the Jan Shiree, a Carl August 16ft cabin boat. During those years, I was to learn the basics of shallow-water harbour fishing. At the harbour entrance, we would fish a running sinker rig (up to 10 ounces) with a 20-30’ trace that allowed the bait to swing through a wide arc. Much of the early fishing was done with a handline before graduating to ‘proper’ tackle, a five-foot-nothing fibreglass stump puller with a Penn Seaboy (for me) and (for Dad only) a Pflueger Sea King multiplying reel on a slightly longer, more ‘sporting’ rod.

Lethal jigs were my first introduction to lure fishing other than the Hex kahawai spinners we used to catch bait in the harbour. My first attempt at jigging produced snapper and kingfish on a charter trip to Mayor Island, spreading my angling wings.