Turn of tide best for hauling in snapper

Fresh yellowtails are the hot bait at the moment. Photo / Geoff Thomas

Warm weather keeps fish in close bringing good catches.

Snapper are still in close and around Auckland they can be caught in 4m of water off beaches like Eastern Beach and Cockle Bay, and along the shoreline of the East Coast Bays. In fact surfcasting from Eastern Beach at a full tide in the evening is producing a lot of good snapper. And in the Panmure Estuary fish are being caught up to the Waipuna Rd bridge.

The Waitemata Harbour is still full of fish and they can be caught from the shore as well as out in boats. But it can be hard keeping baits on the bottom when big tides create powerful currents in the harbour, and the solution is to fish the turn of the tide.

Shallow water fishing can be productive at low light, casting lightly weighted baits on light tackle well back from a small boat. Some big snapper can be caught like this if baits like fresh yellowtail are used. Reels with a mode that allows a fish to run with the bait are ideal for this type of fishing. These spin-type reels are also easy to cast and it is important to get the bait well out away from the boat.

One spot that has been consistent is the Waiheke Island shoreline between Matiatia and Church Bay. It has fished well all summer and is still firing. What some fishermen do is catch fresh bait in Matiatia Harbour, and when they have a good supply of yellowtails (more correctly jack mackerel) they head around the corner and anchor in shallow water. With a good berley trail and big baits they catch good snapper. One advantage of using such baits is that, while the bites are less frequent, it deters the small pickers which can be such a nuisance when using frozen bait like pilchards and squid. An added bonus is the number of big trevally which have turned up in the harbour, and can be caught on small chunks of pilchard. Trevally will test light tackle, and should always be netted rather than lifted into the boat, as their soft mouths tear easily and they fall off the hook.

Fishing for snapper around the Noises is picking up, and big kingfish were caught there over the Easter Weekend. But the kings seem to have deserted the reef at Crusoe Rock.

Large snapper have been coming from just outside the cable zone off Flat Rock, drifting with slow jigs in the evenings. Even when there is little sign showing on the bottom, big fish are being hooked but the key is to avoid fishing the middle of the day.

The Firth of Thames is still full of fish, and the 40m mark off Gannet Rock has been going well. There was a lot of bird activity in the area in the last week, with plenty of snapper underneath.

Between the Noises and Tiritiri Matangi Island good fish have been taken, but it has not been fast fishing. The warm weather keeps snapper close, but this will change as the water cools.

The west coast continues to fish well when conditions allow, and the Manukau and Kaipara Harbours are in the prime season.

Freshwater

The annual liberation of trout into Lake Pupuke was done yesterday, with 1100 2-year-old trout released into the lake at Sylvan Park. This will allow youngsters to try fishing over the holidays, and practise for the Lake Pupuke Challenge Fishing Competition on May 3 when trout can be caught from the lake edge using spinners, soft baits or fly casting. Young anglers who have not learned to cast can use a bait like a worm suspended under a float. A Fish and Game licence is needed to fish for trout, but children under 11 can get one free from sports shops or online at fishandgame.org.nz.

Bite times:
Bite times are 5.15am and 5.45pm tomorrow, and 6.10am and 6.40pm on Sunday.

Tip of the week
Yellowtails can be used either as cut baits, taking long strips from a fillet; or as a large floating bait of half a fish cut at an angle with a hook through the tough part of the nose.

More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 6.30am Saturday, TV3, and at GTTackle.co.nz.