Geoff Thomas: Seductive morsels

When fish test the patience and refuse to look at the angler's offerings, it is time to be a little inventive. Stories of the various concoctions which fish will eat almost defy belief.

"If they will eat boiled peas and teaspoon handles, why are they so hard to catch sometimes?" may well be the response. Fair comment.
Many a boatie knows how dinner scrapings dropped off the stern while anchored in a sheltered bay will provoke a mini feeding frenzy. Dinner guests may be small mackerel and sprats, but large shapes lurking below suggest snapper, kahawai and even kingfish have joined the feast. Boiled potatoes attract kingfish, and bacon rind on a small hook will bring up a surprising variety of fish.

The soft-bait phenomenon has caused many a miserly fisherman who objects to paying for rubbery, wiggly lures to resort to multi-coloured lolly snakes. And they work fine, but do come off the hook easily. Before soft plastic lures and lollies came along, metal jigs were the rage among snapper and kahawai anglers.

This technique started in the Auckland region with a couple of blokes who saw magazine articles about people in other countries catching fish on long, thin metal lures and figured it might work here. They experimented with teaspoons with the spoon end cut off and holes drilled in each end of the handle.

A couple of split rings, a swivel at one end and a hook on the other and they were in business. A 15cm crescent spanner worked just as well when modified. And they had a ball, drifting among the boats in the Motuihe Channel pulling up snapper after snapper while others watched dumbfounded as they held their lifeless rods with baits sitting on the bottom.

The makeshift lures bouncing across the seabed proved irresistible to the snapper and today there is a huge variety of lures which achieve the same result.

A couple of other secrets work well for experienced South Auckland angler, John Moran. He works hard at his fishing and is very successful. But he is always thinking about what he can do as a point of difference and among his favourites are strips of tripe soaked in red food colouring, and the sponge from the kitchen sink.

"One of the most consistent artificial baits I have ever used is a 100x30x10mm strip of coloured sponge material soaked in tuna oil. These are quite tough and cast out well," he said.

"After each drop I simply re-soak them in the tuna oil for a few seconds to rejuvenate them. Snapper in particular go for these. Sometimes I forget to recharge them with the fish oil during a hot bite, so I simply give them a couple of pumps of the rod.

"However, if the fishing is a bit on the slow side you must keep up with the soaking process, and it is a good idea to have several of these baits soaking in fish oil in a screw-top jar."

Other ideas that have worked for him include cheese, bread crusts, and dough balls made up of flour, water, fish oil and cotton wool. Meat of any description and offal, either cooked or raw, can work well.

"I was fishing on a charter boat trip and we were all told to bring a minimum of 3kg of pilchards each. One tight bugger turned up with a lump of cheap stewing steak, and he caught the most fish on the trip that day.

"I also saw a Pacific Island chap land a massive snapper off the rocks at Coromandel some years ago. His bait? A lump of meat he cut from a dead mollymawk he found at the beach."

Other effective makeshift baits include strips of rag or coloured rubber tube and bunches of feathers tied to hooks like oversized trout flies.

We have also heard of snapper fishermen tying pieces of bright red cloth on to the trace between the hooks, to attract fish.

Many anglers have noticed sinkers coming up with scratches on them where fish have attacked them with sharp teeth. So they paint a sinker in various colours and attach a hook to a swivel - and it becomes an instant lure. Makes sense.

The possibilities are endless.

One bait that has always been consistent is wild duck. We were fishing with Moran one day and when we produced some freezer-burned duck breasts he was quick to slice the meat into strips and drop it over on a hook. Snapper loved the dark, red juicy meat. So if you run out of bait during a good snapper bite, look in the lunch box for something to put on the hook. Or talk nicely to a mate who goes duck shooting.