It's been another good week for fishing with some really nice catches and a few hard luck stories to boot.
The Hen is producing decent fish while the shallows around all the islands are holding some great moochers that can be the devil to land as a couple of bustups have proved this past weekend. Three Mile and the sandy areas around it have produced good fish, but you have to take time to sort which tide holds the fish in each area in turn.
Good baitfish sign is often the only real indicator you get for snapper, especially on smaller fish finders like I have. I will often rather look for the bait in the harbour and over sand than rely on the number of bigger fish I happen to see. Small fish hard on the bottom can indicate shellfish beds and the snapper are sure to be nearby more often than not.
The harbour is still fishing well and producing bigger fish in the extreme shallows in low light or at night, while the channels down near the entrance can be full of fish on occasion. You just need to see the number of whitebait sized fish at the harbour mouth each tide to realise that huge amounts of fish will feed there every day.
There are a lot of kahawai in the harbour and real horses near the entrance and along the coast as well.
A little late in arriving but very welcome right now. Trevally are also about and if you keep getting good runs that drop off, it may not be little snapper on steroids but decent trevs and downsizing your baits or softbaits may put you into something really good.
This time of year (all year really) is a great time to softbait the white water but you do need to be at least two-up on the boat as getting in close enough means someone really needs to be on the controls at all times for safety.
While the fish are feeding strongly and your favourite bait is bound to work, try getting some fresh jack-macks and piper on bait flashers and you will find your chances of landing bigger fish will improve dramatically especially at dusk and early evening.
Kingfish are plentiful and poppers and stick-baits around the buoys and points and livies and jigs out deeper are doing the business. Remember that fish don't get wet if it rains and get out there.
