RADICAL FISHING - If fishing fizzles check out the sea basket

Most fishos report that the quality of fishing seems to drop off as soon as the holiday period gets into swing.
The reasons for this decline remain shrouded in uncertainty. I was once of the persuasion that the shrill noise of hundreds of high-revving boat motors and the underwater shock-waves created by the passage of deep draft vessels was the primary cause of this decline. However, having experienced some consistent fishing over the years in the middle of a main trunk route for both commercial and private vessels in the Bay Of Islands, that theory has recently fallen into disrepute. And last summer, being a late snapper spawning season, snapper fishing at least, proved pretty successful for many throughout much of the summer holiday period.
However, be that as it may, history suggests the odds do not appear favourable for good snapper fishing over the holiday period. So if you want sea-food on the table over this period, a few alternative strategies may be worthy of consideration.
Firstly, if a snapper it must be, try fishing after dark. If night fishing isn't a realistic possibility, try jigging over deep-water fouls that traditionally hold summer snapper. The reluctance to feed under bright-light conditions can be over-come by triggering the snapper's feeding reflex when a bright, shiny object flutters by. And of course, your traditional techniques and possies should be given a shot. However, if all fails, the night or metal technique may turn the tide.
Secondly, give some thought to more commonly available species. Sweep, aka blue maomao or hiwi-hiwi are a much under-rated eating fish. And it wasn't until I was recently exposed to Tangata whenua eating habits that I was reminded of how much the habit of filleting and skinning can detract from the eating qualities of some of our fish. This extremely common fish is absolutely delicious, especially when gutted, scaled and fried whole in butter. It's almost as good as flounder; and that's saying something. Even the crispy skin is a culinary treat in its own right.
Catching these little critters can often be done without bait using small sabiki style rigs with 1/0 hook sizes only required. A bit of bait spices things up and a modest berley trail over a reef of 10-20m depth should lure them. So used to feeding in berley trails, they often show up around a boat expecting to get fed.
On the shell-fish front, mussels are in fine condition over summer and can be gathered at low tide. And they don't have to be big to be sweet. My way of preparing kutai is to boil them in sea-water until open, then eat them with fresh bread and butter. If you fossick the low tide margins, pipi and cockles are always delicious, and when added to mussels, can be turned into a fabulous sea-food chowder. So who says the fishing is poor over the summer?