Fishing: Warm weather will turn tide

Red gurnard are a favourite of west coast fishermen during winter. Photo / Geoff Thomas

Any change in the weather helps the fishing. Prolonged cold, southerly conditions are the worst possible conditions as fish just switch off. They close their mouths and go dormant.

But a rise in temperatures, a good blow and a change in the barometer are all factors which can turn things around. This weekend sees tides of three metres on the east coast, which will deliver good currents but winds are expected to touch 30 km/h which will limit fishing prospects out wide. And that is where the best action has been, out in the deep water where temperatures are still nudging 15C degrees.

A full moon tomorrow will also have an affect on fishing, and it is generally accepted among piscatorial pundits that the cycle of the full moon brings poor fishing. Perhaps fish feed at night in the bright light, or they don't move around much as predators favour bright conditions.

Whatever the reason, the results do seem consistent.

But there have been some bright spots recently.

Long lines fished off the beach at Muriwai have been producing some good catches of snapper and gurnard, with both kites and torpedoes working well. Fresh mullet seems to be the bait of choice, as it always has been, but the fish are a long way offshore with lines 1300 or 1400 metres out.

Another spot where shore-based long-lines have been catching snapper up to 6kg is at Pakiri Beach and Te Arai Pt. And in the Bay of Plenty long lines sent offshore have yielded some good catches of snapper, particularly in the evenings.

A fisherman dropping jigs at North Reef, off the Poor Knights Islands, was recently catching kingfish in midwater. He discovered they were feeding on paper nautilus shellfish which were gathering for their annual spawning ritual. So he dropped a bait, hoping for a snapper as they also are partial to a meal of nautilus, and added snapper to the menu for dinner.

Gurnard are also the favoured quarry of harbour fishermen at this time of year, and it is almost as if nature is looking after anglers by ensuring snapper flood the harbours in summer and gurnard replace them during the cold months.

The Manukau and Kaipara harbours are favourites for gurnard hunters, and while the Manukau has been fickle the Kaipara has been producing some mega-sized specimens.

An approach that often works well is to reverse the traditional flasher rig. The pre-tied rigs with four or five hooks tied with flasher material in small sizes of 4/0 or 5/0 are popular, and are usually rigged with a sinker at the bottom.

But gurnard feed by literally crawling along the seabed, locating food like small crabs with their sensitive leg-like feelers. So it makes sense to offer all of the baited hooks hard on the bottom, and a ball sinker fitted above the trace — rather than a weight at the end — does that.

It allows the hooks to all lie on the sand or mud and the unweighted trace can also move in the current, providing added allure for the fish. Small cubes of skipjack tuna are good baits but, like all fish, gurnard can be finicky and on some days squid or pilchard produces better results, or fresh kahawai or mullet. The key is to use small baits with the hook exposed.

Filleting gurnard can be frustrating and the skin tears easily, but there is no real reason to skin the fillets. Pan fry them with the skin on like john dory, and the lack of scales makes the skin a crispy addition to the meal and also serves to retain juices.

One technique which was first demonstrated with snapper which had been scaled, but applies to any fillets with skin on is to score the skin, then sprinkle the skin side with granulated sea salt and fry on a hot pan or barbecue plate until crisp. Then turn and cook the flesh side for a short time to seal it but cook it through no more than the equivalent of a medium steak.

Gurnard can also be targeted when fishing for snapper off the coast by casting out a small lure like a kabura and retrieving it slowly across the seabed.

The west coast off Kawhia and Raglan and in Northland has been producing some great winter fishing, with limit bags of snapper taken in a short time when the weather allows boats to get out as far as 50 metres of water. The favoured rig on this coast has always been a heavy ledger with a couple of circle hooks and chunks of fresh mullet or kahawai. Simple but effective.

Fresh water
Trout fishing on Lake Rotorua has been excellent. Trolling in shallow water around Mokoia Island and off Ngongotaha is producing good numbers of rainbows, with the occasional large brown trout hooked.

On Lakes Tarawera and Rotoiti some good fish are being hooked on glo-bugs fished off jetties or beaches.

Tips of the week

When baiting traces for a kontiki long-line on the beach before launching the torpedo, cover the baits with sand to prevent seagulls attacking them. And if the cubes of bait like mullet are hooked from the skin side so that side is dragged across the sand, the flesh will not be torn from the bait. More fishing action can be found at GTTackle.co.nz.

Bite times
Bite times are 12.15am and 12.40pm tomorrow and 1.06am and 1.30pm on Sunday.