By ANNE BESTON
It's a fishy tale of woe, a season so miserable even grizzled veterans say they've never seen the likes of it before.
"It might be hackneyed but 'the worst in living memory' is the phrase that probably best describes it," said television and radio fishing guru Geoff Thomas.
Most fishers
reckoned the fish were out there but not interested in taking the bait.
Fishing columnist John Moran said although winter was the fishing off-season, this year had been a shocker.
He started fishing the Manukau Harbour in the 1950s and had kept a diary of every trip out. His winter catch was down by at least two-thirds.
He blamed persistent southeast and southerly winds.
Lance Pulman, a keen fisherman who works at Top Catch Bait at Westhaven Marina, said bait sales were down by around 20 per cent.
Although almost every fisherman has a favourite theory on why fish don't bite at certain times of the year, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research scientists said the reasons largely remained a mystery.
"We do know that water temperature affects spawning and things that are cold-blooded do slow down when it gets colder," said fisheries scientist Dr Martin Cryer.
Climate scientist Georgina Griffiths said sea surface temperatures for August were 1C below normal but how that affected the fish and their appetite was not known.
"The relationship between food source and temperature is quite complex," she said.
"But in terms of catching fish, it has been stormy and unsettled in New Zealand almost since the start of the year so people just don't go out when it's nasty."
Commercial fisher Greg Bishop, from Northland-based Leigh Fisheries, said the weather had made life difficult.
But there was a ray of hope.
"The good news is, when the fish start to feed they'll be pretty hungry," said Thomas.
