Berley is the other essential, and this is where the boat position is so important. You want your berley flowing in to a jumble of rocks, guts and weed beds; not straight out to sea.
Unless you are targeting big snapper at places like the top end of the Coromandel Peninsula or around Great Barrier Island, you don't need a trace. The small baits used work better without the weight of a heavy trace and sinker. They should float in the current, and light tackle presents the bait better than heavy line.
A hook can be tied directly to the end of 6kg or 10kg main line, and the increased number of bites more than makes up for the odd fish lost through break-offs. Sometimes a small ball sinker is needed to get the bait down in strong currents.
Baits are chunks of pilchard or cubes of fish like mullet, or squid.
Because the snapper are often not actively feeding they will pick at the bait rather than smash it. So keeping in touch with the line is important, and moving the bait occasionally to keep it out of the weed also helps.
Let the fish nibble on the bait until the weight of the fish can be felt, then strike quickly and hard, winding while lifting the rod. It is a technique that can take time to master, but is all about feeling the line which is held over a finger to detect the smallest touch.
A continuous flow of berley is important, and two berleys can be used to get things started. You will often spend much more on berley than on bait when straylining. If bites stop, it is usually because the berley has run out, or the tide has turned.
This approach has been producing well on the Clevedon flats, along the eastern shoreline of Rangitoto Island, on the seaward side of Kawai and Tiritiri Matangi Islands.
At Little Barrier Island, fishing on the sand in 10 to 15 metres along the edge of kelp beds in the first hour after the tide turns is working well.
Straylining at Great Barrier Island and the Moko Hinau Islands has been hot, with snapper up to 6kg coming from the eastern side of Barrier.
Fresh water
The full moon yesterday will have made trout fishing hard, for even though there is no tidal influence on the lakes the moon phase does seem to affect the feeding activity of the fish and they can be hard to tempt.
But spawning runs have started, with more than 100 trout recorded through the trap on the Te Wairoa Stream on Lake Tarawera. And some large trout have been reported from Lake Okataina.
The Log Pool, which is restricted to fly fishing, is one spot that can fish well at night on a bright moon.
Fishing with deep sinking lines from an anchored boat off the stream mouth is always popular from now on as spawning fish congregate around the small stream.
Other stream mouths which can fish well on a bright moon are the deep water rips off the drop-off at the Tauranga-Taupo and Tongariro Rivers at Lake Taupo.
Tip of the week
John Dory are easily targeted, and when converted to fillits in the frying pan are one of the most delicate fish. As they prey on small fish, they will fall for imitations such as soft baits and jigs, but a live jack mackerel is irresistable. The bait can be dropped with a heavy sinker on the bottom of the trace and the hook on a short dropper about 50cm above the sinker. A live sprat or cockabully fished off a wharf will also attract any dory in the vicinity. The key is to use a hook to match the size of the bait fish - too large a hook will kill the bait.
Bite times
Bite times are 2am and 2:30pm tomorrow and 3am and 3:25pm on Sunday. These are based on the phase and position of the moon, not tides, and apply to the whole country. More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 6:30am Saturadys, TV3, and at www.GTtackle.co.nz
