Bright spots in worst month for fishing

Bruce Yorke with the largest trout caught at Kai Iwi Lakes near Dargaville. Photo / Geoff Thomas

Those fishermen who keep fingers on the pulse triumph over once-a-winter anglers.

If you had to pick one month of the year that is bad for fishing, August would have to take the prize.

Fishing has been hard, there is no doubting that, but there are some bright spots.

For example - a boat anchored off the southeastern corner of Little Barrier Island while sheltering from northeasterly winds, fishing into the berley with ledger rigs bottom-dunking and strayline baits drifted back down the current, and catching snapper.

And a couple of keen blokes who drifted with soft baits in the general area of the worm beds off Motutapu Island took home some good snapper around 40cm.

Another keen fisherman who is very experienced and always seems to find snapper or kingfish has had two trips recently from Half Moon Bay to the bottom end of Waiheke Island where he is straylining into a shallow reef. He always uses a lot of berley and will have a bag on each corner of the stern and casts well back with whole pilchards or half blue mackerel or small bonito. The last trip two Sundays ago saw 10 good snapper up to 4.5kg in the bin.

And idling along the edge of Cape Karikari in Northland and casting lures or large, floating baits into the rocks is producing good results, with some big snapper taken.

It is a familiar story, though. Those bringing home fish at this time of year are the people who spend a lot of time on the water. They keep their finger on the pulse; while those who head out once over winter and hope to find something will miss out.

But you can't have too much berley at this time of year, for the snapper are not as active in the cold water as they are in summer. Berley and ground-bait, which is small chunks of pilchard or similar small fish, spread in a continuous flow will stimulate some activity. And the bites may be tentative and soft so patience is important, allowing the fish time to pick up the bait. Well known Manukau Harbour fisherman John Moran reports this winter has been the hardest he can remember. You would expect to take home a good catch of gurnard when fishing the Manukau throughout the winter but this year has been the exception, he said.

"One strange thing is the number of spiny dogfish in the harbour. You will encounter them in plague proportions out over the [Manukau] bar but they were rarely caught inside the harbour - until now that is," he said.

Fresh Water

There is a very good trout fishery in the Kai Iwi Lakes, not far from Dargaville. The four lakes among sand dunes are deep and cold, which is important for trout to thrive over summer. The quality of the trout fishing has improved in the past 15 years following improvements by Northland Fish and Game, including removing exotic trees from the watershed.

The fishery relies on annual stocking of yearling trout, and a huge trout was caught recently by an angler using a cooked prawn bait. Bruce Yorke's rainbow trout weighed 4.32kg, which almost reaches the traditional 10lb mark by which trophies are recognised. Fish and Game Northland manager Rudi Hoetjes said the fish was the largest ever recorded since liberations started 50 years ago.

Bruce hooked his trout while fishing from the shore at Promenade Pt on Lake Tahora on a Saturday evening earlier this month.

Fellow angler Peter Allen netted the fish for him when he brought it to the shore, and Bruce says he was amazed at the rainbow's size. "The fish was very thick though. When Peter had it in the net it looked like a kingfish," he said. And it was not the only big trout caught that weekend. Barry Chapman caught a 2.94kg one, and the winning fish at the annual Kai Iwi Lakes fishing contest last month was Murray Dix's 3.695kg rainbow.

Rudi Hoetjes said the trend indicted the lakes were improving, with better habitat for all wildlife. "We have put a lot of hard work and management into improving the lakes, including careful consideration of stocking rates. Two years ago we believed we turned the corner, and that is now demonstrated by the bigger, healthier trout being caught."

Anglers can fish all year round on the lakes either from the shore using fly fishing tackle, lures or bait; while trolling or jigging from boats and kayaks is also popular.

Bite times

Bite times are 5.20am and 5.45pm today, 6.10am and 6.30pm tomorrow.

Tip of the week

The Kai Iwi lakes have healthy populations of native koura, or freshwater crayfish, and these are important food for larger trout.

One successful method of fishing is to wade the margins while casting a fast-sinking fly line with a koura imitation pattern like a black fuzzy wuzzy.

Another popular fly pattern is a bully imitation like a Mrs Simpson.

More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 5pm today, TV3, and at GTTackle.co.nz