What some fishermen do is catch fresh bait in Matiatia Harbour, and when they have a good supply of yellowtails (more correctly jack mackerel) they head around the corner and anchor in quite shallow water. With a good berley trail and big baits of half a yellowtail cast well back behind the boat, they catch some good snapper.
One advantage of using such baits is that, while the bites are less frequent, it deters the small pickers which can be such a nuisance when using frozen bait like pilchards and squid. An added bonus is the number of big trevally which have turned up in the harbour, and can be caught on small chunks of pilchard.
Trevally will test light tackle, and should always be netted rather than lifted into the boat, as their soft mouths tear easily and they fall off the hook.
Fishing for snapper around the Noises is picking up, and some big kingfish were caught there over the Easter weekend, including two of around 25kg.
The Firth of Thames is still full of fish although the shallows are proving quite lean, and the 40m mark off Gannet Rock has been going well. There was a lot of bird activity in the area in the last week, with plenty of snapper underneath. But snapper can be found right through the firth, and if there are no favourite spots logged into the GPS system, it is just a question of mooching along until some sign or a patch of foul shows up on the bottom.
There has been a lot sign between the Noises and Tiritiri Matangi Island with some good fish taken, but it has not been fast fishing.
Further out in the Hauraki Gulf the fish numbers have been sporadic, so it is not necessary to travel far from launching the boat at the moment. This will change as the water cools, but temperatures are still warm enough to hold the snapper in close. It could change quickly if we get a patch of cold, southerly weather.
The water in the Bay of Islands is still green and most fish are holding in deep water, except for kahawai which are abundant in the bay.
Snapper are coming from around 80m off Bird Rock, and there is a patch of marlin between the Cavalli Islands and Doubtless Bay at 180m. There are some kingfish on the western end of Roberton Island, but the deep reefs are fishing better for kings.
Freshwater
Jigging has been producing some phenomenal results on Lake Tarawera, with two anglers reporting 150 trout boated over 10 days. Other anglers using downriggers also did well over the Easter weekend.
The trout were at 30 metres, and the black toby is the lure that did the damage. One party had a double strike within two minutes of putting out the gear off Humphries Bay.
Tip of the week
The yellowtail mackerel are common through our waters and are easily caught. Just drop a sabiki rig and if a mass of bait shows up on the fish finder in midwater work that depth. Otherwise drop it to the bottom and then windup a few metres to get away from the small snapper.
The jig flies on the trace can be sweetened with scraps of bait, and several fish can be caught at a time. Use the back of a knife blade to flick out the hook and drop the mackerel into a bait tank if using as live bait for kingfish.
We are spoiled for eating fish in this country and most people do not realise that the bulk of seafood eaten in the northern hemisphere comprises what we regard as bait- mackerel and pilchards, or sardines as they are called elsewhere.
Yellowtails can be filleted and skinned and the bones removed, and the resulting thin strips quickly pan fried, or eaten as sashimi. In Japanese culture they are highly prized and are called aji, and some fishermen living in Auckland prefer them to snapper.
For bait they can be cut into strips for bottom fishing, chunks for a long-line, and rigged as whole or half fish for straylining. More fishing action can be found at GTTackle.co.nz.
• Bite times
Bite times are 5.30am and 5.50pm tomorrow, and 6.15am and 6.40pm on Sunday.
