Some anglers like to cook them with the skin on as it retains the fat inside the skin, and the scales are not a problem as they are actually inside the skin, leaving a smooth surface.
Gurnard are bottom feeders, moving on to the shallow flats on the rising tide. They 'walk' along the bottom, using their long feelers to detect prey like small fish and crabs.
The common rig for gurnard is a ledger rig or flasher rig, but these are usually fished with the sinker on the bottom and the hooks are suspended vertically in the water.
This is fine for fish like snapper, tarakihi or kahawai but most of the baits will be above the gurnard, and this is confirmed by the number of gurnard which are consistently hooked on the bottom bait.
The solution is to present the string of hooks or flashers along the bottom, which is done by putting a small sinker on the end and a larger one at the top.
A common rig will have small hooks, say 3/0, made from fine diameter wire, with a one-ounce sinker on the bottom and a four-ounce sinker at the top.
Experienced gurnard fishermen swear by red as the predominant colour for flasher rigs when targeting gurnard.
Baits are usually small chunks of squid, pilchard or bonito; but some Manukau fishermen like to make their own bait by netting mullet in the Waikato River entrance at Port Waikato, then scaling and filleting the catch.
The fillets are then packed in ice cream containers with a layer of fish with a liberal dose of rock salt or sea salt, followed by another fish layer and so on. The salt sucks juices from the fish, which is how they are preserved, but the bit will keep better if the liquid is decanted regularly.
Another approach is to punch holes in the bottom and sit the container inside another one to catch the liquids which drain out.
The same process applied to cooked green-lipped mussels also works well, and when cut in half the salted mussels make a top bait for gurnard.
They have also been known to take lures like a soft-bait crab imitation or a trout fly which resembles a cockabully, like a Mrs Simpson.
The channel edges are a good place to start, and as the tide turns move out to deep channels on the outgoing tide.
Gurnard are good sport on light tackle and the soft-bait rig with light, braid line is ideal; or you can top-shot the summer snapper outfit, replacing the first 40 or 50 metres of line with something lighter - maybe going from 15-kilo to 8-kilo line, or braid.
Another indicator of winter fishing is the arrival of barracouta in the Hauraki Gulf in the 45-50m range; but this is always a good area for a snapper fish on a calm day. Just avoid shiny swivels and jigs or lures.
The Coromandel coast from the shallows near Thames all the way to Cape Jackson continues to fish very well, both in close and around the mussel farms.
On the other side water temperatures are slowly coming down, but it was still over 17C around the Mercury Islands a week ago. Fishing there has been patchy, but working the currents in 15-25m can bring results.
Bay of Plenty beaches continue to provide some good surfcasting action, and for those using torpedoes off the beach.
A reduction in open-ocean long-lining for tuna may be helping the stocks of broadbill swordfish, as they are often hooked on the baits set for tuna.
The big game boats from the Bay of Islands, Tutukaka and Tauranga which head out wide after broadbill are doing well, and the technique has changed from drifting only at night on a bright moon to slow drifting with deep baits during the day.
Some of the Muriwai fishermen in small, fast runabouts are also catching broadbill as far as 50km offshore.
Kingfish can be found on the deepwater reefs off Northland as they chase schools of blue koheru.
Fresh water
The Tongariro River has taken off, with good runs of fresh trout coming up from the lake. There were 12 anglers lining the bank of the Bridge Pool by the main road last weekend, and they were catching fish of good size and condition.
Tip of the Week
Gurnard have a short, sharp spike on the neck behind the head, so use a towel or glove when handling them as it can inflict a painful jab. They can be killed with an iki spike or knife thrust into the brain between the eyes.
Bite times
Bite times are 7.30am and 7.50pm today, and 8.15am and 8.35pm tomorrow. More fishing action can be found at GTTackle.co.nz.
