Fishing: Ill wind blows good

The one good thing about this latest windy blow is that it comes from the north and brings warmth, rather than from the Antarctic.

Bad weather has brought bluenose and hapuku into shallower waters than they would have been at this time of year, as evidenced by the 55.9kg fish caught by Doug Semmens of Hamilton off Mayor Island this week.

Boat fishermen in the Doubtless Bay and Bay of Islands and round the outer islands further south - Great Barrier, the Mokohinau and Mercury Islands, down to Mayor Island and the Ranfurly Banks - have been catching bluenose and small hapuku in 30m of water.

Best baits are squid, fresh-caught best of all, crabs or crayfish heads.

Use big, sharp hooks and strike and wind quickly once the rod bends.

The groper species reside in rocky holes and caves and steel trace is a good bet for the bigger ones, many anglers using braid mainline.

Bluenose and hapuku will normally be round inner reefs in winter and head for the deep over summer, but the weather pattern has made them available now.

Groper are found from South America across New Zealand, the southern part of Australia and in South Africa - a relic of Gondwanaland - in various species. Most common here is bluenose, so named for the colour and the butt head. They grow to an average 60cm-1m and a maximum 1.3m, in 30m of water in winter and up to 200m in summer.

Then there is the New Zealand groper, called hapuku in the North Island, average size 80cm-1.2m and maximum 1.5m. Normally in 200-400m at this time of year but still being caught in 50m at the Bay of Islands, off Mangonui and Whakatane. Distinction is the elongated lower jaw.

Biggest of all are the deep-sea bass, or wreckfish, generally found in 400-600m, average size 1m to 1.4m and up to 1.8m and 100kg - all of it good eating. These are generally taken at the Three Kings Islands, Ranfurly Banks or other locations offering similar depth and great, rising rock pinnacles.

From Houhora to Whakatane there was only one gamefish weighed up to Wednesday night - a 23.6kg yellowfin tuna caught by Shawn Wilson on LA and they had to go 115km offshore, leaving Whakatane at 7am and weighed at 7.30pm. A bigger fish was lost by the boat but there has been no sign of surface baitfish schools.

The warmer water brought by northerly winds has brought snapper on the bite, says Whakatane Sportfishing Club manager Kevin McCracken.

At Houhora, the water warmed from 14.2-14.6C to 18.2C in the three days of good weather mid-week.

There was no sign of albacore, skipjack or marlin out to the 200m mark. Best snapper fishing has been at Puheke Beach at night. The boaties have been doing it hard.

In the Bay of Islands, the water has warmed to 17-18C with 18-19C out wide, but the baitfish schools that were prominent last month are yet to return.

Derek Gerritsen, from the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club, says snapper fishing was good one day, bad the next but warming up. Best baits are local-caught. Scallops are in good condition and there have been crayfish in the shallows for divers.

Round Auckland, the catch remains patchy, with Lance Paniora on the charter Smokin' Reels reporting good catches off Tiri Tiri and in the shallows round Motuihe in the evenings after the few days of hot weather, but the rest of the time nothing bigger than pan-size snapper.

The snapper round Auckland are still preferring mackerel baits. Catch your own with sabiki jigs or buy it whole. Whole fresh squid is far more effective than frozen, the mackerel working better than pilchards because they are schooling at the moment - think like a fish.

You may meet data collectors from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research as you return to boat ramps in the upper North Island from now to April.

The Fisheries Ministry has contracted Niwa to gather information aimed at determining the size of the recreational catch.

The data analysers know that about 90 per cent of the New Zealand amateur catch is taken from Northland to the Bay of Plenty and roughly 50 per cent of that catch is snapper. But they have a loose hold on how big the catch is.

Four planes will fly the area on set days to count boat numbers, and surveyors will ask for catch details at ramps, with the figures correlated and extrapolated to give a catch estimate.

The northeasterly blow will bring scallops on to the beaches. The daily bag limit is 10 only and the shellfish must be picked up high-and-dry.