Geoff Thomas: Bait plan gets the big ones

Graham Henry's snapper topped 12kgs - let's hope he has something else to lift come October. Photo / Supplied

The day started with a game plan, which was to get All Black coach Graham Henry a snapper weighing more than 4.5kg and a kingfish of at least 12kg; not unheard of in the Bay of Islands or the Bay of Plenty but a big challenge at Motuihe Island. It was in January last year, the month when rugby people are on holiday, and the cameras were filming for the new series of Outdoors, which started yesterday.

"We put a small live-bait hook in front of the tail, just under the back bone," said Paul Green as he dropped a wriggling silver piper over the side. The livie had hardly hit the bottom 6m away when the rod bent sharply. Paul grabbed it and wound fast. "Snapper," he said. And it was. A lovely 3kg snapper.

But it wasn't our target. We had been chasing kingfish on the reef just off Crusoe Rock and, this summer, the kingies have been as thick as maggots on a dead sheep's head. The problem is that the snapper often get to the live piper before the kings get a chance.

This spot had been going off and Paul was regularly catching half-a-dozen kings in a session, often more. One memorable afternoon saw bronze whaler sharks take four hooked kingies in a row.

With a live piper out each side of the boat, one under a balloon and the other on the bottom, it doesn't take long for a rod to go off. But most of the strikes on the bottom were from snapper. Then the rat kings turned up and both rods were going off. You need a lot of livies for this sort of action.

Then the bait on the seabed went and the rod doubled over instantly. These are fished with the drag hard up and there is no question when a good king connects. "Grab the berley," shouted Paul as he started the engine and flicked on the capstan. It doesn't take long to retrieve the berley line and the anchor in such shallow water, while Ted - as Graham Henry is often called - was busy following his fish around the stern of the boat. He has caught kingfish in the Bay of Islands but, in 6m of water, it is a different story. The fish can't dive so they go in one direction - straight towards the nearest reef.

"Stop him. Go hard," yelled Paul. Ted hung on and got the fish under control and, soon, it was ready for the gaff. This one was going back to Waiheke as Ted's family enjoys kingfish as much as they do snapper. And the Mad Butcher was just down the road, so a chunk would be heading his way also.

Then it was out to Paul's snapper spot, which is in the middle of the flat area between Waiheke and Rakino islands. The current was running strongly and we put two berley bombs in one pot and another in a second pot. You can't have too much berley to get the party going. It is common to use dead whole or cut piper for snapper baits and it works well. But live piper for snapper? That is a new one for most people.

"We were getting snapper up to [8.5kg] here in October," said Paul as he fished a piper out of the bait tank and rigged it up on two fixed 7/0 hooks, with a one-ounce sinker sliding above the hooks.

The bites came quickly and it was classic strayline fishing. Let the snapper run, then wind hard. When the line comes up tight, you simply raise the rod, but keep winding. Too often you see somebody strike then hold the rod high and wait to see if the fish is on. Big mistake as quite often the fish is gone as soon as the angler hesitates and the pressure comes off the line.

But the system was working and the berley was working.

The snapper ranged from 1kg to more than 4kg.

We offered different baits like pilchards, which did not last long, and frozen blue mackerel which work fine - but nothing is as good as live piper.

Then the bites eased off and Paul checked the berley bombs. Sure enough, the berley was getting thin.

Then Ted hooked a good fish and, when it came to the net, Paul confirmed: "This is the double-figure fish [in pounds, which is 4.5kg]."

With three rods going, the snapper soon chewed through our supply of piper. The action is pretty much continuous while the tide is running and the berley flowing. But the game plan worked.

It is all about working the tides and having a good supply of live bait.