Geoff Thomas: Warmer weather drawing the big snapper into shallower water

School snapper have moved into the Bay of Islands. Photo / Supplied

Snapper fishing continues to improve as summer weather kicks in, and large numbers are reported off the Rakino Channel and on the worm beds.

Boats which were going out to deep water a month ago are now moving to shallower water to find fish.

There are also a lot of small fish around, but it is just a question of moving around until good fish are located.

Workups have been reported from Murrays Bay to out over the old America's Cup course, but in hot weather the best activity is in the early morning and evening.

One fisherman who often fishes Challenger Reef off Kawau Island and knows the area well had a great trip recently while fishing soft baits.

He caught and released two snapper over 9kg and several over 7kg, and lost a really big fish.

Charter skipper Aaron Covavich, of the vessel Thor, based at Ti Point near Leigh, has been travelling south to fish in a line from the end of Kawau to Tiritiri Matangi Island.

He was fishing on the worm beds, anchoring and putting down a berley bomb.

"The snapper are moving through in schools," he said, and the action was stop-start.

"Then later in the afternoon the workups started and we drifted through them. Soft baits outfished bait by 10 to one when we were drifting."

Pink was the best colour, and with a large walk-around boat anglers could cast ahead of the drift, and by the time the lure hit the bottom it was directly below the boat and the angler simply walked down the length of the boat, jiggling the lure.

"They would invariably have a fish on by the time they got to the back. It was like a production line," said Covavich.

The soft baits also hooked a lot of kahawai, which are in good numbers but are not as large as they were last summer.

Scallops on the Manukau Harbour are said to be improving in condition, and off the west coast gurnard to a kilo and snapper can be found just outside the Manukau bar in 20m and all the way out to 60m.

One South Auckland fisherman had just cleared the bar when he saw some good marks on his fish finder and stopped to investigate, catching a good bag of big gurnard and snapper in only 12m of water.

The emphasis on big fish has been removed from most fishing contests to reduce the incentive to cheat where cash prizes are involved, and while the biggest fish entered will always be recognised, the main prize usually now goes to the average weight snapper, which makes it a lottery.

As well, expert fishermen have no advantage over others.

The Counties Sports Fishing Club held a contest last weekend, using a novel system in which the 10 main prizes went to the snapper closest to a target weight - in this case 2.5kg.

Fishing was allowed off the coast and inside the Manukau, and while 20-knot westerly winds made conditions uncomfortable a lot of fish were weighed.

The nearest to the target weight went to Brian O'Shea, with a red weighing 2.53kg. The other nine prize winners were only a few grams apart.

The heaviest snapper was caught by Matakawau local Ken McPike - who often takes this prize - with a snapper of 8.2kg.

Manukau veteran John Moran said the best fishing was close to the 60m mark.

Those fishing closer in were plagued by sharks with only the occasional snapper and some gurnard.

School snapper have moved into the Bay of Islands as water temperatures nudge 17C and fish up to 11kg were reported.

In the Bay of Plenty, kingfish are running well around offshore islands and reefs, with bluenose and bass in deep water. Snapper and tarakihi are being caught in inshore waters all along the coast.

There are still not many anglers on the water at Lake Taupo.

Harling early in the morning is producing fish, with the small lures traffic light and spotted gold working as well as traditional smelt flies.

The Tongariro River is still holding a lot of fish, but care is needed when wading as algae build-up on the rocks makes them slippery.

Back-country rivers are now fishing well in the middle of the day, with caddis and sedge hatches coming on in the evenings.

The Waikato River also produces some dense caddis hatches in the evenings, and trout can be taken on dry flies.

More fishing action can be found on the new internet television channel, www.FishnHunt.Tv.