Harvey Clark: Sniff, glub, gulp and - gotcha!

Coastal and inshore fishing has been good at Doubtless Bay this week and is expected to remain so this weekend, so that's the region to head for while the Hauraki Gulf remains patchy.

New Gulp soft-plastic scented baits are proving to be a big hit in the north.

"Anglers are really going for them up here," says the manager of Coopers Beach Tackle Shop, Chris Penney, "and the manufacturer can't keep up with the orders."

The new baits, which are apparently a considerable advance on the "rubbers" that have been around for some years, have proved their worth off Auckland in recent tests, especially for straylining.

Penney says Gulp baits have been been catching kingfish up to 20kg in the channel off the wharf at Mangonui Harbour and, outside the harbour and along to the right, at the pinnacles about half a kilometre off Berghans Pt. The baits are also being taken by snapper up to 5kg off Coopers Beach, Cable Bay and Taipa from the rocks, headlands and beaches.

"The hotter the day the more success. We've just had a bit of a high come through and there's a few good snapper around at the moment, close in and offshore."

Until now soft-plastic baits have been oil-based but the US makers of Gulp say the baits are water-based and biodegradable. They slowly break down with use and, says the company, "they release 400 times more scent than oil-based plastic and have more scent-attracting ability than the real thing. Anglers get the shape, action and colour advantages of plastic baits with the super-intense scent of the chemicals fish desire".

Wow! But they would say that, wouldn't they? Yet the cynical could hardly scoff at the reports coming in locally.

Prominent Auckland angler John Moran, in the latest issue of New Zealand Fishing World, details a contest held off Auckland between one team using conventional baits and another using Gulp. The Gulp team took 40 per cent of the catch even though the "conventionals" used a berley trail.

Gulp baits come in many colours and sizes and represent just about any small baitfish, crab, crustacean, worm and creep-crawly you can think of. The manufacturer claims one bait will last up to four hours. A packet will cost about $11, and they are re-sealable to trap the smell. It is cheaper: in the Moran test the conventionals used $100 worth of bait, the Gulpers $40 - and went home to their wives with grease-free, untainted hands.

Outfits are being designed especially for use with these baits. The rods are ultra-thin, ultra-strong graphite with small eggbeater reels and braided line, and they enable long casts like surfcasters.

They work particularly well on big fish when straylining over shallow, foul areas.

Penney says they've been selling six to eight of these outfits a month at the shop. A complete outfit plus a packet of Gulp will cost you about $250.

Who knows what the Americans will come up with next!

Their latest trick, says an Associated Press report, is bottled titanium dioxide that can be sprayed on to lures and baits so that "underwater they shine like a beacon. The chemical lights up the depths like a disco ball, luring fish from 800m away".

Sounds like a case of anglers being fooled more easily than fish ... but you never know.