All Blacks look to hook trophy, then a fish

Some of the All Blacks tackled a day of fishing to celebrate their success in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

It would be nice to think the Webb Ellis trophy will be on the aircraft when the All Blacks leave London to return home early in November.

And some of the players may well finish up on a large vessel somewhere out in the Hauraki Gulf, celebrating the occasion and catching fish. For that is what they did after the 2011 victory and they did it in style.

The boys had worked extremely hard for two years and they earned their celebration. A lot of rugby players love their hunting and fishing and over the years they have enjoyed trips into the outdoors all around the country, from trout fishing, deerstalking, pig hunting and clay-target shooting, to pulling in snapper, kahawai and kingfish in the gulf.

Dan Carter caught his first kingfish at Great Barrier Island and Jerome Kaino scored his at the Moko Hinau Islands. Ali Williams and Tony Woodcock have a good eye for ducks and clay targets and they have caught hundreds of snapper and trout. Richie - well, he excels at everything.

The weather and the fishing will have picked up by mid-November, for they wouldn't want to be in the outdoors at the moment. The weather might be good for pig hunting, as the animals are active when the ground is soft and wet, but it's not much use for anything else.

On the odd day when the surface of the salt water is amenable to boating, the fish are sticking to winter habits. Their metabolism slows in the cold and they close their mouths.

A mate who usually does well with winter gurnard on the Manukau Harbour went out the other day and came home with only two "carrots", as gurnard-lovers label them.

A gurnard tip: he always cooks them with the skin on. They are easy to fillet. Run a knife behind the colourful pectoral fin and down the side to the tail, pressing the blade against the backbone to leave as little flesh as possible on the bone. And watch the spine on the top, behind the head; it can inflict a nasty wound. A gloved holding hand is useful. These fish have scales inside their skin, like eels and john dory, so the outer layer is smooth and crisps nicely in a hot pan. This also retains the layer of fat under the skin which adds to flavour and moisture retention.

But for those suffering fishing deprivation there are snapper at the bottom end of Waiheke Island, and in Whangaparaoa Bay, which is also holding pilchard schools.

That bait will attract fish, and early on a calm morning with a good current running it will be worth casting a half pillie out behind the boat, with a solid trail of berley also flowing steadily to encourage the snapper to investigate.

When fish are lethargic it is important to make it easy for them to become your dinner. Dispense with heavy sinkers and traces. These might work in high summer when fish are biting hard. But more likely to appeal would be a 6/0 hook artfully placed in half a pilchard by pushing the point through the wrist of the tail, twisting it round so the hook can then be forced through the meaty part so it lies snugly against the bait, the sharp bit protruding out the other side with the barb clear and attached directly to the main line, with a small ball sinker sliding up against the bait and allowed to waft around in the current.

Bites may be tentative, so the fish must be allowed to swim away with the bait in its mouth.

The reel can be left in free-spool, or a half-metre of line pulled off a solid drag and held in the spare hand so it can slip out through the fingers with no resistance until it comes up tight and the game is on.

The value of this approach was demonstrated at a fish farm on Kawau Island years ago where snapper and kingfish were kept in tanks and the snapper would compete hungrily for the pilchard chunks thrown in.

But they would not immediately swallow the food and look around for more. Instead they would swim around, holding the chunk in their mouth as if savouring it, before chomping and swallowing.

There is a message for fishing enthusiasts. In shallow water, let the fish run with the bait; in deep water resist the urge to strike at the first bite but allow the fish time to chew on it, or use a long trace so there is plenty of lateral movement.

Freshwater

Fly fishers in the Lake Taupo fishery are smiling after several years of catching small trout in poor condition. The fishery has improved radically, and as one experienced angler noted: "It can take three years for a fishery to deteriorate and another three years for it to bounce back - so it is a six-year cycle." On Lake Rotorua, one spot which fishes well at this time of year is the mouth of the small stream that runs into the lake near the airport. It is called the Waingahae Stream, and on a dark night with a short cast and a floating line it can fish well. Trout congregate on that side of the lake as smelt run through the Ohau Channel from Lake Rotoiti to spawn on the shallow sandy flats along the eastern side of the lake. Trolling with shallow lines and silver or green tobies also works well.

Bite times

Bite times are 11.20am and 11.40pm today, and 12.05pm tomorrow.

Tip of the week

Work the tides. Salt-water angling is all about working the tides. Fishing can be good for an hour either side of low tide, and currents vary between locations. For example, where water is constricted in channels such as inside the Waitemata Harbour, the Manukau and Kaipara Harbours, the small tides will have more manageable currents. Conversely, on the Hauraki Gulf and Firth of Thames, the bigger tides will deliver stronger currents and better fishing.

More fishing action can be found on Outdoors with Geoff, 5pm today, TV3, and at GTTackle.co.nz.