So with a berley pot suspended 3m above the sea bed he showed his guests how he likes to fix a 7/0 hook through the eyes of a whole blue mackerel, another smaller hook through the back just ahead of the tail then loops a half hitch around the tail with a small ball sinker firmly secured to the loop.
With the bait cast well out from the stern, Greeny helped George rig up a whole pilchard which he dropped over the side. Meanwhile, Peter was standing on the duck board when his rod bent sharply as his first bait was grabbed.
A huge snapper wallowed on the surface where Greeny expertly slipped the net under its head and swung it aboard. "That will go five or six kilos!" he judged. The decision to risk all or nothing paid off handsomely. It was 8.30 in the morning and the team was looking good.
Fishing continued slowly, with half a dozen eating-sized snapper joining the big one on ice and others returned to the water. At mid-morning Greeny motored over to Crusoe Rock where our attention turned to catching live bait for kingfish. His favourite bait is live piper, and with berley streaming down the current in the shallows by a large patch of brown kelp his secret baits were cast out. These are live maggots which he breeds for bait, with two or three maggots fixed to tiny hooks imported from England for coarse fishing. When set under a slim float made from a feather's quill, they are deadly on piper.
But on this day the piper were scarce and we had only a dozen swimming round in the live bait tank when it was time to head to the edge of the reef where the live baits are dropped to the bottom in 5m of water. The best time for kings is low tide and the incoming tide was already running long the edge of the reef when we set the first baits. One rod suddenly took off and it looked as if we might have a double on prizes, until a large kahawai broke the surface. With the live baits all used and two kahawai in the box with the six snapper it was time to head for Motuihe Island where the prizegiving was held.
This contest is a smart one, with few fish actually taken because there is only one prize in each category - snapper, kingfish, kahawai and trevally. The leading snapper was 4.1kg when Pete's fish went on the scales. "Six point two," said the weighmaster. Greeny had done it again, but with a snapper instead of a kingfish.
Reports indicate there are good numbers of snapper in close around Auckland, with fishing best done from small craft like jet skis, kayaks or dinghies in shallow water on the Clevedon Flats, in the Panmure Estuary and up the Waitemata Harbour, and at Hooks Bay on Waiheke Island.
The Firth of Thames is holding plenty of fish also, and there is a large concentration of good-sized snapper three nautical miles southwest of the Coromandel barges.
Freshwater
The second of two men convicted of large-scale poaching of trout in the Rotorua district has been remanded for sentencing next month. David Pake Leef, 36, and Thomas Tawha, 42, were arrested after failing to appear in the Rotorua District Court for sentencing on charges of taking up to 60 trout from a spawning stream near Lake Rotoiti last year. Fish and Game described the offences as one of the worst cases in over a decade.
Bite times
Bite times are 7.50am and 8.15pm tomorrow, and 8.40am and 9.05pm on Sunday.
Tip of the week
Big snapper can be targeted around reef structures, where current is more important than depth. Plenty of berley and large floating baits like whole mackerel, pilchards or fillets of fresh kahawai are the key.
More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 5pm Saturday, TV3, and at GTTackle.co.nz.
