Fishing – Gateway to good fishing

Spring has well and truly established itself around the traps. Typically we have quite a few westerlies during this part of the year and often strong. This means we can’t always get out to where we want to fish but there has been plenty of good fishing inshore.

Locally the reefs around the peninsula have been producing catches of snapper, kahawai and the odd kingfish. Try getting right in close and get a good burley trail flowing (wind with tide is best for this) and use either fresh baits caught in situ or any of the selection at TopCatch. Good baits to use with this style of fishing are fresh mackerel and piper if you can catch them or oily bait like pilchard, bonito, mullet, sanma and bullet tuna. The metabolism of fish is a little slower at this time of year because the water temperature is quite cold. This means that they don’t need to feed all day or just plain won’t feed until they are tempted by either a “bite time” or teased into biting by a good burley trail and bait.

When the weather plays ball and its safe enough to venture out a bit deeper we tend to hunt down fish in either current or work ups. This cooler water is favoured by pilchards and anchovies and fish tend to shadow these schools around. Typically October heralds the arrival of the big male snapper (jacks) as they move into traditional spawning areas to set up camp and await the females (hens). If you can’t find a work up, then try fishing a “gateway”.

Gateways, as the name suggests are the openings or channels through which these spring fish move into the spawning areas. Areas like The Firth, Whangaparaoa Bay and South of Whangaparaoa are the first to see these fish in our area and all have good tidal flow that allows easy migration and feeding for the fish. South of Kawau Island in about 35–45m can really be the best fishing the gulf can offer when it comes to snapper fishing during this time. Typically there are loads of bait schools, the male snapper are moving around perhaps setting up territories and carolling the hens, and every fish needs to feed to prepare for the annual spawning.

This is a great time (when the weather allows) to head out armed with soft baits, slow jigs and knife jigs. Unlike bait and burley fishing that is done on the anchor, jig and soft bait fishing is done on the drift so you can cover the ground more and quickly relocate to be under working birds or move back to where you successfully caught fish. Drift fishing with ‘artificials’ can also attract fish to bite aggressively through the action of the jig or softbait and often results in bigger fish too. You don’t necessarily need to see fish or schools of fish on your sounder when drift fishing either as these spring fish are pretty mobile and move around a fair bit until they form into schools.

I do find fishing where there is some current is  better than out of the current and that’s why south of Kawau is so good. The current gets sped up or squeezed between the island and Flat Rock and spills into the bay. Any areas like this should produce fish in the spring so long as they are in the aforementioned spawning areas.

As always, only take what you actually need and safely return any small or unwanted fish back to the ocean. Handle the fish carefully and with respect so we can all enjoy our bountiful seafood in the future.

Speaking of seafood, I can tell you the scallops this season are in good condition and very tasty. Bon appétit!