Fishing – Getting ready for gurnard

As the temperature drops in our harbour and offshore waters it introduces species other than snapper into our target list. One of my all-time favourites is the red gurnard. With the right tackle it can be fun to catch and is recognised as one of the best eating specimens in our fishery.

In the wider Mangawhai region, we are blessed with access to two coasts and several harbours with the Kaipara acknowledged as one of the most prolific gurnard fisheries in the North Island. While gurnard, colloquially known as ‘carrots’ due to their right red/orange colour – or ‘grunters’ thanks to the noise they make out of the water – make for superb table fair with many preferring them over the more readily available snapper.

The gurnard season is at its best mid-winter as the species start to aggregate for spawning. While it can be a little chilly at this time of the year and the weather windows shorter, the rewards are there.

There are a few tips and tricks that will make a gurnard mission all that much more rewarding. The humble ledger rig in a great start with tackle manufacturers such as Black Magic having pretied rigs like their Gurnard Grabber available off the shelf if you don’t want to tie your own. I have a couple of adaptations to the above.

The addition of a short length (50cm of 30lb mono) tied to the sinker end and a 3/0 recurve hook on the other is one. This short trace allows the bait to swing along the bottom with the current. Gurnard feed by feeling their way along a murky bottom, hoovering up shellfish, crabs, and shrimps.

The other adaptation is to tie a running sinker (the weight dependant on the current you are fishing, 4-6 ounces should be good) on the mainline above the ledger rig, with a much lighter weight on the other end – an ounce is plenty. Like the first rig, this allows the bait to move around a little in the current.

Gurnard like plenty of bling so feel free to add a lumo bead or two to your terminal tackle. Small strip baits of salted skipjack, mullet, pilchard cubes, shellfish (lightly steamed open pipi and tuatua), and fresh kahawai or trevally work well. The one bait that doesn’t seem to work well is squid. Mussel and salmon berley run near the bottom will enhance your catch rate.

For tackle I like a light softbait outfit loaded with 12-15lb braid. It is quieter and less water resistant in the current. Look for channel edges where there is a decent tidal flow.