Fishing – Lean pickings

Who would have thought we would still be chipping away at the longest lockdown Auckland and New Zealand have experienced? There was very little fishing activity under Level 3 as anglers were restricted to beach fishing only.

Even the rocks were taboo. Thankfully, we have been given some reprieve as Level 3 has been modified to allow not only rock fishing, but also boating. 

We all thought that the fish must be really hungry as they had not been fed any bait for almost two months during lockdown, but at the time of writing this column, just after the Level 3 rule change, the fishing has been slow. Reports of good snapper being caught off the east coast have been patchy and no kingfish either. We have, however, had reports of good snapper hauls from both the Mahurangi and Kaipara Harbours. But the water still seems to be too cold for the large schools of snapper to be congregating in deeper waters of 30 to 50 metres. The good news is that anytime now these large schools of snapper will be getting ready for their annual spawning, which seems to hit its peak in November and occurs in these deeper waters anytime from October. 

Since being allowed on the rocks, some youngsters have targeted squid. Good catches of squid have been reported and nothing can beat a fresh plate of calamari. As squid are ambush hunters, they like to hide in the kelp and rock crevices from where they can pounce on any unsuspecting prey swimming past. To give squid fishing a go, simply use a softbait rod and reel and attach a squid jig. Find some rocks and kelp and give it a shot by casting your squid jig along the rock line or weed line. If you find that you enjoy it, you can go out and purchase a squid rod and reel combo. Jigs range from under $10 up to around the $30 mark.