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With summer sitting right on our doorstep and the fishing being red hot at the moment I thought I would pen a few tips and tricks to get the season started.
Fish the “bite times”. There is a bit of lunar science to apply here but basically there are four bite times during our 24 hour day. These are: moonrise and moonset and when the moon is above or below you. Check your lunar tables or see TopCatch at Whangaparaoa as they have this information displayed daily outside the store along with weather, tidal and fishing information.
Think small baits and lures when the fish are spawning. They often don’t want to scoff down a large bait when they are in this mode and at times will swim right past a bait. This is when soft baits and lures come into their own.
Snapper are aggressive and will “snap” at a moving jig, lure or soft bait just because it is in its territory. Choose a variety of colours and styles too as often it will be just one colour or style that that will catch them. Try a bright day-bright colours and conversely dull day-dull colours practice.
Think stealth. Go lighter in your leaders, smaller in your jig heads, slow the drift down where you know there are fish holding and try different areas away from traffic. Dusk also seems to produce, during the Golden Hour at sunset, and it’s a great time to be cooling off after a busy summer day.
Once you have caught your fish it’s critical to chill them down as best you can. Ideally a 50/50 mix of seawater and salt ice is the perfect way to keep the catch fresh and tasty. Not only that, it will last longer when refrigerated so you can enjoy it for a few days.
The old rule still applies on a tough day though. If someone is catching all the fish…copy them!
Stay safe on the water.
Damian, known to all as Damo, says he has been fishing since he was ‘in nappies’. He loves it so much it became a career in commercial fishing and for the past 20 years charter fishing. Damo recently retired from chartering and now manages the Top Catch store at Whangaparaoa. He has been a Rodney resident for more than 30 years and fishes its coast regularly, keeping his fishy fingers on the pulse.
