Water temperature is the key to fishing and there are still snapper to be found around Auckland, but only in patches and the best way to find fish is to look for changes in the temperature of the water.
Good bags of snapper are still coming from the pins between Motuihe and Browns Islands; plenty of berley is the key. Casting floating baits down a berley trail into weed-covered, rocky terrain has also been bringing results in close to shore from the Takapuna cliffs to Castor Bay and around the Noises, the David Rocks and the Ahaahas.
Anglers using soft baits and drifting the channels between the small islands and rocks are also picking up fish, and the small grub-type tails up to size 5/0 in orange-brown colours are proving successful. One theory is that the snapper are feeding on small crayfish and this lure makes a reasonable imitation.
On the northern side of Rangitoto Island the story is the same, but you have to be out early as it is all over by 8am. Large schools of kahawai and mackerel are common throughout the Hauraki Gulf at the moment, and the fish are easily hooked on small lures or soft baits cast at the edge.
Avoid driving boats through the activity as it will put the fish down. Casting soft plastics into the shallows and around rocks and reefs should improve as winter takes hold, particularly at the edge of large structures like Kawau Island, Takatu Point, the bottom of Waiheke Island and at the Moko Hinau group, Little Barrier Island, Great Barrier Island, and the Mercury group.
At Little Barrier, Great Barrier and Horn Rock straylining hard against the weed line or the rocks has produced good fish when the tide turns in the early morning. But metal jigs and slow jigs have also been producing, as well as large fresh baits like a strip of kahawai or mackerel.
The large schools of snapper are moving out into deeper water, and there are good numbers of fish in 55m between Horn Rock and Little Barrier.
Fishing generally has been reasonable at times in Kawau Bay all the way to Mahurangi and at the bottom end of Waiheke on the northern side of Shag Rock and Gannet Rock out to 50m deep. Snapper and big trevally are being caught off the wharf at Whitianga, and fishing has also been good up the river.
Fishing has also been good in the western Bay of Plenty with snapper and trevally prevalent and good-sized kingfish prowling the edges of the deeper reef structures.
Sail Rock has been fishing well on an incoming tide, and the deep foul out from Kennedy Bay fished well by day with the drop-offs close to shore producing at dawn and dusk.
Out of Whakatane a lot of good snapper are coming from foul in 15-30m. Trevally can be targeted with berley and soft baits like shellfish or cubes of pilchard on small recurved hooks.
The Manukau Harbour has been patchy, with limit bags of snapper one day, and few fish the next. But the better fishing is still out off the west coast with some game fishing still hanging around. A blue marlin of 254kg was caught off Ahipara, Ninety Mile Beach, last week.
Tip of the week
Soft bait tackle with braid line can be used for light tackle harbour fishing. The baits are easily cast, and a short trace of 4kg monofilament can be added on the end of the braid.
It should be no longer than the rod, or it becomes awkward when casting. A 5/0 or 6/0 single hook with a quarter-ounce ball sinker running down hard against the hook completes the terminal tackle.
When a bite is felt the fish should be allowed to run with the bait, as snapper will mouth the bait and move away with it in their mouth before swallowing it. So fish with the drag on the reel set lightly, then wait until the fish runs steadily and tighten the drag and wind the reel to set the hook.
Fishing with Tom Vea is easy. Just visit marlinqueen.co.ck.
Bite times
Bite times are 4.05am and 4.30pm tomorrow, and 4.55am and 5.20pm on Sunday.