Geoff Thomas: Best fishing after summer exodus

Traffic is backed up as people make their way out of Auckland for the holidays. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The holiday season is under way and there will be people heading out on to the water looking for fish all around the coast from Wellington to North Cape. But the influx of boat traffic will have an impact on the fishing in those places where snapper are the main quarry. The reason is that they are shy fish and are easily spooked by noise, which travels through the water as vibrations and can be detected by fish through their sensitive organs at huge distances.

And there is plenty of noise, with people on jet skis and waterskis and toys like wakeboards and sea-biscuits. That is what summer holidays are all about - plenty of sun cream, picnics on the beach with the sand in sandwiches even more pronounced and kids swimming.

But what about catching fish?

Well, in Auckland it is not a problem; the fishing just gets better and the comment is often made to those heading off to Omaha, the Bay of Islands, Whitianga, Pauanui or Matarangi: "You are driving away from the best fishing in the country."

It is one of those strange paradoxes that the snapper fishing and the kingfish fishing are some of the best in the country in mid-summer and it just gets better after Christmas. There are already kingfish in good numbers around Waiheke Island, on the reef at Crusoe Rock and at The Noises, and they can be targeted with live baits dropped to the bottom or fixed under a balloon. Slow trolling with a kahawai hooked through the upper lip is also a good approach. There is no shortage of big bronze whaler sharks to make life more interesting when they attack your kahawai or hooked kingfish, particularly at Crusoe.

Motuihe Channel will be full of fish and, on every tide, more will move in. There will be snapper up the harbour and right through the Tamaki Strait. The Rakino Channel and the worm beds will be full of fish and everybody will catch something.

But people in the holiday destinations will bemoan the lack of fish, vowing not to return in future until late January when the traffic eases.

There are some solutions. The smart money will go on those prepared to get out of bed early. Fish will still move in to feed during the night and fishing at night is always an option. Otherwise, be on the water with baits out at the first hint of dawn softening the sky.

Give the youngsters the pleasant task of catching a bunch of sprats or yellowtail off the local wharf. If they can snare a piper or two, so much the better. And there is always the chance of hooking a delectable john dory on a live bait anchored to a ledger rig at the same time, particularly in places like Whangamata, Whitianga, Russell and Mangonui. Then use the results for fresh bait. There is nothing wrong with putting out a long-line when first heading out at dawn and picking it up a couple of hours later. That will be the best chance of scoring a meal of fresh fillets, for the baits on a set line lie quietly on the sea floor, undisturbed by boat noise, anchors dropping and chains rattling.

The long-line is best baited with small chunks of sprat or yellowtail, which will deter the crabs and small fish that quickly pick off soft baits. Also, the large snapper prefer such baits, so the catch will include some respectable specimens which will earn large dollops of envy back at the boat ramp as others return fishless.

There is always the option of dragging a bait net in the shallows and early morning is also a good time for this if it coincides with a full tide. It is also a lot of fun for the family, who were probably planning on having a swim anyway.

The other approach to increase the odds of scoring a bag of fish is to downsize the gear used. Leave the heavy-duty, thick rods teamed with large reels and powerful line in the garage. That is fine for dropping big weights and baits in 100-plus metres of water, but closer to home it is overkill. More fish will always be hooked on slender rods, fine line and small weights, and it is far more fun handling a stroppy fish on such tackle.

Trout anglers will discover that they can catch more fish when they come across a school of kahawai or trevally bunched up on the surface with small, white terns fluttering and squeaking overhead. These fish are feeding on plankton, krill or tiny fish, and a trout fly like a size-10 Grey Ghost or a tiny pink or grey nymph cast into the melee will provoke endless strikes while other boats troll back and forth as they drag flashing spinners or green plastic kahawai lures to no avail.

It is what the trout aficionados call "matching the hatch". You are giving the fish something akin to what they are eating and they will respond accordingly. Then the kahawai can be used for fresh snapper bait, scaled and skinned, kept for the long-line, or split and dosed with brown sugar and salt and popped into the smoker. It is pretty hard to beat when served with fresh bread and a cold beer at the end of the day.

* More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 5pm tonight on TV3, and on the internet television channel www.FishnHunt.Tv