Geoff Thomas: Island reefs fishing well for snapper

Tiritiri Matangi Island. Photo / Supplied

Straylining and casting soft baits are the answer at the moment. Both approaches are catching good snapper, and places like the Ahahaa's, Noises, outside Tiritiri Matangi Island and the reefs around the bottom end of Waiheke Island are all fishing well.

The key is to be there either at first light or dusk with plenty of berley and cast floating baits well back from the boat into the shallows around the rocks.

Soft plastics will also catch fish by working the white water and continually moving to cover new ground, and in the Colville Channel the softies and jigs produced snapper up to 10kg for one group of anglers. They had to move away from the birds and work-ups to escape the kahawai, but found good snapper nearby.

Fish can also be found around Little Barrier Island, Channel Island, Takatu Point and Leigh Reef - in fact, any offshore reef will hold some fish. Some snapper are reported to be in poor condition after late spawning and will need to put on fat before winter really bites and fishing will get harder with shorter bite times.

But there could be another two or three weeks of good action before it slows down.

Tarakihi are moving in from the deep water and can be found by pinpointing pinnacles on the depth sounder in 30 or 40 metres, and fishing on the up-current side. The place to fish is where the rock meets the sand, or on the edge of weed beds. These are the areas fish patrol - rather than fishing on top of a reef or pinnacle.

The 42nd annual International Yellowtail Tournament is being held in the Bay of Islands this weekend. It started in 1969 when a group of Australian fishermen visited the bay to go fishing and the idea for the tournament was born.

Some of the visitors have been coming back every year for 34 years, and this year there are about 40 anglers from across the Tasman.

Flooding in the Bay of Plenty rivers last week washed logs downstream and out to sea where they can be a hazard to boats, and in the Whakatane River the debris was so thick that a log picked up a mooring and washed a 10-metre launch and its mooring out through the bar at the river's entrance.

The launch broke free from the mooring in the heavy seas and was washed into a back eddy about 100 metres from the beach where two men swam out to it, managed to start it even though the cockpit was flooded, pumped it out and drove out to Whale Island where they stayed the night until the seas on the bar had subsided enough to make the journey back into the river.

When conditions allow, the fishing is still good in the Bay of Plenty with snapper on the sand in 20 metres, and flounder and kahawai in the harbour at Ohiwa. A rahui or ban on taking shellfish for the past two years has allowed beds to rebuild and this in turn attracts fish like snapper.

Fish and Game in Rotorua is concerned at a die-off of trout in the Te Wairoa Stream, at Lake Tarawera. Apparently 200 fish were found dead in the stream, which is one of the main spawning tributaries for the lake. It is also the site of the fish trap just upstream from the lake where fish are stripped of eggs to supply the hatchery at Ngongotaha.

The Ngongotaha Stream is reported to be full of fresh-run fish after heavy rain, and as well as the large brown trout which the fishery is renowned for some rainbows up to 3.5kg have been caught in the stream.

This stream has got to be one of the best fisheries in the country, if not the world, as it produces lake-size trout in a small stream. As the main spawning tributary serving both Lakes Rotorua and Rotoiti, the Rotoiti trout migrate through the Ohau Channel - it carries runs of many thousands of mature fish a year. They can be caught on nymphs fished upstream or wet flies fished down the current, and the overhanging branches and submerged logs make challenging fishing. It is no place for delicate, light line.

Another spot which is fishing well is the main beach at the end of Lake Rotoma where spawning trout congregate at this time of year.

Although not as large as those in nearby Lake Rotoiti, the Rotoma trout are in good condition and as this lake has the highest water quality of the Rotorua lakes they make fine eating.

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