Geoff Thomas: Cold and dark pays off when early bird catches fish

Geoff Thomas and catch ... one for the brag book. Photo / Geoff Thomas

A cold, early start will bring good results for keen snapper anglers as the Indian summer hangs on. The foul between Browns and Motuihe Islands and the Devonport edge of the Rangitoto Channel are still holding fish; but it is case of being on the water at first light.

And in the Manukau Harbour gurnard and kingfish are the flavour of the day. The "carrots" have turned up in good numbers and sizes, and some snapper are still hanging on in the harbour. But kingfish are providing good action, with one angler hooking eight on live baits and boating four large fish.

Similar stories are coming from the Kawakawa Bay area where there are good numbers of fish in the shallows all the way from Clevedon to Orere Pt. Again, an early start is wise with large amounts of berley and lightly weighted baits cast well back from the boat. The same approach is working along the foreshore of Rangitoto, which is the usual winter style of fishing. In fact it is worth checking all reefs and small islands, fishing the channels in between the weed and rocks. The smart fishermen will dispense with a trace and tie the hook or hooks directly to the main line of 8kg breaking strain, and it is a good idea to tie a double on the end.

This technique does rely on working the tides, preferably an incoming tide with the boat positioned to fish down the current as it flows in to the shallows. The upper Waitemata Harbour is also still producing fish, drifting with baits or soft plastics in 3m to 6m.

Fishing is even better further out in the Hauraki Gulf as the bulk of the snapper schools work their way north and east into deep water where temperatures do not cool as quickly as in the shallows.

For example, the fishing all around Little Barrier Island is as good as it gets. Snapper up to 5kg can be found in 45m by looking for rubble on the bottom or a contour line on the chart and drifting and bottom bouncing with baits or lures, or by finding birds. When coming across surface activity it is then a question of locating the fish underneath, and the best way is to check the direction of the current and then fish down current from the birds. Straylining into the shallows will produce fewer fish, but larger specimens of both trevally and snapper.

In deep water kingfish and hapuku are moving out, and school sharks are turning up as they prepare to spawn.

In the Bay of Plenty kingfish are moving away from the reefs around White Island as they disperse for the winter, and are not expected back at White in numbers until November. Water temperatures are running at around 17C and while game fish will have gone, anglers are looking forward to the winter runs of albacore tuna to turn up.

Snapper are spread out over the sand in water up to 40m and the same applies in the Bay of Islands. But kingfish will continue to run throughout the winter in the northern bay and outside, and those dropping live baits in 70m are hooking kings and good snapper. A small baited hook above the livie will pick up tarakihi also, although the occasional hapuku takes a fancy to the tiny bait and stretches the tackle to its limit.

Recent heavy rain and a changing barometer put a smile on the faces of fly fishers in Rotorua and Taupo. Whether in fresh or salt water all fish become more active as the barometer moves up or down, and the shoreline fly fishing received a boost with last weekend's stormy weather. All of the popular spots from Ruato to Hinehopu on Lake Rotoiti were busy, with trout up to 6kg reported. There was also a run of fish through the Ohau Channel with trout up to 4kg caught.

Lake Okataina continues to fish well, both on the beach and down the lake, and a lovely 5.5kg rainbow jack in bright spawning colours was caught deep trolling off Raynors. Fly fishing from an anchored boat over the drop-off with booby flies in koura imitations is one of the best methods during the day.

The rain also triggered large runs of spawning trout through the trap on the Te Wairoa Stream on Lake Tarawera, and where 30 fish a day were being recorded the run jumped to 130 a day last week.