Snapper are just waiting to be caught in Whangarei Harbour

The snapper are queuing up in the Whangarei Harbour, waiting for you!

There is good fishing in most, if not all, the favourite spots in the harbour. Limestone Island is producing snapper over 40cm regularly and some channel and super shallow spots are producing much bigger fish too. Snapper are feeding hard on most baits with blue mackerel, pilchard and squid being most used and mullet starting to fire nicely too. Some areas have no peckers while others are smothered in the blighters.

Lots of small kingies about and you can have a ball with them on softbaits and small stickbaits and poppers. Be alert to the punters not knowing the size limit is 75cm as some people can't get their heads around the fact their beauty 70cm fish has to go back ... "but it's the biggest thing I ever caught!" is a common lament.

Bream Bay has switched on nicely and the debate isn't whether there are fish, but rather whether it's best on baits, or on softbaits and micro jigs (the latter proving to be a knockout form of lure fishing.) Saturday evening was excellent with the fish coming on the bite at dusk and the boats that had hung in there cleaned up on some great snapper off Ruakaka River mouth.

Watching the sea-surface temperatures has been interesting the past two months and that summer blue water is gradually approaching this area. Bream Bay is nice and warm, approaching spawning temp (18C) while the Hen and Chicks remains around 17C.

Hapuka are on the bite out in 100m and our new Ilex free flow squid are the bomb for them. Don't forget the marlin of course. They'll be here soon, if not already.

Kingfish on the pinnacles and off major structure, around the inshore reefs " all over and some decent boys among them too. Live-baits, jigs, poppers and especially stickbaits are all working. The harder you pull, the harder they pull " making kings fantastic game on anything from softbait to heavy jigging gear.

Bronzies in the harbours make for great sport if you know how to keep yourself safe. That's easier said than done and not advisable for beginners. Just bring it in relatively close and cut your line, you'll live a happier and pain free life that way!

There are plenty of gurnard, tarakihi and blue cod in 50m and deeper north of Sail Rock and no doubt elsewhere. The odd 'couta and shark too so using a slightly heavier trace may save on the 'couta losses.

Saying that, I find it's generally only one poor sucker who keeps catching these while all his mates never get hassled " normally me.

The weather is looking up and that means you should remember your ice to prevent spoiling your catch. Nothing worse than catching early and having to go because your fish aren't going to stay fresh.

I kill my snapper and bleed them into a bucket of salt water for a couple of minutes before icing them. They stay pristine that way and I can fish into the dark that way. If anchored up, the odd bucket of blood in the berley trail doesn't hurt either.

Hope to see you out there. Merry Christmas everyone!