KEY POINTS:
The tail end of the year is my best time for just mucking around on the water. I like to challenge my crew - maybe "get a feed of scallops, john dory, snapper and a kingfish by the end of the day".
It takes the right weather, luck and knowledge accumulated over the years.
No matter where I'm heading in the boat, I constantly watch my Lowrance 112 combo chart plotter depth sounder. Because no two days on the water are the same check out the Maori or lunar calendars which are very accurate.
Despite the bad days, the fish will always go on the bite at some stage of the tide. Some places will fish better than others so knowing where and when to fish will determine the results.
When the moon phase is all bad the first thing I target is scallops. Using a dredge is a bit like a farmer's plough going through a paddock turning over the soil to expose the worms and bugs. You'll always see the birds following the tractor.
As the dredge is pulled along the seabed the front tines drag the sand, lifting the scallops into the net and exposing worms and crabs which are natural snapper food.
The Lowrance plotter leaves a trail showing where I've been so I can then run the dredge on a parallel course. After we've got our scallop limit I then run back over the dredged area checking if any snapper have turned up.
Having created a natural berley trail, and with fish showing on the sounder, you can now target them with soft baits. These are more effective than conventional baits as the fish are picking at the food and will lash out at a soft bait in aggression rather than hunger.
If conditions are right when I'm soft-bait fishing, I'll drop a Jarvis Walker flasher rig to check for bait fish schools. If we can catch some live bait then later we can target john dory.
On some of my best days we've managed to get enough scallops, snapper and john dory within a few hours then go on the hunt for kingfish which generally will take a bit more time.
With the boat anchored near a headland or reef structure where there's a bit of tide flow, a wobbly pot full of berley just below the surface will get a good berley trail running out astern to attract the bait fish.
With a couple of live baits you can set one out under a balloon around 20 metres off the stern while the other should be set about a metre off the bottom. Then you can kick back and relax - it may take an hour or so for the kingfish to show up, but when your luck is really in you can strike one as you're putting the live bait out.
What it all boils down to is having a go. On the best days the challenge works perfectly and the worst thing that can happen is that you just have a quiet day on the water.
- DETOURS, HoS
