Geoff Thomas: Location as important as recipe when berley bombing

Sending the message out to the fish is the key to success at this time of year. That means berley and ground-bait.

Berley is the minced and mashed soup mixture, which can contain anything from waste fish frames and guts to old bait, to grain pellets for bulk to fish oil.

Some people like to make their own berleys, revelling in the smelly mulch that oozes from an old hand-operated mincer or an electric waste disposal unit that is past its days in the kitchen and has found a new home on a bench out the back.

It is a bit like making your own trout flies - the idea of coming up with a secret recipe that will work like dynamite on the fish that nobody else knows about is part of the allure.

But, like all fishing, where the berley or the trout fly is presented in the piscatorial domain is as important as the recipe.

Others are content with commercially produced berleys, and these can range from shellfish-based concoctions to those using salmon or pilchards and bonito. All will work.

The key is to keep a berley sending out the "come here" message in an unbroken stream.

It serves the same purpose as the delightful smells wafting from a coffee shop. It gets the attention of the customers.

But when the water is cool and fish are less active than in summer they need a little more prodding to gain their co-operation, and this is where ground-bait comes in.

It is only applied when fishing the shallows, usually casting out floating baits or stray-lining. The berley attracts the fish, and the ground-bait holds them in the zone.

It usually comprises finely chopped pieces of the bait being used. Pilchards can be sliced into thin chunks, while larger fish is cut into cubes. The objective is to feed the fish but not fill them, so they will still investigate the piece with a hook in it.

The pilchards available at the moment are large specimens and, as small baits are better than half or whole pillies during winter, these can be cut into 2.5cm chunks. A circle hook big enough to fit around behind the backbone will hold the bait securely.

In deep water the ground-bait will disperse down the current before reaching the bottom, but berley is important.

The problem can be securing the berley as a lot of rope may be needed, and there is nothing more troublesome than having coils of light rope all over the deck while hauling it in to check and replace the berley bomb.

One smart solution is to use an electric fence winch such as those employed with long-lines. It can be fitted with a pole to sit in a rod-holder and heavy monofilament with a weight on the end will have less drag in the current than rope.

Replacing berley bombs is easy. Simply use a cable tie to attach a fresh berley to the line, add a small weight, and it will drop down to the bottom. No need to wind it up each time. The other trick is to secure the berley line somewhere up near the bow of the boat so it does not tangle the fishing lines.

This system is working well at 30-40m out in the Hauraki Gulf, and fish can also be found in the shallows around rocks and weed beds, although in smaller numbers.

A small soft bait worked in close in the Rakino Channel produced a magnificent snapper of 11.6kg last week.

Kingfish are still around in good numbers and a 19kg fish was caught on a pilchard bait set for snapper in the Hauraki Gulf last week, while in the Bay of Islands there are good stocks of kings in the 8-9kg range.

The recent yellowtail tournament saw large numbers of fish caught, with the winning team scoring two kings over 20kg on the first day. The points gained using 6kg line gave them an unbeatable lead for the week-long contest. One other team recorded over 60 kings for the week, most of which were released.

In Rotorua there have been no real monster trout reported this winter, but a lot of fish between 5-6kg have turned up at the taxidermist, and these are good trophies in anyone's language.

The new trout season started on July 1, but the bulk of the waters do not open to fishing until October 1.