Fishing: A salted bonito and you're away

Snapper up to 2.5kg have been caught in October or November off the wharf that used to serve kauri cullers and the early settlers.

Turn off Scenic Drive after Titirangi and follow the sign off Huia Rd.

Cornwallis Wharf was to have been removed but a fundraising appeal that included local families buying bronze plaques that are screwed to individual planks saw it rebuilt as a valuable community asset.

There is baitfish school aplenty on the Point side of the wharf as the tide recedes and kahawai will round them up. The flash of their backs and the resulting flutter through the school is enough to get the adrenalin running in kids from six to 60. Kingfish have also been caught here.

Trevally and kahawai are regular catches. A pink flasher rig with salted bonito cubes on recurve hooks hurled from the end of the wharf towards the channel will produce the odd gurnard.

Best fished is from the half-tide on the incoming tide until about two hours after high. Most baits work but pickers will deal to pilchards very quickly, squid is erratic. Fresh mullet is the standard.

Avoid a southerly or sou'west wind, which puts the fish off the bite.

Sabiki flasher rigs will catch the baitfish. If they're not biting, not much else will be either.

A float with trace of 1kg and tiny hook with a piece of baitfish skin or flour dough attached will get piper. Sometimes, this is the best way of getting dinner.

The piper off the Cornwallis wharf, bill and all, can be up to the length of a computer keyboard - enough to impress the most hardened Play Station addict. See the Edmonds Cookbook for simple recipes.

The conventional running rig or a ledger rig is best for bigger fish.

On the south side of the harbour, Orua Bay is a good spot to target gurnard at low tide, provided you don't mind getting wet.

Fish at either end of the bay approaching low tide. The water is shallow for a long way out and you must wade out and cast out as far as possible. Pink flasher rigs with 3/0 hooks and a shellfish or salted bonito cube to sweeten them, with a two ounce sinker, is best.

The area next to the Matakawau wharf and boat ramp offers a large area of rock ledge, with easy access from the carpark. This area fishes well only for two hours either side of high tide and boat traffic can deter the fish.

Kahawai are common here but gurnard is the usual catch. Manukau Harbour "gurnard guru" John Moran recommends using skipjack bonito as bait on a ledger rig with 3/0 recurve hooks. Cast out as far as possible.

* Peter Jessup is a Herald sports reporter and fishing columnist