Fishing: Action is warming up for winter

Sea and inland fishing remains hot, with good catches in good condition as the fish feed up for winter and before spawning.

Rock and beach fishing have been productive along the east coast, with snapper in close. Boaties who have fished the shallows around the Hauraki Gulf islands have done better than those going further afield and that is repeated around the Bay of Plenty and Northland.

Use as little weight as possible to get to the bottom, none if fishing less than 4 metres, and that is often where the fish are. A two-hook rig and whole pilchard is the best bait, though many anglers have been reporting success with soft baits.

At Rotorua, catch rates and size of fish are the best they have been in several years. The trap on the Te Wairoa Stream has caught in excess of 900 trout this season compared with 490 at the same time last year.

Senior Fish and Game officer Rob Pitkethley said it was clear that winter fishing would be "something special".

The biggest fish caught so far is a 4.2kg female and more than 15 per cent of the fish taken are over 3.3kg. The average of 2.33kg is heaviest for the past four seasons.

Large fish continue to migrate from Lake Rotoiti and the catch rate and size of fish is up, too. Fish and Game's Steve Smith said many rainbows being weighed in were topping 4kg and the best was 4.8kg.

The big trout will continue to fall to fly-fishers through June and July, by which time spawning will decrease their size.

* The Boat Show last weekend again offered little in terms of innovative gear for the fisherman. It seems the big companies do not want to exhibit new gear and so the fishing side of the show becomes a retailers' run-out, often at prices you'd get in the shops.

One of the few "new" devices on display was a Bait Stik, which allows small sabiki flies to be drawn inside a hollow and enlarged rod tip.

The advantage is that the bait flies can be dropped quickly without wasting set-up time and that tangles are reduced when fishing and transporting the rod. A two-piece is available with reel and flies costing about $160.

* option4 has been forced to seek an adjournment of its case asking the High Court to enforce a Minister of Fisheries review of the quota management of kahawai.

The amateur groups united by Option4 had until June 6 to prepare affidavits. Because they had not received the ministry information this week the new deadline is the end of the month.

Donations had all but dried up but costs continue to spiral, option4 said.