Fishing: Scallop prospects looking good

Scallop season opens today, with the shellfish said to be in good numbers and good condition on the east coast, while those on the west need more time to firm up.

The season runs until February 14 but already reports from the Ministry of Fisheries, divers and commercial sampling suggests this year's season will be as productive as was 2005, which was the best for years.

There is no sign of the "black gill disease" of 1999 and 2000. The beds off Northland and the Coromandel are said to be in good condition and, as far south as Queen Charlotte Bay, there are reports of an increase in shellfish numbers.

Recruitment of juveniles to the adult population has been high because of favourable sea conditions. For amateurs, shell size must be 100mm or more across the widest part - and there is a daily bag limit of 20 per person. The penalty for excess take ranges up to a fine of $20,000 and can include the forfeiture of boats and cars used to take the illegal catch.

There are some changes to regulations this season, mostly as a result of negotiation with recreational groups and to common sense being applied by the Fisheries Ministry.

For the first time, divers can take two extra quotas of 20 shellfish for two nominated safety people on the boat. Not only does that improve safety but it brings the rules into line with those in relation to dredging, where anyone involved in hauling the dredge can claim a daily limit.

And also for the first time, scallops can be shucked and eaten on a boat. But they must still come from the daily bag limit. The ministry is urging restraint and compliance in order to preserve stocks.

Further common sense would see the west coast closed for another couple of months until the scallops there are worth taking because of damage done by dredges.

* Ministry officials meet Maori and recreational fishing groups for another hui on fisheries management under the banner "More Fish In The Sea", on Thursday and Friday at Naumai marae, near Ruawai.

* Off Auckland's east coast the fishing has been patchy but good when possible. Thankfully the cold winds have abated and some anglers have been doing well either straylining in close to rocks in shallow water, or at the 40 metre mark with ledger rigs.

When the easterlies blew briefly last weekend, many fishers got off the west coast, with snapper to 10kg in the deeper water from 40m to 60m. Closer in, many fishers quickly got a limit bag of fish in the 3kg to 7kg range using ledger rigs with big baits of mullet or barracouta.

There were few gurnard offshore and Manukau Harbour expert John Moran reports that they all appear to be inside, with one fish weighing just under 2kg. Flasher rigs with small cubes of skipjack are the go. Or try soft baits, particularly the mullet type, which resemble local cockabullies, or the Berkeley "Gulp" crabs.

One old Manukau hand who uses netted mullet as bait was surprised this week when he nailed four snapper in the 5kg to 7kg range right up the Papakura Channel, Moran said.

The best report this week came from Tony Fox, manager of the Mercury Bay Gamefishing Club. He agreed the scallop beds were in good nick and also told of multiple 10kg snapper caught in 15m to 20m around the Mercury Islands and the Bay coastline. The easterly blow stirred the bottom and provided food and both land-based and boat fishers were scoring, he said.

He told of one trip where 15 snapper were landed from 20 baits, none of them under 3kg.

The land-based anglers are doing better around dusk. Boaties are scoring when there is current running, regardless of time of day. Barracouta is good bait.

John dory have been thick, and some wily locals who know where to look have been picking up one or two a day from the shallows as tides drop.