KEY POINTS:
From the Far North to the Hauraki Gulf, the snapper are on the move and feeding in voracious bursts. It's big-fish season, when a giant snapper could strike at any time for a boy on a harbour wharf or for a seasoned boatie fishing the deep channels.
Snapper of 9kg or more are usually wily, but they can be caught off-guard in the confusion of frenzied feeding and breeding which goes on from now on as spawning starts.
So how big can anglers expect? Skipper Eugen de Bruyn started the big-fish season with a roar this week when he drifted a whole kahawai out into the berley trail at the Hen and Chickens and landed a 14kg snapper.
The snapper are spawning in the Far North, but skippers in the Hauraki Gulf this week have reported mainly schools of male fish, which indicates full-on spawning close to Auckland could be at least two weeks away.
The schools of belligerent male snapper arrive in the inner gulf first, the females a little later.
The males are aggressive while they await their more refined company, and will often strike indiscriminately at baits.
"The males might find the pickings a bit lean for a while," says skipper Lance Paniora. "It seems there's only a handful of ladies out there for them at the moment."
Nevertheless, some outstanding fishing is now being reported in the inner gulf.
The fish are there. The problem is finding the ones that are biting. And when they are, the action runs hot for perhaps half an hour and then cold as the fish move on.
At this time of year with the fish on the move - here one day, gone the next - fishers usually have better luck getting on the move themselves, chasing the birds and the surface workups which indicate snapper down below.
Getting the bait right can be critical at this time of year, because if the fish are not feeding indiscriminately then they will be very fussy. For example, Damian Clayton of The Charter Connection, fishing the middle gulf, reported whole pilchards - which are probably the most popular of baits - attracting only nibbles one day but cubes of pilchard and squid proving very successful.
The pilchards "were only getting nipped at and often the bait would come back with bites all around the hook." But the next day "the whole pilchards were getting scoffed as well as the cube baits".
He also said soft plastics "are starting to feature more and more on board and we have had some great results, with the soft baits often getting the bigger fish. They are certainly getting a lot of attention from kahawai".
Many fishermen go by the old adage fresh is best. And not just fresh baits, but big ones. As Bill Hohepa would say, "big baits, big snapper". Whatever, if your bait is not working and you know the fish are there, try a different bait.
If the southwester is not too strong this weekend and luck is on their side, boaties should find good catches particularly around Tiri and in the Tiri Channel. The best fishing has been at the 40m line.
Try also around Rakino Island and anywhere between Rakino and Waiheke.
"There are plenty of fish out there and some bloody good-sized ones among them," says Lance Paniora.
Other anglers have been picking up schooling fish in the Rangitoto Channel off Milford, around Kawau Island, off the tip of Whangaparaoa Peninsula, and the Rangitoto lighthouse could be worth a visit.
But the Tiri Channel is the place to be.
