KEY POINTS:
The season turned the corner this week after the last blast of the spring sou'westers that had restricted fishing around Auckland for the past fortnight.
The action has picked up in the inner Hauraki Gulf in the past three days as the southwesterlies have lost force and are expected to die out next week ... touch wood.
We asked Auckland fishing experts who have contributed information to this column in the past year where they'll be fishing until the new year.
Television personality Geoff Thomas says he won't be going far because anglers and boaties leave Auckland in droves at this time of year "and they're driving away from the best fishing".
He'll be heading for the Motuihe Channel, where the action started this week, and he will use the standard ledger rig, with teardrop sinker on a loop for easy replacement, and two baits of pilchard and squid. He'll work the tides, picking the biggest one and switching to heavier sinkers to keep the rig on the bottom as the incoming current grows stronger.
Skipper Allan Merrett, from RnR Charters, who fishes at the Mokohinau Islands in the outer gulf, recently struck a good patch "where the fishing got better and better over five days", and they landed kingfish, john dory, hapuka, snapper up to 10kg and a magnificent trevally of 8kg.
He recommends fishers try this area, which is between Simpsons Rock and Fannel Island, during Christmas week and fish in the flats just off the foul ground in 60m to 70m.
Fish there have been taking baits on the drop.
Experienced skipper John Moran says the spring turned the corner last Monday, the snapper have been coming around in big numbers and the Firth of Thames has started to fish well.
He will be heading for the shallows (about 4m) at Kawakawa Bay and the Clevedon River mouth in his 14-footer, but he says these spots can easily be enjoyed fishing from a dinghy or kayak.
"I'll be popping out before dawn, berley up, use light tackle and sit back and wait for the hits."
Sea Genie skipper Eugen de Bruyn has had very satisfying fishing in the past few days off North Head, along the East Coast Bays and up towards Tiri.
It appears that fishing in the Rangitoto Channel is picking up rapidly after a lull.
Between Christmas and New Year he'll be cruising the East Coast Bays, around A Buoy and off Narrow Neck, using long traces and circle hooks.
"The East Coast Bays have been very fishable. There are pockets of snapper all along that coast."
Lee Wynard of My Mistress has been boating a few snapper of 7kg lately and expects good fishing during Christmas week now that the winds appear to be easing.
He will be heading for Durville Rock behind Waiheke Island, where he will drift slowly, using small baits of cut pilchards on a flasher rig.
"It's a small area, and you should get some nice snapper there."
Lance Paniora, charter skipper of Smokin Reels, expects much better catches next week.
"We need some gentle northerlies to bring the warm currents down to the gulf and step up the action."
For Christmas week he expects to be returning to the "sweet spots" where's he's done well lately: south of Matiatia Bay on the western side of Waiheke, and in the Motuihe Channel.
The consensus is that Aucklanders should get some great fishing in the next three weeks, winds permitting.
The gulf is often less crowded and fishes better at this time, while the action in the Bay of Islands and Far North drops way with the holiday crowds and constant boat traffic, which tend to put the fish down.
As Geoff Thomas suggests, if you're going fishing, there's no point in driving away from the best of it.
