KEY POINTS:
Everyone knows the southeast wind is a killer. Everyone knows it's hard fishing on the full moon in the middle of the day.
So why would you try it? To show it can be done, of course, for the challenge.
So it was that despite all forecasts being against us we left Westhaven last Wednesday with some expert anglers on board - including Tiny Coe, whose Synit specialist soft baiting rods are becoming very popular, and NZ Fishing World writer John Moran - and with former commercial fisherman Alan Viskovich as skipper on Cobalt Charters.
The idea was soft plastics in deep water, 30m and more. We tried various patches of foul all over the northern Hauraki Gulf, sunken barges and fishing trawlers, succeeding in only hooking a mast. After much perseverance for absolutely nothing, not even a rock cod, we decided to just get some fish and moved in to D'Urville Rock, then Caruso, Motuihe Channel, using baits and all forms of rigs. Nothing.
The total legal catch of the day was one john dory foul-hooked by Warrior Louis Anderson - he and his brother Fraser of the Sharks wanted lessons in soft plastics but we didn't even get to tie a knot - and one scallop that latched on to my pilchard. We had one small scorpion fish, three undersize blue cod plus five undersize snapper.
Talk about hard fishing. Viskovich knows his stuff and has been working the Gulf for years. He's worried because days like this at this time of year are becoming more frequent, he said. The fishing was good until June and has been dead since. He's cancelled many trips when conditions were unfavourable, he said, because he's embarrassed and disappointed when it happens to paying customers.
In past years, he said, if you persisted as we did over 12 hours you could count on at least a half-hour of aggressive bite-time in which people would get some big fish and some would get a limit.
The water is still too cold to bring the spawning schools in. The best snapper fishing has been in close, around Auckland and Coromandel and up north in the Bay of Islands. Use berley to bring them on the bite. Even in the Bay, the water was just above 15C this week after the southerly blow.
Bay of Islands charter skipper Geoff Stone on Major Tom II is concerned at the lack of hapuku this winter. They have not been in their usual numbers on the usual marks.
Some good catches have been made by anglers with better-sounding gear who can find pimples of rock and the 'puku seem to be more dispersed than in previous years. Stone suggests the regular rocks have been hammered and asks whether its time for a cut in limit from five a day to two - he says that's what most Bay charter operators encourage their clients to follow anyway.
Whitebait runs have encouraged great kahawai fishing for anglers surfcasting the rivermouths of the east and west coasts. They are also bringing more kahawai into the West Coast harbours. Most gurnard will move out soon as temperature rises so take advantage of early morning outgoing tides on the channel edges.
Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton is to be applauded for his cuts to commercial quota - as he pointed out and a fact that escaped comprehension when the story broke, in some cases industry is unable now to catch the quota because the fish is not there.
Hoki, orange roughy and other fisheries have been hammered without reference to proper and accurate stock assessments. It is reminiscent of the Chatham Island crayfish boom and bust.
The fact is, some pain for the industry now ensures fish forever for everyone. Perhaps it's time to consider higher-value processing of product like kahawai rather than selling it cheap to West Australia for cray bait.
Fish & Game aims to show people its job as well as increase anglers' chance of a catch during its open day at Ngongotaha tomorrow, timed to coincide opening day of the new season on Monday.
Senior Fish & Game officer Rob Pitkethley will run a series of guided tours explaining the management of the fishery as well as key issues and how they are being addressed.
"Fish & Game is a user-funded organisation so it is good to show anglers how their money is being spent," said manager Steve Smith.
"Anglers are usually genuinely interested in how the fishery operates and seem to enjoy their fishing more as a consequence of understanding how it works."
Tours of the hatchery on Paradise Valley Rd off SH 5 start at 9am and continue through the morning. A children's day for 4-to-12-year-olds runs from 9.30am to 12.20pm. The Rotorua Anglers Association is running a fly-tying demonstration and there are fly catching and boat fishing advisers as well as chef Peter Peeti on how to cook your catch.
