KEY POINTS:
It's the season for hapuku but the weather and the fish have only just begun co-operating.
The big bottom fish move from really deep water at 600m or more into "shallows" from 200m up to 80m in late winter-early spring to spawn.
Smaller "pups" can be caught in
even shallower water - I've scored them in 20m at the Mokohinau Islands and 6m inside Waitangi Harbour at the Chatham Islands.
You need decent gear: a minimum 25kg rod and reel, but 37kg is better given the fish get to 70kg; a decent harness to clip it to, both so you don't lose it overboard and to aid the fight once a fish is hooked; and tough swivels, trace and hooks because these fish can crush or straighten cheap hooks, bust swivels apart and cut trace on the volcanic holes and caves they like to inhabit.
I use Black Magic. It's designed locally for New Zealand conditions, the hooks are among the sharpest and they don't straighten or shatter.
Rig is a standard ledger or dropper, two loops of about 40cm tied into the trace 50cm apart so they can't tangle each other, with the double threaded through the eye and over the shank of the hook.
Cubes of squid, barracouta or skipjack are good baits. For bigger fish, use live mackerel, then hang on.
The weather has limited opportunities for anglers to get out to the usual hapuku reefs and rises, and the pattern when they have fished these outlying spots from the Bay of Islands to East Cape has been of smaller fish than usual, mostly males.
But those prepared to get out when the wind is not blowing have been rewarded - plenty of 'puku in the usual spots from the Garden Patch off Doubtless Bay, at the Mokohinaus, Miner's Reef off Great Barrier, around the Alderman Islands, White Island in the Bay of Plenty and the Ranfurly Bank off East Cape.
At Whakatane, bad weather has curtailed the hapuku and bass fishing, said Sport Fishing Club manager Kevin McCracken. It has been the same off the Bay of Islands where Geoff Stone on Major Tom II said opportunities were few but those getting offshore were doing well.
Around Auckland the snapper fishing has picked up slowly but it's still hit-and-miss. There appear to be few fish over the sand and weed in deeper water. The better catches are in close to outer islands, including Kawau and Tiri, and the bigger fish are taking short soft plastics. But Eugyn de Bruyn on Sea Genie reported good catches of pan-size snapper up to 45cm around Rangitoto and, on the Takapuna reef and other spots close-in, his customers succeeded with baits.
Berley and patience are required for either method.
At the Bay of Islands, snapper remain slow on the bite, Stone reports. There are kingfish on the reefs around Cape Brett. Tarakihi are being taken at Onslow Rock and Howe Pt but not in big numbers.
* The Hokianga Accord - consisting of recreational and Maori groups pushing the line "more fish in the sea" - met again this week to hear how changing both commercial and recreational fishing methods can preserve fish stocks.
Industry skippers advised on how technology can help to reduce the bycatch and catch of undersize fish. Former commercial fisherman-turned-kite fisher Paul Barnes talked on reducing mortality rates from recreational fishing by changing hook type and in handling.
John Holdsworth of Blue Water Marine Research spoke about the kahawai legal challenge, which awaits an Appeal Court hearing in February. Option4 continues to look for money to fight that battle.
Another may be looming. The Department of Conservation has just called for submissions on its revised plan for a major marine reserve on Great Barrier Island but respondents have only until Monday to get their paperwork in. The Big Game Fishing Council, option4 and other fishing representatives are considering legal action in opposition.
Fishery officers have made some good catches lately. Commercial fishermen Leon Phillip Mikaere, 42, and Kevin Leo Mikaere, 37, were fined $1500 and $1000 respectively plus costs of $330 each after they were found to be using an overly-long net in Tauranga Harbour.
In Wellington, one man was caught with 27kg of shucked paua. Another who was found with 20kg tried to evade officers, hit rocks and had to be rescued. The Ministry of Fisheries seized a Ford Falcon, a Toyota Surf wagon and two fibreglass runabouts and the cases will go to court.