Lesson on snapper for old school team

The group brought back a brimming fish bin, but the biggest catch was released. Photo / Geoff Thomas

Winning bid leads to an exciting day on the water with big prizes

Agroup of Auckland fishermen recently got a lesson in how to find and catch snapper. The occasion was an outing auctioned to raise money for St Kentigern College; the winners, a dozen old collegiates, boarded the charter boat SeaHawk at Z Pier in Westhaven with high hopes.

Skipper Len pointed the bow towards Tiritiri Matangi Island, which is where the tri-hull had been going for the past few weeks as it is where the snapper have been congregating, as they feed vigorously before facing the rigours of spawning.

An hour later the rocky foreshore on the tip of Whangaparaoa Peninsula slipped past the starboard window and the native bird sanctuary on the island of Tiri was left behind on the other side. Len took more interest in the screen on the dashboard as he looked for the slim, pointed marks spearing up from the seabed.

Motuora loomed larger as Len started turning the wheel. More marks appeared on the bright screen. and the depth marker jumped from 86ft to 90. It seems common among fishermen with grey hair that the depth sounder is set in feet, not metres, and fish are discussed in pounds, not kilos. Yet rod and line comparisons are in metrics, sinkers are labelled in ounces and fish are measured in centimetres.

There is a common theme hidden here and on reflection it is clear - the propensity for exaggeration from which anglers have suffered since Izaak Walton penned The Compleat Angler in 1653 is alive and strong.

A 20lb snapper sounds so much more impressive than one of 9.1kg, but 78cm sounds like a bigger monster than 42in.

After 10 minutes of searching Len was satisfied and the chain rattled over the bow as the heavy anchor pulled it down.

He then showed how he pushes a chunk of pilchard up into the gape of the circle hook and revolves the hook so the point slides under the backbone of the bait.

With two hooks baited he let the line slip under his finger on the edge of the spool of the large spin reel as the sinker pulled it rapidly down.

"Do you use berley?" asked Harold. "We create our own berley," said Len.

Fourteen rods each sending two chunks dripping pilchard blood, juices and guts every few minutes to the bottom create a perfect storm of berley. Soon rods were bending, shouts were becoming louder and snapper were coming over the side.

In this situation competition is inevitable and each fish was measured.

Before long the lead had rocketed from 53cm to 69cm ... and that surely could not be topped.

The fish bin was bulging with more than 80 prime snapper.

"Everybody wind up," said Jimmy the deckie as David struggled to stop a powerful fish, and all lines were quickly brought in so he could walk around the boat following his fish.

"Kingie," pronounced Jimmy wisely. "We have caught kingfish every day lately."

But the shouts when the silver gleam appeared and materialised into a giant snapper eclipsed the noise all day. For it was no kingfish, but a beautiful fat snapper with silver and red-gold flanks. A true monster - 79cm and 21lb. David couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"That is the biggest snapper I have ever seen, or caught," he said. "Let's put it back."

That was last week. On Thursday. We know which direction to take this weekend.

Bite times
Bite times are 5.30am and 6pm tomorrow and 6.25am and 6.50pm on Sunday.

Tip of the week
If you don't have a lot of people dropping baits, use berley. Plenty of berley. If the first berley log is thawed out before going fishing it will work faster.

• More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 6.30am Saturday, TV3, and at GTTackle.co.nz.