The Espresso Report 17 September 2020

Hey – check out the Facebook LIVE update at Smart Marine or on Catch Fishing Facebook pages on Tuesday morning, a great snapshot and update of what is and what isn’t happening in the Gulf.

Early breeding signs are loud and clear with kahawai getting those little bruise-bite marks and starting to roe-up. Also gurnard and John Dory are starting their roe-ing, evidenced this week in a number of these stunning fish.

Workups are primarily out wide of the gulf, some good looking ones west of both the Barriers and they are ready-set for major performances in the gulf coming up. Nice to see some inner areas like bottom end of Waiheke and mid Firth of Thames still faithfully firing up many days at least for an hour or so. Snapper are in and around these fast moving workups but not always – targeting other fish like kahawai and kingfish is a great option rather than being too blinkered on just ‘snapper’. When the snapper are half interested or more though whether in a workup or not a good Inchiku lure is probably one of the best all round styles to use, the BossSquid (pictured) has been a stand-out success in this regard.

Inshore areas are perking up too – morning and evening softbaiting the shallows, whether a quick flick from the shore, or lurking along on a kayak or similar close to the shore e.g. western Rakino/Rangitoto. There are still a lot of cautious strikes happening in the cold water – making good presentation and good rigging (a 2^nd stinger hook is ideal) essential for solid hookups and eliminating the frustration of dropping good solid fish.

Mid ground of the open gulf has been quiet, to be expected, but also to be expected is a steady flow of pan sized snapper when you’re out there, use those little microjigs, or have you tried softbaits on a deep water rig (see video)? Most of the time and you’ll catch some good fish along the way, snapper, gurnard and perhaps a John Dory now and then too! Sometimes slow and steady wins the race.

Kingfish just have to come back on the bite after their recent hiatus, and with a huge increase in tidal flow this week and a reasonable moon phase, expectations are high, oh yes time to target the big green machines out there. I would suggest having a few options to tip them over the edge if required, poppers, stick baits, long fall mechanical jigs, slow pitch jigs and even microjigs 😉. Can you feel that next kingie hookup and run..!

All the signs are pointing upwards – everyone is under starters orders, poised, are you ready-set to go?

Enjoy your fishing, you can’t catch fish at home so get your good gear together and get out there in amongst it, don’t miss out! See you out there.

Espresso.