With another successful boat show under our belt, it’s time to go fishing!

Solid 10lb+ snapper clumped together in smaller schools have been biting rather well lately. Not all day long, but when they do they are biting hard out. A number of these fish are in under the pilchard and mackerel schools. These are getting hammered from above by gannets and from below by kingfish, dolphins and even a few sharks – but perhaps the taxman has eyes on bigger fish than the tasty little bait-fish.

Autumn and winter workups can be epic. Big aggressive action and motion lures help target the bigger snapper and consequently eliminate the smaller fish.

Perhaps the skipjack have now left for food sources further offshore in a flash of blue-chrome as the various fish species jostle for their position along the food chain closer in to land. So no sight of the skipjack the past few days.

Kingfish continue to provide enormous fun and food for the family.

They’re in good numbers with many easily longer than legal minimum length (75cm around this neck of the woods). These fish sure do test your mettle with their blistering runs time after time. Hence they just can’t be beaten for sheer thrills on lighter gear!

The 45m water depth has been holding a lot of them the past few days from Flat Rock right down and around to North Waiheke. This reflects the good bait-school supply in the area. The action can be very fast paced in terms of catching them, but also in how far and fast the schools of kingfish schools move as they chase down the bait-fish.

Bigger kingfish style jigs of 200-300gms have been very working well. Therefore try and target the bigger fish with both size and speed of retrieve. Stick baits have also provided good fun watching these green machines splash the surface right behind the lure as they aggressively chase down the stick bait right in front of you, thrills and spills guaranteed.

Cooler temperatures has brought on Autumn feeding, as a result it’s time to go fishing!

Cheers,

Espresso.