Game On! Majestic and most often elusive 20lb and above snapper, dream fish for most – have been caught, and more than one at a time! After the relatively sluggish bite of the previous week, and breeding potentially underway now it was a toss of the coin to see which way this week would go, for better or for worse? Well the results are in and it’s game on!

Good solid action fishing has moved mainly westward this week in the Hauraki Gulf. Workup style fishing is the go for many trailer boats. It’s funny how midweek 24hr flu’s seem to hit with a vengeance this time of year. For those afflicted or not – either way the fishing has been excellent this week. And the good news is that it is set to continue. The tidal current does slow down a lot, so expect shorter bite times but with potentially calmer seas. But when the fish are biting they are simply ferocious.

If you’re keen on eliminating both undersized and smaller pannies and aiming for the bigger 50cm+ snapper – a slight change in approach has been working wonders. When the bite is slow and you’re using Kaburas, Lil’ Squidwings lures or soft baits, it’s easy to forget when the bite comes on and you catch several fish in quick succession – great! However the adage big fish – big baits has been on point lately. Particularly with the bigger more aggressive male snapper right now, the 15-20lb+ thumpers. A highly erratic/big action lure seems to get these bigger fish to strike before the smaller ones. Modified inchiku lures (e.g. Betabug) with extreme action, as well as simply big lures – like a 200gm or 500gm Squidwing normally used for big Bluenose and Hapuka! A number of 18-22lb snapper have been caught on these lures this week alone. With softbaits – try avoiding scent as it can attract smaller fish to bite. Now is the time to think big, big baits = big fish.

Where’s The Fish?

The Tiri channel and either side of the cable zone out from Tiri has seen some good action. A lot more than eastern areas over the past several days, right out well past Flat Rock. This should change soon. North of Anchorite rock has been good steady drift fishing with good sized snapper in the area. Kingfish seemed to take a couple of days off – hopefully that means they are now back on the hunt for prey. Good news for having them bite and not just follow jigs and top water lures.

Enjoy your fishing,

Espresso.