Well I have been away for a couple of months and it looks like I missed all the bad weather (although the wind looks like it is going to be with us all spring).
It sounds like the fishing has been good when people could get out and the workups never stopped throughout winter. There have been some amazing workups down in the firth as the bait gets trapped down there and massacred by the mammals, birds and predator fish. Watching this happen on Facebook while I was away and getting some good intel from Marcus on Ultimate charters I decided to head down that way for my first charter last Sunday 17th. While there were no big workups, the snapper were still there and feeding up on the sand midway between Pakatoa Island and the mussel farms.
We managed a feed before the bite stopped on slack tide around 11.30am. Then it was hard pickings as the fish went off the bite. The best lures were the Bruised banana sliders, Green and red bottomships and anything with pink on it. The fish were feeding hard on the bottom and hooking up a wind or two off the bottom.
In closer there are people catching good fish off the beach and rocks on the east coast bays. So they are on your doorstep at the moment.
The bigger male snapper have started to move in now and we have been having some great fishing among the spring workups. Last Saturday 23rd we managed over 45 good fish in the bins by 9.30am. These workups are north of the Ahaas across the middle ground to east of Gannet rock. More recently they have moved in closer to the islands like Rakino and the Noisies.
So even if the wind is up it looks like we may have some great fishing in closer hiding behind islands where the bait is getting pushed in.
Nik Key is a tutor, guide, lure tester and charter skipper
Cheers Capt. Snap (Nik)
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