The fishing has been strange and I believe the season is one to one and a half months behind. The sea temp is still around 20 degrees which means the fishing is good in close and out wide, but the fish out wide have been smaller than you would expect at this time of year. The good new is that this is changing and we can expect to see the big pilchard workups soon with the bigger snapper in attendance.
We have been stopping in the Motuihe channel on the way out wide for a quick drop of the orange Sliders. These lures have been producing the goods with lots of pannies in the 40-50cm range. These fat fish are fighting hard in the shallows and the new Bender rod has been fantastic for this style of fishing.
Out wide we have found inconsistent gannet and dolphin workups over a wide area in the 40mtr congruent-current line around the lime barge. This area is holding huge numbers of snapper but it is hard to get past the 30-35cm ones to get to a decent fish. 
There have also been kingfish around in abundance and we seem to get one or two on most trips out as a by-catch while snapper fishing.
Out wider again in around 45-50mtrs we are just starting to see the bigger 5-8kg fish turning up in larger numbers. We are using 140gr Sliders to catch these fish and I find that once you find these bigger fish the Jitterbugs can be lethal for targeting them as well. We often don’t even get to the bottom when we find these fish as they are very aggressive and competitive and take the lure on the drop.
Looking forward to the next couple of months when the autumn/winter pilchard workups start in earnest. We will keep you informed of these.
See ya out there.
Nik Key is a tutor, guide, lure tester and charter skipper
Cheers Capt. Snap (Nik)
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