Big snapper give fishers great day

Fishing report

A great weekend’s fishing out in the Gulf was had by the crews on Diversity.

Two snapper over 9kg were landed and numerous other big snapper around 7kg to 8kg were also landed along with some very large john dory.

Chris, one of our skippers, had a blinder of a day east of Kawau Island but some sloppy conditions kept the smaller boats in closer.

We had a catch up around lunchtime and it was pretty clear he was having a great day because of the hooting and hollering from the crew that I could hear in the background.

They caught some lovely fish that were laid out for photos back at the wharf.

A lot of clients say they have caught their biggest fish with us and we put this down to the fact that we spend a lot of time drift fishing and we are prepared to move around to find bigger schools of better-sized fish.

Don’t read this the wrong way either because we do promote catch and release. We often taking a photo of the fish and then release it to continue spawning.

Some anglers don’t get to go out that often and like to take home a bin full of fish to share with family and friends.

Our individual day trips are $120 per person and at the moment it is pretty easy to go home with your charter value’s weight in fish.

The snapper are here to spawn and as the schools become bigger and tighter the competition for breeding partners and food increases. You may notice fish with bruising or marking on them or in some cases fins that have been nipped.

As the water warms to 18 degrees the fish will get into spawning mode and as long as conditions allow for it the hungry and fiesty snapper will continually spawn until the temperature drops again.

When they are spawning it can make for some frustrating fishing and often it will be the early risers or those that stick it out until late in the day that will do well. That is why our evening trips are so popular.

During the day it can be a little slow and we often move around and go out deeper to get away from the majority of spawning fish to find those that are more willing to feed.

Kingfish make for worthwhile sport on days like these later in the season and I think that the success we had last season, and even during the winter (especially at Great Barrier) using the jigs, will prove to be a popular option.

The good gear can be expensive but when tusselling with these hard-fighting reef fish you’ll be glad you paid for it.

Jigging Master make some good jig rods. They are not custom rods like Kojak or Reel Rods but they will do the job well in a series of PE weights – PE refers to a braids’ breaking strength, eg PE 8 would refer to an 80lb or 36kg braid and PE 10 would refer to a 100lb or 45kg braid.

The knife jigs are the go on the kingfish. It is more interactive than towing a couple of live baits round a reef or waiting for one to get snaffled from under your balloon rig.

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