Softbaiting the Graveyard

When people think of fishing in the Kaipara Harbour they usually think of massive currents, huge sinkers and solid chunks of mullet for bait. But with the right gear, the right timing and some decent local knowledge, there are opportunities for far more exciting forms of fishing.

The Kaipara Harbour is one of the largest in the world and covers a staggering 947 square kilometres. It is around 60 km long from north to south and holds an amazing amount of water when the tide is in. The richness of the water attracts an abundance of marine life with mullet, kahawai, snapper, kingfish, gurnard and countless other species calling this special piece of water home.

It was the snapper we were after though and after hearing that soft baits were now being used very successfully at a notorious spot in the harbour known as the Graveyard, we were quick to organise a trip and give this a shot.

The Graveyard is located right next to the entrance to the Harbour on the northern side and is responsible for more ship wrecks than any other stretch of water in New Zealand. Forty-three ships have met their doom here over the years. A lot of these would have no doubt been the logging ships that were used to pull the Kauri trees out of Northland in the late 1800s.

It was here where we wanted to fish though as we had been hearing constant stories of 20 pound snapper being caught on soft baits.

So Mat Hewetson and I got hold of Malcolm Dawson from Pure Fishing, the distributors of various fishing brands including Berkley and their immensely popular Gulp soft baits. Malcolm is a leading figure on using soft baits in New Zealand but had never fished in the Kaipara and jumped at the opportunity to try his hand in this new part of the country. The trip would also give him the chance to take his brand new Surtees 6.7 Pure Fisher out for a spin.

You can launch at the Kaipara from a few different locations, but the ramp handiest to those from Auckland is Shelly Beach and is less than an hour’s drive from the central city. We met there at around eight in the morning to coincide with the high tide. This is important; especially for those that don’t know the area well because the amount of sand constantly moving through the harbour creates new banks all the time that could easily catch you out at low tide should you run into one.

Seeing the new Surtees, I knew immediately that we were in for a special day. This boat was made with fishing in mind and has a massive cockpit that would perfectly accommodate the four of us who would be casting soft baits from its platform. I noticed that the cabin was reasonably small for this sized boat, but this is for a reason as it allows for plenty more fishing space.

The gear

Malcolm had come prepared with a healthy arsenal for us to try out including rods and reels from Berkley, Abu Garcia, Pflueger and Shakespeare along with a huge amount of Gulp soft baits, heaps of different-sized jigheads and the brand new Berkley Fireline braid. It is not that often that you have this amount of gear at your disposal and with a near limitless amount of soft baits to use, we didn’t have to worry about them getting damaged or bitten off the hook.

With the beautiful Evinrude 200hp ETEC V6 doing its job we were soon powering through the lower reaches of the Kaipara towards the Graveyard that was a good 40 minute haul away. With the amount of kahawai work-ups we passed on our way, it was clear that the fish stocks here are still in pretty good knick. It really is a magical place.

This was to be the second time for me soft baiting here and after the success we had on the first trip, I was eager to get a line in the water and pick up any tips that Malcolm might throw my way during the trip.

We were also to meet up with local fisherman Daniel Boyd once we were there. Mat knows Daniel from his Dargaville days and had earlier told me that it had been Daniel who had been one of the first to try soft baiting in this part of the world. The reason many people wouldn’t even bother is pretty obvious; the current that rips through here is incredible and it’s not easy to get a bait to the bottom. It was for this reason we were armed with 1-2oz jigheads and had a very good idea of what the tide was doing.

The baits

We were also using pretty big soft baits. I had favoured the big seven inch Nuclear Chicken Gulps on the previous trip and they had worked well, while Mat had been pulling in big fish on the same size Lime Tigers. Malcolm had brought 5, 6 and 7 inch Gulps with him so we were really keen to see how the smaller ones would go as well.

The one problem with the big, long baits is that the shank of the hook is sometimes not long enough and the tail is very often bitten off well clear of the hook. While we had some slightly longer jigheads with us, I think there is room for even bigger still.

We had all rigged up and I was handed a Shakespeare Supreme rod matched with a Shakespeare Deceiver spin reel . The setup felt pretty good, a little different to the set I am used to, mainly because I prefer to use much larger handles, but it was a good combo that I knew would perform well in these conditions.

We pulled into a popular spot right in front of the lighthouse in about 24 metres. It is directly over a mussel bed and is where Mat and I had found our best fish the last time we had fished here. Even though the tide was still pretty slack, I went for a 2oz Nitro Elevator jighead so I could get the big Nuclear Chicken down to the bottom quickly. Straight away we were in with Malcolm and our photographer Charlie McKay onto good fish. Over came two snapper of around 4kg, not a bad start at all in my books. Mat was soon into the action but I was having some troubles and was getting plagued by fish biting off the tails of my soft baits. The Elevator’s have a 5/0 Owner hook so I switched to a standard 2oz Nitro jighead with a larger 7/0 hook, moved to a six inch bait and I soon joined the action.

The feeding action of the fish is very different here compared to where most soft bait fishing is done on the east coast. Whether it’s because of the heavier jigheads I’m not sure, but it is a slightly different technique than most are used to. Firstly, the fish are all big and I have never pulled one up here that is under 40cm, so even at the slightest tap you should aggressively strike once, twice or even three times to make sure the hook is set. The difficulty with this is that when fishing over the mussel beds your jighead is dragging across the mussels while you are drifting and this will be causing the rod to twitch in a way that is very similar to a fish nibbling on your bait. If this is the case, try to lift your bait slightly so it will be clear of the bottom. However, don’t lift it too far or it will be picked up by the swift current and dragged away far too quickly. A little bit of trial-and-error is important here to match the conditions with the size jighead and bait you are using with the speed of the current.

Along come the locals

After about an hour and a half of very successful fishing, Daniel turned up in his Senator along with Bones Nola (who I talk about in the following marlin story).They told us the biggest fish are found a little further out so we fired up again and followed them out to their spot.

“The tide’s still a little slack,” said Daniel. “Once it starts ripping back out, the big boys will arrive and we’ll be into it.”

I had switched over to one of the new Abu Garcia Veritas 6-10kg rods matched to an Abu Garcia Synergy II reel that had been spooled with the new Berkley Fireline braid. These Veritas rods are a lot thicker than most light setups but are made with new Nanotechnology that makes them extremely lightweight but still very strong. I was eager to see how it would perform against a big Kaipara snapper.

However, things stayed quiet for a while after our move and we were wondering whether we should have stayed put at the mussel beds in front of the lighthouse. However, true to Daniel’s word, the tide started running and Mat was soon into the fish of the day. The big thumping actions on the rod indicated that this was definitely the target species and with the amount of line peeling off the reel, it was a big one.

“This is a thumper mate, there’s a lot of weight on the end of this,” gasped Mat as his Veritas rod bent hard and a little more of his braid got wet.

Could this be the 20 pounder we were after? After around five minutes, we had netted a very respectable snapper. It didn’t go 20, but weighed in at 15 pounds and was Mat’s personal best on a soft bait.

Monster of the deep

Not long after this, something tapped my line and I responded with a heavy strike. Well, whatever was on the end of my line responded and took off. This wasn’t a snapper, of this I was sure and with the amount of line screaming out I was quickly in danger of being spooled. Anyone who has fished on the Kaipara knows that there are plenty of nasties down there, but we had no idea what it was that had taken my line. Well we sort of did actually; either a big kingfish, a big shark or a massive stingray.

With me doing my best to pull this beast off the bottom we took off in the boat in the direction of the fish. It wasn’t slowing down though and I soon saw the dreaded sight of the backing line shining through. I knew that there was bugger all backing on this reel so I put my finger lightly on the reel to add some drag. After about 15 minutes and no result I started getting a little disheartened. No matter what we did I couldn’t pull the fish up and the line eventually snapped. There are some big fish down there, that’s for sure.

We started making our way back and caught up with another Dargaville local named Nick Christensen who looked as if he had been having a great day on his boat. They had managed to catch a healthy kingfish and a 19.2 pound snapper on their soft baits, and they were only fishing about 50m from where we had been. With a full fish bin and smiling faces after an awesome day out in a great boat, we cruised back to the ramp with the rain belting down.

Soft baiting at the Graveyard would have been laughed at 5-6 years ago, but man do they work. I urge you to give it a go but please respect just how dangerous this piece of water can be. Be prepared for the worst and make sure you have an anchor strong enough to hold you if your motor cuts out. I would hate to see the consequences of a boat without power pulled out through the Kaipara bar on an outgoing tide.

That said, it can be one of the most enjoyable days you can have out on the Kaipara and I assure you it will have you leaving your bait at home. Because you are drifting you never need to worry about lifting a heavy anchor should you need to move and you will also be covering more ground. Also, because you aren’t dropping smelly baits, there is far less chance of sharks taking your bait. Believe me, this is a major plus as there are sharks galore in this stretch of water. Finally, you have a good chance of catching some really big fish and an even better chance of returning with enough snapper to feed the family.

Best tips for softbaiting the Kaipara

• Thin braid i.e. 6 or 8lb,
• Thin quality Fluro carbon trace, short lengths i.e. 20lb and around 1meter long
• 1.5 – 2 oz jigheads or Elevator rig
• Gulp 6” or 7” jerk shads (BBQ Chicken and New Penny were best)
• Cast 20 metres up current and let sink. It will take 20 seconds but be patient, it is only around 20 metres deep
• Drift, no anchor
• Use a tight drag setting and hang on
• Repeat this once the jighead comes off the bottom as the boat drifts passed pass and your jighead has lifted out of the strike zone.