Exciting times directly ahead for tuna-tamers! Slender tuna were caught just a few weeks ago in the Hauraki Gulf, lots of skipjack are darting their way in closer to the NZ coastline every day now too.

So what lures are good to troll for tuna?

Well the notable go-to is the Squidwings range, perhaps not the Giant Squidwings (although the aggressive mahi mahi do love to take them on!), certainly the 200gm trolling Squidwing and smaller classic Squidwings are ideal - an outstanding trolling lure that doesn’t spiral, sends up it’s own jet of water attractant, runs straight and true for an easy follow and strike (comes with built-in stabilisers), and trolled readily at faster speeds for tuna if desired - all you gotta do is fish where the fish are for that clicker to start howling!

More settled weather, calmer tidal currents with mid tide current flow the go, eclipse and full moon have been moved on, really good fishing is the present state of play. Lots of surface activity and sounder sign in the early 30m chart depths pretty much right across the local Hauraki Gulf, and of course some thumper workups out further with the Brydes whales if you wish to chase the dragon.

Snapper are still in full-on spawning feed patterns and when the bite is on it can deliver some really great fishing.

In closer around the reef structures there’s very good soft baiting action, especially around change of light targeting where the weed and structure meet the sand.

The Kawau to Little Barrier zone is always on for a workup or two and often fishes well on a random drift even if there’s no aerial activity going on.

Think fishing the waxing moon on an incoming tide and the waning moon an outgoing tide.

Summer means salt ice time! Iki or similar for all fish for a humane and instantaneous end, immersed immediately in salt ice slurry and amazing seafood for much longer is guaranteed.

The key is getting that temp down fast – make the most of your day out, and for several days of fresh fish afterwards, ice ice baby.

Trebles vs singles for top water – what’s best? Without a doubt, trebles with barbs for hook-up rate and hold, but there are drawbacks that can make other hook sets preferable in your fishing. Barbless trebles are brilliant too – easier to remove from fish without massive injury/death if released, also so much easier to get out of clothing, and skin(!).

Or singles, not all top water lures will run with singles, but some already come tuned for this like these Zingaz or the stunning handmade Catch stickbaits, they run exceptionally well, no guess work required – cast ‘em out and hold on tight!

What jighead weight? Instead of changing your softbaits from one weight jighead to the other here’s another way you may find useful – as most of the time you’ll probably have about 2 or 3 favourite jighead weights for where you fish. Rig a softbait (SB) onto each different weight of jighead like these Stingaz and when you want to change jighead weight, just swap out to an already fully rigged SB and change the entire jighead and SB.

Your SBs will last even longer than ever and they’ll be rigged nice and straight calmly at home looking perfect for the best presentation and strike rate, rather than the inevitably hurried and ‘that’ll do’ approach when you’re in the thick of it out fishing.

Blue mackerel schools are highly prized – and there are some good ones on the eastern side of the gulf, and where they are, well everything loves to eat them! Big snapper, and kingfish for sure.

They are also a delicacy eaten sashimi style – stronger in flavour than most so that ice slurry is vital and brings out the best in this beautifully coloured fish. Unleash your microjigs , be patient after hookup, they have soft mouths.

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Cheers

Espresso

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This report is supplied by Grant 'Espresso' Bittle from Catch and Wave Dancer Charters.

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For Wave Dancer Charters: Visit www.wavedancer.co.nz

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