Manukau / Auckland West Coast
fishing report
October 23, 2020
Ed note: Our regular fishing report contributor and general Manukau guru, Smudge, has been off the grid, most likely fishing for the last couple of weeks, but we hear from our other Manukau friends that the west coast has fired up consistently with the usual patterns at this time of year, and it’s a good time to get out across the bar and get yourself some good snapper fishing.
Right on cue with the spring workups going nuts off the east coast, the big spawning run of snapper out west have started to appear in good numbers.
This week looks like an absolute cracker from Saturday right through to Wednesday with light nor-easters exactly what the doctor ordered for west coast fisho’s.
Do bear in mind the low tide is around 10.00am so there will be little water on the bar unless you get out really early, or leave it for a ‘civilised’ late start.
Big snapper are now mooching about in the 50 to 60 metre strip, and will be there waiting. If you are anchored up, the berley will do it’s job bringing the fish to you, although some prefer to drift with lures.
Slow pitch jigs and kabura style lures can be absolutely dynamite on the drift out west, but sometimes it can take a bit of bait to get their noses up so cover your bases.
The west coast is the only place I have seen lures work really well from an anchored boat, and as the action picked up fish started stacking under the boat and hitting anything, so now is as good a time as any to get at there and have a crack.
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