Snapper fishing off the coast was very slow for a while in late December through to early January which isn’t at all unusual. I know of several good fishermen who just couldn’t get on to them in any size or numbers but more recently that has turned around with reports of springtime like catches around the 35m mark.

The harbour is starting to wake up with better snapper catches coming in, especially from closer to the harbour entrance but shallow water fish are also on the prowl, especially in low light conditions. It’s always a challenge though to avoid the tiny ones, it’s usually best to move but 8/0 hooks do help.

While I’ve heard of kingfish getting caught, so far they have been keeping away from our livebaits but to be fair we haven’t had a serious crack at them this summer.

Just as we’ve seen some less familiar fish species from off the coast, there have been things happening inside the harbour. I’ve heard of two turtles so far and while they do turn up from time to time, I’ve yet to stumble across one. Mind you with my milk bottle sized glasses I’m lucky if I can see anything!

Trevally numbers appear to be increasing in the harbour but maybe we’re just getting better at catching them. Regardless, they are huge amounts of fun on light gear using small straylined baits in shallow water.

Surprisingly there are still some cracker gurnard in the harbour, my son Arron picked up one a couple of weeks ago that was around 1.2kg. Typically over summer they lose condition in the harbour but that tends not to happen from off the coast.

I think that is linked to water temperature but that’s just my theory. The harbour heats up very quickly over the mud flats and is more prone to daily fluctuations than the 8 to 60m zone we typically fish after a bar crossing.

Schools of grey mullet are cruising around in the surf zone off the west coast beaches and there are plenty in the harbour.  

There are strict netting regulations for both areas so make sure you know the rules if you net for them. Although they are quite possibly the best bait to use in our territory they are also one of the tastiest smoked fish around.

While the current run of easterly winds is keeping the swell down over the coast, anything over 10 knots can make the harbour very unpleasant in exposed areas so please remember the effects of wind against tide in fast moving waters such as we see in the harbour.

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Good luck out there and stay safe.

Smudge.

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This Manukau / Auckland west coast report is supplied by Michael "Smudge" Parker and supports the Counties Sportfishing Club​

For more information on the Counties Sportfishing Club visit its website here.

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