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Using their local knowledge and experience to put them in the right spot last weekend, my son Arron and mate Skoti went out on a mission to get a big snapper from the harbour, they achieved that with their biggest for the day weighing in at 14.5lb. The bite was slowish but they wanted a big fish and not a big binful.

They achieved their goal. The following day myself, son Scott and father in law Alan went on a gurnard hunt as we’re always keen to do at this time of year. Instead of fishing the 20m+ deep foul in the Papakura channel on an outgoing tide we chose to fish the incoming tide on the banks of the channels in 3m.

Again the fishing was slow but in preparation for our annual Grunter Hunter competition, we wanted big fish, not a big bin full of average fish. We achieved that goal too. Even so our catch put some kahawai in the freezer for some future gurnard baits, enough to feed our family of four adults for two nights and enough for my work lunches through to Wednesday. As much as I like fish I could murder a steak about now.

I’m not trying to boast here (yes you are Smudge) my point is that getting a good catch can depend on a lot of things coming together, the more planning the better your results will generally be. That planning doesn’t have to be intense but I’ve found a little bit of a game plan discussed in the lead up to the big day, often over a couple of beers usually pays off. After all no one ever had a good idea after a glass of water as the old saying goes.

So there you have it, the shallows around the turn of the tide works really well for gurnard. We target areas where there is a gut or bay leading up onto a bank. That works very well for snapper and trevally too but you probably need to throw in some low light conditions for those crafty fish. On a side note some big kingfish are cruising around the harbour too.

Deep areas of foul work well for snapper at this time and there are plenty of people catching snapper of three kg or more right now. You can’t just drop your anchor anywhere (luck) and expect to catch those beauties. You need to know where the bays and guts are that lead onto the banks (local knowledge) and when those places fish best (experience). Once you hook that fish of a lifetime you have to net it before it runs you into the rocks, throws the hook or you suffer a knot failure (skill, or lack thereof).

My friend Lemmy also does well in the harbour and he lost a great fish estimated at 15lb+ right at the boat only a week or so ago.

Despite him doing everything right, luck was his enemy that day but he made up for it with a fine catch of nice fat Manukau snapper. Fishing the twilight in 3m paid off for him (planning).

My favourite method for the shallows is straylining small baits on light gear and 4/0 hooks for gurnard and trevally, big baits on light gear with 8/0 hooks for snapper. I use only just enough weight to keep the bait on the mud.

The west coast has been a little fickle, some magnificent catches coming for the shallow areas out to 15m with limit catches of snapper and gurnard one day and slow pickings the next. Out deep at 55 to 60m it’s the same story but either way it is a rare thing not to get a reasonable catch out there.

I expect that sharks, especially those pesky spiny dogfish will start to feature as winter sets in but get past those and snapper will still be there.

Interestingly a marlin was hooked last weekend at ‘The 124’ last weekend. It’s a legendary spot that the game fishing crowd will know. The water temp out at 55m metres where the snapper fishermen were was a measly 16.5 degrees and the info I have is that it was only 17 degrees where the marlin struck. Unfortunately the fish was lost at the boat. Gutting, but that’s that luck factor once again doing an about turn. The skills, experience, local knowledge and planning were all there – that’s why they were dragging lures around. But as that angler and Lemmy found out, all the planning in the world just comes down to luck sometimes and guess what? They have some epic tales of the one that got away!

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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