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November typically heralds the beginning of the spawning season with warming sea temperatures, a mass influx of fish of many species with the buzz around town being about the good snapper fishing.
The Hauraki Gulf is the perfect spawning ground for snapper being that is a relatively shallow basin with numerous feed sources and to the large part not a great deal of predators. The snapper generally hang out in large schools in about 25-45m of water throughout the spawning process and being multiple spawners will just keep spawning so long as the water temperature remains fairly stable.
During November it is well known that huge snapper schools form around the Motuora Island area and down the channel between Tiri and Rangitoto. With the ease of access to these areas it’s no surprise that they are well frequented and get pretty busy. If you want to get away from the crowds there are plenty of other areas to find good numbers of fish ready to take your offerings. Try south of Flat Rock in 45m, across the other side of the Cable Zone in 50m, North of Waiheke about 5-6 miles and good old Whangaparaoa Bay.
The Bay of Whales, as it is historically called, can provide some fantastic fishing during most of the year and with numerous species. Work ups are frequent and the bait schools vast during the spring and summer. We have even had small tuna in the bay too. You can either use your sounder to fins fish on the bottom or bait schools that fish will shadow or one of the methods that has treated me well over the years is prospect drifting. Get yourself situated where you think there might likely be some fish. Look for birds working, surface activity or simple indications like a slight change of depth, a change of water colour or a current line on the surface and drop small jigs (28-60gr), soft plastics or inchiku and kabura jigs. Work the whole water column too as often schooling fish will hang in mid-water. They might not be hungry enough to eat traditional bait but this is where lure and jig fishing comes into play. Snapper are natural scavengers and can switch food sources in a heartbeat and will aggressively strike at moving lure or wiggling soft plastic.
Good colours that should be a staple in every tackle box are orange, pink and green. Lure shapes too can matter and jigs that will flutter on the drop seem to work as well as anything else. When it comes to inchiku and kabura style jigs then both lure and skirt colour are for your consideration. If one colour doesn’t work then switch it out after a few drops and the old rule applies: Whoever is catching – copy them!
Bait fisherman will excel with the use of a good burley trail and pilchards, mullet, squid and bonito baits. Evening and early mornings are great at this time of year to head out, lay a good burley trail and float lightly or un-weighted baits back to the fish. Fresh mackerel works very well in this situation too.
Keep safe out there, don’t exceed the limits and consider other anglers when fishing the work ups and in crowded areas.
