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The cold weather has reached our shores and with it comes a change in fishing.
The water has cooled down causing the fish to go into ‘power saving mode’. Feeding is a battle of risk versus reward. Much like us, fish feel the effects of the cold and get lazy. That’s why a big piece of bait – whether it be a slab of Kahawai or a 7-inch softbait – is going to catch you the fish you’re after. Why chase baitfish around burning heaps of energy when a fish could sit with its head in the sand feeding on shellfish and crustaceans? If you make your bait worth the effort you will catch the fish.
Try a less aggressive technique with your jigs or try lures with a naturally slow action, such as a kabura. Large 6 or 7-inch softbaits fished with the occasional twitch, or dragged on a heavy jig head, is a good way to find out if there are fish in the area. Utilise the run and gun method. Stop and fish for 10 minutes to see what you catch. Use your electronics to find the fish. If you’re not catching, try moving. Not far, but just enough to be fishing a new area. Keep moving until you find them.
Everything slows down to some degree at this time of year, however winter also marks the arrival of the annual pilchard run. Following these pilchards is everything from large mackerel to whales and dolphins.
Gannet colonies have started filling up in the buildup to spring. This time of year is known by many fishers as the start of the workup season. The outer gulf has already started producing the first of our winter workups, with some amazing fish being caught. Make sure you take plenty of fuel and a good pair of binoculars to find the birds!
Fishing workups is one of the most exciting ways to catch fish. Cape Colville is one area that is well worth a look at this time of year. Often you can find large schools of snapper feeding on the bottom. Manage to get a jig, or softbait in front of these fish and you will be on in seconds!
The shallows on the northern side of Tiritiri Matangi Island are holding a lot of good fish, recently producing three fish that weighed more than 6.8kg! Kayak fishers have been doing well just off Takapuna Beach using soft plastics with a great average size of around 2kg in only 3m of water.
It won’t be long until we pass the shortest day and start climbing our way back to more daylight hours. The fishing is great out there at the moment and will only get better as we move further through the year.
