Baitfish to big fish, getting more bang for our buck with inshore fishing, such a good time to enjoy our pastime passions right now! Wicked workups, skipjack, kingfish, snapper, if you’re Hauraki Gulf or Waitemata harbour bound, enjoy the current moon phase amping things up to this next full moon, Goldilocks tidal current, and early Autumn promises good tidings. Looking back over the many years of Espresso Fishing reports tells a good consistent background story, we can expect both good fishing and slow fishing days particularly for snapper right now as they bask in warm waters and feed somewhat intermittently, yet the Autumn change to pre-winter need-to-feed isn’t far away. Which we can take as a hint to target the many other fish available, delighting in the differences they bring to our fishing and the table. Stunning fresh fish like the smaller to mid-sized kahawai, the delectable mackerel for instance - check out delicious ‘Poppa Macks’ in the latest issue of NZ Fishing News Autumn magazine by Todd Beeby.
Kingfish are also spread out from wider in the gulf hounding workups along southern Gt Barrier and their usual haunts in and around mussel farms and even along inshore more city-like coastlines like Whangaparaoa, you'll see why that would be below. And with good fortune on our side, we don’t have to venture far from shore, thanks to the anchovies pulling the all-important trigger for the inshore food chain right now. Literally, I just stopped writing, and left, through the binocular’s epic scenes not far from shore beckoned far too loudly to ignore, dark clouds of anchovies easily seen at the surface, underneath the gathering maelstrom of birds – gone fishing! I’ll be back…
...that was epic fun, so as a result, hot-off-the-press, the inner gulf and Waitemata harbour are still great places to be fishing alright. Sure, there’s a fair bit of one day you could walk on the fish and seabirds in an area, the next we’re scratching heads as to where could they all have gone, dissolved. Hey if you were an anchovy getting attacked from all sides, you’d move fast too.
Inshore bonanza, some days the spectacle is magnificent, gannets barely airborne to shallow dive in shallow water, shoulder barging each other to get their beaks into their prey of anchovy, among thousands of petrels and shearwaters above mega mackerel and kahawai numbers crowding and splashing the sea surface by the score. Binoculars or not from Auckland shorelines reveals some incredibly active skies, some days not all. Yet as with most things fishing, being out there and Jonny-on-the-spot is better than waiting for when suits our human timetable, the intense action moves, so our plans for tomorrow or the next day can result in a stunning drop in action, hard to believe and tales of hero to near zero all in just a day, but here’re some helpful techniques, freebies but worth their weight in tungsten!
How to target the snapper when it’s mega action stations like this? Fishing and drifting away from the head of steam where anchovies, kahawai and birds are predominant works well. Our anchovy-like little microjig is far more likely to get hit, by everything but snapper when we're right in amongst the fray, seems logical. Let the birds and kahawai work away from you, my preference for jigs is still a standard microjig, 15-20gms is great, it can also be a good idea to use a tungsten micro as it drops fast and stays closer to the sea floor in a more snapper-likely zone, your choice, mix it up. Letting the jig hit the sea floor, then only imparting a rise and fall of the rod tip to induce the action of an injured anchovy just above the sea floor, no winds of the reel, keeping it low rather than further up the water column where kahawai are dominant. Ultra-light tackle just adds thrills and delight, icing to the day’s cake. Be very attentive watching the braid on the drop, it’ll speed up or stop even though not near the sea floor – that’ll be a fish, snapper perhaps. Check out the Garmin SideVu sonar, lit up like fireworks with the explosive action it has been, epic battles on one of my personal favourites, an anchovy imitation Pocket Rocket. Don’t cast, that just snags and injures birds, dropping right under the boat as we just drift along is ideal.
In contrast on the slow days - check out the colours and hues of this
mackerel and the jig, ‘twas slow fishing at the time out from Browns Bay a few days prior but after a few changes and voila, this microjig (standard lead jig for slower drop, more wafting time) was the hot ticket item that morning. This fish and many other species caught would strike smaller baitfish imitations with similar colours to their own, as many change-outs showed, interesting stuff.
Some good snapper being caught by kayakers around the Auckland shallows, and no wonder with the action often not far away. Also, the need to change out from jigs to soft baits to creepy crawly lures like imitation eels and worms, grubs, shrimp, moths, crabs - don’t get stuck in the same old-same old, or even the favourite lure, try new things! Learning new ways, it’s often just a small change that can provide significant results – again highlighted recently at The Fishing School by some attendees making small but important changes and DISCO, fish on.
Rangitoto channel light house area, harbour bridge, mussel farms in the Firth, Whangaparaoa peninsula, western Rakino to North Shore bays, are all good spots to be casting little lures whether crazy-good sea signs or not.
Developing more eco-friendly fishing lures is worthwhile mission, and at Fishing Coach Pro we’re into CANI (constant and never-ending improvement). Some stunning new terminal tackle made from natural products is getting closer to reality now, so stay in contact, together we can make a difference to our fishing, our sons, daughters and our grandchildren, the change is made by you and me.
Other areas to be fishing, steady Eddie northern Kawau to LB, loads of baitfish – mackerel, I suspect these will be back on target again soon, they have good pannie snapper along with them, but the mammals are giving them a rest by and large at the moment, I can’t see that continuing for long, expect the action to heat up there soon. Same as between Kawau and Orewa, very suspicious sounder sign, primed.
Watching hopeful gannets diving as soon as they see any dolphins splashing, is a bit like chasing your tail, similarly humans chasing the 60seconds of gannets diving, only to fizzle before getting there, snapper the same, spread out and not congregating under anything in particular, but in the baitfish general area. So, a good fishing option in this scenario, drift fish the area using different lures, from the ultra-slow retrieve of a sliding head kabura/tai rubber to a tungsten micro jig (depth and lack of bite making tungsten a good option as well), but don't forget throw down the gauntlet of Slow Pitch all sizes - even up to 200gms or more despite the inconsistent bite. Opting for the Big Bright SPJ (Slow Pitch Jig) approach adds some good fish triggers like vibration/sound – something snapper are alert to, indicating a potential feed, and a bigger meal presented front and centre for those hungry ones and potentially larger snapper missing out. Snapper have FOMO too you know. If the weather obliges – some good solid action out at Gt Barrier along the Auckland side - workups worth enjoying, also western side for resident kingfish.
The Fishing School is in full swing and thank you for all the encouraging feedback. We’ve all experienced it at some time right, the magic feeling we get when we’ve helped someone out, their joy and newfound thrill makes it all worthwhile. And that’s where we are with The Fishing School sharing experience, valuable knowledge and our genuine desire to improve our enjoyment of our fishing passion, and then in time passing on to the next generation. We’ve just covered the all-important ingredient of technique to really make our fishing move from good, to epic. Using techniques that we know work and most importantly having several different ways to present lures, so we can quickly adjust and adapt to what the fish are telling us at that time, in that place on that day – which can be vastly different to yesterday, or even an hour or two ago, right. The difference can be from a dull story yet again of ‘stupid fish/no fish/no fish biting’ to epic smiles, pictures or even just getting enough fish for a good dinner for the family, no frozen sausages or cans of baked beans.
The Fishing School Class No. 4, Saturday March 15th
Nature & Technology: Know what to look for, snapper, kingfish, skipjack and more, using technology, being able to adapt and adjust to come back with fish for dinner, every time! Fast easy sounder setup and the sounder signs to look for, from an expert guest speaker
Simon Batey from Garmin. Get so much more from your electronics, easy to learn and see.
The Fishing School. 5 different limited series classes. Tickets, Sat, Mar 15, 2025 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite . Any questions just ask, email fishingcoachpro@gmail.com
Crazy good fortunes for YFT and striped marlin this year perfectly highlighted by the staggering number of registered bar crossings by Coastguard, 270 in a day just for the Manukau!
Maybe see you wandering around enjoying the beautiful sights, wish lists, and sounds at the Boat Show, Viaduct, Auckland this weekend?
Cheers.
Captain Espresso
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