It’s turning out to be a very frustrating winter, from the effects of the tsunami to weeks of cold, chilly winds from the south to a few stunning sunny, windless days.
Over the last few weeks, I have managed to get out on the water purely for the benefit of my fellow man to feed back intel as to what’s happening on the fishing front.
I find it incredible that the power of Mother Nature can send waves right around the world. For once, to be out on the boat in sunny, calm conditions, but unable to fish where I want, there is an old saying Never turn your back to the sea so I always watch my surroundings. I could see and feel an underlying current, then periodically watch the sea build up with massive breakers hitting the headlands.
Now I am a brave man, but not stupid, so for the next three days, I stayed well away from the areas I would normally target as these waves were so random with no predictability or pattern, but also changed the direction of the current. With conditions like this, it puts a whole new angle on where to go, and taking the positive out of the negative, it gave me the perfect opportunity to spend time slowly looking in different areas I would not normally bother with, and came across a number of small patches of foul that all produced fish.
Having a mental database of little bits of foul or drop offs can really pay dividends, they are more valuable than Homer Simpson’s doughnuts, as on those hard days when nothing seems to work, just rock up to a tiny bit of isolated foul and suddenly you have a few fish in the bin.
When you can get out, the fishing in the inner gulf has been surprisingly good in areas that normally have few fish at this time of the year. Both soft baiting and baits have been catching a lot of snapper in the 32-35 cm range in both the Rakino and to the east of the Motuihe channel.
On the drop off just outside of West Bay Rakino and in the gap between South Island and Awash Rock on the incoming tide is well worth a look, especially as the tide starts to drop off. Most unusual for this time of the year is the number of snapper all around the 30 -35 cm range that are taking small 3-inch soft baits from A buoy in towards the Rangitoto shoreline, if you are prepared to lose a bit of gear, try casting in and around the isolated bits of foul right on the shoreline.
Mates have been targeting bigger snapper to put in the smoker have been stray lining back into a burly trail with freshly caught jack macs out around the Noises, one spot seldom fished is the Hay Stack if you can get the wind and tie to hold the boat so the stern is facing the rock you can often get snapper up to four kilos.
With it being a very different year to years past, and something I have never seen before, we are now seeing a number of good-sized blue cod being caught from Rangitoto light right up to Meola reef.
One go-to spot that has been consistently fishing well on the incoming tide is out from Fax point [ the city side of Rangitoto ] in 8-10m, there are only a few small patches of rubble, but what really works is just a lightly weighted stray line with strips of mullet/kahawai or butterflied jack mac. Cast out well astern and slowly let the bait to the bottom and just let the fish munch on the bait and only strike when the tension comes on the rod tip, don’t be surprised when you get bitten off as a mate did but still landed a number of snapper from 6-12 pounds.
With a lot of snapper hanging in close on the reef structure, West Bastion reef is well worth a shot. Again, get the wind and tide right so the ground bait and burley are taken back onto the reef. Anchor just outside casting distance from the foul and kelp so as not to get snagged, snapper attracted by the burley come out from the reef to feed on the ground bait.
Being so shallow, the trick here is to use floaters [ no sinkers ] so when the snapper pick up the bait, they don’t get spooked and only strike when the line straightens out as they head back into the kelp.
Winter fishing can be very challenging at times, but it is also a great feeling to get out of the house and onto the water. The eating quality of winter snapper is outstanding, as they are full of body fat and flavour.
Just as I am about to book my boat in for its annual service why not get yours done before the summer rush.
HQ Fishing Report with Captain Swish | July 2025
