Early Winter North Island: Snapper, Kings, and Short Bite Windows

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your North Island fishing rundown. We’ve got a classic early‑winter pattern settling in across much of the island. Light to moderate westerlies on most coasts, a bit more puffed up around exposed headlands, with a cool, clear start easing into scattered cloud and the odd shower pushing through later. Mornings are chilly but calm enough for soft‑baiting and stray‑lining close in. Afternoon sea breezes are kicking up a bit of chop, especially on the Hauraki and BOP coasts. Sunrise is around twenty‑to‑seven in the morning, with sunset just after five. That gives you short but punchy bite windows: change of light at dawn has been the prime time, with another nice flurry an hour before dark, especially on the east coast. Tides today are sitting in a nice middle‑of‑the‑road range: not huge spring surges, but enough run to get the berley working. Around the upper North Island east coast, the morning incoming has been fishing better, with the last two hours of the flood and first hour of the ebb producing the most consistent hook‑ups. West coast bars are still demanding total respect; keep a close eye on the bar cameras and forecasts if you’re heading out. Snapper are still the main show from Northland down through the Hauraki Gulf and Coromandel. Inshore workups have quietened, but there are solid pannies and the odd 60‑plus fish holding on foul and mud‑to‑sand edges in 8–18 metres. Recent reports from local boaties around Kawau, Tiri, and the back of Waiheke talk about steady limits of 32–40 cm fish on soft‑baits and lightly weighted baits. A couple of proper moochers have come off the pins north of Little Barrier on live baits and big slabs of fresh kahawai. Kingfish action has been patchy but worth the effort. The pins off Cape Brett, north of the Poor Knights, and out from Mayor Island have given up kings in the mid‑teens for crews putting time in with livies and jigs. Inshore, smaller rats are still cruising around marker buoys and reef edges; work your livies just off the structure on a running rig and be ready to lock up quickly. Trevally and kahawai are schooling over shellfish beds and channel edges, particularly in the inner Hauraki and BOP harbours. Berley hard on the bottom, fish small baits on light gear, and you’ll get a mix of trevs, snapper and the odd gurnard in the mud bays. Best lures right now: Soft‑baits in natural baitfish and bruised banana colours in 3–5 inch, worked slow close to the bottom, are out‑fishing most other artificials. Micro‑jigs in 20–40 g, pink, blue or silver, are deadly on the workups and channel edges. For kings, stickbaits in mackerel and pilchard patterns or 150–200 g mechanical jigs are doing the damage on the offshore structure. Best bait: Fresh is king. Mackerel, jack macs, and kahawai cut into big, bloody slabs, plus whole pilchards on 5/0–7/0 circles for snapper. For trevs, small cubes of pilchard or squid on small hooks and light trace. Don’t skimp on berley; a consistent trail has been the difference between a quiet day and a bin of fish. A couple of North Island hot spots to put on your list: • Hauraki Gulf – The eastern side of Waiheke and the reefs around Gannet Rock: great for snapper on soft‑baits and bait, with the chance of a bonus kingfish on livies. • Bay of Plenty – The offshore reefs and pins north of Motiti and around Mayor Island: steady snapper deep dropping and reliable kingfish for those putting jigs and livies through the water column. That’s the wrap from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn