North Island Fishing Report: Winter Snapper and Kahawai in Settled Conditions

Kia ora, Artificial Lure here with your North Island fishing report. A light westerly has been brushing most coasts today, with settled high‑pressure conditions and only a bit of afternoon chop. MetService has been calling it mostly fine with scattered cloud and only the odd shower inland, so it’s been comfortable on the water and along the rocks. Overnight temps stayed mild, and that’s helped keep the baitfish active close to shore. Sunrise was around twenty‑to‑seven this morning with sunset just after five, giving a short but productive bite window at both ends of the day. The low‑light periods have been the standout for inshore action, especially the first hour of light and the last hour before dark. NIWA’s tide tables show mid‑morning and late‑evening highs on both east and west coasts, and the turn of the tide has really been the trigger. The first hour of the incoming has fished best for snapper and kahawai, with the outgoing pushing bait off the flats and firing up trevally and gurnard. Reports from Hauraki Gulf charter skippers have been solid: pannie snapper in 30–45 cm range with the odd 60 cm fish, plus steady kahawai workups under gannets. Around the Bay of Plenty, local clubs are weighing in mixed bags of snapper, tarakihi, and a few john dory from inshore reefs. West coast bars like Manukau and Kaipara have given up good gurnard numbers and some chunky winter snapper for those picking the weather and tide carefully. Lure fishing has been doing the damage. Soft‑baits in natural baitfish patterns – 4–5 inch minnows in pilchard, anchovy, or new‑penny colours – fished on light jigheads over 10–20 m foul have been deadly on snapper. Inchiku and slider‑style jigs in 40–80 g, pink, orange, and blue, are still pulling fish when drift speed is right. For bait fishers, fresh mullet, bonito, and pilchard have outfished frozen; smaller baits on recurve hooks are getting more consistent hookups on the tentative winter bites. Kahawai have been smashing small metal slices and hex‑wedges retrieved quickly near workups. Trevally have favoured small bits of prawn or shellfish on flasher rigs, especially where there’s berley in the water. John dory are turning up around bait schools; slow‑jigged soft‑baits or live yellow‑eyed mullet are your best bet if you’re targeting them specifically. A couple of hot spots to circle on the map: • Inner Hauraki Gulf foul around the Noises and Ahaahas: steady snapper on soft‑baits and slow jigs in 12–18 m, with kahawai pushing bait to the surface at first light. • Inshore reefs off Tauranga, 25–40 m: mixed bags of snapper and tarakihi on ledger rigs with squid or pilchard, and good results on 60 g slow jigs when there’s enough current. Fish activity will taper off in the bright middle of the day, so plan your sessions around that dawn or dusk tide change, keep your rigs light, and match your lures to the small baitfish that are thick inshore at the moment. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe for more local fishing intel. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn