North Island Fishing: Snapper Bite Heating Up with Cooler Southwesterly Pattern

Artificial Lure here with your North Island fishing report. A cool southwesterly pattern has settled over much of the Island. MetService is calling it partly cloudy with scattered showers, cooler temps and a bit of lump on the open coast this afternoon. Winds are generally SW 10–20 knots, easing inshore by evening. Seas on the east coast are choppy but manageable; the west coast is rougher with a solid swell rolling in. Sunrise came just after 7, with sunset due a touch before 5:30, so it’s a short, tight bite window. The low tide around the Haruaki Gulf and Bay of Plenty areas has been late morning, pushing into an early afternoon incoming that’s been fishing well, especially that first hour of the flood. Up north around the Bay of Islands, the top of the tide mid‑day and again into dusk has turned the fish on around structure and channels. Snapper have been the main story. In the Hauraki Gulf, most boats picking away at 32–45 cm pannies with the odd 50–60 cm model out wider. Workups have been patchy but when the gannets and dolphins do line up, the fish under them are in good nick. Inshore foul from Tiritiri to Kawau has held solid numbers early, then going quiet as the sun gets high. According to local charter skippers out of Tauranga and Whakatāne, the deep reef country is holding some nice terakihi and good‑sized snapper. West coast out of Raglan and Kāwhia has been slower with the swell, but those getting out in the weather windows have found snapper and the odd solid gurnard on the sand in 40–60 metres. Kingfish activity has picked up with the cooler water tightening the bait schools. Reefs off the Bay of Islands, along with shallow pins in the Gulf, have produced rats right up to proper hoodlums. Live koheru, jack macks and piper are still the top offerings, but stickbaits and mechanical jigs in natural baitfish colours have been smashed on the turn of the tide. Best lures lately for snapper have been 5–7 inch softbaits in new penny, motor oil and natural browns, especially on 3/8 to 1 oz jig heads drifted back in 10–25 metres. Slow‑pitch jigs in 40–80 grams, pink/blue and orange/gold, have outfished bait when the drift is right. For bait fishos, fresh jack mackerel and squid strips are doing better than frozen pillies, with lightly weighted straylines into the berley trail still the go‑to around the rocks and in close. Land‑based fishers have had a decent run off the Northland ledges. The evening incoming has produced snapper to mid‑50s on big squid baits and whole pillies, with a few kahawai schools pushing bait tight in against the wash. A few solid kings are still cruising the edges where there’s current and bait. Two hotspots to consider: first, the inner Hauraki Gulf channels between Rangitoto, Motutapu and Waiheke on the afternoon incoming tide – plenty of good pannies holding along the edges. Second, the inshore reefs just north of the Bay of Islands, fishing the change of light with livebaits down deep for kingfish, and lightly weighted baits or softbaits for snapper. That’s the state of the water today – keep an eye on the wind, fish the tide changes hard, and match your bait to the local forage. 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