Winter Bite Window: North Island Snapper, Kings and Kahawai in the Cold

Kia ora, Artificial Lure here with your North Island fishing report. We’ve got a classic winter pattern settling over the Island today. Light to moderate westerlies for most regions, easing in the bays, with a cool, clear start and cloud building this afternoon. Overnight temps are chilly, but the calmer seas are giving boaties a decent window. MetService has sunrise around 7:30 in the north and sunset just before 5:10, so that bite time around dawn and the last hour of light is prime. Tides on both coasts are running handy for a morning mission: low around mid‑morning and a mid‑afternoon high on the east, with the west side roughly an hour behind. That incoming tide has been the trigger, especially where current pushes bait over reef edges and into the work‑ups. Snapper fishing has been steady rather than red hot, but the quality is there. Inner Hauraki Gulf and Bream Bay have been producing good pannies with the odd 50–60 cm model when the current picks up. Most fish are sitting in 12–20 metres, with a few bigger moochers tight to structure in 6–10 metres. Off the west coast bars, snapper numbers are down on summer, but the fish that are there are solid. Kingfish are still hanging around the headlands, pins, and markers. Not huge numbers, but enough to keep you interested if you commit the time. Think strong current, bait on the sounder, and you’re in the game. Kahawai schools are popping up off the beaches and in the harbours, especially around change of light, and trevally are nosing about over shell and foul for those fishing soft baits or small baits patiently. Best lures at the moment: - For snapper: 3–5 inch softbaits in natural baitfish or motor‑oil colours on 1/4–1/2 oz jig heads, and 20–40 g slow‑pitch jigs in pink, orange, or gold. - For kings: mechanical jigs around 80–150 g in blue/chrome or green, and stickbaits worked hard over pins. - For kahawai and trevally: small metal slices and micro‑jigs around 10–25 g. Top baits: - Fresh squid, mullet, or bonito strips for snapper. - Live mackerel or kahawai for kingfish around markers and headlands. - Small cubes of pilchard or shellfish baits for trevally on lighter gear. Couple of hot spots to put on the list: - The Hauraki Gulf work‑up belt between Tiritiri Matangi and Kawau Island when birds are up and dolphins are pushing bait. Get slightly up‑current of the action and fish softbaits or slow jigs down the sides of the work‑up rather than right in the middle. - Bream Bay, particularly off Sail Rock and the reefs north of it in 15–25 metres. Slow drifting with softbaits and lightly weighted straylines has been producing a nice mix of snapper and the odd king. Harbours like Manukau, Kaipara, and Tauranga are still worth a crack on the last of the outgoing and first of the incoming tide, especially along channel edges and where banks drop into deeper water. Use lighter traces and smaller baits if the bite is tentative in the cold water. That’s it from Artificial Lure today. 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