Winter Snapper On The Chew: North Island Fishing Report

Kia ora, this is Artificial Lure with your North Island fishing report. We’ve got a classic winter pattern settling in across the motu. MetService is calling it light to moderate west‑southwesterlies over much of the North Island coastline today, easing in the bays, with a cool, clear start and increasing cloud and the odd coastal shower this arvo. Air temps are mostly in the low to mid‑teens, cooler inland overnight. According to MetService marine forecasts, seas are slight to moderate on both coasts, with a low southwesterly swell off the west and a longer‑period easterly pulse hanging around parts of the east. Sunrise was around twenty‑past seven this morning with sunset just after five, so your prime bite windows are those low‑light periods either side of dawn and dusk. NIWA’s tide data for the Hauraki Gulf shows a mid‑morning high followed by an afternoon drop, and similar timing up and down the east coast – that first half of the outgoing has been fishing best. Snapper are still very much on the chew in 15–35 metres, especially anywhere you’ve got a bit of current pushing over foul or shell. Local charter skippers out of Auckland and Whangārei have been reporting pannies in the 32–45 cm range with the odd 60‑plus fish mixed in. Out wider, boats working the 45–60 metre line have picked up better numbers of solid reds along with kahawai and the odd trevally. Workups have been patchy but when the gannets and dolphins line up over bait schools in the Gulf, the snapper and kahawai are right underneath them. On the west coast, reports from boats running out of Manukau and Kāwhia have included good hauls of snapper and gurnard on the sand in 35–55 metres, along with school sharks and the occasional kingi. For lures, keep it simple and local: 5–7 inch softbaits in natural baitfish colours – pilchard, anchovy, and bruised banana tones – have been deadly over foul and sand, especially on light jigheads drifted with the tide. Slow‑pitch jigs in the 40–80 gram range, pinks and golds in particular, are still accounting for quality snapper in the mid‑depths and will happily pick up kingfish if they’re in the mix. Micro‑jigs and small metals are doing the damage on kahawai under the birds. For bait fishos, fresh is best. Fresh kahawai strips, mullet, and whole or half pilchards have out‑fished frozen stuff most days. Smaller baits on recurves are doing the business on gurnard and pannies, while a bigger butterflied bait or live mackerel is your ticket if you’re serious about kingfish around the headlands and reefs. A couple of hot spots to circle for the next few days: • The worm beds and edges of the shipping channel in the inner Hauraki Gulf: drifting those 25–40 metre marks around the turn of the tide has produced steady snapper and kahawai, with the better fish turning up when the wind and tide play nicely together. • The reefs and pins off the Bay of Islands: places like Bird Rock and the foul off Ninepin have held solid snapper and winter kingfish. Work slow‑pitch jigs and livebaits around the pressure edges, especially on the outgoing when the current is standing up. Inshore, land‑based anglers have been finding trevally and respectable snapper off the deeper ledges around Coromandel and East Northland using stray‑lined pilchards and squid in the evenings. If you’re fishing the harbours, try the last of the incoming and first of the outgoing around channels and mangrove edges for pannie snapper and gurnard. That’s your North Island fishing rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next 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