The shorter days are a stark reminder that winter is fast approaching, fortunately the fishing across the country is resisting the winter doldrums.
Water temps in the north are holding strong and the fish are savagely on the chew. From a couple of recent Snapper trips, it’s hard to recall fishing like it and the best part is,it looks like the bite will continue well into May. It seems every style of fishing for Snapper has been productive.Castingsofties into the shallow reefy areas & over foul out to 20 metres has produced some exceptional fish as they feed up before the onset of winter.Laying down a solid burley trail has produced very similar results in the same areas. We just had a trip to the Far North where we fished the upper harbour & that was stacked with Snapper, it really seems wherever you wet a line for Snapper now you won’t go wrong.
Kingys are in similar shape to Snapper, again recent trips have delivered good numbers of Kings on live baits, stick baits and jigs. The most frustrating component has been the number of sharks around that have been hot on the heels of any hooked Kingfish. Unfortunately,we have had to pull the pin on a couple of hot kingy bites to avoid the unnecessary killing of these awesome fish.If Kingys are on the menu in May, it pays to have your bases covered and be prepared with a combination of livies,stick baits and jigs, one of these methods will get you a bite. There is still huge amounts of bait in shore and in the harbours, hunt the bait out and the kingfish won’t be far behind. The off shore pins seem to be firing too, just be prepared to shift if the sharks turn up. A jig or a livey near the bottom will soon let you know if the kings are in attendance & on the chew.
May also presents a superb time to get into deep water fishing.Hāpukutend to enter a pre-spawning phase now where they’ll be on the bite. Lower North Island and South Island anglers around the Cook Strait and Kaikoura can benefit from this period and take home one of NZ’s finest table fish.Practice getting your drift right and look for signature Hapuku spots dead on the bottom Prospecting spots on electric reels like a Tanacom can make the job a whole lot easier and certainly less tiring, and don’t be scared to drop a big Medai jig down to try lure one of these beasts in.
A couple of our Team Daiwa Anglers have been having some exceptional fishing down at the canals.Ben Booth & Doug Clifton have both been landing some cracking Trout & Salmon.Now is the time of year when the trout begin to get ready for their annual spawning run and ‘’Egg Rolling”comes in to its own for targeting these aggressive fish. If you’re heading down and unsure on how to fish the canals, booking a day with someone as knowledgeable as Ben will quickly point you in the right direction and give you a great shot at landing a fish of a lifetime. Any of the local South Island tackles hops will also be able to point you in the right direction for rods, reels and rigs.
Good luck out there and feel free to tag us in any of your fishing escapades using @daiwa_nz we’re always keen to see how our anglers are getting on.
2022 Aji Competition
📍 Where: NZ Nationwide(All welcome)
📅 When: May 6 (Friday 6pm)-15th (Sunday 11:59pm)
📷 How: Photograph your catch+lure over a measuring mat-upload to Daiwa NZ Tournament APP