Baiting for Snapper
by Mark Roberts
It is early September as I complete this article, and I am, like all surfcasters, waiting for snapper. My hopes, however, may be a little different than some. I’m not fixated on catching twenty-pounders. Anything heavier than two kilograms is just fine in my book, and three to five is perfection. A snapper of this size group is an elusive target for surfcasters anywhere, and especially where I live. That’s the challenge I want to address this season.
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Using the Mustad Flasher Rig 1
by Michael Rendle
Those Japs know a thing or two about catching fish. I can’t remember what year I saw my first sabiki rig, I do know that it was a very long time ago. I know we once managed to buy a whole lot of tackle cheap at auction back in the mid 1970’s and it included some things I seem to recall were Mustad branded called paternoster rigs. It was a sort of flasher rig/lure combination and we had no idea what to do with them… Move on three decades and there isn’t a fisherman without a flasher rig, usually half a dozen, in their tackle box. This issue the rig is already tied. The Mustad flasher rigs are top quality and thoroughly reliable. Instead we are going to look at ways of baiting and using flasher rigs in your own fishing.
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Using the Mustad Flasher Rig 2
by Michael Rendle
With apologies to our many lower South Island readers, the undeniable fact is that for most of the NZ fishing population, snapper are the prime target. There’s no point in writing us letters; its how it is. The cool thing is that when targeting snapper we have lots of other species that become by-catch, that is if you consider JD’s, gurnard, tarakihi and blue cod to be ‘bycatch’. There are many, many ways to rig for, and target snapper. As is so often the case, local knowledge can be a key ingredient. For example, we regularly see East Coast fishermen join us in Raglan and try to strayline for snapper. The fact is, the technique just doesn’t work. Whether we like it or not, the reality is that a standard two hook dropper rig with a big sinker on the bottom will catch more fish. Don’t ask me why, it just does. With so many techniques used and local variations in tackle, we decided it was time to take a step back and show you some of our favourite simple rigs for snapper…
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The Boys’ Big Winter Trip North ‘06
Fortunately, that proved to be a good move; the area around the north head was quite fishy. There was some irony that it was also glassy calm where we fished. Shane caught a really nice trevally while my crew got on to the snapper. We have now found, on a number of occasions, that as the light reduces the snapper move up the water column and away from structure. We started to catch snapper by casting into the open water of the channel.
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The Boys’ Trip…
by Graeme Sinclair
Last year Darren Shields and I took our sons to Stewart Island. The trip was a fantastic experience for all of us and served to remind me that my boy was growing up, fast.
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Winter Fishing
by Bruce Duncan
With the wind trying to rip the roof off the house and the log fire with half the Kaiangaroa Forest stuffed in it, most fishermen will now be looking at the weather map on the television and getting grumpy.
