PIERRE TROLLIP knows his way around a fishing rod and line, and here is his latest column for the Times.
I can report that snapper, while plentiful, are on the small size presently.
The word at Half Moon Bay Marina is that there is a “pink plague” out there in the Hauraki Gulf.
The snapper is in very good numbers, yet small. I can’t remember not catching anything, at least in the past few years.
With spring, the weather is its usual up and down self. The reasonable window has been one day a week for the last four.
We recently had a five-knot variable forecast. My mate Ben always says that if the forecast is five-knots and variable, it’s compulsory to go fishing.
Most of the fleet were booked out and out there somewhere.
Graeme was on his boat nearby and landed a 52cm snapper. That’s quite unusual for this time of year and reasonably close to the dock.
I was within shouting distance of him and caught nothing. Just bait wasting.
When the tide slowed down, it got even quieter. I then headed to my “never fail” spot.
There, I landed a 33cm snapper, and at least several smaller ones.
On another recent day, Harry and Keith on their subscribed boat landed 14 keepers by 9.35am.
Being busy with cameras and the drone, I could not keep up with them.
I landed good-sized 37cm and 34cm snapper. Plenty for a few dinners and my recent favourite, snapper curry.
Check out the action from these past few weeks on my YouTube channel: OutSmart – The Fishing Pensioner.
I usually end my videos by saying: “I’ll catch you next week!”
However, the next two weeks don’t look good, so there might be a rare non-fishing week for this pensioner!
