Surfcasting in NZ

Baracuda on light gear can be fun. But they will wreck your traces.

The sea is getting cleaner, the redcod are less frequent. My last few outings have produced an odd mixture of Conger eels, Kahawai, Redcod, Paddle crabs and Baracuda. The one nice exception being a good sized Gurnard.
But the weather is better, which makes catching this mixture of rubbish bearable. Catching up with a few mates on the beach is the highlight of the outing when the fishing is slow. Hey its better than sitting on the couch.

Looking forward to September and the chance of a Snapper.

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A large Paddle Crab

During the winter months here in HB, and also in other areas around NZ, the absence of Snapper, Lemonfish, and other crab eaters cause what seems like a population explosion of paddle crabs. Its not so much a population explosion as the paddle crabs are always there. Its just that in the absence of their main predators, they rule the sea floor for a month or two.
One of the main problems with surfcasting here in winter is keeping your bait away from the crabs. Its not uncommon for perfectly presented and nicely bound baits to be picked clean in less than five minutes. If you are fishing two rods and the crabs are thick, you can have an endless job of rebaiting one rod, then the other, and back to the first. When the crabs are hungry it doesnt really matter what bait you present, they will clean your hook in minutes. From Pilchards to tough old Squid they’ll take it. I’ve even had them eat the plastic bling (needlefish) I have on my traces as well.
Putting floats on your traces will not stop the paddle crabs, but it may slow them down. Try to use longish traces with a float big enough to lift your bait well off the bottom, (test it in a bucket of water). If your’e fishing in turbulent conditions the crabs will grab your bait as soon as the waves make it swing anywhere near the bottom anyway. But it may get you a couple more minutes of ‘baited hook time’ before you need to wind in and rebait.
This year the HB paddle crabs seem to be in plague proportions, and more ravenous than I’ve ever experienced. Its not uncommon to wind in your gear and find a crab tangled in the trace, or even just hanging on to the remains of your bait and refusing to let go, even when hoisted clear of the water. This season I’ve caught them two at a time on one bait, and even had one hanging on to my sinker!
There is an upside to dragging a few of these ashore though. They make good bait. Chop them up and use them for lemonfish baits. They freeze well and can be kept for quite a while. If you chop one up and send it straight back to where is came from, it will suffer the same fate as your pilchards. Yes paddle crabs are cannibals, and they will quite happily eat each other.

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June. Frosty mornings, crisp clear days ( sometimes ) and rough dirty seas (not always)
We’ve had a lot of rain in HB lately, and anywhere within a few km of a river mouth is filthy muddy water. However, 45 minutes south last week, the sea was clean and flat
Reef fishing can be very rewarding, but at the same time can be very frustrating. You stand a good chance of catching a wide variety of fish, but you can lose a lot of terminal tackle to the rocks and weed.
There are several ways you can lessen the ‘collateral damage’ of fishing over foul ground. I tend to use sacrificial sinkers tied on with lighter line than the main line. This is often referred to as a ‘rotten bottom rig’ and the theory is that when your sinker gets snagged in the rocks the weaker line attaching it will break first and you can at least retrieve the rest of your tackle. Another option is to use running rig, preferably with a ball sinker, which seems to snag up a lot less than a dropper or pulley rig. If you are targeting big snapper you can do away with the sinker altogether, and just cast out a big bait unweighted. An extension of this is to ‘float’ that big bait under a tennis ball or similar. This will prevent it being grabbed by octopus etc and dragged into the weeds.

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Or call it ‘end of summer’ Gurnard if you like. There are reports of a few gurnard being caught by surfcasters from Northern HB beaches still. Perseverance is required of course. Its a matter of putting in the hours day and night until the fish find you.
Also reports of good size snapper being caught on the west coast.
Lots of boilups occurring at Whakaki last weekend too, so the Kahawai are still abundant, a few Spineys showing up here and there, and also baby Tope among them.

Hook into em!

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Dirty Water can produce lemonfish as well

Winter is nearly upon us here in NZ, and that changes the way we do things, what fish we seek, our methods, and for some, our enthusiasm ….
While in theory the big snapper should be present in April-May here in the Hawkes Bay, they are conspicuous by their absence this season. In fact snapper of any size are not around in any significant numbers for the average joe surfaster at the moment.
We hear of catches of one or two small fish now and then, but this news is the exception to the rule.
For most of us, we must rely on fishing reports, our own experiences and skills, (or lack of)  and a huge dose of luck.

Anyway, winter fishing, most of us here in HB can kiss goodbye to the snapper, trevally, and other ‘summer species’ for a few months, until September or October.

Until then we will attempt to catch Kahawai, have fights with occasional stingrays, curse the spiny dogfish for wrecking our traces, and throw many a sulking redcod back into the briney. Driving north for an hour or two might help.

Winter, for me , is a great time to do a bit of reconnaissance and just check out new places. Take the camera (and the GPS if you’re that way inclined) and walk some coastline. Make a list of ‘must visit’ places for the summer. Of course if the location is remote and untouched enough, you just might find a big daddy snapper waiting out the winter in a reefy bay or channel. He’ll be hungry too, and lobbing a tasty bait in front of his face might produce that elusive winter snapper for you. Big snapper dont mind dirty lumpy water either. I’ve caught big fish in coffee colored water before.

Closer to springtime you might like to try for a nice moki or two. Use shellfish baits and small hooks. Smashed up shells ( especially mussels ) on the beach are a good sign of moki territory.

best of luck

cm

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If there are such things as by-catch in surfcasting, the red cod is one of them. Its a nuisance fish. It has no redeeming qualities at all. The flesh, should you try to eat one, is tasteless and mushy. They fight like a piece of wet paper, in fact you often don’t know you have hooked a red cod until you reel in to change baits. Thats when you find the slimy red lump sulking on the end of your line. Catching a red cod in the presence of other surfcasters will often be the cause of much teasing and embarrassment. Best kick it back into the water before they see it. They are the garbage disposal crew of the coastline and will eat anything they can find. I throw them back so they can continue to clean up the garbage. Mostly caught in the colder months.

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Snapper are one of the most sought after species by Kiwi Surfcasters, and depending on where you are in NZ they can be abuntant or completely absent. As a general rule they are more readily available in the top half of the North Island than anywhere else. Seasons also have a bearing on the snapper turning up or not. Summer is the best time to target them if you’re south of East Cape. If you happen to be fishing in an area where snapper are present they will often eat almost anything.  Other times they can be annoyingly picky and ignore everything you throw at them. Common baits used for snapper are pilchards, bonito, squid, octopus, cray, but as stated above, if they’re hungry they’ll eat anything. Snapper are mainly sought as food, and they are excellent eating. Because of this the species gets hammered commercially.
They are found in all sorts of environments, from reefy weedy areas to wide open sandy beaches. Smaller ‘shoalie’ snapper are often found out in the open surf beaches, while large adult fish are often found around rocky headlands etc. Thats not set in concrete though, during certain months of the year, the big breeding fish will be caught in open sand or shingle beaches as well.
Lots of surfcasting competitions are based on snapper although due to poor catches in some areas these competitions are often now including more abundant species in their prize categories.
Photo: Chad Prentice
You can tell the difference in the color of the snapper which has been in among the rocks ( kelpies ) compared to sand dwelling snapper. Note the deep red color, and the snapper caught over sand are very pale and light in color.

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Gurnard are a very sought after species, very nice eating and a great looking fish too.
They can be caught in sandy bays on fish or shellfish baits.
They seem to prefer calm settled conditions and deeper water.
They dont often venture into the surf, so long casts that can go beyond the surf line into calmer water will help.
More Gurnard info available here
Photo: Mark Roberts
Gurnard caught at Sunset Beach, Port Waikato, New Zealand

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Smooth Hound ( Lemonfish ) caught on fresh paddle crab bait at Ocean Beach HB, Feb 2010 Whats the difference between Lemonfish and Dogfish?
They dont often take fish baits. They prefer shellfish (crab or crayfish if you can get it) Often caught at night. Very good eating, lemonfish is often sold by fish and chip shops.

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Kahawai – can be caught on virtually any bait if they are around in numbers. Will take lures and live-baits. Often found around river mouths. When feeding in schools they will attack anything that moves. I’ve seen them caught on a bare hook trailing a strip of tinfoil! Good fighters on light tackle, reasonable eating if bled and chilled immediately apon capture.

Schools of Kahawai are often accompanied by gulls diving at the baitfish they chase up.

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