Manukau / Auckland West Coast

Expect an increase in active fishing opportunities, with abundant snapper in the harbour post-spawning, along with kingfish, trevally, and kahawai, while flounder and grey mullet also offer rewarding catches, either through netting or spearing, amidst various fishing methods and local regulations.

Fishing in the Manukau Harbour is yielding a mix of small and larger snapper, with kingfish and trevally also present, while offshore fishing shows promise for marlin and albacore, indicating a potentially good game fishing season ahead.

As a part of Countries Sport Fishing Club, I get to help organise some of our fishing competitions. Mostly I’m involved in the Grunter Hunter – a gurnard only comp that regularly attracts 300 or more anglers all hoping to get some of the prizemoney on offer.

It has certainly been an unusual year. Like everyone else I would have expected a whole lot more settled weather over autumn, and now that winter is finally here, I would have expected to have seen a whole lot more cooler weather.

It has been a long time between reports, my apologies for that but it isn’t always easy to get a decent report out. I recently met up with a Fishing World reader – Gareth from West Coast Boat Wraps. I have seen his work and it is pretty good stuff.

It’s been a long time between reports for me, which is a bit naughty especially as I’ve done my share of fishing lately. The ever reliable west coast hasn’t let us down and it seldom does in springtime. One recent trip had some hectic fishing on baits and jigs for some very good fish up to 8kg, then a couple of weeks later with a new fishfinder/chartplotter with no marks whatsoever saved we repeated that trick in even faster time despite just stopping in a random spot in 58m. The difference was in the size of the fish, nothing over 3kg, but that isn’t a bad thing at all.

The weather hasn’t been kind enough to tempt me out fishing lately but to make up for that I’m going somewhere this weekend that everyone should try to fish at some stage of their life, the Ranfurly Banks. While that has nothing to do with fishing the Manukau harbour and surrounds at least I’ll be looking forward to some more leisurely snapper and gurnard fishing when I get back after putting up with those big arm stretching fish down East Cape way!

Winter fishing, why do we do it? It’s always cold, often raining and usually a combination of the two. It can also be quite productive. My son Arron and I spent last weekend fishing the CSFC.co.nz Ice Breaker competition. We targeted snapper & gurnard in the Manukau harbour.

We fished the Sunday of Queens Birthday weekend for the CSFC & Franklin Hunting & Fishing Grunter Hunter. Saturday was a perfect day and some very nice snapper came out of the harbour, plus a few gurnard.

The annual Grunter Hunter comp is on this weekend folks!

The harbour is fishing at its best right now, especially for snapper. Gurnard catches are on the up and the fish are in great condition. I’ve seen a lot of 50cm plus snapper caught from the harbour and I know of a nice 15lb fish last week that was caught in the Papakura Channel. I’ve heard of gurnard up to 1.4kg which are close to 50cm long, some of which have been caught off the harbour beaches.

Goodbye summer. So many people think that it’s all over for another six months but nothing could be further from the truth. Snapper will be in their best condition as they have been preparing for the winter that’s now not too far away.

I guess we’ve been pretty lucky to have so many easterly winds to help flatten out the swells moving into the west coast but they don’t help at all when they are a steady 20 knots, just a little too brisk for me. Then of course now the weekend is upon us and today (Friday) we’re getting sou’ westerlies gusting to 37 knots, bugger! Oh well the trees need pruning, lawns need mowing and there are always a few cold beers in the fridge so I can’t complain.

Yipee! It’s Autumn, my favourite time for fishing the harbour. As the water temps cool I’m hoping we’ll see better numbers of snapper moving in, especially into shallower areas. Gurnard aren’t fans of warm water and typically at this time of year they are more plentiful and in better condition from off the coast than those that remain in the harbour.

Something a bit different this time, for all you fisho's that value targeting the mighty gurnard in the Manukau Harbour.

Talk about a different season, with the warm surface temps we’ve had since December I would have expected lots of marlin but it has been pretty quiet so far although most of the fish have been big. A few weeks ago there was a run of small southern blue fin tuna which is a fish I’ve heard much of from the west. The fish were mostly under 20kg but just remember these fish have a catch limit of one per angler per day. Albacore & skipjack appear to be playing hide & seek but I’m sure they will turn up soon enough.

Fishing report Manukau 26 November Ed note: While we wait for Smudge’s regular Manukau report, NZ Fishing World managed to get a crack over the bar this week, and was once again reminded of what an awesome fishery it is. With the biomass of snapper far higher than the east coast, even accounting for the latest commercial increase, when it is on out west it is truly spectacular fishing at this time of year.

Snapper fishing in spring time off the coast is usually at its best in deep water and we generally head to 55 to 60m where it’s not difficult to find schools of big snapper congregating. The last week has had good conditions for crossing both the river and harbour bars and while the fishing has remained good at 60m, bigger fish are now being caught in closer. I’ve heard of 20lb+ snapper being caught in 40m off the river and at 50 off the harbour.

We often only get very small windows where we can get out across the harbour & river bars. Under the covid restrictions we’ve had to face, there have only been 2 or 3 opportunities to get out for a fish. I’ve only been able to get out there once this spring and the mighty west coast once again delivered in style, last Saturday we were watching the forecast on SwellMap.

It was rather fitting that the first day we were allowed to fish from a boat in weeks, the weather really put it on for us. The coast was flat, bar conditions were good and the fishing out there was spectacular. While most chose to head out to between 50 & 60m, I’ve heard of good snapper caught in as close as 12m from a boat and from torpedoes set off the beach.

The harbour is fishing very well for gurnard & kahawai. I expect with the odd good trevally are also a likely catch. Gurnard are an expected catch and should be targeted as such in the harbour, and good eating is guaranteed if you can get some of the typically big ones on deck at this time of year. Weather conditions make fishing inside the Makukau harbour a really safe option sometimes, and taking the pressure off contending with the bar can make for a pretty chilled out day. Some mornings have still been stunning, and the sunrises and fishing both amazing.

The Counties Sport Fishing Club’s Grunter Hunter comp wrapped up last month after a delayed start, and the weather was still all over the place in the lead up to the event. That’s not unusual for this time of the year but as it turned out the conditions on the day were fabulous. The secret to winter fishing is to have your boat and gear ready to go when the opportunity presents itself, as you generally get fewer windows because of the weather.

Due to weather conditions! The Grunter Hunter comp has been postponed and moved to SUNDAY JUNE 20th Now.

It’s prime time in the Manukau for the mighty gurnard. A favourite eating fish for many, and a bit of fun to catch as they don’t require too much attention, and you can enjoy a quiet beverage while the rod sits in the holder. Of course, the annual Franklin Hunting and Fishing Grunter Hunter comp is approaching, so a good carrot could end up scoring you $3000 on June the 6th.

Smudge! I want your report on my desk by close of business tonight – no more excuses! Even ten minutes late and I’ll send the boys around. Crikey! The boss was grumpy today so there’s only one thing for it and that is to knuckle down and write another report from ‘Honest Smudge’.

In my twenty years as part of Counties Sport Fishing Club I’ve never seen anything like this. It seems that every day there is a marlin story better than the day before. The year started off with reports of a marlin or two getting tagged & released. The fish were generally small – around the 70 to 80kg mark and most were released so there were only stories. No physical evidence there to make me think something was brewing. But the stories were persistent, multiple hookups of small fish. A few striped marlin started coming into the weigh station and it was becoming apparent that the stories were true. A little bit of rough weather kept boats on front lawns but soon the weather cleared and all of a sudden there were big fish getting weighed and tagged. There were boats coming in without fish for sure but they usually had stories to tell. One boat load of seasoned game fishermen told of how each of their 5 lures were hit without a single hook up. Reports of two caught marlin in a day were getting common place.

Brief update to the Dec/Jan report: As we expect for this time of year, gamefish are being caught out at the 110 metre mark and thereabouts. So far they are mostly small at under 90kg, but you never know when the bigger specimens will appear. We haven't seen any, but haven't been looking either. As far as snapper go, we've been getting good fish in at only 12 metres. I got a few nice fish there on the Catch motor oil softbaits. Great action on those!

For me one of the most important factors when fishing the harbour – apart from the weather of course – are the tides. At this time of the year, they become even more important as the long days allow you to capitalise on the low evening tides as described below. Understanding tides is very important from both a safety and convenience point of view and also to help improve on our fishing success.

Right now, the west coast is fishing really well for snapper. Last Saturday we fished at 55m and apart from two gurnard we only caught snapper. One after another. Using light gear and a slow retrieve we were able to return plenty that were still in great condition and they powered away straight down in to the depths. Two other boats that were out that day fished at 60m for similar results and went out again a day or two later. Their second time out on the same spots they fished earlier didn’t reap the same rewards but when they moved in closer, they were on again. Their best result came from 45m, so there is no magic depth that always works.

This is the best time to be snapper fishing from off the west coast - Springtime! Water surface temps have risen dramatically over the last couple of weeks. Our go to is 60m but that is not to say other depths aren’t working or that anywhere that happens to be 60m is going to fire. Not straight away at least. When you go all that way it is best to stay a while if the fish aren’t biting. It won’t be long before they show up. I would share my theory on that but my editor says to keep my reports under 10 thousand words.

Ed note: Our regular fishing report contributor and general Manukau guru, Smudge, has been off the grid, most likely fishing for the last couple of weeks, but we hear from our other Manukau friends that the west coast has fired up consistently with the usual patterns at this time of year, and it’s a good time to get out across the bar and get yourself some good snapper fishing.

I was sitting around minding my own business when I got a tap on the shoulder. “Smudge! Where’s your fishing report”! It was the boss and he wasn’t happy, after all it has been a while. I promised I would make one up right away – apparently that wasn’t good enough. ‘I want facts Smudge, not stories!’. Crikey, talk about touchy. So I thought I had better write something and here it is:

Short & sharp this week. The harbour is fishing very well for gurnard & kahawai. I expect with a little technique that trevally are also a likely catch. For whatever reason I’ve seen more big gurnard this year than I have in a long time - if ever. I know of fish between 1.5 and 2kg being caught from the harbour over the last 25 years but this year I’ve seen several fish between 1.4 and 1.6 kilos and heard of several others.

We are now dead smack in the middle of one of my favourite fishing times for the harbour. The problem is it is going to end real soon and when it does we will be dead smack in the middle of one of my least favourite times. Hard to please much Smudge? Let me explain. Autumn to early winter rocks it in the harbour. Gurnard, trevally, kahawai and big snapper are all at their best right now. Unfortunately, the weather systems start to deteriorate really fast. There is nothing worse than a nasty sou’ easter to ruin a day on the harbour. The chop will be short & sharp and the water will be a muddy brown colour on those days which will become all too frequent from now until October.

On Sunday 21 June our fishing club is running our annual gurnard fishing competition ‘The Franklin Hunting & Fishing Grunter Hunter’. Due to the economic situation we’ve decided to tone things down a bit this year and operate it on a sweepstake basis where we put as much of the money from ticket sales into prizemoney as we can. We don’t want to burden our sponsors but having said that they have been great in helping us get the event sorted. We are offering a 1st Prize of over $1000. Tickets are on sale at Franklin Hunting & Fishing until 3pm or so on Saturday.

Standing in for Smudge this week, a couple of his mates, Gerald Muir and friends, who have put together a nice informative video interviewing highly regarded Manukau harbour expert Scotty Warrender.

Fishing has always been more than just a little bit about being out at the right time in the right place. Some people seem to be able to get themselves into the right time at the right place more often than others. Some rely more heavily on luck and there is no doubt that luck does play a part in fishing too. On top of that you have skill. The more our skill levels improve the more luck we seem to have and we find ourselves in the right place at the right time more often. Stories about the one that got away will even become less frequent as those skill levels build but the stories will at least be more epic when that does happen. There are still a couple of ingredients missing from the recipe for fishing success – experience and local knowledge. Combine all those things and you have given yourself the best possible chance of getting a good catch. Probably not every time but at least you know you’ve given it your best shot. This is starting to sound like you’re building a great excuse for some poor fishing form Smudge!

I know it’s a bad time for many right now and I empathise with those of you who are finding things tough. However, there’s nothing like a good positive attitude and that is the only way to approach these events. We can only work together, put politics and thoughts of social injustice aside and obey the rules put to us by our leaders. On the day of writing this I see we’re down to something like 29 new and probable cases. That’s an amazing recovery but don’t expect that a switch will be suddenly turned on and we can return to normal life straight away. I’m expecting Level 3 restrictions to follow and I’d be surprised if that is for less than one month. There is only one thing for sure though, there will be no fishing for another two weeks. No biggie, at least we can expect some great autumn & winter fishing once this is all under control.

I was asked to skipper a boat for a friend last weekend so he and his mate Matthew and I could fish the Waiau Pa Boating Club Family fishing competition. Although Grant owns a boat he is in a wheel chair and needs some assistance. He is a pretty forthright sort of character and is a very interesting guy so I felt the pressure to put him onto some good fish. They were keen to learn some new techniques as their normal fishing style is to drop flasher rigs under the boat and fish in deeper water. Effective but sometimes you need a plan B. They catch fish but wanted to try something else. That’s a very important part of fishing for me as there is no one approach that always works. Grant & Matthew recognised that were keen to learn.

Fishing inside the harbour has been hindered recently by the huge amount of red weed (gracilaria I think it is called) that manages to wrap itself around baits and fishing line within minutes of it hitting the water. Some areas are affected worse than others but it is pretty much everywhere. The easiest way to avoid it is to fish the slack water near the top or bottom of the tide. Smaller tides certainly help reduce the effects of the weed too and if you can work around it there are some very good fish to be caught. The South channel and 50m hole off of Paratutae Island are fishing well. Paratutae is strictly a high tide spot though as at that depth you will struggle to hit the bottom with the big currents there.

Ed note: A south-west swell of up to 2 metres this weekend is going to make it pretty nasty heading out over the bar, so it may be a better option to stay in the harbour or hit the east coast wide if chasing game fish. Later in the week around Thursday is looking much better even if that’s not playing ball with public holidays. We had some reports of good snapper in quite shallow in the harbour taking soft baits in the brighter orange colours only yesterday. A couple of fish up to 50cm so not too bad at all. Here’s a brief update from Smudge for all those thinking of heading west this weekend.

Most of the west coast reports we hear – mine included – have glowing reports of great catches of mega snapper. I don’t make that stuff up. I’m either speaking from experience or I’m passing on the info that I’m hearing from sources I can trust. It truly is a great fishery and sometimes when we have a less than spectacular catch we feel kind of cheated. We shouldn’t of course. We should be grateful for every opportunity we get to experience one of life’s great pleasures: fishing with friends and going home with an almost certain catch of top table fish. So as one of those who extol the virtues of one of the country’s greatest snapper fisheries do I feel guilty about those who have a bad day out there such as when 3 fishermen got into trouble a week or two ago when one of them perished? Well yes. I do feel a little guilty. I try to balance those guilty feelings by thinking about the times I’ve mentioned the dangers of crossing the notorious Manukau bar. Or the even trickier Waikato River bar. I’ve had friends get into difficulties on both of those bar crossings. I’m certainly not the greatest skipper in the world but I do exercise caution about when we cross or not. We’ve turned back a few times when others have gone ahead. I don’t regret that one bit.

Wow, there it is! 2020. I took a call last weekend from a guy Chris who has been surfcasting off some of the harbour beaches. Recently he was fishing off Clarks Beach when a fish hooked up and that was the last he saw of his favourite surf caster. He knew to keep the drag off while the rod wasn’t attended and to check the rod wasn’t tip wrapped but mistakes happen so he asked me to give everyone a timely reminder. The very next day I heard of an identical incident from someone else! Good on you Chris for sharing and good to see you can still manage a laugh about it.

Christmas is a great time of year isn’t it? Everyone is happy and looking forward to some down time, hopefully we have some spare time on our hands and for most of us it is a time to put the boat in the water or pack the surfcaster and go fishing. We usually don’t have to wait too long for a good patch of weather which is a bonus. I have always suspected that most kiwis do 90% of their fishing over the Christmas break which is cool because not everyone has the means nor the opportunities to get out fishing whenever they wish as some of us do.

It’s been a while since my last report and things have certainly changed. The harbour has been quite variable which is not unusual for this time of year. There are some good snapper, trevally and gurnard around for sure but often you will need to work for them. The big news though is that there are lots of kingfish around. Jigging the channel edges in 20 to 30m is working as are drifted live baits. A nose hooked live Jack mackerel fished on the bottom in 5 to 10m will also produce the goods while you’re fishing for snapper.

As per expectations, the snapper fishing is fantastic out west.

I want to clear a few things up here. There’s nothing special about what I do, there are plenty of others that do every bit as well when it comes to catching fish. Most don’t write it up, that’s my job.