Haines HQ fishing report.
Watch this space!
The team at Haines HQ want you to get out on the water and have a great time plus “catch fish “.
Over the last thirty years, I have done hundreds of seminars and countless TV programmes on fishing videos from Snapper Secrets to How to Stray Line. With only twenty minutes of actual footage per program, it’s impossible to show in depth a lot of the “how-tos “ so we are filming a day’s fishing with no time limits.
Everybody will gain something, for those less experienced starting with setting the boat up ready to tow to the ramp launching to reading a depth sounder “what are you acutely seeing on the screen to anchoring. For example, if you want to know more about tips on rigging butterflied baits, half-whole strip baits etc this series will be coming soon. Simple things such as spooling a reel, casting, bait striking a fish, iking filleting will all be covered allowing you to run it back as often as you need so you can get it right. Drone footage will be huge, no matter how I try to explain it in writing being able to see and understand the shoreline rocks and kelp beds takes away the guesswork.
Over time not only will we add more fishing knowledge but also destinations, and what wind direction is required at each anchorage so a family can spend quality time on a beach and still be able to catch a fish.
Mean while there is fishing to be done, a golden rule is when filming never fish in a southeast wind and you can bet your last bottle of rum once a camera is on board if it can it will turn to custard. As much as I love my Haines 485 two chilly bins three people, camera gear, and a bitterly cold southeast wind it was going to be a mission.
How fish in twenty meters can be affected by the wind direction and chill factor is beyond me but if you don’t go you never learn anything. With a few fish showing the only good thing was the tide was running in the right direction to be able to fish directly astern of the boat. With baits either not touched or just mouthed, we caught a couple of small throwbacks and dropped one very large snapper, disappointed but not surprised.
The next day the same bitterly cold conditions but we decided to target snapper closer in on the foul, the sounder showed some good sign yet again, but in the short time we had the fish failed to perform. I have to admit it was the first time in over thirty years I have come back having been skunked.
With the film crew heading home I was out in a mate’s boat with his mate who knows how to soft bait, same wind direction cold and overcast. Thinking outside the square I had a look in shallower water [ 13 meters], plenty of bait fish mid-water and a few fish hard down on the bottom. Fresh bait is always best and we soon had a few jack macs and slimy macs in the bin. Being on the sand at this time of the year Gurnard come in to spawn so I tossed out a couple of small strip baits on a floater [ not sinker] resulting in three gurnards in prime condition but not a snapper to be seen.
Suddenly the sun came out the air temperature went up by 5 degrees and my gut told me to head back to the rocks and low foul. Knowing the heads of the squid would hang on the hook when small fish picked at them, this activity draws bigger fish in to see what’s going on. Within an hour we had around a dozen snapper from 38-48 cm in the bin all caught on bait while our mate plugged away catching nothing on soft baits.
What did we learn? Little things such as a slight change in the air temperature angle of the sun along with fresh bait all help and the right habitat makes all the difference. If I had a dollar every time I am asked when is the best time to go fishing I would be a wealthy man and the answer is always the same, just get out on the water even if it is only for a few hours it’s all about learning to be able to draw on that knowledge when the fishing is hard. With a dozen snapper, gurnard plus fresh calamari it proves to me if you don’t give it a go you are never going to know.
Due to the southeast winds, everyone I know has struggled to catch fish in the last two weeks, only a few that have set a game plan and fished the one spot over the whole tide have caught fish. Fishing back into the foul as we did it was two hours of burling using a lot of ground bait before they had their first hit. Within half an hour they had three snappers from 4 – 7 kilos in the bin then not a further bite. That’s winter fishing at its hardest but still well worth the challenge.
Now in the depths of winter and from what we have experienced my suggestion is to target resident fish on either low foul or along a rocky shoreline, your best chance of getting a few fish rather than shifting around trying different spots is to set a game plan to fish just the one spot over the run of the tide.
My picks are;
Area 1 spots 19, 16 and 16
Area 2 spots 5,7 and 14
Area 3 spots 3, 10 and 16
Area 4 spots 9, 12 and 6
Area 5 spots 9,10 and 11
Area 6 spots 2, 18 and 24
Area 7 spots 7, 8 and 20
