I never concidered just how tough a prospect sight fishing snapper would be, just know the opportunity exists, but would have to conceed they are bloody flighty sods when approached , so I guess the drift fishing option if possible along a sand bank may work if done very quietly, what type of fly would you concider using here Craig ? all I know is when I catch them conventionally in this state they are full of crab, just those little buggers (guess I just answered my own question)

Talk to some of the old commercial fishers around here though and you get a frightening picture of what there was. These guys talk about huge schools of spawning snapper way up harbour in the shallows with big mobs of school sharks and bronzies hassling the schools. They used to make a living drag netting beaches for snapper that you wouldn't even bother fishing today. From their perspective the fishery is dead. All depends when you were born I suppose.

 

And I like the idea of targetting snapper over the pipi beds on fly. Now that would be a challenge. I've seen them up over the pipi beds at the mouth of the Whangarei harbour (easily accessible from Marsden Point) and places like Parengarenga are lousy with schoolie snapper in autumn. Would have to be worth a go there. A snapper on a crystal clear sand flat is going to be pretty spooky animal though. Mark H managed it in the Waitemata in milky water last year so it obviously works. Just got to get close enough to them.. 

How true, your fishery AUKs improved, this is quite clear from the hundreds of posts especially in the fishing reports part of the forum.The banning of trawling in the Hauraki is paying divedends for your local fishery and the general health of the fishery in all respects. In Whakatane as you have rightfully observed we do get hit hard by commercial trawler activity, without doubt this is harming our fishery, to what extent I'm unsure. I do notice as an angler both from a recreational and a commercial perspective that over the last lets say 10 years the fishery especially the snapper fishery has seen lots of fluctuation. I am sure there has been a measurable decline in fish numbers, although for me it would be hard to gauge to what extent. My own observations would say that seasons or assumed fish numbers have varied although not in a declining fashion year by year, I think more by water temp and general climatic influences, rather than just a blanket broadshot at commercial trawlers, I personally doubt that trawlers are taking the same amount as 20 years ago, I could be wrong, but I think the quota management system has at least helped a bit, it's still very painful to watch it almost feels like someones pinching your fruit, as for fish in the Ohiwa harbour, a very healthy fishery in my opinion, more so in late spring through to late Autumn due to water temp, but a real fun place to fish, The Wharf offers more opportunities for kids and makeral than for snapper, although there are literally dozens of really good locations to fish in the harbour and down to the mouth and in the upper reaches nearer the new oyster farm lease.

I have not been fishing SWF long enough to answer all your questions, but am confident in my knowledge of my local fishery to either adapt my methods to suit whats available,or  offer advice to anyone seeking information on the area and or the fish in it.

Hope this helps

Snapper and the like are not confined only to deep-water chum lnes, they often prowl the shallows with trevally and a miriad of other fish species, including parore kahawai and kingfish. Chum lines to me were a great intro into the sport and certainly sped up my appreciation of the sport by offering me instant success and an opportunity to feel what it was like to be hooked up on a flyrod in saltwater.

I also see opportunities for others who would frown on the chumming method, to drift or pole suitable boats over harbour type flats casting fly around the banks and channels that make up dozens of our harbour systems. Snapper trevally and flounder all feed on crabs of all shapes and sizes and are often clearly visable moving about feeding on shallow banks,  I'm sure anyone interested in sight casting would find this type of thing quite a mouth watering prospect. Australians are blessed with the options they have re species available as targets in their estuaries, but so are we I just don't think it is as well practised yet in most cases.

 

To get your head around the species on offer, look up the thread here on species forum members have caught... it's a lot... and I am more inclined to think of fishing for snapper using a retrieve as more like classic fly-fishing than the "Heave and Leave" techniques employed in many freshwater situations. Not disparaging either just trying to make the point that it is difficult to condemn one without condeming the other. The result is nil all in a salt fresh debate.

 

As a trout guide we used cringe with some salt fly anglers coming to fish for trout. Most all of them threw 80 feet in a perfect line up a pool, won't get in close and have little in the way of mending skills, however, the trouties going salt have limitations in direct contrast as well so it's balanced I think. I'd be reluctant to call one tougher or more challinging than the other...

 

That's why it appeals. After 30 years wanding around in the fresh, I didn't make a change to sWF because it was easy all the time....

 

 

 

The type of SWF that intrigues me though is flats fishing for bonefish and tarpon. I just don't perceive throwing out a burley trail and fishing deep for snapper and the like as fly-fishing. In NZ we just don't seem to have the array of predatory fish available in other SWF destinations. The only qualifiers are kahawai and kingies, and with kingies you generally need to fish well offshore from a boat.

 

Somebody prove me wrong and give me an excuse to buy some more fishing tackle.

 

Tried editing it a few times, but there seems to be some drama with it.

 

Please would one of the moderators try and fix it for easier reading.

 

Thanks guys,

Kev