b'Winter BaitWintertime can stillOptionsproduce good fishing and during the colder months, switching up to fresh baits can help flick the switch for those sluggishBY MATHEW HEWETSONfish who arent as active in the chilly water.D uring summer with the large baitfish schools in numbers around the coast and fish like snapper focus on spawning and using a lot of energy doing it so they tend to feed longer and with more urgency.Moving from autumn and into winter, fish look to conserve energy in colder water, they still need to feed but often on smaller food sources like crabs, shellfish, or small scraps of food.Over the years and I have found a lot of baby mussel shells, small crab legs and little cats-eye or whelks in snapper stomachs over wintertime when gutting fish caught on the east coast around reefs or structure.While over on the west side, snapper will have sea biscuits (sand dollars) and small tuatua in their guts after fishing which are commonly found in the sandy bottoms.For the bait fisho, harbours can really produce in wintertime as with less traffic on the water from theA trev hooked on the west coast busy summer months, fish will movewith tuatua wrapped on the in and find a lot of food in harbours. Black Magic KLT 6/0 hook. /FISHINGINGODZONE35'