W
hen I head out 
in the boat, the 
first thing on my 
agenda is where 
am I going to 
softbait first, 
then usually 
followed by 
some jigging in deeper water.  I 
rarely break out the bait on the 
boat these days, lure fishing is 
just my kind of gig when it comes 
to a good day on the water.
However, based on conversations 
with tackle-store operators, 
bait and berley remain the 
most common way Kiwis catch 
fish, especially snapper. Many 
shops report that bait and 
berley account for at least 60% 
of monthly sales. Lure fishing 
still appears to be a small part 
of the wider fishing market.
Most of the bait purchases on 
the most wanted list are bonito 
(bullet tuna), mullet, squid and of 
course pilchards.  These baitfish 
species make up much of the bait 
bought over the counter and a 
long with everything else these 
days, they have incurred steep 
price rises over the last few years.
This increased cost hasn’t 
stopped anglers from buying 
their favourite baits when 
heading out and demand for 
bait and berley is still high.
BLACK MAGIC GEAR
In late autumn, I had organised 
with client Black Magic Tackle to 
do some fishing and filming using 
their range of tackle.  Brent Condon 
would be joining myself along with 
cameraman Scott Cushman to hit 
the eastern side of the Coromandel.
The plan was to berley up hard 
and strayline pilchards back into 
the trail and current.  I have been a 
fan of their good range of leaders, 
hooks, and swivels for years.  
The Lowrance Recon electric trolling 
motor is deployed on the Oceanpro 
535 and helps the catch rate by 
being so quiet when at anchor.
Brent from Black 
Magic gets the berley 
pumping, a must for a 
good bait session.
Feature
10  FISHING IN GODZONE MAGAZINE

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