I ran back the 30m to the rod and 
could see line stripping off the light 
drag setting as I lifted the rod and 
felt good weight on the end of the 
line.  Snooks let out a holler when 
he saw I was on a good fish and 
came over to take a few photos.
It felt good to fight the fish 
after over and hour of trying and 
a fat 49cm snapper was soon 
on the sand and we were both 
relieved to be on the board.
SURPISE BAITS WORK
"What bait did it take Mat?" Brian 
asked, as I picked it up by the gills 
to take a couple of photos.  "Well, 
surprise, surprise it hit the kingfish 
bait!" I replied and we were both 
interested as we had never tried using 
kingie baits before and the fresh 
kahawai usually always produces here.
I had caught a few kingfish off 
Whakatane recently and after filleting 
the one fish I took home, I kept all 
the small off cuts from the frame and 
put them in a bag to freeze.  With its 
silvery skin colour and fleshy meat, 
I thought snapper would love it.
After bleeding the fish and putting 
it in the bin, Brian soon retrieved 
his hook, and we both rebaited 
with the kingfish offcuts and cast 
back out at the same time.  The 
tide had just turned, and the 
waves and swell were starting to 
pick up on the incoming tide.
Brian with another 
good snapper which 
came on the bite 
on the incoming 
tide for only a brief 
30-minute period.
Feature
14  FISHING IN GODZONE MAGAZINE

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