b'SURFCASTING E arly December and I had planned to head back to my hometown of Dargaville and stay out on the west coast at Baylys Beach.I hadnt been up fishing for two months as I had been awaiting the arrival of a baby and been busy getting out key magazines for the summer period.In early November my wife Olivia delivered a daughter which was a pleasant surprise (we already had three boys to feed!) and with the summer magazines soon put to print, I could finally head north from Tauranga on a fishing mission.I was itching to get back to Pouto on the Northern Kaipara to surfcast for snapper that come into the harbour to feed on the extensive mussel beds here.My fishing companion was local resident Brian Snooks who featured on the Nov/First cast and the editor scored a goodDec cover with a solid 5kg+ snapper snapper, followed quickly by several more. caught at Pouto in early October on my last trip.The writer turned this trevFRESH TREV BAITinto fresh snapper baits. We had checked the tides and with a 6.30am low tide, the plan was to hit Ripiro Beach at 5am and drive down to Pouto early to cast our baits as the sun was just rising.This is a top time to have your line out.I wanted to get fresh snapper baits so headed out that evening to get a trevally.They are suckers for tuatua, so I baited up and cast out into a deep gut and was hit hard within minutes, but the hook did not stick.I wound in, rebaited with elastic cotton and recast in the same spot. It was struck again and this time a nice fish stayed attached and gave me a good fight, the trevally was just over 45cm and fat.Job done, I went back to the bach at Baylys to pack up the ute and get an early night for the 5am start.Brian arrived the next morning and we headed down to in the dark on the beach which was misty and hard to see until the light levels improved and we arrived at Pouto below the light house 45 minutes later.I cast my first bait as the sun was just starting to rise and was bit instantly and a solid 40cm+ snapper came into the beach. A good start and over the next couple of hours I scored several pan snapper and another good trevally that was 50cm and surprisingly took the trev bait!28FISHING IN GODZONE MAR/APR 2022'