The spring fishing has taken off with good numbers of snapper in most areas on both coasts. It is just a question of when the weather settles down and allows boats to head offshore.

Snapper fishing is all about the tides, and the better fishing accompanies the big tides. Last weekend saw the biggest tides of the month, peaking at 3.5 metres early this week on the Waitemata Harbour; which means corresponding big tides elsewhere as it is driven by the moon. There was a full moon last Saturday and there is a widely-held belief that fishing can be hard around the full moon because the fish just don’t feed. Whether this is because in the bright moonlight they are more vulnerable to predators, or whether they feed at night, nobody knows for sure. It is just one of the many unknown variables that make fishing so fascinating, and the subject of much discussion over a cup of tea – or something stronger.