Boating New Zealand — December 2017

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line diameter: the angler can enjoy using compact, lightweight

tackle that still packs a punch.

Compared to the gear I used 15 years ago, my current crop of

light graphite rods, compact reels and fine diameter PE lines are

a pleasure to use, and better fish takers too!

For all that you can now pull harder using ‘light’ tackle, there

are still limitations. A big snapper or kingfish is a powerful beast

and even the best soft bait, micro-jig or slow jigging outfit won’t

stop one when it wants to run.

Your drag needs to release line, or you will break the braid,

the rod or some item of terminal tackle. Where you set the drag

remains important, but whereas you might have once set it at

one-third, with braid one-half of the line’s nominal breaking

strain may be appropriate, perhaps more.

WHEN LESS IS MORE

However, in some situations, more drag pressure may be

counter-productive. Pulling hard on kingfish and snapper often

makes them respond by pulling back harder still as they make a

bee-line for any structure on which to break the line.

It can be better to employ a softly-softly approach, leading

fish away from danger using relatively light drag pressure. You

can put the wood on later in the fight when the fish is clear of

any structure.

The softly-softly approach works well for inshore kingfish, but

I’ve also caught many large snapper in very shallow water fishing

this way. I use light rods and fine diameter lines to cast and work

the lightly weighted soft plastics I favour for this style of fishing.

To catch snapper in only two or three metres of water, the

lure must sink slowly enough to give fish time to see it. To get

sufficient ‘hang time’ can mean going down to 1/6 and 1/8-ounce

jig heads, which are invariably built on fine gauge wire hooks.

Using 3-5kg rods, 4kg (nominal) breaking strain braid and light

jig heads with fine gauge hooks, softly-softly is the only way to go;

heavier tackle can apply more drag pressure, but it only serves to

straighten hooks or panic hooked fish into running for cover.

Manoeuvring the boat to get on top of a hooked fish and

maintaining a short line is also important for success amongst

the rocks, but that’s a topic for another column. BNZ

ALLAN TONGS

BOATBUILDERS

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Get in touch with Nigel or Allan - 09 444 5063

[email protected]

http://www.allantongsboatbuilders.co.nz