Kingfish, Workups and Comp-Winning Snapper an Hour From Auckland — Jonathan Watts

Jonathan Watts runs Northside Adventures, a Hauraki Gulf charter operation he started in late 2018 — barely a season and a half of trading before the March 2020 lockdown shut the water down. He grew up 130 kilometres from the sea in the English Midlands, float fishing canals on a pushbike, then spent four years surfcasting the Welsh coast before landing in New Zealand in 2001 and having to relearn everything.

That freshwater stealth-and-presentation background is exactly why he now fishes the Gulf the way he does, and it's why the biggest snapper in one year's Lure Masters came off his boat.

With Lure Masters a week away, the soft bait snapper content is where this one earns its keep. Jonathan breaks down how he fishes shallow water for big fish: drifting into the spot rather than driving over it, setting up long drifts along weed lines, cycling motor oil, bruised banana and bright orange across the crew until a colour proves itself, 15lb braid to a 25–30lb fluoro trace, and the line that'll start arguments — in shallow water the big fish are always on the end of the longest cast, never under the boat.

He also breaks down finding winter workups out towards Great Barrier: 7x50 binoculars, whale spouts on the horizon, terns before the workups form, and what it means when a gannet is flying dead straight at 27 knots.

Then the kingfish method — Jonathan's full live-bait routine from a charter skipper's seat. Catching bait before the sun's up on the southern side of Kawau, depth-coloured braid so every angler knows exactly where their bait is, sinker above the swivel so a busted-off fish isn't towing lead, reading the bait ball on the sounder (grainy and spread means no kings; darkening red and walling off means something's on it), shearwaters as a dead giveaway over the reefs, why spot lock changed everything, the "at least three seconds" rule on circle hooks that almost nobody manages, and the proper spike-bleed-slurry routine if you're taking a king home. As a bonus, the story of the biggest snapper of one year's Lure Masters — landed off his boat in 15–20 metres at Little Barrier on a fusilier-coloured soft bait after a morning hiding from the weather behind Kawau.

Season-opener stuff for anyone fishing the Gulf this spring. Full episode is on the Get The Net podcast — watch on YouTube, or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Guest : Jonathan Watts — Northside Adventures Fishing Charters, Hauraki Gulf (since 2018). Kingfish and snapper charters departing Sandspit (Omaha launch available May–October); full day, half day, or individual seats on shared trips.

• Website: https://northsideadventures.co.nz/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northsideadventures/
• Instagram: @northside_adventures — https://www.instagram.com/northside_adventures/
• Phone: 027 389 7000
• Email: info@northsideadventures.co.nz

Timestamps

• (00:00) — Meet Jonathan.
• (10:00) — 130km from the sea to the Gulf.
• (20:00) — Reading the reef.
• (30:00) — Fish care and the Lure Masters fish.
• (40:00) — Comp tactics and finding workups.
• (50:00) — Rapid fire.

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• YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@getthenet_nz]
• Apple Podcasts: [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/🎣-get-the-net-–-tight-lines-loose-lips🎙️/id1824558692]

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🎵 Music Used

✅ Proctor, Topher Mohr & Alex Elena

✅ Satellites, Swello

✅ Momentum, Zplit

✅ Source (YouTube Audio Library)

🎥 Production Notes

✅ Shot on: Sony A7iii + Sennheiser Mics

✅ Edited in: Adobe Premiere Pro

✅ Shot, Edited & Produced by Nick Hoyle