HAURAKI GULF FISHING HOT SPOTS

By Bruce Duncan

Published by David Bateman, 208pp

RRP $39.99

There probably isn’t a man alive today who knows the fishing secrets of the inner Hauraki Gulf as well as Bruce Duncan, aka ‘Captain Swish.’

A stray-lining pioneer, Bruce has fished the waters surrounding his Auckland home for more than 50 years. He knows every nook and cranny of the coastline intimately.

Always generous with his knowledge and humorous to boot, Bruce is famous in fishing circles for his talks and presentations, newspaper and magazine articles, video appearances and radio shows. That he’s willing to share his secrets in a new book should come as no surprise – Hauraki Gulf Fishing Hotspots is just the latest in a series of Hauraki Gulf fishing guides Bruce has written over the years – but it is the most comprehensive yet.

Similar in many respects to Fishing the Hauraki Gulf, a book Duncan co-wrote with friend and former Boating NZ editor Mike Rose in the early noughties, Hauraki Gulf Fishing Hotspots goes into even more detail about the best spots to fish.

Whereas Fishing the Hauraki Gulf used a combination of aerial photographs, GPS co-ordinates and detailed descriptions for each location, his latest effort goes further with precise chart positions and full-colour screen shots taken from his Furuno TZ Touch sounder, showing exactly what the bottom contours look like.

And there’s more. Bruce covers off everything you need to know to be a successful inshore Hauraki Gulf fisher: rods and reels, rigs, baits, hooks, sinkers, trace, as well as when to fish, how to use the tides, read the weather and water, hook and play fish, release fish, fillet them and a whole lot more.

Presented in Bruce’s approachable, breezy style, this lavishly illustrated book is a gold mine for Auckland fishers. A shame so many of my own favourite spots feature in it! Reviwed by John Eichelsheim.