Like many swoffers ( saltwater fly fishers) I have heard of other people occasionally hooking a parore on the fly. Given that the species is commonly known to be a voracious weed-eater, this was in almost the same realm as catching a grey mullet on the fly.
So it was a surprise this winter ( and that in itself is strange enough: saltwater fly fishing in winter?) that reports came of catching parore on the fly , not just once or twice, but over many trips and catching several fish in a session as well. That got my attention – snapper largely vacate the Waitemata Harbour after April-May, so the prospect of another species in the same habitat was a bonus to say the least. And just for coincidence, another name for the parore is Black Snapper!
So it off on the low tide too walk out onto the local reef – and I was not exactly alone which was another surprise given that Auckland was back in COVID 19 Level 3 lockdown.
The word was that a greenish coloured fly fished slow and deep, crawled along the bottom, was the method for success. So I was tackled up with my 7 weight Sage Method and flicked out a size 8 green winged clouser fly with a yellow tag. Tied the previous night especially for the new species hunt.
And it took about an hour of watching other hooking several parore before I finally felt the subtle tug and swiftly set the hook. The fight was definitely lacking the trademark snapper head shakes and lacked the speed of a kahawai, but there was certainly a dour and dogged resistance. And so I drew into the shore a dark grey fish with dark vertical bars about 35-40cm length. And fairly well hooked on the upper lip.
So another species onto the list, and one that could be looked forward to catching again with some certainty. The saltwater fly fishing horizon had just grown a bit bigger!
