Fishing in New Zealand

Started by alantani, August 14, 2019, 03:04:56 AM

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scrinch

I'm interested Alan. I've tried to go out fishing twice in NZ when I was there for work, but got weathered in both times...once out of Tauranga for kingfish and once out of Kawhia for snapper. The Tauranga trip got called off before I got to the boat due to wind. In the Kawhia trip we tried for about 45 minutes to get over the bar at the mouth of the bay, but eventually had to turn back because of the big surf.

boon

#16
I'm a kiwi. The premium multi-day destination for Yellowtail (or Kingfish as we call them) is the Three Kings Islands. There's no real preference between spin and overhead; lots of people fish overhead. Most people are fishing very short (5'-5.5') heavy parabolic jig rods, although it would be fair to say that a lot of the fishing is with live baits with 8-24oz of ball sinkers above them to get them down. 80lb+ fish are not uncommon. The other species targeted on these trips tend to be Bass and Hapuka, basically Wreckfish, which show up from time to time beyond 150lb. The Yellowtail are mostly catch-and-release, unless they're bleeding or get sharked, whereas the Wreckfish (arguably some of the ocean's best eating fish) are all taken due to barotrauma from the depths they are caught in.

Depending on weather conditions you may be able to troll the banks; depending on the time of year Marlin (mostly Striped, but the odd Blue and Black) are not uncommon, along with YFT although these are rarely larger than ~80lb in these parts. Typically you will troll at least some of the way to/from the islands; the boat usually provides the trolling gear (generally Tiagra 80W on fully rollered standup setups).

In terms of fishing style... it is all stand-up, and the boats tend to have relatively low rails due to the mixture of spin and overhead tackle that is used. You're welcome to try going to the rail though. If you go with Lance on Enchanter you will catch lots and lots of fish but he will shout at you a lot, especially if he sees you using the rail :D Most of the fishing is in approximately 300-600ft, but may approach 1000ft especially when targeting Wreckfish. Electric reels are common at that kind of depth, though.

You need reels with lots and lots of drag. Common setups are Stella 20000 and Saltiga 6500, Jigging Master or big Maxel overhead jigging reels. Anything with less than maybe 30lb of drag is going to get you dusted repeatedly; often the fish are holding near the bottom. 80lb/PE8 braid is a minimum, PE10/100lb is common. Leaders are usually 150-200lb mono/fluro; you don't really need to worry about visibility or finicky bites, the fish will generally swarm your bait/jig. Fishing less than 100lb leader will get you shouted at by the skipper for leaving hooks in fish.

With the weakness of our dollar against the USD currently you can probably come here to fish very very cheaply. The only thing that may bite you is the weather; the Kings are very very exposed from essentially every angle.

Typical cost is ~$3500-4000NZD/day for the boat, fishing up to 8 anglers, 6 is better. Food may be extra, but not much (~$50/pp/day). You can tip the crew if you want but it's not "expected", you may be expected to share your beer in the evenings though :D. You want at least a 5 day trip; it is roughly 18 hours steam each way. Most boats depart from Mangonui or Houhora, which is about 4 hours drive from the nearest international airport (Auckland). You will need to get a rental car to get yourself up there, or a friendly local in your group to collect you at the airport.

$3000USD is probably a reasonable budget for a purely fishing trip.

alantani

i can land a fish pretty quickly using the rail.  the big advantage in killing it quickly is the decreased amount of lactic acid build up giving you a better quality of meat for the table.  if you are going to release it, a short fight should decrease the risk of mortality. 

for these reasons, i choose the rail. 
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

boon

Quote from: alantani on August 19, 2019, 03:42:44 AM
i can land a fish pretty quickly using the rail.  the big advantage in killing it quickly is the decreased amount of lactic acid build up giving you a better quality of meat for the table.  if you are going to release it, a short fight should decrease the risk of mortality. 

for these reasons, i choose the rail. 

Nobody does it here, combination of either spinning outfits and a general macho-ism of wanting to catch the fish unassisted. I'd be fascinated to see how it went in this fishery - you could probably find a spot somewhere on the boat where the rail was at a good height.

alantani

they might rethink this if they see a skinny 60+ year old japanese guy land a fish in one tenth the time.   ;D
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

alantani

Quote from: scrinch on August 18, 2019, 09:52:10 PM
I'm interested Alan. I've tried to go out fishing twice in NZ when I was there for work, but got weathered in both times...once out of Tauranga for kingfish and once out of Kawhia for snapper. The Tauranga trip got called off before I got to the boat due to wind. In the Kawhia trip we tried for about 45 minutes to get over the bar at the mouth of the bay, but eventually had to turn back because of the big surf.

you had mentioned new zealand before.  i know i dismissed the idea out of hand, but after two more guys mentioned the same thing, i had to go back and take a look.  hey, sometimes i'm a little slow. 
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

boon

Quote from: alantani on August 19, 2019, 05:32:23 AM
they might rethink this if they see a skinny 60+ year old japanese guy land a fish in one tenth the time.   ;D

Make sure you have a PFD on, the fish pull pretty hard  :D

The fights tend to be pretty short anyway. Either the fish smashes you into the reef, or you turn its head and get it up. 15 minutes would be a fairly lengthy fight.

scrinch

Quote from: alantani on August 19, 2019, 05:34:02 AM
Quote from: scrinch on August 18, 2019, 09:52:10 PM
I'm interested Alan. I've tried to go out fishing twice in NZ when I was there for work, but got weathered in both times...once out of Tauranga for kingfish and once out of Kawhia for snapper. The Tauranga trip got called off before I got to the boat due to wind. In the Kawhia trip we tried for about 45 minutes to get over the bar at the mouth of the bay, but eventually had to turn back because of the big surf.

you had mentioned new zealand before.  i know i dismissed the idea out of hand, but after two more guys mentioned the same thing, i had to go back and take a look.  hey, sometimes i'm a little slow. 

No problem Alan. My wife and I went on two weeklong backpacking trips in the Sierras this summer, testing out my replaced knees in some rugged terrain. The knees worked great! Maybe I could convince her to go to NZ at the end of a fishing trip to try one or two of the famous treks there! Happy wife = happy life! ;)

roosterfish

Thought id add my 2 cents as I had Alan post the 4 pics of our 2017 3 Kings trip. This is strictly a trophy(30kg avg-65lbs) fishery and is photo op only, they all go over the side. For those wanting to bring home fish, the skipper will set you up over numerous seamounts (400 plus ft deep) and you can sink the boat on very big grouper (50-150 lbs). The Kings are very weather dependent as they lie 100 mi north of the north island and you are totally exposed.There are only about 3 charters that go up there @6 anglers per boat. I went with Enchanter Charters and these guys are first class. Check out his website and go on U Tube and scroll through NZ kingfish--many videos. Stella 10000/15000pg and Diawa dogfights are the reels of choice and short-5ft 8 inch or less extra heavy rods. If you go conventional, anything like an Avet jx raptor or similar is perfect-just use a narrow spool reel. I fished both on Shimano Trevally rods and Diawa jigstars in the above specs and that combo was perfect. The Cedros Island way of fishing wont work--these fish will destroy your 7/8 ft seekers so don't waste your time. The largest caught on our boat was 51kg(112 lbs). Due to demand, these trips take some planning so if there are guys interested, your probably looking @2021 for a trip with 6 guys. I just lucked out as a single and got out twice due to a cancelation in a group.

Another suggestion is to do day charters on the Cormandal peninsula. Ive done this a lot (going in feb for 10 days). Cost is 400nz perday(about 260$ US at current exchange rates). There is a good chance at a large fish but 30/50lb will be the avg. Best way to describe this is Cedros on steroids. Best day Ive had was 82 fish -4 anglers. You will never fish a more beautiful place and the people are super friendly. If anyone has a serious interest, email me @ rickb@rockisland.com and I can give you info on lodging/transportationShuttles-you don't need a car. All the best

Donnyboat

Thats the spirit, Rick true OHANA. cheers Don.
Don, or donnyboat

milne

I can thoroughly recommend a trip down under to N.Z.
This was my old stomping ground and Kingies were my main target.
Now living in Aussie, where the fishing is great, don't get me wrong, But no comparison for chasing King fish.
I've organised a few trips back over the last few years or so, mainly Aussie blokes and they are still raving about there adventures.
I spent my youth deckying for my uncles charter boat all up around the east coast of the north island,  So can absolutely recommend all fisho's seriously
thinking of a trip down under as a trip to remember.  The right time will be important and who you get out with, but a trip you will definitely remember.
For me, spinning gear was the go, BUT, some pretty tuff spinning gear is in order, those horse kingfish make mince meat of week gear.
Sort it with the charter you go on, some supply gear, which would save lugging it all the way there, I'm sure they can accommodate this.
They will probably do a bit of other fishing targeting some table fish if they only catch and release anyway.
Hmmm  I'm only 3 hours away,,,,,,,,, now that's something to contemplate....

Col

boon

Quote from: roosterfish on August 26, 2019, 11:56:51 PM
The Cedros Island way of fishing wont work--these fish will destroy your 7/8 ft seekers so don't waste your time.

See I've never known any other game than short, fairly parabolic rods for Kingies, but I'd be really interested to see how the North American style, particularly west coast "use the rail" goes in this fishery. By the theory you can put a crazy amount of pressure on the fish, but do you reckon the long rods will just put so much pressure on the angler that it will all be over before they can get everything together?

alantani

25 minutes.......
send me an email at alantani@yahoo.com for questions!

Crow

There's nothing wrong with a few "F's" on your record....Food, Fun, Flowers, Fishing, Friends, and Fun....to name just a few !

boon

Quote from: alantani on August 27, 2019, 04:33:03 PM
25 minutes.......

Trickier question is how fast can you get to the rail? These fights are won or lost in the first 30 seconds, either the fish makes it into the reef or it doesn't.

If you're at 40lb of drag with a 7ft rod you've got to deal with approx 140lb at the grip until you can get to the rail.