Species
Swordfish
Groper
Marlin
While Blue, Black and Striped Marlin are caught here New Zealand is considered to be the Striped Marlin capital of the world. Virtually all the world records for Striped Marlin are held here. Marlin are consistently throughout Northland and the Bay of Plenty but the best grounds are the Three Kings Banks. Most boats catch a fish to 300 lbs every there and good days are 4 - 10 fish. The season runs from January to June with the peak being around mid February to mid April. The best captains cater to all techniques including light tackle and salt water fly.
Click on the name of a recommended captain: Jeff Strang, John Batterton, Marc Noakes, Bruce Smith. Rick Pollack.
Kingfish
New Zealand is famous for its excellent Kingfish fishery. Kingfish are a recreational only species that seems to get better every year. Renowned as being a pound for pound heavy weight Kingfish are found in the entire North Island with the best grounds being in Northland and Whakatane. Kingfish are caught consistently all year round but have a peak in May, June and July. Average fish are around 28 lbs with trophy fish going from 50 - 90 lbs.
Again the best guides will cater for all techniques.
Click on the name of a recommended captain: Jeff Strang, Steve Butler. Rick Pollack.
Snapper
Snapper are the most popular sportfish and table fish in New Zealand. Good fisheries management has seen this fishery improve year by year. Snapper are an excellent fish to hone more challenging techniques on because they will so readily bite when hungry. Snapper are found throughout New Zealand with the bes grounds being Northland, the Hauraki Gulf, and the West Coast of the North Island. Average fish are around 4 - 6 lbs with trophy fish being from 20 - 30 lbs.
The best guides will cater for all techniques.
Click on the name of a recommended captain: Jeff Strang
Tuna
Several species of tuna are caught in New Zealand waters. Yellowfin Tuna and Big Eye Tuna are regularly taken during the marlin season and often to respectable sizes (160 lb for Yellowfin and 240 lb for Big Eye) in the North Island with the average fish weighing around 70 lb. However New Zealand rapidly becoming famous world wide for its superb Blue Fin Tuna fishery. This fishery is centered on the West Coast of the South Island and is a winter fishery with the season running from July to the middle of September. The average fish is in excess of 600 lbs and many vessels have caught 4 or 5 of these monsters in a night. Numerous line class records have been taken in the past 3 years.
As a rule this is a heavy tackle only fishery.
Click on the name of a recommended captain: Jason Wooton, Trent Boult.
SwordfishYet another species New Zealand is world renowned for. The Swordfish fishery at the Three Kings Banks is probably the finest fishery of its type in the world. It is a night fishery that runs in the latter half of the marlin season starting at the end of February and running through to the end of June. The fish can be caught throughout the winter months as well but it can be difficult to get conditions good enough to target. Trips are almost exclusively liveaboard with most boats targeting marlin during the day. Fish average 400 lbs and have been caught to 900 lbs. Swordfish are incredibly hard fighting fish with some battles taking 10 hours or more.
Swordfish trips are for hardier anglers wanting an hard-core fishing experience.
Click on the name of a recommended captain: Jason Wooton, Trent Boult, Marc Noakes, Bruce Smith
GroperGroper or Hapuka as they are known locally are both an excellent sport fish and an excellent table fish. While some excursions specifically target groper it is more common to have groper fishing as a bonus to your liveaboard trip targeting marlin or kingfish. They are caught in good numbers through out New Zealand. The larger fish tend to be in the northern waters but live deeper at 100 m plus. The fish caught in the south tend to be smaller but can be caught in as little as 10 m of water. An average fish is around 40 lbs but fish to 100 lbs are relatively common. Groper are hard fighters and can be targeted with numerous techniques including jigs.
There is no season but early spring (September, October) could be considered a peak.
Click on the name of a recommended captain: Jason Wooton, Trent Boult, Rick Pollack