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Lookout Bay, on the western side, and Swamp Bay on the Eastern side of Port Hardy are popular paua sites.

There is always somewhere shelterted about the island to have a dive. Up in Port Hardy, there is plenty of pauas but at many spots the fish will not grow to legal so it may take a while to get your bag limit if need be.

Expect to see crays hiding under nooks and holes, and the amount of butterfish, wrasse, cod and moki will astound you. Smash up a kina and watch them flock around!

The lack of freshwater intrusion usually means good visability.

The Noises snapper are fish that typically enjoy current, feed at changes of light and respond well to fresh cut baits, whole baits and will also respond to well presented soft baits. I have found that the Noises snapper do prefer natural baits over soft pastics – some big snapper have been accounted for on half a kahawai head here.

Other species that frequent the Noises are kingfish, tarakihi on the deeper reefs to the south, kahawai in shoals and occassionaly skipjack tuna schooling further out in the general area. Look for gannets or birds circling, or dolphins working.

The Nine pin rock is an area that is renowned for a wide variety of fish species, game fish and table fish. Many records at the Bay of Islands Swordfish club have been a result of ‘fishing wide of the Nine Pin’.

The area experiences great current, and has a rocky exposed area that is awash with feed and baitfish nearly year round. Birds working off the Nine Pin are a common sight, and dolphins, whales and birds will be seen smashing up shoals of pilchard and feed, while skipjack tuna, kahawai and mackeral work the margins.

All this action and commotion will be attracting some exciting predatory fish options and its common to haul in great kingfish action here, along with the more desireable and sporting game species such as the striped and blue marlin, mako and thresher sharks, yellowfin (at times) and wider out, tropical visitors like mahimahi or dolphin fish.

Closer in, the Nine Pin offers some excellent wash and deep water fishing for Snapper and tarakihi. We favour flasher rigs with suitable lead for the current here. Match the bait fish above, and use skipjack sides, or pilchard, to hit the deep snapper here. Sometimes the best table fishing here is found between the line that exists between Whale Rock and the Nine Pin rock, in the trench area that has numerous patches of foul and contour.

Expect to also encounter the exciting large schools of kingis down deep in the 25-40m marks out here. While the surface action is dull, plug around and locate the kings with your sounder. At times rat kings are a plague here but persevere and remeber, big baits, big kings. Dont be shy to deep rig a 2-3kg kahawai livebait and send it down on big gear. You might be suprised at the 30kg+ monster king that smashes it up! Also try jigging here, with lighter gear, for a amazing workout on the Nine Pin kingfish.

With much foul and rock area off the Nine Pin, expect to use your sounder to gauge the best area to fish, the best pinnicles and the hottest school fish on the day. While the general area is known, the better fishermen and women know that an advanced understanding of the area surrounding the Nine Pin will yeild the best spots and action.

Bronze whalers like fresh bait, and fishing for them at Orewa requires using their favourite prey such as a large grey mullet, a big blue mackeral or a medium size kahawai. I like to gut hook my baits so they form a natural burley trail while your fishing. Normal burley is not necessary for this fishing, as the bronze whalers are quite numerous, and their acute smell draws them into a struggling or fresh dead fish fast. The tackle you need must be strong – they can go to 200kg and rip apart cheap surfcasters. A ultra strong carbon 10 foot rod, with a Stella or Penn 9500ss is a great start. Terminal tackle demands strong steel hooks, not stainless, and a wire trace. Their excellent upclose vision presents a challenge to setting up your bait and rig. Use some weight if there is strong wave action or a stiff breeze.

Walk your bait out into the breakers, and cast it or throw it to beyond the back of the first surf break. Its here that the bronze whalers crusie and the best fishing is.

Once you hook a bronzie, two things happen. First, you are treated to a strong, dogged fight with bruising runs, powerfull thrusts and line stripping power. Secondly, people will gather and gawk at you like a madman. I explain to people that the sharks are there – and have been for thousands of years. Some people will object to fishing for them, but thats life. It helps to explain that the bronze whaler has only a small mouth, suitable for fish and squid, not humans. Still, a lively bronze whaler is not something to mcuk around with, be very very carefull getting anywhere near its mouth as you release it – they will tear flesh very happily when aggitated. Dont bother keeping the shark to eat – these are sportfish and must be respected and let go. if the bronze whaler dies during fishing, dispose of the carcass thoughtfully and dont dump it on the beach.

The Raikia River is a great place close to Christchurch to try for a searun trout, with numerous fish moving between the lagoon area and the sea. These searuns feed on whitebait and silveries as well as smolt from salmon, and put on condition very fast in the snow fed water as the winter melt moves into the river upstream.

Searun trout can be tempted with a large varity of methods. Spinning is always productive, try a small silver rapala fished across and down, or else stripping a silver streamer with a large 9 weight flyrod or a lure rod and weight, is prime searun method. 

Searun fishing starts in mid august onwards, and runs till november. While its possible to get searuns right through the salmon season, they are more prolific during these spring months. 

Catching a searun is awesome fun, and with the chance of a 12lb searun brown trout a very reality, who can resist.

With a couple of people at each end of the mullet net, you then need to either start dragging in a large semi circle, or to get someone in a kayak or small boat to try and drive the mullet into the netting.

Netting for mullet is a great family passtime, and is fruitful on the right days. While mullet are mroe scarce than years gone by, there is still plenty to catch on a good day. Big juicy mullet make a awesome meal and are very popular in maori culture. Mullet frames are awesome burley.

Make sure you check the mesh sizes and area rules for mullet nets and take only enough for a feed. Mullet are a precious resource.

Scoop net:

The whitebait scoop net typically has a 2 piece handle, and a fixed alloy framepiece. The whitebait net itself has a mesh bag usually made of nylon. Often white, the bags this season are also available in grey which work well in some waters. The scoop net is usually used for working over markers, boards and off rocks.

Southland Sock whitebait net:

The Southland sock is a form of fixed frame set net. When whitebaiting with a southland sock, you will peg it into the gound and open the 2 or 3 centre stays out the keep the net from falling into itself. The whitebait go into the mouth via goby’s and to the pudding end through a trap system. These whitebait nets are suitable for smooth bottom, sandy esturine areas like lagoons and tiadl reaches. You dont want to set a sock whitebait net where the current rips strong, or the bottom lets the whitebait past.

Fixed mesh scoop net:

These are made of a sturdy alloy frame, with a shorter pole to stop leverage action in swift surf. These whitebait nets are really popular in canterbury and at Okarito where the whitebaiters stand in the surf and let the whitebait push into their nets. The bag is usually small steel mesh, so it stands upto stones, sticks, sand and surges that would rip apart a normal nylon mesh whitebait net.

Colapsable set nets:

These are essentially a wedge shaped net with a large mouth and no trap, that the whitebait swims into and stays at the back till you lift the net. These set nets can be set on rockier or stony ground than you would with a southland sock net. You should use gobys (screens) to direct the bait in. You should check these nets every 15 or so minutes, and alwyas approach from the front as not to scare the whitebait out the mouth, as would happen if you approached it from the back.

The traditional hapuka rig of a double ledger rig, with lumo and circle hooks in the 10/0 range, is perfect. 300lb backbone is mandatory as sharks or abrasive gill plates may slice the tackle.

For hapuka baits, the Bay of Islands offers plenty of options on your steam out. Hapuka or groper, are not fussy, and will engulf anything fresh that they can get their mouth over. Aside from squid, we have had luck out here with koheru, kahawai fillets, skipjack, trevally and more.

For tackle, try as a minimum a 24kg standup set. Your fishing in at least 110m here, so you need sturdy gear with a handy retrieve rate. Jig fishing tackle for kingfish is also ideal if you want some more sport from it. For line, braid is the only option nowdays – gelspun lines in the 80lb range are ideal. Jigs in the 400g range will also take hapuka, lumo works best.

Hapuka here, and cousins bass, reach 50kg, so be prepared for battle with a big one. Expect most fish to be 12-25kg.

With the beautiful firm and tasty fillets they yeild, Bay of Islands hapuka are sought after but none the less, not especially hard to target.