New Zealand Game Fishing Charters

Haere mai and welcome to New Zealand.

Are you ready for the experience of a lifetime? A game fishing experience that is just a little bit more raw and real?

To us, fishing is more than sport - it is a way of life.

Tairua sits at Latitude 37 south. Which puts us in the fishing larder of the South Pacific, where most species come to fatten up in prime condition. Land of the world’s biggest striped marlin, yellowtail kingfish, XOS broadbill swordfish and bountiful southern bluefin tuna.

This is fishing with a purpose. Fishing with intention.

Yes, we will put you toe to toe with some hard fighting fish most days you are here in New Zealand. I’ve been a fishing guide most of my life, and still love meeting new people from around the world and the buzz of connecting them with the amazing fishing opportunities we have here in New Zealand.

But to us, fishing is more than that, it is a way of life. It is our sustenance.

You’ll get to eat with us, specifically, eating your catch, share it out amongst the community, learning about the stories of the land and its people in the process.  That is what travel is all about right? Getting a deeper understanding of the people in the land you are travelling to, and really connecting in.

By fishing with us, you support the innovative work we do in the community with Men’s Wellbeing and Men’s Mental Health, you have the option of contributing something financially from every trip towards keeping our retreats scholarships going throughout the year. And just by fishing with us, you help keep our boat going so that we can still do this work.

It is given that you are going to catch fish in New Zealand. Big fish. Broadbill swordfish. Striped marlin. Southern Bluefin Tuna. Our waters are abundant.

What about the rest of the experience? In between our fishing we’ll take you to the best kept secrets on land and water, and show you the complete Coromandel experience.

Years ago we stepped away from fishing just for the ego and that release photo or photo at the weight station and really took a hard look at why we go fishing in the first place. You will see the essence of that hard look in the mirror on this website and our offerings. You can’t just go fishing and use it as a distraction from all the things that need fixing in society, specifically, doing something for those that have it tough at the moment, and also taking a close look at the start to finish process of how we go fishing.

Simple things like, we use a nose to tail approach in the cooking of our fish. Making sure nothing goes to waste. Any waste we do have, like guts and gills, go into our impressive food forest and garden on our land, which then feed the fruit, veges herbs and other plants you will get to eat with your fish.

As a guide, I also know there is a fair bit of downtime travelling to the grounds and waiting for the bite. This time is about connection, and shared stories. You want to fish with someone with the maturity to be able to hold a genuine conversation, with interest about your life and career back home, and take an interest in you. Plus be able to share some wisdom and stories about the land you are travelling through.

We highly recommend putting a week or more aside to fish with us, we can rest, feast and sightsee in between days on the water, and cherry pick the best weather days rather than going to sea on marginal days. If you commit to several days, like a week block, we will block our calendar out and just fish the best weather dates, so there is no obligation to fish on the marginal weather days. We know, as a charter guest, there is nothing worse than having to fish and a day where you really should be tied up at home, and we think you catch way more fish when the conditions are good.

Our boat is a beautifully set up 8m Senator, with hard top cabin to keep you dry, comfortable on the ride to the grounds, and out of the sun, waiting for the bite. We are fully game rigged with outriggers and believe in fishing heavy tackle 37kg so we don’t miss any opportunities when that really big fish comes along. We’re kitted out with Okuma Makaira rods and reels and a full spread on Bonze lures and teasers, which get the job done beautifully.

As a guide our seasons are:

Striped Marlin: January to April

As soon as the water hits 19.8 degrees, and starts to turn a tropical blue, it is ON! The first run of these fish tend to arrive around Christmas time and are well and truly here in numbers through January and stick around for our summer and early autumn. We tend to fish lures at the start of this season in January and February, and then move to fishing baits March onwards. We also get a bycatch of Yellowfin Tuna, Mahimahi, Albacore Tuna and also come across some XOS Blue Marlin in the process of fishing for our prolific stripies. As the season goes on, the fish tend to get bigger and also more concentrated and closer to shore, especially in March.

Broadbill Swordfish: February to July

The gladiator of the sea for a reason - probably the hardest fighting fish there is - also extremely good eating! If this is a fish that you really want to spend some time fishing for, you have come to the right place, New Zealand has one of the best swordfish fisheries in the world. We fish during day time hours, deep dropping to 400-500m for these fish, and have a number of these canyons and sea valleys reasonably close to home. These fish turn up with our marlin, in similar temperate water, but being the fat butterballs that they are, stick around much longer when the water cools at the tail end of the season. Autumn sees our best fishing for Swordfish.

Southern Bluefin Tuna : June to August

Just when the other more tropical fish head back north in our winter, the Southern Bluefin Tuna arrive up out of the Southern Ocean. The magic water temperate seems to be when it his 16.8 degrees, and there is a window where they feast up large on our doorstep before their own journey north. We base ourselves at Waihau Bay on the East Cape of New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty for the start of this tuna run, and then fish out of home for the latter part of it in August. Swordfish are still around at this time, so it works out as a good combination for a winter trip.

Yellowtail Kingfish : September to December (actually….all year round)

Yellowtail Kingfish can be caught all year round. And pound for pound, they are one of the hardest fighting fish there are in the world. They are a staple eating fish for us, making beautiful sashimi, ika mata and smoked fish. So we can also chase some kingis in amongst the other species through the year. But from Sept to December is becomes top of the list - and lure fishing for these fish is at its best. During our Spring, these fish are high up in the water clumn agressively feeding, making jigging and top water fishing very effective.