New Zealand Trip

Tairua is located on the East coast of the Coromandel Peninsula on the north island of New Zealand. It is known for its amazing fishing, laid back lifestyle and friendly environment. Over the years this tiny town has won over our hearts, not only for its unbelievable fishing adventures but also for its hospitality.

It was about three years ago when we first decided we would book a charter in Tairua; Epic adventures came up on the Internet and we have since been back and chartered with Epic over 6 times.

Epic Adventures offers a specialised service giving you the opportunity to experience whatever type of fishing you like, from deep water jigging to big game fishing. Carl the skipper and now Tony who has recently joined the team are on board to put you on the fish and give you a good and exciting day on the water.

This trip we spent about a week in Tairua, allowing us to do some deep water jigging, shallow water live baiting, poppering and plasticing for snapper around the Alderman islands. One truly unique part of New Zealand is the Alderman islands.

The Alderman islands are a number of small mountains located southeast of Mercury Bay. These islands are a nature reserve, which means you cannot walk on them but you can certainly fish and enjoy the marine life that lives within the waters of these amazing structures.

My fishing journal in New Zealand Waters!

Day 1. Wind and rain, overcast skies and big swells, we didn’t expect anything else from Tairua. We often travel from OZ to New Zealand and experience this kind of weather but with the forecast for the week looking incredibly good we were excited.

Starting off with a 6kg red and 10minutes later a nice 4kg red I was stoked to start our holiday with some good fish, despite the rain and wind we were planning day two’s adventure.

Day 2. Weather still challenging us with winds up to 25knots and the swell up 3 metres; we bashed out to chase those big fish we came for.

The bait grounds hold big schools of yellowtail and surprise, surprise, big kingfish; this provided us with our fun for the day. Dropping live baits and throwing poppers Mike soon hooks up to a nice 10kg king that was soon photographed and released. So it didn’t take long before dad dropped a live bait and within minutes he hooked up, fighting a nice kingie that went 15kg – that’s pretty much how the day went.

Day 3. Sunshine, blue skies, calm seas and light winds, we headed 30km out to sea to jig and live bait. More then 10 solid king fish to 18kg came on board and both Mike and I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to do it all over again.

Day 4. Once again we were heading out the bar with sunshine and calm sea’s wondering what the day had in stall for us. With a baittank full of yellowtail and a nice 10kg king from the bait ground released before sun up we were ready for another day of jigging and live baiting out wide.

It wasn’t long before I was doing battle with a big king fish, after catching my share of kingies up to 18kg I knew this one was a good fish. After a long battle up came a 24kg, as a personal best I was certainly stoked with this amazing fish.

Day 5. Last day on the water and yet again Tairua waters showed us what we travelled for, focusing on shallow water live baiting and popping around the bait grounds it was yet again a successful day.

All fish were released to swim another day!

Cheers Hayley