Northern Coromandel Peninsular

fishing report

November 20, 2020

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Coromandel 20th November

Note: If map is showing it is created by LINZ / New Zealand Hydrographic Authority and made available by Creative Commons 3.0. Maps should not be used for navigation

It’s heating up as can be expected in the Coromandel, with good fishing from right in close to way out wide. The really exciting news is the yellowfin tuna have arriving as per last year, which is a very welcome return, and means last year was not just a freak anomaly. We can expect to see these amazing fish appearing anywhere from Mayor Island, right up the Alderman Rise, on past Great Barrier and the Mokes, right up to the Bay of Islands.

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Yellowfin are about the best fish an angler can wish for, exciting to catch and awesome to eat. Just make sure you take out enough ice to chill them down immediately as they are too good to waste.

Here’s a few tips on how to set yourself up to get into the game https://www.nzfishingworld.co.nz/posts/yellowfin-tuna-top-tips

Also going well out wide is the deepwater fishing. If you can be patient enough to search for any structure out in the contour lines around 300 metres, there are plenty of good hapuka, bass, and bluenose out there. If you start getting plagued by gemfish or sharks, move about a bit off the other edges of whatever sign or structure you can stay over.

The 300 – 400 metre mark is a looong way down, so pack your big sinkers and try mixing up baits. We found squid worked the best last week on the bluenose, and scored a nice fish of 25kgs, which is a pretty solid specimen for bluenose.

Snapper are much easier to catch now, and getting good fish out deep in 80 plus metres is fairly easy if you just hold over any of the popular pins or reef systems around the Aldermans or Mercury’s.

The northern pins off Cuvier produced kingfish, hapuka and snapper on jigs and livies just last week.

In closer, the snapper fishing in the shallows is invariably producing plenty of nice fish both off the sand and around the reef and foul.

They are aggressively hitting soft baits now, and fishing with light gear over the sand on the drift, can be a very good way to spend the morning before heading out wider.

There are some very good john dory about too, so try fishing live baits on light kingfish gear over rough foul and weed is the best way to get these fish on deck.

Kingfish are on fire, and when the bite is hot it’s insane, with kings hitting jigs and baits with equal ferocity.

Sometimes it’s the jigs that really fire them up, and sometimes naturals work better, so if you can, grab some livies on the way out. Bait is plentiful in most of the bays at the moment, so it’s not too much of a drama to pick up a good tankful in short order.

It’s a great time to be fishing in the Coromandel at the moment whatever type of angling suits you.

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Previous reports

October 11, 2023

Mid-Spring Coromandel update near the Mercury Islands from keen yak fisherman, Scott Macdonnell

June 30, 2023

One of the best times of the year to be fishing the mighty Coro, as long as you’re not suffering from man-flu like I am at the moment.

April 27, 2023

November 3, 2022

Sheltered spots all the way down the eastern coastline are starting to fish well in close for snapper, with some nice sized fish of very solid average size and condition being caught from shore by surf casters, drone fisho’s and kayak fishermen, best either at change of light or on bite time either side of the tides.

April 27, 2023

December 21, 2022

It’s so great to see yellowfin tuna in good numbers to kick off the season with a real bang.

June 23, 2022

Winter is such a good time to fish in the Coromandel, with light boat traffic, and some awesome mild days mixed in with the wild ones. The conditions change where the fish are holding, and the days are shorter, in fact right now the shortest of the year, which means a good session can be had without getting up too early or staying out too late to enjoy the benefits of change of light fishing.

May 20, 2022

Autumn is one of our favourite seasons to fish in the Coromandel, as the on-water traffic is down to a minimal and most fish are in superb condition when you do find them. The season can feel like the middle of summer one day, when the weather is in a settled pattern, and conversely can suddenly be like mid-winter, so it is a time to pick the windows.

February 4, 2022

It’s been a big year for the gamefishing so far, perhaps thanks to global warming or whetever else, marlin of all flavours, swords, yellowfin, have all been out there being caught in good numbers when the conditions allow it.

January 7, 2022

It’s been a while for many of us since we’ve been able to get to the Coromandel, and for many, it has been worth the wait. As expected, boat ramps are chocka, even from early morning on many days, as keen boaties head out for a fix of fishing targeting inshore and wider out for gamefish. A big run of easterlies has put a pretty good swell in place, with surfers likely enjoying the big seas more than fishermen

September 24, 2021

Biggest recent news is the closure of the scallop fishery for two years in order to restore the scallop population to a sustainable level. This from MPI...The east Coromandel scallop fishery will close for a period of 2 years from this Saturday, 11 September following a request from the Ngāti Hei Trust. The closure covers scallop fishing in an area extending along the east Coromandel coastline from Anarake Point to Ruahiwihiwi Point, where Ngāti Hei exercise mana moana, and includes Opito Bay. Other fishing in the area can continue under existing rules. Director of fisheries management, Emma Taylor says public consultation on the request took place between April and May.

August 6, 2021

Now that the southern bluefin tuna have moved on from Waihau Bay and are heading up past Mayor Island, there is still a chance of picking up one of these magnificent fish when the weather allows. We fished Waihau Bay last week, and although most are calling it for a done deal, there were only five boats out (as opposed to the usual 50 or so!) and two out of five still hooked up and boated fish.