New Zealand: Home of the mighty Kingfish

The first time I ever visited New Zealand made my wonder why a place only 3 hours flight from the east coast of Australia is rarely visited by Australian’s. Granted, we do have it pretty good in Australia, but for a fisherman and a hunter like myself, I always look forward to my trips to NZ.

Jump in a car and cruise two-and-a-half hours from Auckland and you will be on The Coromandel Peninsula. If you are there to fish it will be mostly for a mighty Yellowtail King fish. Most modern day fisherman will certainly be aware of ‘Kingies’, as they are known, for their extreme power, quality eating and how nice they look in photos on Instagram.

The North Island of New Zealand is well known around the world for being one of the best places to target these absolute brutes of the ocean.

Fishing the waters off The Coromandel Peninsular is pretty special, sheer rocky cliff faces meet deep blue water teaming with Kingfish. My clients from a recent trip all landed a stack of Kingfish, some in the 20kg plus range. Funnily enough they were often more excited by the spectacular scenery on offer.

Most mornings were started by collecting live bait as at time the Kings can be a little bit shy to jigs. When fishing for Kingfish, try not limit yourself to one technique as these fish can be a little bit fussy depending on what mood they are in. Fortunately this particular trip they Kingfish were not shy and unfortunately neither were the sharks. This certainly shouldn’t be a deterrent to anglers, because as you know, sharks like eating fish just as much as we do. Best bet is to just pull up and move spots when the sharks aren't as thick. Because no matter how strong you are and how fast you think you can get a kingfish up, the sharks generally win.

To top off the amazing fishing, the charter pulled into sevluded caves for a swim most days and stopped for lunch in some pristine bays.

Each visit to New Zealand has a very relaxing feel to it. The people are very welcoming and nothing seems to be to be too much trouble.

This area offers fisherman an amazing experience, however also offer some amazing beaches, hikes, wineries and spectacular golf courses. I forgot to mention one of the most important ingredients, (pardon the pun) but the food in New Zealand is amazing. Most nights were spent eating fresh seafood and locally sourced produced matched with some local beer and wine. What could possibly go wrong.

If you think a fishing adventure to the Coromandel is something that would interest you, please get in contact with Outside Edge Adventures.