Saltwater Fishing Areas

Our main base in Richmond / Nelson is centrally located to access the best of the northern South Island saltwater fishing resource. We operate day fishing trips as well as overnighters, road trips, and specialist adventure fishing, including saltwater flyfishing.

Strike Adventure Fishing also has a base at Rangihaeata Headland, near Takaka township in Golden Bay.
Blessed with a warm sunny maritime climate, sheltered waters, and fertile, well managed fisheries, there are year-round fishing opportunities in our area.

Tasman Bay

Te Tai-o-Aorere is the indigenous Maori name for Tasman Bay which is a large V-shaped bay at the northern end of New Zealand’s South Island. Easily accessible by road and Nelson Airport, Tasman Bay has more than 120 kilometres of coastline and is 70 kilometres across at the widest point.

To the west are the famous recreational icons of Rabbit Island and Abel Tasman National Park, serviced by the towns of Motueka and Mapua. While to the East, there are the hallowed features of Waimea Estuary, Boulder Bank, Nelson Haven, Cable Bay, Pepin Island, Delaware Bay, Cape Soucis, Croisilles Harbour, Okiwi Bay, Current Basin, and D’Urville Island.

These sheltered and fertile waters are a mecca for saltwater anglers, regularly producing more than 40 species of food and sports fish. Fishing guide Zane Mirfin, has been guiding visiting anglers since 1985, and is a sixth generation Tasman Bay snapper fisherman with his original forebears arriving on the sailing ship Thomas Harrison in 1842. Zane’s great, great, grandfather was the famous mariner Captain John Walker who pioneered all the northern sea routes in Tasman and Golden Bay between 185 and 1856, delivering goods and people, including early explorers and surveyors.

Golden Bay

Golden Bay / Mohua is a shallow round-shaped bay at the northwest of New Zealand’s South Island. The bay is protected in the north by Farewell Spit (first named by British mariner Captain James Cook in 1770), and is a 26km long arm of fine gold sand that is New Zealand’s longest sandspit.

Settled by Maori from at least 1450, Golden Bay was ‘discovered’ to the western world by Dutch mariner, Abel Janzoon Tasman in 1642. It was an inauspicious meeting of cultures which lead to a bloody encounter at sea. Tasman named the area ‘Murderer’s Bay’. Later in the 1830’s Golden Bay would see fearsome inter-tribal warfare, led by legendary Maori chieftain and warrior, Te Rauparaha. The Strike Adventure fishing base at Rangihaeata Headland has a rich strategic history.

To the West lies the wild west coast of Fossil Point, Cape Farewell, Wharariki Beach, Nguroa Bay, Kaihoka Lakes, Whanganui Bar, West Haven Inlet, Mangarakau Wetland and Wharf, Paturau River, Anatori, and Kahurangi Point and Lighthouse.

Back inside Golden bay itself are magic fishing locations such as Puponga, Pakawau, Ruataniwha Inlet, Collingwood, Aorere River, Milnthorpe, Parapara, Tukurua, Onekaka, Patons Rock, and Rangihaeata. To the east of inner Golden Bay lie the Takaka River, Takaka Township, Te Wai Kokoropupu Springs, Motupipi, Pohara, Port Tarakohe, Ligar Bay, Tata Beach, Wainui Inlet, Separation Point, and Awaroa Inlet.

Marlborough Sounds

The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the north end of the South Island of New Zealand. Formed by geological land subsidence and ancient rising sea levels, the Marlborough Sounds are a recreational fishing icon.

The area covers some 4,000 km2 of sounds, islands, bays, and peninsulas. The often wiggly shoreline has 1/5 of the length of New Zealand’s coastline. Access is difficult and the area sparsely populated with the Marlborough Sounds being sandwiched between Tasman Bay in the West and Cloudy Bay in the East.

The outer Sounds fishing assets include French Pass, D’Urville Island, Paddock Rocks, Greville Harbour, Port Hardy, Stephen’s Passage, and Admiralty Bay. Inside Pelorus Sound is the major gateway of Havelock Marina, also Kenepuru Sound, Portage, Nydia Bay, Maud Island, Elaine Bay, and Bulwer. Queen Charlotte Sound is the most populous location, with Picton being the loading point for the inter-island Cook Strait Ferry. Popular locations in Queen Charlotte Sound include Anakiwa, Momorangi Bay, Tory Channel, Endeavour Inlet, Ship Cove, Arapawa Island, and also Port Underwood.

Where to Go?

Zane Mirfin has spent a lifetime exploring this world-class northern saltwater fishing resource in Tasman Bay, Golden Bay and the Marlborough Sounds. Don’t be confused, Strike Adventure Fishing can help you get to the best fishing locations based on desire, ability, budget, time available, weather, or season.