Saltwater Fishing Methods & Equipment

Our Fishing Equipment:

Anglers are very welcome to bring their own equipment, rods & reels, lures, jigs etc, but the equipment we can supply is often better adjusted to our particular fishing environment. We have a full selection of quality lightweight sporting tackle featuring braided line, fluorocarbon traces, and quality hooks. Our rods and reels include such brands as Shimano, Okuma, Abu, Silstar, and Airflo. We supply all lifejackets, raingear, even goretex waders for mid-winter fishing as required. Our customers catch a lot of fish with our equipment.
 

Jigs & Flies

Artificial jigs, flies and flasher rigs are the best way to catch a variety of fish types, and often the biggest specimens available. Jigs in the 15-40gram bracket are best, and fly patterns in size #10- 3/0 can wreak havoc on local sea life. We are experts at fishing this way and can have you fishing successfully in no time. Year-round fishing for blue cod and red gurnard is often best targeted this way.
 

Lure Casting

Casting from the boat or shore is a productive method for kahawai and kingfish. We have some great places where fish can congregate at the right time of season or tide. Surface poppers, both pencil poppers and chuggers cast to Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD’s) such as reefs, buoys, and marine farms can be very successful in summer and autumn warm-water months.
 

Bait & Berley

The old standby of bait and berley is a sure-fire way to success, especially when targeting reef fish like snapper and tarakihi. It’s what most people understand, and we have all the gear and expertise. It can be more messy than other methods, but is a great way to bring home the fillets, if that is your goal. We fish many methods, depending on what our customers prefer, and what will work best at the time, on the day, and at different locations. We often fish a mix of techniques during a fishing day to catch a variety of species.
 

Soft Plastics

Modern fishing techniques and strategies have come a long way over recent decades. Soft plastics and jigs are deadly on many fish species, especially when drift fishing with no anchor out. Whether it is fishing coastal washes, sand bottom, or foul ground, active fishing with soft plastics can be very exciting and rewarding.
 

Trolling

Whether it is trolling small lures for kahawai or larger rapala-type diving lures and tuna skirts for albacore, kingfish, and barracouta, we’ve got the gear and the experience to get you to the right places. Sometimes we encounter big surface shoals with boiling ‘meatballs’ of baitfish where we can cast lures too.
 

Saltwater Fly Fishing (SWF)

Sight fishing for kingfish on the tidal flats and channels of Golden Bay and other locations is huge fun. These fish fight hard on lightweight sporting 6-10 weight fly rods. You can wade fish, or use our maritime certified boat as an access /transportation device to get to the best places fast. We can drift, row, or pole the boat in shallow waters or fish deeper reefs, washes, FAD’s with motor access. Previous experience, good casting skills, and patience when the wind blows, are pre-requisites for this new local fishing method.
 

Dredging / Other

Tasman Bay / Golden Bay / Marlborough Sounds are well known for the scallop fishery. Dredge Oysters are another local delicacy. We have hi-tech dredging equipment in the form of a “Kev’s Super Dredge” complete with low diameter dynema rope where we can access shellfish in the 15-40 metre depth band.

Setlines are another way to catch big snapper over Spring – Autumn months. We have 25 hooks setlines and equipment for customers who are interested in fishing this way.

Set nets are a legal and legitimate way to fish for flatfish like flounder and sole, they also work well for rig, and reef fish like butterfish and blue moki. We prefer to sport fish with rods but have a variety of 60 metre set nets available if required by customers.

Drag nets are an active fishing method to catch predominantly flatfish on tidal flats, beaches, and channels, usually around low tide. We have a 40 metre beach seine that is fun to use with a team of at least 6 anglers/harvesters. The net is set from the boat and hauled ashore by two teams with long ropes.

We have several shorter drag nets (12-15metres) that are designed to be hand hauled by two anglers / harvesters in shallow channels. This is a fun way to collect a few flounder at day’s end in an environmentally and sustainable way and can be included in a rod-fishing day. Many anglers tells us it was a highlight because it was so different.