Lining up the tides with the wind 
makes fishing a lot more comfortable, 
however an outgoing tide with 
westerly wind pushes you across the 
drop off and helps locate the fish 
while the current helps you cover 
more areas of the channel. Usually, 
you start to figure out where the fish 
are located after a few long drifts.
Early in the season this area can fire 
but mid-summer it tends to go a bit 
quiet. Changing down to lighter (6kg) 
leader and white coloured softbaits 
can also be a winning formula.
SPOT E: BOLLONS ROCK/REEF
This finger of reef extends from 
Tiri out into the channel and a lot 
of current flows over it. An early 
morning stickbait can get the 
kingfish fired up and you may be 
able to land them if you can snatch 
them away from the bronzies. 
Anchoring and utilising bait or berley 
for fishing is a frequent practice 
in this area, as it allows anglers to 
successfully target fish migrating 
through the channel towards deeper 
waters.  The last two hours of the 
outgoing tide can be the magic 
time on the northern side of the 
reef. It can be a bit hot and cold 
depending on snapper migration.
SPOT F: NORTHERN TIRI
The rock stacks at the northern end 
have quite a lot of surrounding reef 
and the current flow is enough to 
take your berley out into the deeper 
water. This can be quite crowded 
on the weekends with fishers and 
spearos so be respectful when fishing 
here and don’t anchor too close 
to people already fishing/diving.
You can catch big blue koheru 
here and slow troll them or deploy 
under a balloon for a kingfish but 
in the warmer months you’ll be 
lucky to get them away from the 
bronzies. Either take the heavy 
gear to crank in the 10-12kg fish or 
my other recommendation would 
be to use an exceptionally light 
drag and let the kingfish swim far 
away (with you following in the 
boat), before trying to bring it up.
Kingfish are faster than bronzies 
so if you can get them out of the 
bronzie zone you’re in with a chance. 
I had a massive bronzie eat my 
koheru here one day, it was truly 
frightening so don’t be surprised 
when they snatch fish off your line 
by the boat. Try and stay quiet and 
change down to lighter line if the 
fishing is slow because the bigger 
fish are often around but very wary 
because of the pressure the area 
receives. I have landed on Wooded 
Island here and hooked some nice 
fish when everyone else on the 
boats were doing poorly so the 
decent specimens can get boat shy.
SPOT G: MINI SEA MOUNTS
About 400m east of Shearers Rock 
are a couple of small sea mounts or 
rises. They rise from 27m to 24m and 
then drop into 30m. Not too hard to 
find especially on a weekend as there 
are often a bunch of boats anchored 
here. Drifting the area when there is 
a light breeze with softbaits can pay 
off with legal snapper and sometimes 
the bigger fish show up as well.
Try assorted colours and tail 
shapes until you start to notice 
which softbaits the fish prefer. A 
drogue is necessary on the windy 
days to make sure your lure is hard 
on the bottom where the fish are.
Whangaparaoa is quite a good 
fishery and investing the time will 
pay off. There is a surprising number 
of fishing habitats from estuaries, 
channels and bays to mud, sand, and 
reefs - something for everyone.
"For many spots on the 
peninsula, low tide is one 
of the best times to access 
the low-lying ledges 
that have deeper kelpy 
snapper habitat to fish.”
Early evening around Wellington 
reef is an excellent strategy for 
kayak and small boat fishers with 
a berley bag out and smelly baits.
 /FISHINGINGODZONE  43

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