Tairua Fishing Spots
Recreational fishing is one of New Zealand’s most popular past times. It is a great way to to get outdoors in the fresh air and lets face it, fish in the supermarkets is expensive.
Tairua has some excellent fishing spots and most of these are accessible by foot. (no boat needed).
We have listed the spots that we feel will have fish. We cannot guarantee that you will catch fish, but we can guarantee that these spots have fished well for us.
If you have any spots you would like to add to this list please feel free to contact us.
Tairua Estuary Fishing Spots
Estuary Mouth:
This is a good spot especially after a storm or when there is rough sea. The snapper creep into the estuary mouth here and feed off the shellfish and debris. The best time to fish this spot is at the change of the tide from low to high, very early in the morning. (4-5am). The current can be strong here and most people use break away sinkers. be careful of the snags, if you cast close to the big buoy you shouldn’t get any snags.
To get there, drive to the end of the esplanade (thats the actual name of the road), past the Paku jetty. You can park along the side of the road there and walk down to the harbour entrance area from there. If you are a bit more adventurous and fit, you can walk along the path and down a small cliff to a rock platform. There is rod holders concreted into the rocks there.
Paku Jetty:
Paku wharf can be hit and miss at times. Its a great place to take the kids to catch sprats, yellow tail mackerel and small trevally. You can however catch decent sized fish from this wharf at night or on an overcast day. You tend to get a big mix of species from this wharf, including dog sharks, kingfish, snapper, parore, kahawai and big trevally. People have even caught john dory from this wharf so there is a big range here. No snags here but there can be a fast running current. Best baits are pilchards, salted bonito and pipis (local shellfish collected at low tide from the estuary)
The jetty is located near the end of The Esplanade. Plenty of parking but its a small jetty and can get crowded during the holiday times. Please be aware that there is also a boat ramp nearby so boats come past a lot and can get tangled in your line if you do not be careful.
Low Tide Pipi Beds:
At low tide if you walk out from the Pepe reserve towards the wharf at Pauanui you will come to the channel. This channel fishes well for parore, big kahawai, snapper, kingfish and also trevally. The best and cheapest bait to use here is just the pipi shellfish located all along in the sand at the waters edge. At certain times of the year it is not uncommon to catch 10 large parore in an hour. These are good to eat if bleed straight away. Not commonly eaten in New Zealand but in Australia they are considered a fine fish and they call them black fish or luderick.
Kingfish can be caught here using surface poppers. It can be a good place to catch them as there is not as many moorings or obstacles in the water for them to break you off on.
Main Tairua Wharf:
This wharf is located corner wharf road and tui terrace. This wharf can fish really well but you have to go at the right time. The best times are just on the change of the tide or half way through the incoming tide and halfway through the out going tide. After a big storm when the water is brownish the kahawai are known to go crazy around this wharf. You can catch monster sized kahawai here. Big trevally and king fish also frequent this wharf. This wharf is ideal for fishing at night because it has a light. When the water is very clear here at night it can be hard to catch fish. You will see heaps but they may not bite.
Beach Fishing Spots
Ocean Beach:
The whole section of the beach produces fish. The easiest consistent spot is the north end. Just park your car at the car park walk down the steps and you can start fishing. Best baits here is squid, pilchards and salted bonito. Target species are kahawai and snapper although you will sometimes catch other species like gurnard, trevally and even king fish. Large sharks have also been known to be caught from this beach.
Sailors Grave:
To get to Sailors grave beach (Te Karo bay) you follow Main Road, north directly out of town. Keep following main road until you get to Sailors Grave road (about 5-10 minutes drive out of town). Turn down sailors grave road and follow it to the end. The beach at the end is relatively shallow but holds good kahawai at times. There is a walking track you can take on the left hand side (as you are facing the beach). This track will take you to Otara bay. This bay fishes very well and you can catch snapper off the beach at most times of the year here.
