Which kingfish harbour is best?

Many people have been waiting patiently through winter for the seasonal return of harbour kingfish – mostly because 2014 was such a great year for shallow-water captures and sightings. Too many people encountered too many kingfish in too many great shallow water locations for the kingfish buzz to go away in a hurry, says saltfly angler Craig Worthington….

Now the shallow harbour flats and beach corners are springing into life again. The warming water is attracting baitfish, enticing the kingfish in turn, and early signs are already looking promising.

Let’s not be fooled, though – a shallow water kingfish caught sight-casting is a real prize. Those who achieved this aim with a fly rod last year put the time in, and spent a lot of time looking. These were not fluke captures, and some unmentionable characters even got good at it, showing everyone that connecting with a kingfish on a fly rod on a New Zealand sand flat is not an impossible dream. It’s totally do-able, all you need is the right location.

Different harbours peak at different times and under different weather conditions. One that’s hot one week may not be the next. Half the battle is knowing when your local harbour flat is going to fire. This can only be achieved by time beside the water and looking and learning.

Some harbours stand out as consistent producers, possessing attributes that regularly put shallow water kingfish in front of anglers.

Water quality seems to be one of the big factors. Harbours affected by big tidal movements and with a good supply of clean sea water coming straight from the open ocean are always the best, as are those with minimal freshwater inflows.

The deceptive harbours are those that look like they’re filled with soupy green harbour water, but still have good kingfish numbers. The upper portions of the Waitemata can be like that. However, there are only small rivers in this area, salinities are good, the harbour is consistently warm through the summer and autumn, and it is chock full of baitfish. What more could a kingfish want?

The following, therefore, is a rundown of some of our best harbours and where and when you might bump into a harbour-flat cruising kingfish.

(1) Tauranga Harbour

Number one on the list (and easily number one in many people’s minds as a kingfish producer), Tauranga Harbour is an amazing place. Filled with warm, clean water from the Bay of Plenty and obviously rich in baitfish, this is the harbour where the whole kingfish ‘ray-riding’ phenomenon was discovered.

Clark Reid has the harbour on his doorstep and knows it like the back of his hand. He regularly guides fly-fishing clients (www.saltwaterfly.co.nz) and hunts for those famed ray-riding kingfish. But even on days when the wind is up and visibility is poor, kingfish can still be found on the flats, right up till the end of May.

(2) Whangarei Harbour

Whangarei is a sensational kingfish harbour, being deep with very strong currents. The unfortunate industrialisation of what was one of New Zealand most picturesque harbours has only served to enhance its kingfish reputation. Marker buoys, wharves, poles and breakwaters all act as great artificial kingfish habitat – but finding a clean sandflat on which to cast to a cruising kingfish is not so easy. Despite this, some of the low-tide weed lines and piper-filled sandbanks along the northern bays are well worth a look – just watch out for random (and sometimes hidden) outcrops of volcanic rock.

(3) Parengarenga Harbour

Parengarenga is a harbour with a big reputation. Many people will question why I didn’t put it in at number one. The trouble is, it can be a hard harbour to understand. Kingfish move around the harbour with the tide and can be a little hard to connect with some days. Also, the wind can be a real problem, especially when the easterlies are strong.

Local knowledge helps a lot on this harbour. The best trick is to find an accumulation of baitfish and stick with them. The kingfish will show up in due course. Fortunately, big flats with baitfish are widespread.

(4) Rangaunu Harbour

This huge, wide, sandy harbour is highly exposed to wind and contains a lot of kingfish. Virtually the whole harbour is a sand flat. Finding spots where kingfish appear regularly is the hard part. There are few harbour features that stand out as obvious places to look. Fish it the same way as you would Parengarenga: find some baitfish and stay with them. Rangaunu gains a number four placing simply because of its huge size and the abundance of clean blue water flowing over extensive sand flats.

(5) Manukau and Waitemata

Both are mentioned in the same place, as both receive the bulk of the fishing pressure.
A quick tour using Google Earth shows good kingfish flats scattered right across the region, with many right in the heart of the city. In the Waitemata, in particular, don’t overlook flats that are right up in the mangrove zone. The Manukau has some closely-guarded kingfish flats that will no doubt be top producers again this year. Just remember to get your passport stamped first…

(6) Houhora Harbour

One of the country’s most famous kingfish producers. However, I refuse to fish a fly in the main channel due to the number of snags present. No matter, there are plenty of kingfish in clean water further up the harbour and out on some of the cleaner side channels. Kings often stay in the harbour through low tide and feed as soon as the water starts flowing again.
Be ready the moment the flood tide starts to make, and don’t discount the ebb tide as a
fishing option.

(7) Kaipara Harbour

A great unknown monster, the Kaipara is a massive harbour with a massive kingfish
reputation. There are extensive sandflats in many locations, and quite often large schools
of mullet, sprats and piper (garfish) will be present. I know of few people who have fished the big Kaipara flats, so it’s all virgin territory for fly rodders. If I lived in Auckland, this is
the harbour I would be concentrating my efforts on. Some of this harbour’s flats are true
wilderness areas, yet are still close to the city. A quick scan of Google Earth will show up many likely locations. Some of them even come with camping facilities nearby.

(8) All the others

One of the beautiful things about New Zealand is the sheer number of harbours we are blessed with, both big and small. All are worth checking out for kingfish activity. Some great kingfish captures on fly rods have come from harbours that are little more than sandy estuaries. Make that connection and you could be in for a whole lot of fun.

	January - 2015 - Simon Runting New Zealand Fishing News Magazine. Copyright: NZ Fishing Media Ltd. Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited