The Three Kings - a trip to paradise

Depending on the timing of your run to Paradise, there will hopefully be a 4 – 6 day window in the weather. A crew full of enthusiasm, a boat fully provisioned and full of fuel.   Houhora is your last stop and shop going north, with fuel available on the Pukinui wharf as is the general store and off license for last minute stores and a fresh water tap.

About a mile back towards the entrance is the gateway to the Houhora Big Game & Sportsfishing club with their weighstation on this wharf, moorings are available from the harbor master.

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As you venture north, hotspots like the Hook, Fingers, Compass Rose, and the canyons from Northcape to the Garden Patch are associated with the cries of hooked up or we’ve been pack attacked, as the results from recent Houhora One Base tournaments have proved.

Plan your trip so you anchor at Northcape for the night, along Waikuku beach is good when conditions allow as is the little bay just south of Te Totipo head. Anchoring under the light can be productive, catching fresh livies, squid, and the odd pan sized snapper for breakfast. On more than one occasion I have had kingi’s in excess of 20kgs take live baits or lures as you come in or leave the island and reef just east of the anchorage. Many a night has been spent there catching squid into the wee hours, ink fights and water squirts the norm, its not uncommon to fill a couple of ten litre pails over a couple hours.

On a good night after the sun slides behin Parengarenga in golden ball of fire the stars just seem to hang there and sparkle with the moon illuminating all with a pale glow. The entrance to Parengarenga is shown in the Pickmere’s guide to the Northland coast and in a couple of other great cruising guides, available from most bookshops.

Parengarenga is a great place to visit. The harbor empties out at low water leaving narrow channels and vast exposed sandbars. The fishing can be good in some of the holes in the channels and there are pipis there,- it's just a matter of finding the beds. The bar is governed by the weather and sea conditions and is worth the effort for a look and a good nights sleep.

The Kings aren’t the best place to anchor and even on a good night there can be a bit of movement. The islands appear to create their own wind and the resident mosquitoes are that big they have to refuel often at your expense and blood loss. The main anchorage’s are on the Great Island, being North West Bay and South East Bay, at times there can be up to 50 or so boats at night when the conditions allow. The only bonus on bad nights is the ability to cook perfect sausages. When you know it is going to be a perfect sausage night, it pays to get to the preferred anchorage early and get your bearings. As always a dedicated watch roster is in place. As when there is more than one boat there, there is always the chance of anchors dragging and the risk of damage, or the risk of loss of lives.

On nights like this you have usually had enough and are gone before sun up, either heading for the banks or to the Cape on the way home. It’s often more comfortable drifting a bait for the elusive Broadbill off the banks in the deep. Marlin have been caught between North East Is and the Great Is on the way to and from anchorage. With a good forecast the exploration of the Princess Group around West Island can make for an interesting tour but huge tides and swells are not for the unwary or complacent. You're a long way from help at the Kings. The decision each day to head to the Middlesex or the King Banks is often a toss of the coin unless one place is fishing usually well.

Trolling between the Kings and banks can be productive; at times large XOS albacore (15-20kg) will be taken on the marlin lures and are a bonus for the larder. The odd marlin are also sometimes taken whilst heading across the ditch. A lot of good fish are taken on lures fishing the banks. Once a concentration of marlin or bait on the depth sounder are found many boats switch to trolling livebaits. If you are chasing records on light tackle this is the way to go, if you are just there to catch a marlin for the freezer and smoke it later when you get back, or tag marlin then use the heaviest tackle you carry.

There are some very large fish up here and you don’t want to come undone on ‘pop gun ‘ tackle when you should be hunting bear with elephant guns. During slack water try a little bottom bouncing whether on the banks or the plateaus the Tarakihi grow to 12lbs or more and can take line against strike drag on the 24kg game outfits, the minimum recommended. The blue cod are huge and tasty, other species encountered can be kingi’s, hapuka, bass, golden snapper (naniguy or red snapper).

Back at the cape, Tom Bowling Bay and Spirits Bay offer shelter and good anchorage at times with the opportunity to add to the pantry with snapper caught on the beaches and diving for cray’s and other delicacies when in season.

With Hoopers Point a good landmark to start from you are 25nm to the Fingers, a group of ridges and guts on the 100 meter contour, a further 6nm to the north you come to the Compass rose on chart number N.Z.41. A very fishy plateau with good drop offs from 143 meters to over 400 meters. There is a good canyon to the east of this and a further 8nm there is a good series of steep walls and drop offs.

Following the 200-meter contour down towards the cape for 15 or so miles brings you to the HOOK. Be very careful around here, as GRANDERS are known to frequent the area as well as other very large very hungry fish.

When the bite on the banks is in full swing catches of up to a dozen or more can be achieved. The banks carry a lot of fish from large schools of baitfish (mackerel, kingfish, small tunas, and other schooling fish.). Gamefish you are likely to encounter on the banks are; the Marlin-Blue, Black and Stripies, the Tuna-Yellowfin, Big eye, Albacore, skippies, Blue sharks, Mako, Thresher, Bronze Whalers, plus others yet to be seen by the author, such as whites and tigers.

Find the schools of bait either on the surface or on the sounder and you will find the predators, some boats have had success catching marlin whilst catching Tarakihi and using them as live baits. A typical livebait rig-using circle hooks, bridals and docking rings.

The beauty of the circle hooks is that you can afford to let the fish eat the bait with plenty of drop back, strike the fish and know that in all probability they will be hooked in the corner of the jaw. The marlin hasn’t had to chase the lure, drag off 2-300 meters of line on strike and drag the line around. He is right there, up close and personal. The livebait is up to a boat length behind you the drop back the same and if you are keen, holding the line in your fingers, watching.

You feel the bait start to shiver, the tension is thick you know its about to happen, you will often see the whole show, the bait comes to the surface, a marlin appears and cruises in scoffs the bait, the line is pulled from your fingers. You wait a slow count to seven (at times like this, counting past the fingers on one hand is not common) get the rod to the game chair or harnessed to your stand up gear pick up the slack and strike the fish. It’s just sheer poetry in motion watching the strike, hook-up and being right there.

Once visited the kings hold a fascination over you for life. You come back changed and life doesn’t get back to normal until you get back up therefor the next adventure!.

The Kings is a must in lifetime and there is plenty of good fishing on the way - close to the Cape and mainland New Zealand. Many a fine Black Marlin has been caught just off the Surville Cliffs, and the Canyons east of the Cape hold some of the biggest Blue Marlin caught each year.

Fishing bite times Fishing bite times

Major Bites

Minor Bites

Major Bites

Minor Bites

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