For me summer is a time when my love of fishing and cooking combines, so securing a feed when I head out fishing takes on greater importance.

Not only are food prices increasing dramatically, so is my awareness of the health benefits gained from eating wild foods – especially those that are fresh and in season. There is also a real kick to be had out of knowing exactly where your food has come from.

When prepared as a meal at home, it is like bringing the outdoors back with you at day’s end – a sense of connection that’s enhanced by sharing the experience with friends and family over a good beer or glass of wine.

Mussels

Green-lipped mussels are one of the most abundant shellfish around the South Island’s rocky coast. It pays to look for places where the mussels grow at lower densities, but reach a larger size. Mussel farms are spreading, especially around Banks Peninsula, and gathering the mussels on top of the raft is an option.

Port Levy and Pigeon Bay are two great spots for getting large mussels off the rocks; the South Island’s West Coast is also excellent for large green-lipped mussels.

Mussels are one of the most versatile sea foods, and are very easy to cook; simply put them in a saucepan with some sea water and steam until the shells open. I like to add some fennel gathered from the roadside, along with a bulb of garlic to cook on top of the steaming mussels. You can even splash in some beer for extra flavouring! Finally, keep the fluid and use it to make a fish stock.

Tuatua

Tuatua is another top shellfish. Gathered from sandy beaches at low tide, they should be left in a bucket overnight to expel any surplus sand. The foot of the tuatua makes fantastic eating when ground up in a fritter. Tuatua are also easily cooked by steaming in a saucepan, and as with mussels, make sure you keep the fluid for stock. (Try reducing the stock down, adding some cream and a mix of other seafood to make a seafood chowder, as the sweet white flesh of the tuatua is ideally suited for this). The sandy beaches on Banks Peninsula, such as Le Bons Bay and Okains, are good spots to gather them.

Paua

Paua are another top option over the summer. Clear water and a good range of seaweeds growing on rocks in shallow water provide the ideal habitat. There are numerous spots well suited for snorkelling for paua along Kaikoura’s coastline, and often patches of clear water can be found. I prefer to snorkel for paua at mid tide, as I find the seaweeds – especially bull kelp – cover the paua during low tide’s shallow water.

Paua often occur in patches, so when you find one, carefully search the rocks nearby. In addition to the common black-footed paua, you can also gather yellow-foot paua, which are quite common, but tend to inhabit crevices higher up on the rocks. You can gather up to 10 yellow-foot paua a day (over 80mm), as well as 10 black foot paua a day (over 125mm).

While snorkelling for paua, keep an eye out for crayfish in the shallow water.

Crayfish

Coastlines such as Kaikoura’s offer numerous crayfishing options in water as shallow as a metre (at low tide) over the summer. Crays, especially large bucks, will move into surprisingly shallow water. Look for areas of rocks with crevices and holes and a variety of seaweed species – especially red seaweeds – to locate crays.

Spear-fishing

Spear-fishing while snorkelling in the shallows over the summer is my favourite way to get a feed. Butterfish, in particular, are a prolific species in many areas along the Otago and Kaikoura coasts, and can be snorkelled for in seaweed beds around Banks Peninsula as well when the sea clears up.

Look for patches of sand amongst the rocks in the shallow water; large blue moki from 2-3 kilograms can be spear-fished in surprisingly shallow water over the summer. I love snorkelling as you can easily get a variety of seafoods in water no deeper than three metres. So get hold of a wetsuit and go snorkelling with a friend.

Kahawai

Kahawai are known as ‘the people’s fish’, and for good reason. Over the summer they are one of the most reliable fish to catch, especially around river mouths, but also off surf beaches. A good surfcasting rod and a few spinners and you’re set to go. Make sure you bleed and chill down your kahawai as quickly as possible. Eaten fresh, kahawai is a tasty fish either baked or fried, and is also the ideal summer fish to smoke. In summer, flocks of terns can often be seen hovering above kahawai shoals, so look out for them.

Flounder

The humble flounder is another common and readily accessible sea fish over the summer. Large green-back and yellow-bellied flounders move close inshore. Drag-netting through the surf on a sandy beach or in an estuary with friends is a fun way to get some flounders over the summer. In estuarine areas, such as Lake Ellesmere and other coastal lagoons and river mouths, set-netting for black flounders is an effective way to get a feed. The Marlborough Sounds is another great spot for drag-netting flounder, as are the numerous muddy and sandy bays around Otago Peninsula.

Long-lining

Beach long-lining offers a great way to catch some fish too, and I am surprised by how few people I see long-lining in the South Island. The large, sweeping, sandy beaches of Pegasus Bay are ideal; a few keen people use a surf board to tow out the line! Equally, a sea kayak can be used to tow out the line while someone on the beach connects the snoods.

If you use tuatua and paddle crabs for baits on your long-line, you greatly increase your chances of catching rig and elephant fish over the summer. A dinghy in more sheltered areas is also ideal for setting a long-line.

Long-lining works so well because the baits sit hard on the bottom, where most fish feed. Also, the commotion of a fish caught on the line attracts other fish, which often get caught on the remaining hooks. Long-lining allows you to experiment with a range of baits, too.

Wharves

 Wharf fishing for a range of smaller fish on light tackle is a fun way to go over the summer, especially with the kids. Use a berley pot with finely minced-up berley sausages (readily available from your local tackle shop). Use small hooks and bait flies to enhance your catch.

Large spotties and mullet can be great eating, while the smaller fish are kept as bait. Crushed mussels can make a top bait when wharf fishing.

Crab potting

While you’re there, put down a ring pot for paddle and pie-crust crabs – the larger ones make wonderful eating and the smaller crabs are effective baits. The wharves at Kaikoura and Akaroa are favoured fishing spots over the summer.

Eeling

Finally, freshwater eels are most active during the warmer summer months, and spearing is a popular night time activity. Short-finned eels make superb eating when hot smoked with manuka, so I really enjoy getting out for a few nights’ eeling. You can actively spotlight the riverbank to find the eels, or place a mix of oily fish bait in a mesh bag to attract them to you.

I target eels around the 1.5 to 2 kilogram mark, as eels of this size tend to be the best eating. Large eels over two kilograms should be left alone, as there is increasing concern about their long-term survival, especially the large ones, many of which are endangered long-finned eels. However the careful harvest of a few summer short-fins does little harm.

Overall, summer is the best time to gather a wide range of fish and shellfish species, as well a crayfish or two. Ultimately there is nothing more satisfying than catching your own seafood, and as a bonus, it not only tastes better, but is also healthier than buying farmed or processed foods.

But keep a close eye on the tides, pick some calm weather with a slight offshore breeze, and, most importantly, be water wise.

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