Fishing spots in Banks Peninsula

Possessing over 320 kilometres of coastline and over sixty bays, Banks Peninsula comprises over half of Canterbury’s coastline – so no wonder Peter Langlands wants to profile this wonderful area!

The Banks Peninsula waters offer a wealth of summer fishing and diving opportunities, as a wide range of seasonal fish species move into its shallow waters. With so many sheltered bays and having both north and south facing coasts, there is usually somewhere protected from strong winds – ideal for kayak and small boat fishers. There are also some top rock-fishing options.

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The peninsula’s many bays offer spectacular scenery too, from dramatic ocean cliffs to oddlyformed rock stacks, as well as sweeping harbour views and brilliant sandy beaches.

The area is always exciting to fish, and the fact its many remote bays enable you to get away from the crowds is very appealing to me. There is so much more to this place than the tourist destination of Akaroa!

From mid-November onwards, the fishing around the peninsula really picks up, with the rich Southland current hitting the south-eastern bays and flowing along the coast from Akaroa Heads to Le Bons Bay. The deeper bays of the peninsula are also found here, with water 40-metres deep out from the bays’ heads.

When the waters have cleared up following several days of north-westerly winds, these bays can offer outstanding snorkelling and diving. Butterfish, blue moki, crayfish and paua are the 
main target species.

Reefs provide a mix of blue cod, sea perch, tarakihi and trumpeter. In the summer, school sharks will sometimes feed around reef edges and kingfish frequent the headlands. The southeastern bays have some of the most spectacular scenery, too.

Akaroa Harbour is far and away the most popular holiday destination on the peninsula and has a wide diversity of fish life. The shallow waters of the upper harbour have good numbers of yellowbelly flounders; drag-netting is the best way to catch them, as there is a summer setnetting ban to protect Hector’s dolphins.

Rig (spotty sharks) can also be caught while drag-netting. Otherwise, use baits of crabs or prawns at night on an incoming tide – some exciting shallow-water action is highly likely.

The flats’ warm water also attracts large numbers of baitfish such as yelloweyed mullet and piper. A throw net is effective for catching mullet, while piper are taken at night by spotlighting and scooping them up with a net. Kahawai and barracouta also come into the shallows chasing these baitfish.

The middle harbour has a wide range of fish, too. In the summer, large seven-gill and school sharks move in, along with large stingrays – several ‘pet stingrays’ can be seen around the main wharf.

The wharf in Akaroa township is a top fishing location, since the water is a reasonable depth. Like most wharves, it fishes best around high tide, especially if the high tide coincides with dusk.

Blue moki are very common around Banks Peninsula from November onwards, with the fish feeding more actively as the water warms up. Moki are hard fighters and great fun to target. They feed on crustaceans, so cooked prawns are a favoured bait. Moki like the edge of reefs adjacent to open sand. The middle section of Akaroa Harbour’s western side often proves productive for anglers targeting them.

Further out in the harbour, the Akaroa salmon farm acts like a giant berley pot, attracting a range of fish over the summer. Often salmon escape from the farm, so fishing with lures or a pilchard close to the cages can yield salmon. Wild salmon also occur just out from the heads from December to January, where the salmon congregate prior to going up Canterbury’s snow-fed braided rivers. A sounder can help to find the salmon, which are often associated with barracouta and red cod shoals in 40-50 metres of water.

The western side of Akaroa Heads and its reefs provide good fishing for blue cod, and even occasional school-sized groper can come close inshore here. The area is very rich in other forms 
of marine life, too: large flocks of terns and shags, along with Hector’s dolphins, often mark out where shoals of fish can be found. There are also schools of kahawai and kingfish at times, and even humpback and killer whales can appear.

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The eastern side of the outer harbour is now a marine reserve, but it’s still well worth diving if the sea is clear, as a wide range of reef fish are present.

The other main harbour on the peninsula is Lyttelton Harbour, which is only 20-minutes drive from Christchurch. The upper part of the harbour is an outstanding location for anglers wanting to catch large rig over the summer, sometimes in very shallow water. Night fishing on the high tide with banana prawns has worked consistently well for me.

There are several wharf-fishing options in the harbour, but the best – in my opinion – is the scenic Diamond Harbour Wharf, which attracts a wide range of fish species. The wharf adjoins open sand and a reefy point, and a wide range of fish such as blue moki, rig and red cod move in on the high tide at night. During the day, the wharf can be a great place to catch garfish and mullet, with a few kahawai also passing by.

About 20 minutes away, Camp Bay has some good rock ledges to fish from for blue moki, banded wrasse and kahawai. If the water is clear enough, there are also some large butterfish in the kelp beds. 

The peninsula has some large bays that are well worth visiting, too, each with its own character. The upper reaches of Port Levy and Pigeon Bay offer good fishing spots for rig and flounders. Both have mussel farms near their heads too, where blue moki and kingfish can be caught over the warmer months. Their large greenshell mussels are abundant and make outstanding eating.

Fishing off the headlands using an oily berley and fish bait such as salmon is an effective way to attract a range of sharks, with school sharks being a species worth targeting for the table. Large threshers and blue sharks also move in over the summer for those interested in chasing bigger fish. Makos have been taken off Steep Head.

To the east, both Okains and Le Bons Bays have nice sandy beaches ideal for collecting tuatua and large paddle crabs. Okains Bay is very popular with holidaymakers, as it has a long sandy beach and a large sheltered camping ground. When an offshore sou’wester flattens the surf, boat or kayak fishing from these bays can be productive.

The entire peninsula is within day-trip range for anglers based in Christchurch, who should certainly take the time to explore this area. However, its ever-changing and dramatic scenery, combined with interesting and varied fishing, make it well worth the effort for visitors, too. There is usually a sheltered bay and a location to fish, and there are many holiday baches in the smaller bays. Online booking sites will turn up some excellent locations.

Overnighters here have a special attraction, enabling anglers to get away from the pressures of the modern world and wake up to an uncrowded seascape. 

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

December 2016 - By Peter Langlands
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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