Eelhunter you should get in touch with the Hutt Valley Coarse fishing club, real friendly bunch of guys, Im sure they will let you know all the local coarse fishing spots... They may want you to join first though

My mate and I used to fish for the Taniwha eels in Taupo with surfcasters just for laughs when conditions wouldn't let us climb the mountain. 15kg line and huge SLABS of fish on 6/0 hooks thinking it would be obvious we were fishing for eels.  Basically heavy duty ocean rigs really.

We never hooked a trout and gave up after numerous debates with fisheries hitlers that weren't convinced we weren't trying to deplete the trout stocks.

Got some huge eels though

To the guy who was after Eels.... I live in cambridge and fish for els a lot since i have 3 kids under 10.You can catch them in almost any creek or waterway.Personally,i use roadkill a few days old as i find that works like magic.my standars setup for eels?  get a 2 inch diameter piece of green Bamboo around 5ft long and tie a 10 ft length of 20kg nylon to one end of the "rod". Add a hook = Voila  a cheap strong floating,who cares if you lose it fishing rod that only gets stronger as it turns brown.You can whip one up in about ten minutes straight from the ground.I always catch,take a pic for the kids and release. A point to remember is this,when you pull them up onto land,DO NOT LET THEM LIE ON THE GROUND!!! as then they will twist up all your line and you will Never untangle the knots.  Happy fishing and eating.