Hey all, me and my partner have been crazy about fishing for the past 4 years. We love spent most weekends fishing around northern parts of nz. All from beaches, rocks, wharfs etc.

We have just purchased our first boat. 5m fibreglass. 90hp four stroke. I have been on boats however never been "skipper" for a day. Didn't grow up on boats with family etc.

I am doing a day skippers course. But really just seeing if anyone has any other tips or advice. Mainly fishing Manukau harbours for anything to eat and kingfish as weve never caught one. Mrs, 2 young kids. Places to do overnight stays on boat would also be appreciated.

Thanks for any help or tips in advance.

It's going to be a steep learning curve, it was for all of us that didn't grow up boating. General advice, go slow, both metaphorically and literally. Build up to bigger trips, start small. No need to hoon around, take it slow until you get a feel for where the sandbanks are in your area as Kevin said. To my mind the most difficult parts of boating are launching and retrieving. Again, when retrieving, take it slow. Far better to have a low speed collision with a wharf than a faster one! Aim to launch at a concrete boat ramp with a wharf to begin with, it makes life so much easier. Avoid the busy times as this will only increase stress. Saturday mornings in summer for example. 

MB- Thanks alot for your advice. Another of things there to think about that hadn't crossed my mind yet. Definitely going to start with small trips with experienced people.

Didn't know about the motor being up and down for a specific reason.

Alot of knowledge there to think about and further research.

Thanks heaps

Thank you for your advice mate.

Why is the east coast much better? I would prefer to go Hauraki Gulf. However I thought the harbour would have been safer to learn in.

Less wind and swell to worry about. Leaving me to focus on learning my boat. Or am I assuming this wrong?

Or is it simply the sand bars in the manukau that make it much more dangerous. And the gulf being much deeper?

As smudge says above, lots of tidal flow on the manukau and when you get wind against the tide in fairly shallow water you can get very tricky boating conditions. It can push your boat around sideways quickly and then you can be in trouble.

Wait until you do your boat coarse and ask the person doing the training, they will put you right.

I would learn to boat in the inner gulf out of a good well setup boat ramp where it’s very easy and safe to put your boat in. The boat ramp is where a lot of mistakes can happen and it doesn’t take much to put your wife and kids off boating.

The other good thing about the east coast there’s generally always someone around if you get in trouble, you’re boating coarse will teach you how to signal to another boat that you need help, things like got the anchor stuck or got something stuck around your prop. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong.

Also make sure you have all the safety equipment and you know how to use it. Get your wife to do the boat coarse with you so she can drive the boat, pull up the anchor or cut it off if needed. I remember I was out once with my wife and daughter, me and my daughter jumped over the side for a swim and with out realising there was some current ripping and next minute we were quite a ways from the boat. We did manage to swim back but it was a real struggle and if we couldn’t get back my wife would have needed to pull up the anchor and come and get us and yes we had life jackets on.

There’s also nothing wrong with practicing safety drills like if you hit a log and you have to leave the boat, who grabs what, the flare pack or cell phone and always where you’re life jackets put them on at the ramp before you get in the boat and take them off when you’re back at the ramp.

Lot of great advise there, especially wives learning to drive the boat also so at least they know what to do