Northland Must Dos
Top of the North
East Coast
West Coast
Spend time in Hokianga
Shipwreck Highway Ripiro Beach & Kai Iwi Lakes
Kauri kings - Waipoua Forest
Anglers' El Dorado
Twin Coast Discovery
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Anglers' El Dorado

Game fishing legend Zane Grey described the Bay of Islands as the “Angler’s Eldorado” and for the thousands of kiwis who rank fishing top of their favourite leisure activities – as well as the thousands who accompany them to “have a go” – Northland, home to the legendary Ninety Mile Beach Snapper Classic, is the best place to cast a line.

Here world class sport fishing is available to everyone, and there’s no better place to be a beginner. With abundant resources and a vast coastline, the people of Northland can afford to be generous and fishing enthusiasts of all types will find a warm welcome at fishing clubs throughout the region. When the siren wails in Russell, locals and tourists alike head down to the wharf to see the latest prize catch. Not only a Mecca for serious game fishing, with superb yellowtail kingfish, yellow-finned tuna, shark and striped marlin, Northland’s coastal waters also abound with numerous species readily available to recreational fishing enthusiasts. Then there are the lakes, the wharfs, the rocks, tidal pools and estuaries. With such wealth of diversity, fishing in Northland offers something for everyone and so much more. Try fishing for trout in Kai Iwi lakes, spearfishing at Whananaki, diving for crayfish in the Hokianga, rockfishing for snapper, trevally and gurnard from Signal Point, flounder fishing in almost any estuary Northland-wide or dragnetting for mullet using traditional Maori techniques at Mitimiti. You can hire a charter just about anywhere in the North and surprise yourself with a prize catch, or – for the ultimate kiwi experience - pull into that nondescript fish and chip shop opposite the wharf and settle down on the beach as the sun sets over the water to enjoy the fruit of someone else’s labour.

 

Fishing on Northland's wet coast