North Island Fishing: Kahawai, Snapper, and Kingfish on the Bite

G’day crew, Artificial Lure here with your North Island fishing rundown. Around the top of the island, it’s been a mixed bag but there are still fish on the chew. According to local reports from the last few days, kahawai have been schooling hard in the bays and harbours, with plenty of rat kingfish shadowing workups and current lines. Off the rocky points and reefy ledges, snapper are still showing in good numbers on the right tide, mostly pannies with the odd solid eater, while the harbour mouths and estuaries have been kicking out trevally, gurnard, and the occasional john dory. Around the deeper edges, a few bigger snapper and kingfish have been reported by crews fishing live baits and slow jigs. For today, the tide is the big player. Fish the last of the incoming and the first of the outgoing if you can, especially around current-swept points, harbour heads, and the edges of channels. That moving water has been the key to finding active fish. Sunrise today was roughly around 7:00 am and sunset will be about 5:20 pm, so the dawn and dusk windows are the money periods. If you’re out mid-morning into the arvo, work deeper gutters, shaded structure, and the down-current side of reefs. Weather-wise, May on the North Island is proper autumn fishing weather: cooler mornings, changeable breezes, and often a bit of swell or chop to stir the bait. According to MetService, keep an eye on wind direction before you launch or head to the rocks, because a light offshore can make the bite cleaner, while a northerly puff can dirty things up and push bait into the wash. A bit of swell is not your enemy — it’s often what gets the snapper feeding. Best lures right now? Soft-baits in natural baitfish colours, small metal jigs for kahawai and workup kingies, and slow jigs around structure for snapper and john dory. If the water’s coloured, go brighter: pink, orange, and nuclear chicken have been doing the business. If it’s clear, keep it subtle with pilchard, pearl, or motor oil patterns. For bait, you can’t go wrong with fresh pilchard, bonito strips, squid, or salted mullet. For kingfish, a live kahawai or jack mackerel is still hard to beat. A couple of hot spots to try: the Kaipara Harbour mouths and channels for snapper, kahawai, and trevally; and the East Cape and Bay of Plenty rock points for kingfish, big snapper, and good straylining when the tide’s moving. If you’re closer to Auckland, the inner gulf islands and channel edges have been producing on the right tide, especially at first light. In short: fish the moving water, match the bait, and don’t overthink it. Keep your cast tight to structure, stay mobile, and if the bite slows, shift. That’s the local way. Thanks for tuning in, and make sure you subscribe for the next fishing update. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn