Fishing with Venturer Charters off Kawhia / Raglan

Say you were having a nightmare where you could only have one jig to use for the rest of your days (Heaven forbid!) After waking up in a cold sweat, you might just get to thinking if that really WAS the case, what lure would I choose? Based on the results I’ve seen over the last few years. It would be hard to go past the Catch Double Trouble as the most effective and versatile jig out there. This initially angular looking pattern comes in a pretty wide variety of sizes from 100 grams to 300 grams, and I have personally used, and watched it in action, catching darn near everything out there that hits a lure.

VERITAS = VERI TASTY! There are just some products that I know I’m going to buy the moment I see them. As a massive soft bait and lure fishing fan, I love catching decent fish on relatively light weight spinning gear, and when the opportunity arises to upgrade or replace broken gear, it’s a no brainer.

Since the introduction of jigging for trout, this fun and very fruitful method of fishing has made catching trout in lakes a lot more fun than dragging them in on heavy lead lines.

The Mokohinau Islands are a stunning fishery within fairly easy reach of Auckland for trailer boats. The fishing is (sometimes) amazing, and the scenery is always spectacular. Take a look at a bit of action fishing the Mokes for a day with the team from Roger's Boatshop in Albany.

Game season fever is well and truly on us, and the sensational, and very much welcome, yellowfin tuna run this year, has got trailer boat fishermen across the country dusting off the big gear to get into the action. When it comes to game fishing, you can either go the whole nine yards, with a mega launch equipped with riggers dripping with bling, or you can tow one lure behind your tinnie. As long as you can reach the fishing zone, and do around 7 knots all day, you are well in with a chance at anything this year. We’ve seen massive blue and even black marlin, bigeye tuna, tons of albacore, stripeys, mahi mahi, and in good numbers up both northern NZ coastlines. Incredibly, we spotted no less than nine marlin in two days north east of Barrier early January. Just amazing that these fish are out there in good numbers.

Two essentials for autumn fly fishing in the central North Island. Cleardrift egg patterns are producing right now at the Tongariro Delta, and breathable waders will keep you comfortable as temperatures drop.

Boaties share their love of fishing and why it’s so important to ‘protect our paradise’. By keeping hulls, anchors, chains and gear clean, we can all do our bit to stop the spread of invasive pests.

Brendan Lockhead never grew up around boats. Then an impulse buy at 30 changed everything. Now he's chasing snapper in the Hauraki Gulf and says NZ fishing is hard to beat.

New ban on gathering shellfish, seaweed and rockpool life now in force on Hauraki Gulf coast north of Auckland. Fines up to $100,000. Check the rules.

Woolly buggers and low-light polarised glasses - Find the promo-code at the bottom of the report.