29/05/2026
Want to catch more fish in the surf?
Where your bait lands is the most important element of fishing.
The best advise an angler could get, SLOW down, take your time and focus on the water.
Most fall over by rushing and not taking the signs in and processing them properly. When the bites good, poor water can fish well, but it’s not until it’s a little tougher you appreciate or evaluate your ability to read the surf.
Every specie of fish has water preferences, so it’s about understanding what you’re targeting. Getting some elevation where you can so you can get the best picture of the body of water. If your catching certain species, like Kahawai, it probably tells you your falling short of where the bait needs to be, as they will run sand banks for example. So there’s lots of information occurring whilst your fishing, it’s just a matter of understanding it.
Species like trevally are usually slightly wide of Kahawai, running the turbulence or pressure from the waves over the depth changes, which is why they hit hard and fast and prone to bling. In general the snapper are just beyond both of this species, so consistently catching them indicates distance issues, or lack of volume in depth at the current stage of the tide.
But the moral of this post, is slowing down, taking it all in and visualising where your baits going to land or where it needs to be and being realistic if you can hit that zone or not.
You can’t catch what isn’t there, even with the best bait and bling or the sharpest hooks and fanciest fishing rod. Your success boils down to your ability to read the surf.
Shimano Fishing New Zealand
BKK Hooks New Zealand
