Fishing calendar and bite times

Fishing calendar

Tide portAkaroaAnakakata BayAnawhataAucklandBen Gunn WharfBluffCastlepointCharlestonDargavilleDeep CoveDog IslandDunedinElaine BayElie BayFlour Cask BayFresh Water BasinGisborneGreen IslandHalfmoon Bay - ObanHavelockHelensvilleHuruhi HarbourJackson BayKaikōuraKaiteriteriKaituna River EntranceKawhiaKorotiti BayLeighLong IslandLottin Point - WakatiriLytteltonMan o‘War BayMana MarinaManu BayMāpuaMarsden PointMātiatia BayMotuara IslandMoturiki IslandNapierNelsonNew Brighton PierNorth Cape - OtouOamaruŌkukari BayOmaha BridgeŌmokoroaOnehungaOpononiŌpōtiki WharfOpuaParatutae IslandPictonPort ChalmersPort Ōhope WharfPort TaranakiPouto PointRaglanRangatira PointRangitaiki River EntranceRichmond BayRiverton - AparimaSpit WharfSumner HeadTāmaki RiverTarakoheTaurangaThamesTimaruTown BasinWaihopai River EntranceWeiti River EntranceWelcombe BayWellingtonWestportWhakatāneWhanganui River EntranceWhangāreiWhangaroaWhitiangaWilson Bay

Tide times: LINZ tide predictions for the standard port, Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, CC BY 4.0. Not for navigation: they're not official tide tables, and wind and air pressure shift real tides. Times are NZ time, daylight saving included.

What the calendar shows

• Tides: high and low times and heights from LINZ’s predictions for the port, and a curve of the tide through the day. Each day’s range is compared with the port’s whole year, so you can see the big tides and the small ones.
• Sun and moon: sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, when the moon is overhead and underfoot, and its phase, worked out for the port’s position. Times are NZ time, with daylight saving.
• Best times to fish: up to three windows a day, marked in orange on the chart, with the reason for each (see below).
• Bite times: the traditional solunar bite times, shaded on the chart. A major bite time is the two hours around when the moon is overhead or underfoot; a minor bite time is the hour around moonrise or moonset. Different apps use slightly different lengths; there’s no single standard.

Your tide port is the nearest one on the list, not your exact spot. Tides at a beach or estuary nearby can run some minutes earlier or later, and wind and air pressure shift real tides from the predictions.

How we pick the best times

We score every 15 minutes of the day on what’s known to bring fish on the bite, in this order:

1. A running tide. Moving water carries food and moves fish, so we only pick times at least an hour away from high or low water, when the tide is running rather than slack.
2. Dawn and dusk. Many fish bite best in low light: first light and dusk are the most common tip from NZ anglers for snapper and kahawai. Times within about 75 minutes of sunrise or sunset score higher.
3. Bite times. If a traditional bite time lines up with a running tide, it nudges that window up, a major bite time more than a minor one. It never makes a pick on its own.

The windows that score highest are the best times, with the reasons beside them: “outgoing tide, dawn, major bite time”, for example. If nothing lines up on a day, we say so: fish when the tide is running.

Your spot will have its own pattern. Some wharves fish best on the last of the incoming tide, some reefs on the turn. Keep a note of the tide when you catch fish, and trust that over any calendar.

Does fishing by the moon work?

Partly, and less than most apps suggest. The moon’s main effect is through the tides: it drives spring and neap tides, and moving water carries food and moves fish. That much is well established. For example, īnanga (whitebait) spawn on the big spring tides after new and full moon.

The solunar windows are a different matter. John Alden Knight published the first solunar tables in 1936, and they’ve been popular ever since, but studies that tested them directly have found little. A 2023 study of trout fisheries found no link between catch rates and any solunar measure, moon phase or moonlight; air temperature predicted catches better.

Moon phase has a small effect for some fish. In New Zealand, University of Auckland statisticians analysed snapper catches from anglers’ diaries against both the lunar cycle and a Māori fishing calendar. Both showed an effect, but each explained 2% or less of the variation in catches, against 30% for the season. Dr Russell Millar, who led the work, said the effect “wasn’t dramatic”. A large study of muskellunge in North America found more fish caught around full and new moon, but anglers also fished more then.

So use the calendar for the tides first, plan around light (dawn and dusk are good for many fish), and treat the solunar times as a tie-breaker if you like them.

Related guides

• ArticlesBest time to fish in New ZealandWhen to catch snapper, kingfish, kahawai, tuna, trout and salmon in New Zealand, with a month-by-month calendar and what bites in each season.
• ArticlesFishing knots: how to tie the six knots NZ anglers useHow to tie the uni, snell, palomar, uni-to-uni, dropper loop and improved clinch knots, with step-by-step animated diagrams and when to use each one.
• ArticlesNZ fishing rigs and knots: diagrams and when to use eachClear diagrams of the main NZ fishing rigs (ledger, running sinker, strayline, surfcasting, live bait) and the knots to tie them, with which fish each catches.