Fishing in Mangonui Harbour

By Harvey Clark

Mangonui Harbour, that idyllic haven tucked away on the east coast four hours north of Auckland, is the ideal spot for kayak-fishers, especially for learners.

For more experienced kayakers who want to go further out, Mangonui Village and district offer an excellent base for expeditions outside the harbour around the rocky Doubtless Bay coasts, which are internationally renowned for quality fishing.

As more and more anglers are drawn to this increasingly popular method, it is not hard to imagine Mangonui undergoing something of a boom for kayakers. The area provides all a visiting fisher’s needs from accommodation to a range of cafes and restaurants, an excellent tackle shop at Coopers Beach, an unbeatable $20 Sunday smorgasbord at Taipa, and the best fish-and-chip shop in the world built over the harbour on a pier at Mangonui.

The harbour is a perfect example of quality surpassing quantity. It is small, easily accessible, rich in fish life, and picturesquely set between bush-clad hills and rocky cliffs at the heads and mudflats and mangroves at the tail.

Biggest pluses are the harbour’s shelter from winds, and easy navigation. Launching, say, from the rocky little beach at Mill Bay, or the dinghy-ramp near the Mangonui wharf, you can be out in the main channel in five minutes, across the other side in under 10 minutes, and out at the heads in 15 minutes.

Stay away from the Mill Bay boat-ramp, which gets very busy on holiday weekends and tempers fray when non-ticketholders such as kayakers clutter the place. The ramp is for trailer-boaties who pay a lot for their craft and gear and have limited launching spots. A kayaker can launch anywhere, so give the boaties a fair go.

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