Hapuku

Habitat Distribution

• Native to New Zealand waters; found around the entire coastline from the far north to the deep south, including offshore banks and islands.
• Adults hold tight to reef structure — pinnacles, drop-offs, caves, and rough foul bottom — typically in 60–400m, though the range extends to 800m.
• Juveniles are pelagic and roam open water until roughly 50cm, after which they shift to a bottom-dwelling life on reef.
• Favour areas of high current; in some locations fishing is only productive around the tide change when current slackens enough to fish effectively.

Key Locations

• Three Kings Islands (Northland) — remote offshore reefs and banks known for concentrations of large fish.
• Ranfurly Banks (Bay of Plenty) — a major deepwater structure fished by charter boats out of the Bay of Plenty.
• White Island area (Bay of Plenty) — reef and bank structure that once held fish in shallower water; now fished deeper.
• Hawke's Bay — site of the current NZ record (68kg, 2005); deepwater reef structure along the east coast.
• Coromandel offshore — deep pinnacles and drop-offs; associated with unverified reports of very large fish.

Specific Spots

• Pinnacles and steep drop-offs in 200–400m are the primary targets — the rougher and more broken the bottom, the better.
• Caves and undercut reef faces hold larger adults; use a sounder to mark structure before dropping, setting your drift so baits land just upcurrent of the mark.
• Slack-tide windows are critical: fish move up off the bottom to feed when current eases, making bites more frequent and retrieves more manageable.
• Smaller juveniles can turn up over open sand or mud away from reef — worth a drop if the sounder shows fish suspended above a flat bottom.