NZ Deep Groper Fishing
Hapuku, also known as groper, are New Zealand's premier deep-sea table fish, targeted over deep-water pinnacles and rock faces from 100 to 400 metres around both islands. Fresh squid and fish baits on heavy paternoster rigs dropped to the bottom produce consistent results on these large, powerful fish. John Dory and blue cod often share the same structure.
Target Species
Fishing Tips
- 1
Target rocky pinnacles and cliff faces that rise steeply from deep water (150–400 m) — hapuku sit tight to vertical structure and a bait drifted away from the face will be ignored.
- 2
Fresh or lightly frozen squid is the go-to hapuku bait; cut it into large strips (10–15 cm) or fish a whole small squid on a large circle hook (8/0–10/0) with minimal additional weight.
- 3
Use an electric reel for depths below 200 m — manually winding up a heavy multi-hook rig from 300 m multiple times in a session will exhaust you and limit the number of drops you can make.
- 4
John Dory and blue cod regularly share the same rocky structure at shallower depths (30–80 m) — start shallow and work deeper until you locate the hapuku layer, fishing blue cod as you go.
- 5
Set your rod in a holder during the soak and watch for the line to tick or pull sideways — hapuku rarely make aggressive strikes. A firm sweep of the rod is all that is needed to set a circle hook.