Marlborough fishes the Marlborough Sounds, about 4,200 km of harbour water that the district council looks after, including d’Urville Island, with Picton, Waikawa Bay and Havelock as the main towns. On the east coast it runs past the Wairau Bar, Te Koko-o-Kupe / Cloudy Bay and Clifford Bay to Cape Campbell. The Sounds have their own blue cod season, closed from 1 September to 10 January.
Reports current for Thursday, 8 October
Every one of the 3 Marlborough waters we cover has a live read this morning. They are all sitting in the middle of the scale today. Water is around 13 °C. Pressure is holding steady on most of them, so the day comes down to water temperature and wind. Wind touches 35 km/h on the roughest of them.
Best right now: Havelock 3/5, Picton 3/5, Wairau Bar 3/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
The Queen Charlotte Sound / Tōtaranui port town, launched from the Picton and Waikawa marina ramps, inside the Marlborough Sounds blue cod closure from 1 September to 10 January.
Eastern Marlborough’s Wairau Bar locality, with LINZ’s Wairau River Entrance tide station about 2 km away and a 4-nautical-mile set-net ban along the coast.
The Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere marina town, with a three-lane ramp and a channel its operator warns is more tidal than the other Sounds marinas.
Species activity across the covered waters, written for the southern year. Peak of the year: January.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for the dominant water type here, in degrees Celsius (estimated, not a reading).
Read from the agency page named on each row, on the date shown, and calculated for 2026 from the rule as written: a date written as a day of the week is computed, not copied. Species with no published closure are not listed, which is not the same as open.
| Fishery | 2026 | Rule | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitebait season | Open 2026-09-01 to 2026-10-30 | Whitebaiting is allowed only from 1 September to 30 October inclusive, 5 am to 8 pm (6 am to 9 pm in daylight saving). The West Coast has its own gear rules, not different dates. | Department of Conservation, whitebaiting regulations, read 2026-10-07 |
| Southern scallop fishery (SCA 7) closed | Closed, no reopening date | Marlborough Sounds, Tasman Bay, Golden Bay and Port Underwood have been closed to scallop fishing since 15 July 2018, until further notice. | Fisheries New Zealand (MPI), Challenger area fishing rules, read 2026-10-07 |
| Scallop season | Open 2026-07-15 to 2027-02-14 | Scallop season 15 July to 14 February. | Fisheries (Amateur Fishing) Regulations 2013, read 2026-10-07 |
| Blue cod closed, Marlborough Sounds | Closed 2026-09-01 to 2027-01-10 | Blue cod may not be taken or possessed in the Marlborough Sounds area from 1 September to 10 January inclusive; the rest of the year the limit is 2 a day, 33 cm. | Fisheries New Zealand (MPI), Challenger area fishing rules, read 2026-10-07 |
| Water | Type | Live data | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picton fishing report | Coast | modelled tide | Jan |
| Wairau Bar fishing report | Coast | modelled tide | Jan |
| Havelock fishing report | Coast | modelled tide | Jan |
MPI closes the Marlborough Sounds area to blue cod from 1 September to 10 January inclusive every year, a season it extended in August 2025, and during the closure blue cod caught in the wider Challenger East area may only be brought in if you can prove where they were taken. Snapper in the Sounds area are limited to three a day at a 25 cm minimum. No scallop may be taken anywhere in the Sounds or at Te Whanganui / Port Underwood, a closure in place since July 2018. Set nets are banned from Cape Jackson to the Clarence River out to 4 nautical miles, a band that takes in all of Queen Charlotte Sound, Tory Channel, Port Underwood, Cloudy Bay, Clifford Bay and Cape Campbell.
At the mouth of Queen Charlotte Sound, the Long Island-Kokomohua Marine Reserve is closed to all fishing. MPI also lists Double Cove and the Maud Island area as closed to fishing. Between Marfells Beach, west of Cape Campbell, and the Conway River, pāua may only be taken from 1 May to 31 August, a measure that followed the Kaikōura earthquake.
Picton is the LINZ standard port for Queen Charlotte Sound, with the smallest neap range of the 16 at 0.47 m; Long Island, Motuara Island and Ōkukari Bay are referred to it. Pelorus Sound is worked from Nelson instead, Havelock and the Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere entrance included, while Te Whanganui / Port Underwood, the Wairau River entrance and Cape Campbell are referred to Wellington.
The district council’s Navigation Bylaw has been in force since December 2023, and its Nautical & Coastal Guide sets out the rules for the Sounds. Freshwater fishing in the Wairau and Pelorus catchments is managed by Nelson/Marlborough Fish & Game.
From 11 January to 31 August. MPI closes the Sounds to blue cod from 1 September to 10 January inclusive, and the rest of the year the Challenger rules apply.
No. Neither Queen Charlotte Sound nor Tory Channel is open to set nets: both fall within the band MPI has closed between Cape Jackson and the Clarence River.
LINZ refers Pelorus Sound, Havelock included, to Nelson and Queen Charlotte Sound to Picton, so the two arms of the Sounds have different times and ranges.
Yes for trout, from Fish & Game’s Nelson/Marlborough region. No licence is needed in the Sounds or on the sea coast.
The facts on this page were checked against these pages, from the agencies, park services and operators that manage the water on 7 October 2026; anything we could not verify was taken out.