Blue cod
Good
The spawning season runs through late winter and spring: fish reef and gravel patches with cut bait on a large hook.
Bluff Tide Times & Bite Times Today
Updated Thu, 8 Oct 2026 from LINZ tide predictions and the weather forecast
Bluff Harbour’s town, with a city-council boat ramp that charges launch fees and checks payment by camera.
3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Next tide
Low 6:43 am LINZ
Air / High
9 °C / 18 °C
Wind
ESE 22 km/h
Sources: LINZ tide predictions, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Bluff tide times for the next 7 days
High and low tides in New Zealand time, LINZ's daily prediction for Bluff, 0.7 km from Bluff. Next: low tide at 6:43 am.
| Day | High tide | Low tide |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 8 Oct (today) | 12:28 am (2.8 m) · 12:57 pm (2.8 m) | 6:43 am (0.7 m) · 7:06 pm (0.7 m) |
| Fri 9 Oct | 1:16 am (2.8 m) · 1:43 pm (2.8 m) | 7:31 am (0.6 m) · 7:52 pm (0.7 m) |
| Sat 10 Oct | 2:01 am (2.9 m) · 2:25 pm (2.8 m) | 8:17 am (0.6 m) · 8:35 pm (0.6 m) |
| Sun 11 Oct | 2:44 am (2.9 m) · 3:06 pm (2.8 m) | 9:00 am (0.7 m) · 9:16 pm (0.7 m) |
| Mon 12 Oct | 3:25 am (2.8 m) · 3:44 pm (2.7 m) | 9:41 am (0.7 m) · 9:56 pm (0.7 m) |
| Tue 13 Oct | 4:05 am (2.7 m) · 4:23 pm (2.7 m) | 10:21 am (0.8 m) · 10:37 pm (0.8 m) |
| Wed 14 Oct | 4:46 am (2.6 m) · 5:01 pm (2.6 m) | 11:01 am (0.9 m) · 11:17 pm (0.9 m) |
Heights are above chart datum. These are LINZ predictions, not the official tide tables for navigation, and wind and air pressure can move the real tide by tens of minutes.
Today's Fishing Report
Bluff is in its cooler-water pattern: slower baits and the turn of the tide. Today brings cloud cover, wind ESE around 23 km/h, rising pressure near 1028 hPa and a high of 18 °C. Tides: high 12:28 am and 12:57 pm, low 6:43 am and 7:06 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 12 °C for the season (estimated). With the waning crescent, the solunar majors run 10:41 AM-12:41 PM and 10:55 PM-12:55 AM: the windows to build the day around.
Sea perch
Good
Drop to the bottom over reef and foul ground with cut bait, holding position over the rough patches.
Tarakihi
Good
Anchor or hold over the deeper reef edges with small baits close to the bottom, and move when a mark goes quiet.
Kahawai
Good
Schools are harder to find, so go to them: river mouths and harbour channels at the turn of the tide, with a strip of fresh bait under a float or a soft bait retrieved slowly.
Tie on: Two-hook ledger, fresh bait · Slow jig worked close to the bottom · Flasher rig, slow drift · Strip of kahawai or mullet. Prime windows: 10:41 AM-12:41 PM, 10:55 PM-12:55 AM, 5:29 AM-6:29 AM. Similar at 17 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Fishing times for Bluff today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (07:05), sunset (20:04), the moon and today's score, with the tide times above. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 10:41 AM-12:41 PM and 10:55 PM-12:55 AM; minor 5:29 AM-6:29 AM. Waning Crescent, 9% lit.
The moon phase here is astronomy, not a maramataka: what the maramataka is, and why this site does not rate days by it.
Water and weather
Today's tides from LINZ and the forecast for the day, which is a model.
Tide times (LINZ)
LINZ's daily prediction for Bluff, 0.7 km from Bluff. Heights above chart datum. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
Thu
HIGH12:28 am2.80 m
LOW6:43 am0.70 m
HIGH12:57 pm2.80 m
LOW7:06 pm0.70 m
Fri
HIGH1:16 am2.80 m
LOW7:31 am0.60 m
HIGH1:43 pm2.80 m
LOW7:52 pm0.70 m
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp9 °C
High / Low18 °C / 8 °C
WindESE 22 km/h, gusts 40 km/h
Pressure1027.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain97% cloud, 12%
Sunrise / Sunset07:05 / 20:04
MoonWaning Crescent, 9%
Water temp (seasonal)~12 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Bluff
The best day on Bluff this week looks like Sunday 11 Oct, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Sunday, 11 Oct — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, 8 Oct — Fair
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
- Solunar majors
- 10:41 AM-12:41 PM and 10:55 PM-12:55 AM
- Minor period
- 5:29 AM-6:29 AM
- Sun
- 07:05 to 20:04
- Moon
- Waning Crescent, 9% lit
- Sky and wind
- Overcast, 23 km/h
- Rain chance
- 12%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Bluff: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Blue cod
Year-round; spawning in late winter and spring
Rāwaru or pākirikiri in te reo Māori. A bottom fish found only in New Zealand, living near rough ground to 150 metres and more common south of Cook Strait. The Plenary rates it the most important recreational finfish in Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago and Southland. Blue cod can change sex from female to male, and males grow larger. The spawning season runs through late winter and spring: fish reef and gravel patches with cut bait on a large hook.
Flounder
Year-round in harbours and estuaries; young adults move offshore to spawn in winter and spring
Pātiki in te reo Māori. Four flounder species make up most of the recreational flatfish catch, taken in harbours, estuaries, coastal lakes and inlets around the country (Plenary). Most are netted or speared from the shore rather than caught on a line. Flatfish stay in water shallower than about 50 metres, and juveniles grow up on sheltered mud and sand flats. Fish the deeper harbour channels at low water and the flats as the tide comes back in.
Sea perch
Year-round on reef and foul ground
Pōhuiakaroa in te reo Māori. The Plenary says sea perch are seldom targeted but widely caught, almost all on rod and reel from boats, and are now more often kept as an eating fish. The 2022–23 national survey placed most of the recreational harvest off the east coast of the South Island. The inshore species lives on or near the seafloor, mostly shallower than 250 metres. Drop to the bottom over reef and foul ground with cut bait, holding position over the rough patches.
Tarakihi
Year-round on deeper reef; spawning in summer and autumn
Tarakihi are mostly taken on lines, often by people fishing for snapper or blue cod (Plenary). Juveniles grow up in shallow inshore nurseries such as Tasman Bay, the Kaikōura coast, northern Pegasus Bay, the Canterbury Bight and Otago, then move out to 50 to 200 metres at about 25 cm. The minimum fork length is 25 cm in every area. Anchor or hold over the deeper reef edges with small baits close to the bottom, and move when a mark goes quiet.
Kahawai
Year-round on every coast; most fishing trips happen in summer
Kahawai (Arripis trutta) live right around New Zealand in coastal seas, harbours and estuaries, and run into the brackish lower reaches of rivers. A schooling fish that takes bait readily and eats mostly small fish and krill; MPI notes a second species, the Kermadec kahawai, which turns up seasonally around Northland. The Plenary records kahawai as an important customary food fish for Māori. Schools are harder to find, so go to them: river mouths and harbour channels at the turn of the tide, with a strip of fresh bait under a float or a soft bait retrieved slowly.
Fishing rules at Bluff: MPI Southland area
You do not need a licence to fish in the sea around New Zealand, but the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) sets daily limits, minimum sizes and closures for each area, and Bluff is in the Southland area. The figures below are per person per day, as MPI's area page printed them on 7 October 2026. Fishing in rivers and lakes needs a licence: New Zealand fishing licence.
| Fish | Where it applies | Daily limit | Minimum length |
|---|---|---|---|
| All finfish combined | Southland area, excluding baitfish (50) and eels (6) | 30 | — |
| Snapper | Southland area | In the combined limit | 25 cm |
| Kahawai | Southland area | 15 | None set |
| Kingfish | Southland area; groper/bass and kingfish 5 combined, no more than 3 kingfish | In the combined limit | 75 cm |
| Trevally | Southland area | In the combined limit | 25 cm |
| Gurnard | Southland area | In the combined limit | 25 cm |
| Tarakihi | Southland area | 15 | 25 cm |
| Blue cod | Southern: Taiaroa Head to Sand Hill Point; whole, gutted or headed and gutted | 10 | 33 cm |
| Blue cod | South West: Sandhill Point to Haast River (excl. Fiordland) | 10 | 33 cm |
| Blue cod | Te Whaka ā Te Wera/Paterson Inlet mātaitai | 10 | 33 cm |
| Red cod | Southland area | 10 | 25 cm |
| Flounder | Southland area; Paterson Inlet mātaitai: flatfish 10, 25 cm | In the combined limit | None set |
| John Dory | Southland area; not listed | In the combined limit | None set |
| Shellfish | Where it applies | Daily limit | Minimum size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scallops | Southland area; season 1 Oct to 15 Mar | 10 | 100 mm |
| Cockles | Southland area | 150 | None set |
| Pāua (blackfoot) | Southland area | 10 | 125 mm |
| Pāua (yellowfoot) | Southland area | 10 | 80 mm |
| Rock lobster (crayfish) | Southland | 6 (no more than 3 packhorse) | Tail width spiny 54 mm male, 60 mm female; packhorse 84 mm male, 90 mm female |
| Dredge oysters | Southland area; season 1 Mar to 31 Aug | 50 | 58 mm |
| Mussels | Southland area | 25 | None set |
- Mussels: 50 at Stewart Island
Rules change often, sometimes at short notice: check MPI's Southland fishing rules or the NZ Fishing Rules app before you keep any fish. Source: Ministry for Primary Industries and licensed by MPI for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
When to come: the Bluff calendar
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Blue cod
Flounder
Sea perch
Tarakihi
Kahawai
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 12 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Bluff today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataWed, Oct 7
2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 37 km/h gusts make boat control the real battle. Blue cod led the card at good. High of 18 °C, wind to 37 km/h.
Tue, Oct 6
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Blue cod led the card at excellent. High of 16 °C, wind to 34 km/h.
Mon, Oct 5
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Blue cod led the card at excellent. High of 15 °C, wind to 14 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
No licence is needed to fish the sea around New Zealand (MPI). Rivers and lakes need a licence: New Zealand fishing licence.
Regulations
Daily limits, minimum sizes and closures are set by MPI for each area and change often: the rules for Bluff are above, with the date they were read and the link to check them before you keep anything.
Access
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About this water
Bluff is a bay or coastal water in Southland, New Zealand, covered from the Southland reports and listed in all New Zealand waters.
Fishing Bluff: the full guide
The boat ramp
Invercargill City Council owns the Bluff Boat Ramp. For 2026/27 a casual launch costs NZ$30, and an annual permit is NZ$155 for a boat under 6 m or NZ$215 for a larger one, plus a one-off NZ$60 joining fee. Casual fees can be paid at the Tap n Go terminal on site or through the ParkEasy app, permits through the council’s online portal, and a camera reads number plates around the clock to flag unpaid launches. The council asks boaties to keep to 5 knots within 200 m of shore and to monitor VHF 61, and swimming is not allowed within 50 m of the ramp.
Foveaux Strait closures
MPI’s Southland rules close Pikomamaku (Womens Island) Mātaitai, in the North Tītī Isles of Foveaux Strait, to the taking of any fish, aquatic life or seaweed, and close the Ulva Island – Te Wharawhara Marine Reserve to all fishing.
Common questions
How much does it cost to launch at Bluff?
NZ$30 a launch for casual users in 2026/27, or an annual permit from NZ$155 for boats under 6 m.
Which tide data is used for Bluff?
LINZ’s Bluff standard port, about 0.7 km from the town point. LINZ also uses Bluff as the reference for Southland secondary ports such as Riverton / Aparima.
Where do the tide times for Bluff come from?
They are LINZ’s daily predictions for Bluff, 0.7 km away.
Is fishing good at Bluff right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Nearby places
Where this page's numbers come from
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
The forecast refreshes on a 30-minute window; tide predictions are LINZ’s for the year. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.