Updated Thu, 8 Oct 2026 from LINZ tide predictions and the weather forecast
A sheltered pocket bay on the Taranaki coast with a council ramp on an old cargo-jetty breakwater, inside a shellfish closure that runs to mid-December 2026.
Sources: LINZ tide predictions, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
High and low tides in New Zealand time, calculated from LINZ's prediction for Port Taranaki, its standard port, with the differences LINZ publishes for Ōpunake Bay (1.6 km from Ōpunake). Next: high tide at 8:58 am.
| Day | High tide | Low tide |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 8 Oct (today) | 8:58 am (3.2 m) · 9:19 pm (3.5 m) | 2:45 am (0.5 m) · 3:08 pm (0.4 m) |
| Fri 9 Oct | 9:44 am (3.5 m) · 10:00 pm (3.6 m) | 3:32 am (0.3 m) · 3:53 pm (0.3 m) |
| Sat 10 Oct | 10:24 am (3.6 m) · 10:38 pm (3.7 m) | 4:14 am (0.1 m) · 4:33 pm (0.1 m) |
| Sun 11 Oct | 11:01 am (3.6 m) · 11:14 pm (3.6 m) | 4:53 am (0.1 m) · 5:10 pm (0.1 m) |
| Mon 12 Oct | 11:35 am (3.6 m) · 11:48 pm (3.5 m) | 5:30 am (0.1 m) · 5:46 pm (0.3 m) |
| Tue 13 Oct | 12:08 pm (3.5 m) | 6:05 am (0.3 m) · 6:21 pm (0.4 m) |
| Wed 14 Oct | 12:22 am (3.3 m) · 12:42 pm (3.3 m) | 6:39 am (0.4 m) · 6:56 pm (0.6 m) |
Times and heights follow LINZ's method for secondary ports (the standard port's prediction plus the published mean differences and range ratio); checked against LINZ's own daily prediction for Raglan over a week on 7 October 2026, the method came within 13 minutes and 0.2 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.
Ōpunake is fishing in the cool band: give each spot time and work the tide change. Today brings cloud cover, wind NNE around 3 km/h, steady pressure near 1022 hPa and a high of 16 °C. Tides: high 8:58 am and 9:19 pm, low 2:45 am and 3:08 pm: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 14 °C for the season (estimated). With the waning crescent, the solunar majors run 10:17 AM-12:17 PM and 10:33 PM-12:33 AM: the windows to build the day around.
In spring the schools bunch up before moving onto their spawning grounds; in autumn and winter they spread into deeper, more open water. Either way, fish the 15 to 60 metre marks with baits on the bottom and time the session around the tide change.
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.
Fish slower as the water cools: an anchored ledger rig in harbour channels or on the sand off the beaches, with fresh bait.
Anchor or hold over the deeper reef edges with small baits close to the bottom, and move when a mark goes quiet.
The spawning season runs through late winter and spring: fish reef and gravel patches with cut bait on a large hook.
Bottom feeding is the likeliest bite: harbour channels and reef edges, small baits in a steady berley trail, through the tide change.
Fewer people chase kingfish in the cooler months. Deep pinnacles and offshore reef are where to look, with jigs or live bait worked through the tide change.
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: 10:17 AM-12:17 PM, 10:33 PM-12:33 AM, 4:59 AM-5:59 AM. Similar at 17 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (06:48), sunset (19:35), the moon and today's score, with the tide times above. Tap a bar to see why.
Solunar majors 10:17 AM-12:17 PM and 10:33 PM-12:33 AM; minor 4:59 AM-5:59 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.
Today's tides from LINZ and the forecast for the day, which is a model.
Calculated from LINZ's prediction for Port Taranaki, its standard port, with the differences LINZ publishes for Ōpunake Bay (1.6 km from Ōpunake). Heights above chart datum. Fish the moving water either side of each change.
Latest readings
The best day on Ōpunake this week looks like Monday 12 Oct, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.
Best day this week: Monday, 12 Oct — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
The species that matter on Ōpunake: seasons written for the southern year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Tāmure or kouarea in te reo Māori. MPI describes snapper as the dominant fish of northern inshore waters, most common where the sea is warmer and especially in the Hauraki Gulf, at home on reef as well as sand and mud, usually between 15 and 60 metres. The Fisheries Assessment Plenary calls it the largest recreational fishery in New Zealand. In spring the schools bunch up before moving onto their spawning grounds; in autumn and winter they spread into deeper, more open water. Either way, fish the 15 to 60 metre marks with baits on the bottom and time the session around the tide change.
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.
Kumukumu in te reo Māori. Red gurnard live across harbours and shallow coastal waters, which the Plenary says makes them an important recreational species, often caught by people fishing for snapper and tarakihi. They spawn through spring and summer, and small juveniles shelter in shallow harbours. Fish slower as the water cools: an anchored ledger rig in harbour channels or on the sand off the beaches, with fresh bait.
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.
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.
Araara in te reo Māori. Trevally feed both at the surface and on the bottom: schools appear on top, in midwater and over the seabed, often around reef and rough ground and sometimes mixed with kōheru and kahawai. Young fish live in estuaries and harbours. The Plenary notes that surface schools come with settled weather rather than at a set time of year, and that trevally can live beyond 40 years. Bottom feeding is the likeliest bite: harbour channels and reef edges, small baits in a steady berley trail, through the tide change.
Haku or kahu in te reo Māori. MPI says kingfish are most common in the northern half of the North Island but range from the Kermadec Islands to Foveaux Strait, around reefs, pinnacles and rocky outcrops with strong current or tidal flow. Adults grow past 1.5 metres, and MPI puts the average recreational fish at about 10 kg. The Plenary notes that a high share of the recreational catch is released. Fewer people chase kingfish in the cooler months. Deep pinnacles and offshore reef are where to look, with jigs or live bait worked through the tide change.
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 Ōpunake is in the Central 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.
Near an area or zone boundary. Western Taranaki temporary closure (2024 notice: no shellfish except rock lobster) may cover this coast; extent is on a map PDF not read. Taranaki pāua minimum 85 mm.
| Fish | Where it applies | Daily limit | Minimum length |
|---|---|---|---|
| All finfish combined | Central area, excluding baitfish (50 combined) and freshwater eels (6) | 20 | — |
| Snapper | Central area | 10 | 27 cm |
| Kahawai | Central area | In the combined limit | None set |
| Kingfish | Central area | 3 | 75 cm |
| Trevally | Central area | In the combined limit | 25 cm |
| Gurnard | Central area | In the combined limit | 25 cm |
| Tarakihi | Central area | In the combined limit | 25 cm |
| Blue cod | Taranaki to Titahi Bay (FMA 8); landed whole or gutted | 2 | 33 cm |
| Blue cod | Titahi Bay to Cape Runaway (FMA 2); landed whole or gutted | 20 | 33 cm |
| Red cod | Central area | In the combined limit | 25 cm |
| Flounder | Central area | In the combined limit | None set |
| John Dory | Central area; not listed; "all other finfish" | In the combined limit | None set |
| Shellfish | Where it applies | Daily limit | Minimum size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scallops | Central area; season 15 Jul to 14 Feb | 20 | 100 mm |
| Cockles | Central area | 150 | None set |
| Pāua (blackfoot) | Central area | 5 | 125 mm |
| Pāua (yellowfoot) | Central area | 5 | 80 mm |
| Rock lobster (crayfish) | Cape Runaway to Wairoa River | 3 spiny, 3 packhorse | Tail width spiny 54 mm male, 60 mm female; packhorse 84 mm male, 90 mm female |
| Rock lobster (crayfish) | South of Wairoa River | 6 (no more than 3 packhorse) | Tail width spiny 54 mm male, 60 mm female; packhorse 84 mm male, 90 mm female |
Rules change often, sometimes at short notice: check MPI's Central 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.
Activity by species and month for the southern year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 14 °C (estimated, not a reading).
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.
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Snapper led the card at good. High of 16 °C, wind to 21 km/h.
4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Snapper led the card at excellent. High of 14 °C, wind to 23 km/h.
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Snapper led the card at good. High of 13 °C, wind to 11 km/h.
No licence is needed to fish the sea around New Zealand (MPI). Rivers and lakes need a licence: New Zealand fishing licence.
Daily limits, minimum sizes and closures are set by MPI for each area and change often: the rules for Ōpunake are above, with the date they were read and the link to check them before you keep anything.
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Ōpunake is a bay or coastal water in Taranaki, New Zealand, covered from the Taranaki reports and listed in all New Zealand waters.
Taranaki Regional Council’s report on South Taranaki District Council’s coastal structures describes Ōpunake Beach as a 500 m pocket of sand between two headlands that shelter it from everything but direct south-westerly storms. The district council’s boat ramp is at the northern end of Ōpunake Bay beside a rock breakwater of about 150 m, the remains of an early-1900s jetty that moved cargo from rail to ship. The ramp was rebuilt in concrete, 4 m wide and 35 m long down to mean low water springs, and part of the breakwater was built up to stop mid-tide waves breaking into the ramp area.
Under a temporary closure in force from 16 December 2024 to the close of 15 December 2026, MPI bans taking shellfish other than rock lobster, seaweed other than beach-cast, sea anemones, stingrays and two conger eel species along the coast from the Tapuae Stream mouth to the Taungatara Stream mouth, out to one nautical mile. MPI’s map of the closure shades the shore at Ōpunake.
Not while the Western Taranaki closure lasts, until the close of 15 December 2026 unless MPI changes it. Rock lobster is excluded from the ban.
At the northern end of Ōpunake Bay, beside the breakwater.
LINZ’s Ōpunake Bay secondary port, about 1.6 km from the town point, calculated from Port Taranaki.
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.
Pablo Ruiz QuinteroThe 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.