Ranfurly Banks

Ranfurly Banks is an underwater mountain range situated approx. 25 miles northeast of East Cape, New Zealand.  This part of NZ is very isolated. Departure port is Whakatāne and trips are completely liveaboard.  Each night is spent in a calm anchorage such as Hicks Bay or Lottin Point on the East Coast.

As the Ranfurly is very inaccessible to the recreational and everyday commercial fishers, this makes the fishery very robust and abundant.  It is not unusual for some groups on a Ranfurly Banks charter to go home with stretched arms and feel exhausted.  That is the huge attractant in fishing the banks, they rarely disappoint!
The terrain is a mixture of sea mounts, reef systems and drop-offs in about a 30 nautical mile radius.  The tops of the Banks come up within 20 - 40 metres of the surface and drop off to around 200 – 400 metres.  This makes the upwellings of currents and bait an attractant for the likes of the Yellowtail Kingfish.

Fishing around the Banks you would expect to catch Bass, Hapuka, Bluenose, Kingfish and Trumpeter.

The highlight of the Ranfurly Banks would have to be the excellent topwater fishing for Yellowtail Kingfish using stickbaits and poppers.  The Banks can really perform with surface action of Kingfish crashing the bait, and rail-pinning anglers hooked up to a very aggressive topwater Kingfish.  Mechanical jigging is another very effective way to target fish on the Banks with some extraordinary catches every year of Kingfish and regular catches of 25 – 35kg.  We also find live-baiting with Yellowtail Mackerel a huge attractant and can be used for all fishing on the Banks - Hapuka, Bass and Kingis.  We encourage groups to spend time filling the live-bait tank on each trip, as you never know what the taste of the day is ...

On rough days there are options to fish around East Island on the coast for Snapper or depending on wind direction, down the East Coast towards Tolaga Bay.

Although there are calm days, weather on the Banks is always a bit more than you would expect on the coast, so it is normal to fish in 20 knots of wind and current, and 2 metres of swell.  The boats however are built to deal with heavier seas.  All boats are over 30 tonne, are surveyed by Maritime NZ to fish in offshore up to 100miles, and carry extensive safety equipment.  They are very stable platforms to fish from and have very good sea handling abilities.  All skippers are Offshore Masters and very experienced to fish offshore places such as the Ranfurly Banks.

The world record for Wreckfish, or Bass as we call them in NZ, has been broken several times here at Ranfurly with the world record being held by Enchanter at 86.2kgs, caught by Terrance Price in 2010.  There is a place at Ranfurly called Jurassic Park and lives up to its name for massive Puka and Bass.  Ranfurly Banks is a place to tick off on your bucket list of fishing places to go.

Many groups come back each year for their annual Ranfurly expedition - both professional and recreational.
If you are looking for a fishing safari, then the Ranfurly is a great place to stretch your arms and fish to the limit!