Also known as Jackass Morwong, Deep-sea Bream, Terakihi. Bait, technique, tide windows, and where the bite is on right now.
Tarakihi — Small-mouthed reef gold that lives down deep — fish fine, fish patient. Also called Jackass Morwong, Deep-sea Bream, Terakihi.
Tarakihi is also known as: Jackass Morwong, Deep-sea Bream, Terakihi. Small-mouthed reef gold that lives down deep — fish fine, fish patient.
Regional names can confuse anglers and cause misidentification. The table of common names below covers the most-used alternatives across Australia, New Zealand and the US:
Key to correct identification: check the regulations-authority species sheet for your state or territory before keeping any fish — minimum legal sizes, bag limits and identification guides are published by each fisheries department and are the authoritative source.
Hero spots in our coverage where Tarakihi is in season for June. Click through for the live forecast.
Out of season across our covered spots in June.
Tarakihi are a deep-reef fish with a tiny, downturned mouth, so the two rules are: get right on the foul, and scale your hooks and baits way down. They school over broken reef, pinnacles and rubble in roughly 30-100 m around the outer Gulf, the Mokohinau and Hen and Chicken grounds, off east Northland and across the Bay of Plenty, often stacked in numbers once you find them. The classic rig is a flasher or twin-dropper with small hooks (the size most people would think is for bait fish) loaded with small, fresh, tenderised strips of bonito or squid, fished hard on the bottom; the bite is a series of light, fast taps rather than a thump, so resist striking and instead lift slowly and steadily to let them hook themselves. Berley and a bit of current help enormously — a trail washing down-current over the reef brings the school up and switches them on. Mark the fish on the sounder, drop straight down, and once you're into them stay on the spot, because tarakihi hold tight to good ground and a hot patch can produce a feed fast if you fish fine and patient.
Tarakihi feed best with a moderate current running over the reef — enough flow to carry berley and scent down-current and bring the school up off the bottom, but not so much that you can't hold your rig on the foul in deep water. The building and easing water either side of the tide change is usually the sweet spot; the slack itself often goes quiet, and a screaming spring-tide rip in 60-plus metres makes it hard to stay in contact. If you're fishing deep, time your drops for the more moderate flow and use just enough lead to keep the bait pinned near the reef.
Tarakihi aren't a strongly moon-driven species — as a schooling deep-reef bottom feeder, their bite is governed much more by current, berley and being parked on the right ground than by the lunar phase. The tides around the new and full moon move more water, which can help push berley over the reef and fire the school up, so there's a mild edge there, but it's secondary. Find the school on the sounder, get a berley trail going on a moderate current, and the moon becomes an afterthought.
Tarakihi are managed under New Zealand's recreational rules with a daily bag limit and a minimum legal size in most areas, and like all NZ rules these are area-based and revised periodically (tarakihi have been a focus of stock-rebuild measures, so settings can change). Always check the current Fisheries New Zealand regulations (or the NZ Fishing Rules app) for your exact area before keeping fish. The same species is known as 'jackass morwong' in Australia, where southern states set their own recreational limits — confirm the local rules if fishing across the Tasman.
NZ size & bag limits for Tarakihi — Auckland & Kermadec area, verified →
Olli-Mikael Vaittinen has fished his whole life. Fifteen years of fly fishing, guiding seasons on Norway's Lakselva — his favourite Atlantic salmon river — and a blue marlin landed in Vava'u, Tonga. Founder of Fishare — the app that puts the data behind the decisions every angler makes on the water.
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