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The author with a moki from Foveaux Strait. |
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Note the extended mouth parts of this moki taken on a flasher rig. |
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Blue Moki taken off Stuart Island. |
The profile of blue moki is much the same as trumpeter. They can easily be distinguished from trumpeter by the absence of longitudinal stripes. The blue moki is the most common though there are several related though much rarer species of moki such as the copper and red moki. To make matters even more confusing they change colour throughout their lives with the backs of younger fish being more of a green or even coppery brown. These fishes are all brightly coloured when first taken from the water. After capture their colours become more pale and subdued.
Moki are a reef species generally associated with broken ground and kelp. They are often caught over adjacent sandy or muddy areas where they suck up food with their extendable mouth parts. According to the late David H. Graham, in his excellent book A Treasury of New Zealand Fishes, he tells of examining the stomach contents of hundreds of moki. He found in their stomachs 12 species of shellfish, five species of crabs, and four other types of crustaceans including whalefeed, together with three species of worms. He reports never having once found a fish in any of their stomachs.
The mouth of a moki is relatively small for the size of the fish. It is certainly much smaller than that of a trumpeter or snapper of equivalent sized fish.
Moki are rarely caught on cut fish bait alone. The best baits are mussels, tuatuas, crabs and crayfish parts particularly tails and legs. Try to keep your baits quite small so they will take them whole. I have taken moki surfcasting at Birdlings Flat near Christchurch while fishing near the rocks. They seem to only bite when the sea is clear and calm.
I caught several big moki one evening many years ago when the sea at Birdlings Flat was eerily flat calm. I have never experienced the sea so calm at Birdlings Flat either before or since. It was a very strange winter evening! There was no detectable wind and a total absence of waves breaking on the beach or rocks. A fine mist drifted slowly in and out. Strange as it may seem the sea was like a mill pond. The place was chillingly still and quiet! Obviously these were ideal conditions for moki to feed. Also I caught them on jack mackerel cut baits! It certainly pays to keep a fishing dairy.
Indeed David H. Graham reported that moki would leave Otago Harbour on the approach of cold weather or dirty water. They take best at the change of light and after dark. If you arrive at the beach and find conditions to be very still it might just mean it could be good for moki fishing.
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Blue moki. |
I have also caught moki on flasher rigs while fishing off Stuart Island and also in the fiords of Fiordland. Smallish baited flasher rigs work best. I remember one particular trip with Bill and Lyn Ayto aboard the Takaroa II fishing in the eastern approaches to Foveaux Strait and the eastern side of Stuart Island . This is a vast area of foul ground, rocky headlands and sunken reef systems interspersed with areas of sand and mud. We caught quite a few moki, trumpeter and blue cod. These southern New Zealand species usually inhabit the same type of rough ground.
Moki are powerful fighters when hooked on rod and line. If surfcasting it pays to tie your shellfish baits on with bait elastic to prevent them flying off during casting or being taken by pickers like mullet. The ideal hook size is from 3/0 to 5/0. I prefer to use a chemically sharpened suicide pattern.
You might also be interested in sea fishing off the Kaikoura Coast which is a good place to catch blue moki. See boat fishing at Motunau Beach in North Canterbury. Fishing for Yellowtail kingfish and trolling for albacore tuna.
You might also be interested in: Surfcasting at Kaikoura's Goose Bay, and Surfcasting for Elephant Fish. What about these snapper caught with a longline off the beach at Hokitika. Catching elephant fish at the beach. Taking kids fishing for little fish. Other New Zealand sea fish species. |
