Andy Mcgaughey Sportsfishing
Andy Mcgaughey Sportsfishing
Latest news!
Notification that we have been awarded the 'Bay of Islands Swordfish Club George Campbell Conservation Trophy' for Charter boat most tagged marlin.
Running angling trips out of Paihia, Andy McGaughey Sportsfishing invites you to check out the local fishery in style.
Skipper Andrew aims to tailor every trip to your specific needs, so let him know what you're after! Depending on the trip and species, you'll be using techniques like bottom fishing, trolling, jigging, and popping. You're looking at 4 to 10-hour trips, where you'll usually go after the likes of Yellowtail Amberjack, Snapper, Marlin, Mahi Mahi, Swordfish, and Tuna, depending on the weather and time of year.
Your fishing adventure starts on a 42' Salthouse boat that can safely take up to 12 anglers. This boat features a toilet, ice box, and fighting chair. The price of your trip includes all the rods, reels, and terminal tackle you'll need for a productive day on the water. Don't forget to buy a fishing license before the trip! You're welcome to keep all legal species caught during the trip.
Skipper Andrew runs trips together with his first mate, who's there to help you with whatever you may need. Tips are always appreciated for a job well done. The price of your trip also includes complimentary snacks and drinks, but you're welcome to bring your own. Please let the crew know if you have any questions or special requests.
Children are welcome aboard so you're good to get the young ones started early.
Book your trip now and hit the water with Andy McGaughey Sportsfishing.
Latest news!
Notification that we have been awarded the 'Bay of Islands Swordfish Club George Campbell Conservation Trophy' for Charter boat most tagged marlin.
Running angling trips out of Paihia, Andy McGaughey Sportsfishing invites you to check out the local fishery in style.
Skipper Andrew aims to tailor every trip to your specific needs, so let him know what you're after! Depending on the trip and species, you'll be using techniques like bottom fishing, trolling, jigging, and popping. You're looking at 4 to 10-hour trips, where you'll usually go after the likes of Yellowtail Amberjack, Snapper, Marlin, Mahi Mahi, Swordfish, and Tuna, depending on the weather and time of year.
Your fishing adventure starts on a 42' Salthouse boat that can safely take up to 12 anglers. This boat features a toilet, ice box, and fighting chair. The price of your trip includes all the rods, reels, and terminal tackle you'll need for a productive day on the water. Don't forget to buy a fishing license before the trip! You're welcome to keep all legal species caught during the trip.
Skipper Andrew runs trips together with his first mate, who's there to help you with whatever you may need. Tips are always appreciated for a job well done. The price of your trip also includes complimentary snacks and drinks, but you're welcome to bring your own. Please let the crew know if you have any questions or special requests.
Children are welcome aboard so you're good to get the young ones started early.
Book your trip now and hit the water with Andy McGaughey Sportsfishing.
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Trip availability and prices
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Customer reviews
Rating
Anglers' gallery (36)
What anglers say
Reviews (37)
Pernell TurnerRepeat angler•
New Zealand•Member since 20233 trips5.0VerifiedOutstanding 6-Hour Charter with Wahoo Sports Fishing
6 Hour Trip – Kingfish on December 14, 2025 • 4 adultsWe did the 6-hour fishing charter with Wahoo Sports Fishing, and it was hands-down the best charter I’ve ever been on. Andy is a proper sea dog — looks the part, knows the water inside out, and honestly feels like he’s half fish himself. You can tell straight away you’re in safe, experienced hands. His local knowledge and calm confidence set the tone for the whole day. Chris, the deckhand, was right onto it. The two of them work with a really slick system — everything ran smoothly, rods were always ready, lines were managed well, and there was zero chaos even when things fired up. You could see how well they’ve worked together. What really blew us away was catching absolute monster snapper while jigging for kingfish — something I’d never done before. Learning new techniques and landing fish like that made the day next-level. Epic fishing, great crew, well-run operation. Couldn’t recommend Wahoo Sports Fishing highly enough — we’ll 100% be back.
Daren LynchRepeat angler•New Zealand•Member since 20242 trips5.0VerifiedGreat day
6 Hour Trip – Kingfish on April 16, 2026 • 5 adultsGreat day with the crew. We won’t leave it so long next time. Thanks again Andy and Chris
Metro Ah Sam•New ZealandMember since 20255.0VerifiedAwesome day out
6 Hour Trip – Kingfish on December 21, 2025 • 5 adultsHighly recommend, great attitude and very helpful enjoyable to be around,started day of with catching live bait before heading out to catch kingfish man we slayed it awesome time and loved the company thank you we be back again
Diane Carroll•
Colorado, USMember since 20255.0VerifiedAmazing Day!
4 Hour Trip – Snapper on January 2, 2026 • 4 adultsWhat an amazing day with Andy! Beautiful boat, we caught a ton of fish and had the best time doing it!
Call Cade•Texas, USMember since 20255.0VerifiedFamily had an excellent time and caught some big red snapper!!
9 Hour Trip – Big Game (MAX 6) on December 28, 2025 • 2 adults
John Mcqueen•New ZealandMember since 20245.0VerifiedOld Saltys
6 Hour Trip – Kingfish on January 29, 2024 • 5 adultsThe Captain Andy would be one of the most experienced Fishermen in the area. We took out a group of 5 mates and had an amazing fishing day. Weather wasn’t the greatest but Andy modified things to ensure we caught fish, 2 x King fish and a few other species. To be Frank I wouldn’t pick any other Charter than the Wahoo boat …They know what they are doing and you will bring back filleted fish ready for the pan
Cailin Suter•New ZealandMember since 20255.0VerifiedGreat fishing charter
6 Hour Trip – Kingfish on March 9, 2025 • 4 adultsGreat boat, perfect size for small and large groups, knows the spots & has all the equipment ready to go ahead of time, highly recommend, will definitely be back again next time we are fishing in Bay of Islands area
Kym Reid•
AustraliaMember since 20255.0VerifiedVery good for your “Brain”
6 Hour Trip – Kingfish on February 12, 2025 • 9 adultsThanks Andy, The nine of us had a great trip. The fish fought hard but we got them! I most enjoyed the conversation with yourself about my illness and to keep positive….so I will mate. Hopefully see you again one day
Chris Franklin•New ZealandMember since 20245.0VerifiedAwesome mornings fishing
4 Hour Trip – Snapper on September 30, 2024 • 5 adultsDespite the time of year Andy was able to find us some great snapper fishing 15mins from Russell. He was very helpful for the first time anglers and happy to share his considerable knowledge and experience of the Bay and fishing. We loved it! I would definitely recommend Andy and will use him again for future trips.
Lee Mckoy•AustraliaMember since 20245.0VerifiedAmazing trip!
6 Hour Trip – Kingfish on December 28, 2024 • 3 adultsWe had the absolute best time today. We were able to catch a variety of fish which was absolutely awesome. We also caught ALOT to take home. Making this even better - it gets filleted on board ! This was amazing. We learned a few tips and tricks. Andy & Sam are lovely. Thank you so much for an amazing day
Rating
Anglers' gallery (36)
What anglers say
All reviews (37)
We did the 6-hour fishing charter with Wahoo Sports Fishing, and it was hands-down the best charter I've ever been on. Andy is a proper sea dog — looks the part, knows the water inside out, and honestly feels like he's half fish himself. You can tell straight away you're in safe, experienced hands. His local knowledge and calm confidence set the tone for the whole day. Chris, the deckhand, was right onto it. The two of them work with a really slick system — everything ran smoothly, rods were always ready, lines were managed well, and there was zero chaos even when things fired up. You could see how well they've worked together. What really blew us away was catching absolute monster snapper while jigging for kingfish — something I'd never done before. Learning new techniques and landing fish like that made the day next-level. Epic fishing, great crew, well-run operation. Couldn't recommend Wahoo Sports Fishing highly enough — we'll 100% be back.
we had a great fishing trip today with Andy and his deck hand Mark. I recommend this operator to any group they run a very clean professional operation and know where the fish are. Very comfortable boat and they took care of all our baiting and unhooking needs. 10 out of 10.
cheers. look forward to getting you back out on the water.
Andrew and Crew excellent company and skill.Looked after our young grandson who caught 2 really big kingfish on his first fishing trip.I caught my biggest fish ever. Thankyou Andrew.I hope you can fit us in next time Lindsay Reid Qld Australia.
great boat and size for a full day out. Andy & Chris were super friendly and experts about the local waters and fishing. No luck with the Marlin but we had to give it a go and we caught some great fish in the end. amentities in board were as advertised and the boat was very well maintained. it was a great experience and well worth it. thank you guys.
Thank you Andy and Mark for making our family charter a wonderful experience. Two of our group had never fished before and both caught plenty-including three trophy size snapper. However, the highlight was catching kingfish on our "snapper" charter. Overall - a 10 out of 10 experience.
FAQs about Andy Mcgaughey Sportsfishing
- NZ $1,100 per group, additional NZ $200 per person after 4 guests - 4 Hour Trip – Snapper (4 hours)
- NZ $1,400 per group, additional NZ $350 per person after 4 guests - 6 Hour Trip – Kingfish (6 hours)
- NZ $2,500 per group, additional NZ $350 per person after 4 guests - 9 Hour Trip – Big Game (MAX 6) (9 hours)
- NZ $2,500 per group, additional NZ $350 per person after 4 guests - 9 Hour Trip – Swordfish (9 hours)
- Toilet
- Fighting chair
- GPS
- Fishfinder
- Bed
- Flybridge
- Live bait well
- Kitchen
- Refrigerator
- Outriggers
- Tuna tubes
- Ice box
- Radar
- Rods, reels & tackle
- Live bait
- Lures
- Catch cleaning & filleting
- Drinks (Tea and Coffee)
- First mate
- Fishing license (No license required)
- Nearshore fishing (Big Yellowtail Kingfish and Snapper.)
- Offshore fishing (NZ have the largest Striped Marlin in the world.)
- Light tackle
- Heavy tackle
- Bottom fishing
- Trolling
- Jigging
- Popping
- Deep sea fishing
- Dolphin (Mahi Mahi)
- Marlin (Black)
- Marlin (Blue)
- Marlin (Striped)
- Snapper (Pink)
- Spearfish (Shortbill)
- Swordfish
- Tuna (Albacore)
- Tuna (Bluefin)
- Tuna (Skipjack)
- Tuna (Yellowfin)
- Yellowtail Amberjack
Your captain
Paihia, New Zealand
The Angler's Choice Award is given to listings that consistently deliver a high-quality service and earn great reviews from customers.
I have lived and fished most of my life in the Bay of Islands. At present living in Russell. My big game fishing career started in 1993 when I owned and operated the 40' Pelin MV Intrepid for several years. Whilst owner I upgraded intrepid to Three Kings survey and had 5 years of amazing fishing at the Kings. While owning the Intrepid apart from several records one of my customers caught the very first Wahoo in NZ waters close in by the Nine pin in the Bay. Hence why my next 4 game boats have been called Wahoo. I have had many years of successful fishing out of the Bay and my customers have won many major fishing contests including the very prestigious yellowtail light tackle. As well as fishing the Bay of Islands I have fished several other parts of the world like Vanuatu and Australia.
Real catches by this captain
What is the boat like?
What kind of fishing will you do?
Which fishing techniques you can try
Which amenities are available onboard
How cancellations work
You can cancel or modify your booking up to 30 days before the trip date, free of charge. If you cancel or modify your booking later, or fail to show up, you'll forfeit 100% of what you've paid.
What the listing policies are
Pickup agreed upon reservation
Transfer to/from departure site may be available and included in price depending on your location and distance from the dock.
How you can pay
When the captain confirms your trip, FishingBooker charges your credit card a 10% deposit to guarantee your reservation.
The remaining balance is to be paid directly to the charter operator on or prior to your trip date in one of the following payment methods:
Cash
Bank transfer
What’s biting in Paihia right now
Marlin (Black)
Marlin (Blue)
Marlin (Striped)
Snapper (Pink)
Swordfish
Tuna (Yellowfin)
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