Giant Groperpg 3

Yak attacks MonsterSnapper pg 24

INFORMING • ENTERTAINING • ENCOURAGING TO FISHFREE

Monster Kingies

&huntingNEWS

NEW ZEALAND

THE

PAPERFISHINGMay 2012 Issue 80

Don't be a DeaD man.4 page safety liftout!

www.thefishingpaper.co.nzThe fishing PaPer2

Buying Local By Ali Kennard

I want to start by sharing a recent

experience. It’s not to do with electronics or fishing, but stick with me because there is a point to it.

I recently needed a new pair of running of shoes and decided to go and see the professionals to get fitted properly; I had seen one company prominently support local running events so went to them. They spent a long time with me asking me questions, checking my running style, then trying a few pairs of shoes to see which ones they felt were the best fit for me. I didn’t buy on the day because I needed permission from the boss. While waiting for her to process my request, I found a website where I could get the same shoes, more than 25% cheaper, with free delivery. I deliberated for a while, but once I had permission, decided to practice what I preach. I went back to the shop and supported local.

After a few weeks in the shoes, I could tell they weren’t right so I took them back to the shop and explained what was happening. Without another question, they took the shoes from me, fitted me with another pair at the same price and I walked out of the shop with a replacement pair of shoes at no extra cost.

The point is, it encapsulates everything I feel is good about buying locally, whether it’s running shoes or marine electronics. Below are some points worth remembering.

Supporting local events – I chose this shop because they support local running events in Nelson, ensuring I am able to take part in a pastime I enjoy. ENL is no different, we support fishing competitions and marine clubs as much as we can, to ensure you are able to take part in your hobby.

Time – Spending time with customers discovering their needs, to ensure they are buying the right equipment, is invaluable and something

most good dealers will do. However there is a cost to the seller for this, not only in time but also in the showroom and equipment.

After sales service – Although ENL doesn’t offer the same 30-day money back guarantee like the shoe shop I visited, we do pride ourselves on after sales service and support. If your unit fails, or you’re just unsure on how to use it, we will make time for you to ensure you are back out on the water as soon as possible.

The parallel importer does none of this. They simply leech off the hard work the local suppliers put in. The service and support local agents put into you and your hobby is way too beneficial to lose, but for these facilities to remain we have to support them. If everyone goes in and takes advice without buying, it won’t be long until your local agent is no longer there.

By Kevin Bannan

Dawnbreaker Fishing Club Story

The term dawnbreaker, is normally associated with early morning bedroom antics, but there was no time for that on this January morning. We were on the water at 4.00am heading out into Tasman Bay aiming for the 60-foot mark.

Lenny Smith and I have been members of the Dawnbreakers Fishing Club since its inception in 1995, and the latest e-mail from Club Captain Troy Dando about where the fish were, and what species were lurking in the depths of Tasman Bay, really whetted out appetites.

We baited the setline and fed it out and only had four hooks in the water when the line took off. This wasn’t ideal, as the crimps on the backbone flew through my hand taking skin with them. Fortunately we had an over run and the line jammed. Then bang, the rod holder snapped off at the mounting. I grabbed the reel and managed to get the fish back under control. I suspected it was a shark, but as it came up I realised it was a nice

snapper, weighing 17lb. I was so pleased I took the time the night before to replace all my traces because you never know when the big one will turn up. We continued feeding the setline out, then moved away, anchored up and got the berley trail going.

We set up three rods each. The one I baited with tiger prawns hooked me three nice snapper, between six and eight pounds.

Lenny got himself a nice 10-pounder with a piece of kahawai as bait, but after an hour it went quiet, so we decided to retrieve the setline.

Hauling it in I could feel something with a bit of weight on it, and every now and then it would take off. Eventually we got it under control and a huge snapper appeared before our eyes, tipping the scales at 20-pounds.

What an awesome morning. We had 10 snapper between five and 20 pounds, right on our doorstep.

the Dawnbreaker Lenny Smith with a couple of Tasman Bay beauts

A snap from the 'good old bad old days'!

By Daryl Crimp

Dan Alexander, deck boss on Clearwater Golden Bay's harvester K7, with a brace of big trevally caught around the Collingwood farms in early March. These amazing fighting fish have been making a bit of a comeback over the past couple of years and they can even be sighted schooling off the back of harvesters.

Trevs are often underrated as table fish. The flesh cooks up beautifully white and is delicious. The trick is to bleed and ice them immediately on capture and cook them fresh.

trevally Dine Out in Collingwood

The fishing PaPer 3www.thefishingpaper.co.nz

Facebook Fishers ignite Kaikoura By Wayne Buxton

The weather over Easter painted Kaikoura as a postcard backdrop and with a calm sea stretching to the horizon, I met up for a social fish with Greg Gilbert, Zac Perriton and Andrew Claridge, fellow Facebook fishers from Canterbury.

While waiting for the other two to arrive, Greg wasted no time putting a nice rig and moki on the beach, while I had a bit of casting practice. Andrew and Zac made a late entrance, but still managed to add gurnard and moki to the tally, while I contemplated my hook size. I generally target sharks for the sport and clearly needed to downsize if I was to get into the

more diminutive of the table species.

I rummaged around and found a worm hook to which I tied a couple of mussels and that did the trick. The rod bent and line peeled a bit, and then some more. After a brief tussle the 60cm moki yielded and was beached: a plump little beauty and my first of this species.

Regrettably, I had to leave early due to work commitments, so I missed out on the Saturday night pub trip – and the two South Bay snapper caught by Zac and Andrew!

Roeske Rustles Giant GroperBy Renee Roeske

Joe Roeske and the crew were up at sparrowfart. He kicked Majuro in the guts and steamed for the Outer Sounds. The boys were all excited about catching a groper in Joe’s secret spot.

During the 13 mile trip from where they were camped on d’Urville Island, the boys geared up their rods, putting bait on and getting excited.

Finally they were there and as they glided over some marks on the sounder, they got a few bites but no groper. Eventually Joe hit a good spot and the eager crew dropped their lines into 150 metres and BAM - groper hooked up on all the rods! The boys reeled in their groper but at a slow pace; the fish were all good eaters.

It was now Joe’s turn and with his sinker on the bottom, he waited a few minutes – BAM - another groper, but this time it felt like a biggie.

After half an hour of hard work, they all knew it was no small groper; it was something huge. The crew were all looking over the side of the Majuro to see if they could spot something - colour. There it came, floating to the surface of the sea, blown up like a balloon.

Someone gasped, “That looks the size of a whale.”

As Joe hauled it closer to the boat, we could see it was a groper - not one groper but two! We all laughed and couldn’t believe what we saw, a groper the size of a whale.

After catching plenty of groper for the day, we decided to pack up and head home to Nelson Wharf. As we put the big groper in the chilly bin, its head was sticking out of it because it was simply too big.

Finally we got home and took it up to Nigel Bryant’s house. We all guessed the groper would be around about 80-90 pounds, but we were wrong. The massive fish weighed 117 pounds (52.5 kilos) with the guts in. We sat there laughed and were so proud! The groper had to be lifted into the chiller by two people, as it was too heavy to lift.

After a long day of fishing we all went home exhausted.

It was Saturday, 0830 hours, and a dozen of us met at the Yaldhurst Pub carpark. Our mission was to head to Winding Creek to clear gorse and scrub in the salmon breeding grounds. The group comprised Fish & Game members plus members of NZ Salmon Anglers and expectations were high for a

good day.The weather down in

Christchurch was overcast and as we travelled inland we were met by drizzle. The theory was that as soon as we got over Porters Pass it would bust out fine, but the conditions at Porters Pass were dismal, with fog. However, by the time we

hit Cave Stream a little further up the hill, we were in a tropical high-country paradise.

We arrived at Flock Hill and waited for our Glentunnel mates to arrive, then in a four vehicle convoy we travelled six kilometres along a well formed track to the head waters of Winding Creek.

There’s no public access to this area, but it’s paradise, where salmon spawn and grow, it’s God’s Own! Twenty hectares of land have been gifted by Flock Hill Station to be fenced as a preserve for baby salmon to leave the redd, travel upstream to this location, then grow in a little paradise of stock free river. Fish & Game have made a 60-thousand dollar investment in this location, so don’t moan about your licence fees!

Some of these baby salmon stay here until they are a year old, then, as the new migrating salmon arrive to spawn, they travel down Winding Creek to Broken River then hit the Waimakariri, to surf down to the

estuary where their membranes adjust to salt water and they go to sea to grow.

And boy do they grow! In 20 months they expand from approximately 3½ inches, or 10 centimetres, to a giant of orange omega silver skinned pulsating flesh and challenge. These prime salmon are at least 50 centimetres or 24 to 30 inches long, sometimes bigger.

We were there to cut out gorse and establish a riparian growth environment to provide overhead shelter to the stream banks, allowing the small fish to grow in safety.

It was tough scrub cutting, but we did more than a quarter of a kilometre in three hours, a tremendous effort from a dedicated band of salmon warriors.

This is enhancement at its best. I encourage you to get involved in this side of salmon fishing and do your bit to improve this great sport of ours.

Winding Creek By Ron Stuart

The 20 Hectare Reserve donated by Flock Hill Station

which has been fenced to eliminate stock access

www.thefishingpaper.co.nz4 The fishing PaPer

The mission was to get some puka off the south coast of Wellington near Makara, but they were few and far between. We tried a few spots but the current was smoking, making it virtually unfishable.

We mooched around, but the fishing was slow until eventually, a spot was found with little current and we

managed to get a few snapper and cod. Then something hit the baby squid on my line and it was all on.

I thought I had a really good snapper, as I worked it to the surface from about 45 metres, but my first glimpse as it came closer revealed a visitor from warmer climes.

It was a porae, common in northern waters but very rare

around these parts. Porae, also known as morwong in Australia, have no teeth but instead use a huge crusher plate inside their mouths to grind up food.

It turned out to be a record breaker for the Wellington Surfcasting and Angling Club, weighing 6.1 kilos, beating the previous record by nearly two kilos.

the Big ForeignerBy Jim Mikoz

the Banana SalmonBy Darryn Palmer

He threw the caravan door open and stood triumphant in the half-light of dawn, salmon in hand, fourteen pounds of shimmering silver.

It was 7.15am and wife Joan was still in bed. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she gazed in awe at the magnificent fish, making all the right comments about how spectacular it was and how skilled he must have been to land it.

“Hurry up” Ross urged, “I need to get back on the river, the fishing’s firing.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Joan asked.“Stick it in the fridge, I’ll get a photo later when it’s a bit lighter

outside,” was his hurried reply. The whole salmon was wrapped in a black plastic bin liner and

all the shelves of the small fridge were cleared of food and drink. The fish was shoved in, but the door wouldn’t shut!

With a flash of handyman brilliance, Ross pulled the drinks shelf off the inside of the door and it was slammed shut, and stayed shut!

Back to the river rushed Ross, the intrepid salmon angler, to give his 40-year-old Mitchell spinnning reel, cane Kilwell rod and favourite Zeddy lure, another thrashing.

Wife Joan was left to clean up the kitchen of the caravan, find new homes for the previously chilled food and head back to bed.

The photo session was about three hours later, and despite their best efforts, the frigid bent salmon couldn’t be panel beaten back into shape!

The fishing PaPer 5www.thefishingpaper.co.nz

www.thefishingpaper.co.nz6 The fishing PaPer

Of all the recreational methods of fishing, set netting has caused Canterbury Fishery Officers the most problems this summer.

There are many rules related to netting, including areas where netting is totally banned.

In February, two Hector’s dolphins were found washed ashore, tangled in the remains of a set net, near Pines Beach north of the Waimakariri River. Set netting is banned along the east coast of the South Island out to a distance of four miles, to protect Hector’s dolphins. We suspect the net that caught the Hector’s was illegally set from shore, by wading out into the water at low tide. It is also likely that no surface floats were used to mark the net’s location. The idiot who set the net would have returned at low tide, thinking they knew exactly where it was, to retrieve it.

This net was made from heavy monofilament, with a large diameter mesh designed to catch elephant fish and rig. These types of nets are particularly lethal for Hector’s dolphins, because once caught they are unlikely to be able to break free.

If anyone has any information about who may have set this net, please contact 08004POACHER (all information received is strictly confidential).

Good catches of flounder are currently

being taken from Canterbury’s Lake Ellesmere. Set netting is permitted in Lake Ellesmere with some exceptions:-

For example you can’t set a net within a 1.2 kilometre radius of the rivers that flow into the lake. This gives sea run trout a chance to return to the rivers.

Last month, pretty much every netting rule that can be broken, was broken at Lake Ellesmere;

- Nets weren’t marked with the owner’s name;

- People used more than one net;- Set nets were too close together

(even joined together);- Set nets exceeded 60-metres in

length;- Nets were set in the river mouths;Fishery Officers also caught people

exceeding the maximum daily limit of 30 flounder. Several nets were seized and instant fines issued.

Akaroa Harbour has also had netting problems.

From 01 April to 30 September, you can net for flounder within the inner part of the harbour. When the netting season opened catches were very good for the first few weeks, but some people were not aware this area is within the Akaroa Taiapure. There is a bag limit of ten finfish in total per person, which includes flounder - some fishers have exceeded

this maximum limit and taking more than ten flounder.

If you want to avoid having your net seized, I would encourage you to contact your local fishery office to clarify the rules before going netting.

Canterbury Set netting Problems

By Peter Hyde District Compliance Manager ChristchurchPhone 0800 4 Poacher

the Un-categorical Kid’s KingfishBy Phil Cairns

I caught a kingfish. Dad was asleep when I caught it. It was big. First, something jumped out of the water and then I got a big bite. My rod was screaming like it never had before. A lot of line was going out!

I yelled at Dad to wake him up. It was after lunch, we had been on the boat most of the day. I was getting a few small nibbles, but we had not caught anything so far that day. Dad was tired and had had enough. We were only going to fish for little longer.

I saw something large jump out of the water making a BIG splash. Then I saw a couple of waves moving really fast toward my Ocean Dancer lure. A massive hit, I was losing grip on my rod. Dad HAD to assist. It was jumping a lot then, when it hit the surface, it went down and it took about quarter of an hour to land it.

It seemed to take long time to get it in to the boat because we didn’t have a net, so Dad used the gaff and missed it twice. I had a go and got it just below its gills. We brought it in and sized it, and it was bigger than a big snapper. It was 82cm and just over 4.8kg

When we went to the fishing competition, they didn’t have a category for a kingfish caught by a kid. Dad had won a BIG tacklebox for the biggest finfish and Mum reckons he has too much fishing gear, so he gave it to me.

Dad hasn’t caught a kingfish yet!

Kai Smorgasbord But no KouraBy Vic Wysockyj

Kaikoura turned on a superb day recently when I joined Paul Watts for a fish. We were fishing a late afternoon incoming tide just north of the Whaleway Station, using pieces of mullet, prawn and crab for bait.

My tally for the day was a skate, a couta and a 3lb trout taken from the Clarence River. About an hour before sunset Paul landed the biggest gurnard I have ever seen – so big it looked like a horse carrot. He was using a single hook ledger rig with a 7/0 mutsu hook and 5oz sinker. It was the mullet that did the trick, even though an autopsy revealed it to be full of crabs. He also caught a big conger eel.

I had two good fish on, only to lose them in the breakers. They could have been crayfish but most likely carrots.

The fishing PaPer 7www.thefishingpaper.co.nz

It was that time of the year again. The Stephens Shield was up for grabs. I was very keen to to claw back some pride lost last year. The Canterbury boys caned us Nelsonians!

Simon Little and Kerry Tull were quick to greet me as I drove into the French Pass

Campground and it wasn’t long before they were digging the dirt up from last year, not so subtly reminding me who won the shield. I rapidly realised it was going to be a long weekend, but I was hanging out to show these boys how it was done in my neck of the woods.

A 15-knot easterly wind and an uncomfortable swell greeted us the next morning. Nevertheless we set off in search of some over sized kingfish.

A rather small school of kingies appeared on the trusty Furuno sounder and all three

jigs went flying down to the top of the school. We could actually see the jigs on the screen, going down and hitting the top of the school, just amazing really!

I was first to hook up and thought the game was all on when the kingi hit sixth gear, taking me straight to the bottom. I applied all 23kg of drag on my Jigging Master PE4, but the spool just seemed to get faster and faster. Then it was all over as quickly as it had begun. I lost my fish, 150-metres of braid and my dignity. From then on, because I’d lost so much braid, fishing

was really difficult. The small, nearly empty spool made my retrieve too slow for successful jigging. Out the corner of my eye I could see the two Cantabs with cheesy grins, as they knew I was a goner for the day!

Simon hooked up next and landed a fantastic 28kg fish, which was his personal best, and the grins got cheesier!

It was back to camp for the night for crayfish, paua, smoked kingfish and a leg of pork for dinner, an absolute feast! I thought I better re-spool my reel in preparation for day two of battle, then slunk away early to bed, before they could remind me too much about the day and rib me about how I was behind on the points table.

Day two rolled around with

picture perfect conditions. My optimism grew as I nailed two kingies in quick succession, then it dried up for me. That’s when Simon and Kerry opened a can of whip ass, putting together a string of good fish.

Then Simon nailed a really

good fish. I’ve seen some big kingies in my time, but this fish was in the ‘reef donkey’ category weighing at least 40kg!

Anyway, once again it was Canterbury victorious! I now have 12 months to lick my wounds and plan my comeback!

Spear fishers need to take more care when targeting kingfish too!

In The Fishing Paper last month I expressed sadness at the number of kingfish I’d seen, particularly around mussel farms, sporting facial piercings made of all mannner of fishing tackle.

But it’s not only line fishers who need to be aware of how these magnificent fish are being harmed.

Spear fishers also need to take note. Speargun shooting lines and float lines tend to be made of relatively heavy nylon or rope, so if a speared kingi swims into the lines of a mussel farm it’s likely it’ll become entangled and the spear will be torn out. This harms the fish.

To lessen the likehood of hurting fish, spearos need to use a decent sized gun with enough power to push a spear right through a large kingi. They also need make shots that will kill a fish instantly.

I’ve been experimenting with spearing techniques recently and have come up with two that work. When fishing around the mussel farms, you need to either tuck yourself beside a mussel float, or hang mid-water very relaxed, but don’t look directly at the fish as it approaches. Watch it out the corner of your eye then wait until it gets close, let it swim directly under you, then shoot down through the back of the head. If you have to take a side shot aim just behind the gills at the lateral line.

A marvellous kingi was recently caught off the Boulder Bank, but it had a large chunk missing from the top of its back that had healed right over. The marks looked suspiciously like a high shot with a spear gun, that had torn out. So be sure of placing good shots before you pull the trigger.

Heavy lines and dragging fish away from mussel lines with a boat, or kill shots with a speargun might not seem very sporting to some, but seeing wounded fish, or fish sporting heavy facial bling, really makes a guy feel sad, especially when he’s lucky enough to be swimming around in fantastically clear fish-infested Tasman Bay waters.

Bling for Kings - part two By Reid Forrest

a 41lb First By Mike Walker (13yrs)

It was an early start; Dad and I arrived at Stephens Island by 7:30am. With just a five knot westerly, the sea was pretty calm. I was after my first kingfish. Starting mechanical jigging at one of Dad’s favourite GPS marks, I was slammed on just my third drop. I hoped it was a kingfish, and after 10 minutes of battle we got a glimpse of colour, I was right, it was a kingfish.

I was using dad’s Shimano t-curve 200, with a Torium 30 reel. The deadly secret underwater weapon was a Zest 300gm jig, but sorry can’t tell you the colour!

My heart started pounding as I brought the beast up needing Dad’s help to land it.

It was then I could relax and a huge smile crossed my face. “I’ve got the biggest one today, ” I boasted. Forty-one pounds of fighting glory!

Dad filleted it and we dined on kingfish for the next two nights, sharing the rest with relatives.

Canterbury Does it again (Cover Story) By Juan van den Berg

Well done Mike!

The fishing PaPer www.thefishingpaper.co.nz8

Familes are so important.My late uncle Frank

introduced me to sea fishing. We fished with hand lines from a little plywood runabout he’d carved out of time and materials in an apple shed near Teapot Valley, Brightwater. He was patient when I sulked

because the Mapua channel wasn’t delivering ‘brim’ up to me at the same rate of knots he was hauling them over the side.

“You haven’t got your baits on the bottom, you stupid little fart,” he barked as he snatched the line from my boney little paw, “how the hell do you hope to catch anything!”

I’d like to take him fishing today, but he didn’t make it through a heart operation in the late seventies, so I just occasionally take his memory along with me. He’d be fishing with an electric reel by now and I’d probably still be a little fart.

I fished a lot with my dad in latter years, but he’s in his eighties and a life’s worth of worn joints can’t take a pounding anymore, so he fishes from his comfy armchair, casting into a pool of happy memories from days gone by.

I took young Daniel out the other day. He wanted to catch snapper and he just wanted it to be a dad and son day. So it was. And we caught snapper, or rather – HE caught snapper, even on my line. Isn’t it strange how dads can easily be distracted the moment snapper bite. It happened that way for me – every single time!

And so it transpired that Daniel caught all the snapper that day and it just so happened that the day was full of childish jiggles, a bit of ribbing to the old man and a huge yawn before we even got home.

How could I even hope to catch a snapper when a little fella was having so much fun – catching fish and collecting memories?

You stupid little fart Crimpy!

Captain’s Log: Beam me up spotty Four Generations of Fishers By Lee Dixon

My almost ninety-year-old father came to visit from the North Island and was keen to get fishing in Tasman Bay. We managed to get out twice in my five metre Marlborough Rapier 501. On one trip also took my two-and-a-half year old grandson, Levi-Jesse, for his first fish and boat ride.

With the little fella on board I decided to play it safe and stay close to shore, fishing over one of the holes in the Fifeshire Rock area. This area has always fished well for me as a last resort, when other areas are lean. I caught gurnard here a few days earlier and some large mullet, not to mention loads of sharks.

Just a note on the mullet here; my father insisted on keeping the large yellow-eyed mullet which I said was bait! But he said he’d eat anything! This I know to be true, so I kept them. Back home I filleted the gurnard and mullet, dipped them in flour then egg and pan-fried them. Dad said the gurnard was beautiful and the mullet was just as good! Even my wife Debbra, a fish connoisseur, agreed on how good the mullet was and advised us never to use them as bait again!

On this trip we caught a bucket load of mullet, but the snapper continued to shade from the hot sun under the boat, however my father managed to pull in the biggest shark and barracouta of the day. For some reason, little Levi didn’t want to touch the couta! No snapper stayed on board, but it was a great day’s fishing with four generations of Dixons.

My great-grandfather is said to have turned fisherman, after leaving the army in the 1860s and taught my grandfather to fish. He in turn taught my father how to fish off the rocks in Owhiro and Island Bays in Wellington. My father taught me to fish off the same rocks, using a heavy green ‘rope’ hand-line with a hand-made lead sinker big enough to sink a dinghy. I taught my five children to surfcast off the rocks and the beaches on the North Island’s West Coast. Now my youngest son is teaching his partner’s son how to fish and I’m teaching my grandson to fish.

All I need to do now is teach my father how to use a fishing rod properly and stop complaining about how hand-lines were much easier!

Four generations of fishing Dixons

on

Join the

Pete Walsh raises valid concerns regarding the use of set nets at river mouths and the fact that they have the potential to, and do, catch plenty of trout.

Fish & Game doesn’t turn a blind eye to this practice, but unfortunately we have our hands tied. The regulations allow people to legally set nets in such a way that they will and do catch sports fish. However, an offence is only committed if sports fish are retained and not returned to the water immediately - whether dead or alive. Obviously this is of little consolation to Fish & Game and licence holders.

Fish & Game has significant concerns regarding the set netting regulations, but, as yet, have been unable to get the regulations altered. As a consequence, there have been various attempts at local, non-statutory agreements between Fish & Game, MFish, net users and recreational fishermen, but unfortunately these agreements generally haven’t been successful in preventing irresponsible set net use.

Trout and salmon are vulnerable to capture in set nets, either as by-catch or intentional targets. Evidence suggests that capture in river estuaries

is more likely to occur during overnight sets, or during turbid conditions and survival rates of salmonids released from nets are low. A North America study found mortality rates were as high as 60% with nets with a soak time of only 140 minutes.

Fish & Game has recently submitted concerns and potential suggestion to MAF, in an attempt at resolving the unacceptable by-catch of salmonid sports fish by set nets in estuaries and rivers. It is expected they will accept it for potential action for 2012-2013.

A complete ban on set netting in inland waters is a favoured option, because it would ensure complete cessation of by-catch of sports fish. Alternatively, Fish & Game have suggested restrictions on set net methods, requiring nets to be ‘bagged’ to ensure they do not extend more than 300mm above the bottom at any point and that nets are not set more than 500m from the sea. The bagging of a net significantly reduces the likelihood of salmonids being caught, while not influencing catch rates of flounder. In addition Fish & Game have suggested nets should not be set or left in place overnight, because this is when the majority of salmonids are caught.

The fishing PaPer 9www.thefishingpaper.co.nz

Stick Your Oar in Crimptoon

Mail your letters to Stick Your Oar In

The Fishing Paper, PO Box 9001, Annesbrook, 7044, NELSON.

Email: editor@thefishingpaper.co.nzThe Fishing Paper encourages readers contributions and points of view. We ask that all contributions come supplied with contact details. All letters must be emailed, type written or printed legibly, signed and not more than 300 words. The Fishing Paper states that opinions put forward are not necessarily those of the publisher. We reserve the right to publish in part or refuse to publish on legal grounds if the content of the letters are in any way legally contentious.

Have Your Say…Big Snapper Debate

ContinuesDear Ed

Regarding the big snapper story you ran in the March Issue of The Fishing Paper then the follow up last month. I would like to think it was true, but there are many questions.Look closely at where the rope is wrapped around the tail and it doesn’t appear to be squeezed tightly enough for a 140-pound plus, fish. To me it looks like a good sized

pannie, made to look big by the bloke standing further back.The other point, that it was caught at Waikawa seems a bit far-fetched too. I’ve spent 19 years as a commercial fisherman, fishing and boating all around the Sounds, Cook Strait and other waters around New Zealand, including Waikawa, and have never seen anything like it. Yeah, I suppose it could be a fish that has a gene different to other snapper, but in Waikawa Bay? I think not, but then hey, you just never know!Richard Gatchell

Last month The Fishing Paper published Pete’s viewpoint, but included a small number of typos that slightly altered the intent and integrity of his writing. I apologise for the error and include it again this month in its correct form.

Crimpy

The March edition of the Fishing Paper had an article written by Lawson Davey, Nelson Fish & Game Office, with a reply to the question ‘Kahawai Fishing – Do I need a sports fishing licence when fishing at the river mouth?’

Mr Davey says “If you are fishing in fresh water using gear that could reasonably be expected to catch sports fish like trout, salmon and perch, you need a valid sports fish licence.”

As a responsible recreational fisherman I feel threatened by this article and I certainly won’t be buying a sports fishing licence to catch kahawai.

I have fished river mouths for kahawai in the summer months for the last 37 years using a variety of lures, line and rod weights. During this

time I’ve caught many hundreds of kahawai, and yet only one trout followed my lure briefly before turning away. And as for salmon, I have never ever seen one in the river mouths I have fished.

This record proves there is not, and never has been, any “reasonable expectation” of catching trout using my methods in the river mouths where I fish. I therefore have no expectation of hooking a licenced sports fish in the future and, if it ever happened, I would certainly release it. Using single hooks are less damaging to a fish that needs releasing.

Perhaps Mr Davey could enlighten me as to why commercial and other fishermen are allowed to use set nets inside the Buller River mouth to catch kahawai for cray bait. If any trout are going to be caught illegally, then those nets have the potential to catch plenty of trout.

Does Fish & Game just turn a blind eye to this practise?

Pete WalshNelson

VieWPOintBy Pete Walsh

ReSPOnSeBy Lawson Davey

Fired!Twelve people lined up

either side of the bridge deck, each holding an expired flare. The flares were out of date by differing dates, some only a year or two, others more than five years, but the flares looked to be in good working order, so the exercise was expected to run smoothly.

A parachute flare should be ‘fired’ with your back to the wind, held at about 30-degrees off the vertical. The flare has a little ‘kick’ or recoil, so needs to be held firmly.

A parachute flare is designed to seek the wind, which is why it’s fired slightly downwind. It should climb to 300m, that’s 1000 feet to anyone born before 1954. It should burn for 40 seconds and be able to be seen, in good visibility, for 30 miles or more. It’s a complex piece of work and maybe that’s why they have an expiry date after manufacture.

So back to the demonstration. “Raise your flares. Pull the firing pin on my command. Reeeeaaaaddy … NOW!” What an awesome sight, I am sure we looked like a magnificent coloured fountain, and at least

four flares worked as expected.

Number one dropped hers on the deck as she pulled the cord and the flare flew over the heads of the nearby Coastguard boat.

Number three’s flare didn’t work, initially. But just as my customer looked down the top of it, it decided to fire. Fortunately the swift hand that pushed the flare away averted serious injury.

Numbers five, six and nine immediately flew in an arc horizontally instead of vertically and landed in the sea. They wouldn’t have been seen from five miles let a lone 30! However all others worked with varying degrees of success.

Aside from the radio, which isn’t always useable if wet, and the indisputably effective EPIRB, flares are the best method of communication when in distress.

Ensure they are in date, remember expiry is from the date of manufacture, not purchase, so ensure you order or get recently manufactured flares.

Harbour Views By Dave Duncan

Last year Captain Tuna (Rowan) and I flew into the Kahurangi wilderness area on our first of many planned Roar trips, and were hit with six days of heavy rain. This year two things had to change; we needed a hut and good weather. A couple of evenings were spent poring over maps in the Captain’s man cave, before we decided on a good-looking river on the edge of Arthurs Pass National Park. Phone calls were made to the landowner for entry onto the river bed, thanks Eddie and Michelle. A 10 day window was arranged so we could work with the weather gods, to try to get five good days to hunt deer and chamois.

The best forecast was right through the first week of April, so first thing Sunday morning we were into the Hilux and away. By about 3.00pm we were having an introductory yarn with the two great blokes we were to share the hut with over the next week. A quick evening walk resulted in four deer being spotted, with one hind finding herself in the cross hairs at 50 metres, but was left to trot away for someone else another day.

That night over a couple of iced down beers a plan was made to do the chamois hunt while we had fresh legs. The next morning we climbed to a hut at 1350m to stay two nights and maybe nab a gimp

or two. Three or four hours of glassing the head basin, some large bluffs for chamois and the bush edge for deer, had not resulted in any animals being spotted, so just on dark it was back to the hut for an early night.

First light Tuesday morning had us sitting in the tussock again peering through our Leupolds trying to spot any movement or odd shapes. Finally after two hours a chamois was seen coming over the top of the bluffs, sidling along 500m and then dropping back over the other side. Captain Tuna decided to stay on the bushline and keep an eye out for any deer, while I headed up to find our animal. Another two hours on and I was at 1800m overlooking the next valley, but there was no sign of any animals. After 30-minutes of glassing and a muesli bar I got that uncanny feeling of being watched - and I was. A nice young buck was peering at me from about 600m away to my left. Some photos were taken and the stalk began. An hour later the 25-06 had taken its first chamois 8 3/4 inch buck.

We changed plans and early afternoon had us deciding to head back down to the river flats a day early, to focus on bagging a stag now that chamois was taken off the list.

I was a bit slow off the mark the following morning, after the big climb the day before, so waited until the other three lads were back from their morning hunts then headed for a small terrace further up the river, to look for stag sign. I was only 30m into the bush heading for the terrace when a heavy animal crashed off just in front of me. It then proceeded to bark at me from 100m away up on the terrace. A very slow and careful stalk began and about an hour later, I was close to where the animal had been making all the noise above me. I was getting the strong smell of deer every now and then, so I knew I was close. A good roar went up from about 30m away. My heart began beating flat out, thundering in my ears. I was sure the animal could hear it! I very slowly crouched down, as gently as I could, closed the bolt. With the barrel pointing down the game trail I was on.

Suddenly there it was, coming up from my right, behind a big tree, then out in the open. A shot in the neck from five metres away had a nice example of a nine point West Coast red stag on the deck. Another very satisfying hunt had ended.

Captain Tuna and I had seen nine deer over five days of hunting, five of which were close and shootable. It was a great week away and this year without a single spot of rain to dampen our spirits.

new zealand hunTing news www.thefishingpaper.co.nz10

West Coast Double By Justin Hobbs

huntingNEWS

NEW ZEALAND

new zealand hunTing news 11www.thefishingpaper.co.nz

Despite not having caught any one red-handed, the Ministry of Economic Development is continuing to wield a big stick and has already raided several properties, threatening to come down hard on anyone in possession of illegal dog tracking collars.

It’s now illegal to import, be in possession of or use certain brands of collar, due to perceived problems with interference with other legitimate radio users. Individuals face fines up to $30,000.

The GPS encoded collars are legal in the US where they’re made, but in New Zealand they work on the same channels as a number of businesses, including forestry operators and Department of Conservation.

The dog-tracking collars to be avoided are sold under the Garmin and SportDOG TEK brands, however, all devices should be checked before purchase. Devices should not operate on the 151.820 MHz, 151.880 MHz, 151.940 MHz, 154.570 MHz and 154.600 MHz frequencies.

The GPS device in the collar sends a burst of tone back to a hunter’s handheld radio, giving the exact position of each dog. Those bursts of tone, which can be set to transmit every five seconds, are also picked up by all other radio

in the area on that frequency. The Ministry is concerned legitimate users, annoyed with the constant interruptions, will turn their radios off, leading to safety worries.

Chris Brennan, Compliance Manager for the Radio Spectrum Group at the Ministry of Economic Development, says no one has yet been caught using them in the bush.

Although there have been several complaints about interference; the ministry has had difficulty getting a radio inspector out to the often remote areas, in time to catch alleged culprits.

But he warns his department is working with Customs and has already executed several search warrants on addresses known to have imported the collars, and says more action is in the pipeline.

Hunters are attempting to get changes to the law and New Zealand Pig Hunting Association (NZPHA) Trustee, Grant Bunting, is aware of several petitions. They’re calling for the ministry to make changes to frequency allocations, but Grant says the ministry are not the ‘bad guys’.

“I’m aware of a number of petitions circulating with respect to the ministry and, frankly, the basis of these petitions is just downright ill informed. Hunters need to

understand the frequencies in question have been allocated for many years and to expect incumbent users to change, simply to accommodate tracking collars, is a little naïve.”

Grant says it would be better to petition the manufacturers and get their support to change the unit’s operational frequency.

The NZPHA has formally approached the Australasian distributors with a view to a solution, but the market is just not big enough for the company to provide units specific to New Zealand and Australia. However, if hunters can show their support directly to the makers, it may strengthen the case.

In the meantime, the association’s attempting to obtain approved frequencies, both in New Zealand and Australia, and once that’s done, it will again approach the tracking collar’s American manufacturer with a view to reaching a solution for existing and new devices.

Dog Collar users RaidedBy Darryn Palmer

My mate told me that this April would see wall-to-wall deer stalking parties in every major river on the West Coast. No sane stag would be venturing out into the open, unless he had a death wish.

So early in the month I selected an area few know of and set foot in a valley that I appeared to have all to myself. A liberal dosing of 1080 late last year had given the deer, pig and goats hell, but resident populations were drifting back.

My good mate, who knows the region like the back of his hand, told me of an old packtrack established in the 1860’s. In some areas, the benched trail was cut out of almost vertical mountain faces. It took a sharp eye and concentration to keep on the trail, but my theory was that without deer and goats, the track would be overgrown and totally hidden so there must be some animals round!

At one stage, my dog Whissee fell down a deep hole and I had to lift him out. Alone, he would have died! One false step while walking around these benched sections and it would be all over for me too.

These areas don’t come to you on a plate and a person without decent bush skills could quickly lose the trail and get hopelessly lost.

I found a small section of this trail earlier in the

year but my very good friend knew where most of it sidled ancient forests, crossed and rejoined river flats and where the useable river fords were.

I ventured into a beautiful section of the main river with instruction from him to sidle up a creek, follow the remains of an old logging trail, then join a creek ravaged by floods and eventuatly find a wide open river flat. My mate planned to link up with part of the pack track and all things being equal arrive at a shingle fan near me, although it would see us on opposite sides of the river. Believe it or not, we arrived at our goal within five minutes of each other!

We stalked for a while to find the local game population, then it was off exploring again.

That evening we stalked a scattered bunch of deer who were being hassled by a large leggie spiker. They knew we were around, but couldn’t pin point us.

I reeled off heaps of photos on my brand new camera, a toy with tonnes of things to twiddle. My mate had his rifle, but I asked him not to use it. It was a fantastic place as the sun set and I didn’t want to ruin it. It would have been such a shame to kill one of this group. So I shot some more pictures instead.

I spent eight days in the mountains for the Roar last month and had a huge amount of fun.

By Peter Harker – April 2012

shooting the Roar

new zealand hunTing news www.thefishingpaper.co.nz12

I headed back to the West Coast valley, which was a regular tahr hunting spot for me, but this time I was after a different kind of trophy.

Although I’ve never hunted the Roar there, I thought it might produce the goods this year, because every time I had been there in the past, there was deer sign everywhere.

I loaded the pack and set off toward the intended base camp for the next few days, leaving a packed carpark behind.

As we arrived at camp five or six hours later, we heard the first roar back down stream from where we had come.

By 4.00pm he was still roaring strongly and sounded to be getting closer, so we kitted up and went in for a look-see.

Heading back down stream, we snuck in and gave a reply to one of his roars with our AJ caller. This got him really worked up and he came in fast. It all happened so quickly that he was within 30 yards of us, in the thick stuff, before we knew it. Then he must have cut our wind and giving a few barks he crashed off, but we were now really pumped for the days ahead!

That evening, and all through the night, we heard at least six or seven different stags roaring around us. Hopes were high for the next day.

Awake at sparrows fart, with plenty of roaring still being heard before daylight, the plan was to head up into another headwater feeding into the valley we were in.

For the first hour or two there was no fresh sign and roars had gone silent. We had a quick rethink and decided to head back down to base camp where all the action seemed to be.

It was midday by the time we got back, but all the action down here had stopped too, so we had a big lunch and made plans to hunt around the closer quarters of base camp.

Mid afternoon arrived and the stags started up again. A group of other hunters were in the

valley and had headed up river, so we went in the opposite direction, downstream, which proved fruitless.

The next morning another cracker day dawned, but not a roar was heard. We decided to cross the main river and head up a spur to where a stag had been roaring well on the previous days.

A couple hours into the climb we had some good elevation, but there was still silence, so we sat and played the waiting game. He had to be up above us somewhere!

Getting restless, I started to move uphill when that lovely smell of rutting stag hit my nostrils. I started the stalk, with the wind still in my favour. It wasn’t long before he made the mistake of a lazy moan, giving his location away. Five minutes later he was away roaring very well, getting more worked up the closer I got.

Closing the gap, with my heart starting to beat faster and faster, I could see he was up on a terrace with a high bank, among crown fern and pungas. I had to cross a small gut to get over to where he was.

As I sneaked halfway through the gut he let out a series of roars and jumped down the bank, heading in my direction through the scrub. I waited until he passed through a small gap ten metres away, then poked him in the neck with my Kimber 243. Down he went.

I rushed over to inspect the goods, to find a young, but heavy seven pointer, not the big 12 I had hoped for. Nevertheless it was still a great hunt and stalk, with another trophy for my collection.

That afternoon groups of trampers started coming through and were obviously planning to do a large circuit around our intended hunting area for the next few days, so we decided to pull the pin.

That was it, the end of this year’s Roar for us. With a large the amount of foot traffic around, it pays to be safe.

Caution in the WindBy Rafael Sixtus

stoRy

MAYDAYAUTUMN SAFETY GUIDE THE

FISHINGPAPER

THIS COULD JUST SAVE YOUR LIFE

PrePAre, CoMMuniCAte, Live!“The old, ‘It’ll never happen to me,’ attitude of Kiwis, is our biggest hurdle,” says Sherp Tucker, Tasman Police District assistant search and rescue coordinator.

He concedes some accidents just happen, but says the majority of incidents that lead to search and rescue callouts can be prevented - if the basics are followed.

Preparation and communication saves time, money and ultimately lives, and modern communication technology allows us to make contact with the outside world, no matter how remote or rough the terrain is.

Preparation begins when an idea is hatched. The very first questions should be, am I fit enough, are the people I’m going with capable of the trip and do I have the right gear?

Underestimating the basics before a trip starts is the first step in a downward spiral to disaster.

Be aware - it’s usually not just one issue that leads to call for help. Small things multiply and suddenly people are confronted with a life-threatening situation.

A weather change, inadequate fitness and tiredness can combine to become a major incident.

All manner of communication and life saving devices are now available, but as Mayday discovered, the PLB (personal locator beacon) is your ultimate saviour.

The size of a cigarette packet and easy to carry and use, rescuers rate them, “The best things since sliced bread.”

Once activated, they send a signal to orbiting satellites, immediately alerting rescue authorities, who know exactly who you are and where you are. A rescue helicopter can hone in on the beacon’s signal, pinpointing it to within a metre or two and as you’ll read in Ian Martella’s story, that’s extremely reassuring when you’re lying staring death in the face, in the middle of nowhere.

Photo: Nelson Search and Rescue

14 SAFETY GUIDE THIS COULD JUST SAVE YOUR LIFE

Lying at the bottom of a cliff, a waterfall cascading over me, soaked to the skin and my foot bent way out of shape, the only thought that crossed my mind was, “This is it. This is the end!”

It was March 2011 and my mate Dave Henry and I were in deepest, darkest Fiordland for the Wapiti Bugle, a balloted 10 day hunt in the Glaisnock Wilderness Area. The area we were hunting was called the Whitewater Block. As you can imagine, she’s pretty tough terrain, real tiger country.

We’d flown in three days earlier and were just returning to camp at the end of a tiring 12-hour day of tramping-come-mountain climbing.

I was walking along a cliff top, about 500 metres from our campsite, when suddenly the ground crumbled under my feet. I was propelled backwards, dragged down by my heavy pack and rifle and bounced down a near vertical drop. As I tumbled toward bottom, I distinctly remember thinking, “I’m a goner!”

The sudden stop shook me to my senses and I realised I was still alive, but I’d done something really nasty to my leg. I was in pure agony. My foot lay limp, at a really weird angle. I had two breaks in my ankle, another break further up my leg, shredded ligaments and muscles that were ripped to bits. It wasn’t a good situation. I was at the bottom of a waterfall and there was no easy way out.

I managed to pull myself out of the water and lay there, summoning energy. Dave, who had been walking in front of me, missed

seeing my clifftop plunge so I bellowed to him. Somehow he scrambled down to me and activated his GPS encoded personal locator beacon. Dave pushed the button - then three long hours later a chopper turned up, just like that. Amazing! And believe me, the sound of that helicopter echoing round the countryside is the sweetest and best noise I’ve ever heard.

Dave scampered back up the cliff and waved a bit of bright coloured clothing to attract their attention. It turns out they would have been there even quicker, but there was another search already underway nearby, so Search and Rescue had to find a second helicopter for us.

A paramedic swung out of the machine and was winched down, where he straightened me up. I was then hauled into the hovering helicopter and we flew off to Te Anau.

It would have taken rescuers at least seven days, if they could actually cope with the terrain at all, to get to us by foot. If this was twenty years ago, I just wouldn’t have made it out of there, or if I had - I would have been a bloody legend!

I have absolutely no doubt that my mate’s little gizmo, his personal locator beacon, saved my life.

It’s more than 12-months since my accident and I’ve almost fully recovered, but the first thing I did after I got out of hospital, was buy my own GPS personal locator beacon.

I have been out hunting again and I’m now a little more nervous in high areas, but I’m never without my pocket-sized lifesaver.

I’M A DEAD MAN

GARMIN RINO 650: PEACE OF MIND IN A PACkAGEBy Daryl Crimp

GPS technology has revolutionised safety in the outdoors and now Garmin have integrated communication and navigation in the Rino range of handheld UHF radio/GPS units. My mate Fizz and I put the Rino 650 to the test during a recent hunt up the Awatere and discovered peace of mind in a package.

Robust, tough, waterproof and with touch screen technology, the Garmin Rino 650 is user friendly and can be configured to any of four main profiles: recreational, geocaching, automotive and marine. It incorporates a comprehensive range of features from radio, GPS, compass, route planner, elevation plot, waypoints and alarm clock, to man overboard and photo viewer.

From a hunter’s perspective, it has some very useful features. The UHF radio is a grunty five watts, but can be dropped back to two watts and half-a-watt for close work and to conserve power. Add to this the messaging capabilities and you are talking real stealth mode. The menu has some basic standard text messages to save time and you can also programme your own simple communications, such as, ‘See any animals?’, ‘Am stalking’, ‘Is dinner ready?’ and so on. A great safety feature is the peer-to-peer positioning, which allows you to see where your partner is on your screen map. You can also send your location to your partner and use the device to navigate to each other’s position.

The Rino 650 also has a ‘share wirelessly’ mode that allows you to trade waypoints and points of interest. This can be particularly useful when hunting separate areas and wanting to relay information later on to your buddy.

Cory Schroder, Nelson Guided Hunts, said his unit proved invaluable during a weeklong hunt over the Roar, as it enabled him to plot wallow holes and rutting pads, and therefore return stealthily with a great degree of accuracy. He said the unit also allowed him to enjoy his bush hunting more because he was able to navigate with confidence without constantly having to reference where he was.

“My total focus was now on hunting, which I believe made me more effective.”

Cory said he was able to hunt right through to dark because he can now navigate effortlessly at night.

“Where I hunt there are a few deceptive ridges where you can easily take a wrong turn, so having the Rino 650 enabled me to hunt to the last possible moment and then cut a track for home without any worries.”

The Garmin 650 comes with rechargeable lithium battery pack, but you can purchase a cradle that will take AA batteries – useful if going on extended hunts. You can also buy an accessory cigarette lighter power cable.

The unit comes with a generic NZ map, but you need to purchase a topographical map for this unit to be useful as a hunting tool. The Rino 650 is quick to get a satellite fix and can be set to quiet mode or vibrate for those tense stalking situations. The touch screen is clear, bright and so quick to navigate – definitely the way of the future.

The Rino 650 comes with a quick start manual, but does require a bit of time and effort to master all the applications. However, I can see it becoming very popular with hunters and will certainly come into its own once all your mates have one.

By Ian Martella

Photo: Gary Fissenden

15MAYDAY WHAT VALUE DO YOU PUT ON LIFE?

I stumbled into a hut in the Lewis Pass, three hours after dark and knackered after a long stint on the tops. I was blood-soaked from a recent kill and feeling thrilled with my efforts. My mate already had the fire going and dinner cooked, but he looked up with a woeful expression as I swung the door in, and it was then I realised two other bodies occupied the hut – trampers.

The male hid behind a jungle of facial hair, coke-bottle glasses and a hangdog look that suggested his female companion wore stouter trousers than he. Foregoing civilised introduction, she launched into an impressive lecture on the follies of hunting alone, admonishing me for my stupidity in putting myself at risk and staying out after the sun had set. Clearly she was more worried than me and thought I was at risk of being attacked by the bogeyman. That was thirty-something-years-ago.

The reality is, the risks of hunting alone are not necessarily greater than when hunting with mates, but the CONSEQUENCES of something going wrong could well be.

In forty-odd years of hunting I have never yet been lost, caught out overnight or seriously injured – nor have I lost a companion. I have been disoriented a couple of times, bluffed, challenged, scared witless and knocked around by the elements and more than one testy animal, but I have survived. And that is the key concept you must always have at front of mind when taking to the hills; your ability to survive should things go awry.

Two important aspects that allow you to do this is knowing where you are in relation to where you need to be, and the ability of others to find you quickly and efficiently. In the old days we hunted specific areas, to a tight game plan and communicated our intentions well with each other. We were skilled in using map and compass and relied heavily on local knowledge, bushcraft and sound intuition. Good hunting mates also knew how each other thought and operated

on the hill, and therefore could predict your likely course of actions to some degree of accuracy. Of course, there was always a margin of error in this system.

The fundamentals haven’t really changed, but technology has really stacked the dice in the our favour, to the point that, barring a cataclysmic accident involving coma or death, there is probably no excuse for getting lost and not being found. A recent rummage through my personal safety kit highlighted this.

I still carry a map and compass as a good back up, but three hitchhikers now make constant and essential companions. The most important is a PLB or Personal Locator Beacon that is both lightweight and affordable. I look upon my McMurdo PLB as a very good insurance policy and should my life be endangered, this is the quickest way of being found and rescued. SAR operatives back this up.

Secondly, I carry a Garmin 78SC GPS, which is an invaluable navigation aid. More recently my kit has benefited from a set of Garmin Rino 650 handheld UHF radios with built in GPS. As well as being radio and GPS combined, they also can show the position of your buddy and relay your location to your buddy’s screen – an amazing safety feature. The Garmin Rino 650 can take the place of the handheld GPS, but I still like the backup. Of course, common sense still needs to play its part, but technology can’t be overlooked as a lifesaver.

TECHNOLOGY WARDS OFF BOGEYMANBy Daryl Crimp

16 SAFETY GUIDE THIS COULD JUST SAVE YOUR LIFE

THE COLD kILLER – HYPOTHERMIASimply put, hypothermia means you

are losing heat faster than your body can produce it, causing a drop in core temperature.

With winter’s freezing fingers about to grip us, now is the time to think about how to stay alive, should the worst happen and you end up in the cold water.

There are a number of things you can do to help yourself if you fall overboard or capsize your boat. Each will help delay the onset of hypothermia, prolong your survival time and improve your chances of rescue.

Get back in the boat! The importance of reboarding your craft, even if its filled with water or capsized, can’t be over-emphasized. Most small boats if overturned, can be righted and bailed out.

If you can’t right the boat, climb on top and hang on! Since children are smaller and generally have less body fat than adults, it’s especially important to get them out of the water as soon as possible.

It will also make you easier to be seen and found by searchers.

Keep your shirt on. Almost all clothing will float for an extended period of time. As long as you remain calm and don’t thrash about, air trapped within the fabric will hold a considerable amount of buoyancy.

You should attempt to remove your clothing only if it is absolutely necessary and is hampering your efforts to climb back into the boat.

Kick your boots off. The good old Kiwi favourite gumboot maybe useful on the farm, but in the water, they are a liability. People have drowned after being dragged under by water-filled gumboots. The best advice is not to wear gumboots for any sort of aquatic activity at all.

Think or swim. Don’t attempt swimming, unless it is to a nearby boat or floating object. Swimming and even treading water uses up valuable energy

and greatly increases heat loss, by pumping out any warm water trapped between layers of clothing.

If forced to swim, use strokes such as breaststroke, to keep your head out of the water.

Wear your lifejacket. A lifejacket increases your survival time in the water in several ways: It decreases the amount of movement necessary to remain afloat and helps to insulate against heat loss. It will also keep you afloat if you become unconscious due to hypothermia.

H.E.L.P. yourself. If you fall in while wearing a lifejacket, decide not to swim to shore, and can’t get back into your swamped boat, you can reduce the effects of hypothermia by assuming the heat-escape-lessening-position (H.E.L.P.).

Begin by crossing your ankles, then cross your arms over your chest, draw your knees to your chest, lean back, and try to relax. This head out of the water, fetal position reduces heat flow from the body to the water by at least 50 percent.

If more than one person is in the water and all are wearing lifejackets, use the ‘huddle’.

This is where small groups of two to four hug with chests closely touching chests.

Arms should be placed around the backs of each other. Smaller individuals or children can be placed in the middle of the sandwich.

The huddle helps conserve body heat. It’s also easier for rescuers to locate a huddle of victims than one lone survivor. The close proximity of victims can significantly boost morale.

Have a plan. As with all forms of boating, have a plan. Think ahead and think about what you’d do if you fall in. Even in the coldest water and the worst conditions, you don’t have to die!

DEMAND FOR NALDER ExPANDSWhen we first came across Nalder

Protective Clothing back in July 2009, Robert Leighs and his team were largely supplying the commercial fishing industry with their quality durable waterproof clothes.

Since then Nalder has progressed to becoming a major supplier of weatherproof and warm clothes to the mining, forestry and contracting industries as well. Nalder products are New Zealand made, in fact, produced at Port Nelson where the Nalder team have regular contact with many of the people who actually use the products at work and on their off-duty fishing adventures. This is key to developing the brand and range of products because Robert reckons the best ideas come from the people wearing their gear.

The Nalder FULL WORKS JACKET is proving a hit with many industries. These jackets are very comfortable, extremely warm and 100% waterproof … ALL day - not just until smoko! They are manufactured from specially made, soft and pliable material that makes them form-fitting and unobtrusive to wear. A key feature is that they offer complete freedom of movement; the fabric having a stretch quality, unlike cheaper and harder PVC

type materials. All components, including zips, stitching, velcro and linings are robust and designed to last.

Nalder also custom makes to order so you can choose the lining, the type and number of pockets, the reflective tape pattern and the hood type. If you need an oversize hood to wear over a hardhat or want a fleecy lined collar with a hood tucked away –no problem. Nalder can even accommodate you if you are as tall as Jonah, or have a bulbous bow like a container ship!

The SHORT SLEEVE HOODIES were originally made at the request of the salmon farmers in the Sounds, but are now popular New Zealand wide, being made in Hi Vis orange and yellow with reflective tape. Red blue, green and navy are all available. Made to the same rigorous standards to the FULL WORKS JACKET, a nice practical touch to the SHORT SLEEVE HOODIES is the bum flap – keeping those key areas warm, dry and protected at all times.

Talk to Robert about your crew’s needs and hit him up for a deal.

new zealand hunTing news 17www.thefishingpaper.co.nz

The new dog is going berserk. He’s screaming in pain and in fear as he flings himself in an arc. He smashes into the tree, scrabbles up it, falls, recovers. He smashes into the kennel, tangles around it, flips it over. He wraps the chain around his hock, damaging his hamstring. He panics, pisses himself.

The new dog thinks I’m torturing him. He cannot understand why. He cannot understand how I can upset him so, without laying a hand on him. He does not know how to stop the strangling sensation so he fights and flips, screams and bites the unforgiving chain. After ten minutes he is absolutely exhausted and lays defeated, panting heavily.

Every now and then the new dog catches his breath and recovers his energy. Then he begins the fight anew. Hurts himself, strangles himself, tires. He does this all night.

He does this again when I approach him the following day. He hates me, he will continue to hate and fear me till he understands the restrictions a tether places on him, and how to counter them.

I hate me too. I hate that I have to traumatise a brand new mate. Chain-breaking is not something I should have to do to an adult dog. I hate that I understand all the good reasons for tying but he does not. He may very soon enjoy the freedoms of a long chain, the clean dirt beneath his paws, a place to bury his bones and an option to lie in the sun or in the shade. But in the short term, tying is no fun at all.

When I first venture out with this new dog, can I put him on a lead to ensure he does not run away? Can I put him on a lead to walk him through our poultry, or a farmer’s stock, to ensure he won’t run off and kill them? Can I put him on a lead to train him to ‘come

in behind’ or to sit still and listen? Can I put him on a lead to release a titty sow he has helped to catch? Can I put him on a lead to take him into the vet for a check-up, or to treat future injuries?

At present I cannot do any of the above. He is a full-grown adult dog but he has never been restrained in any way. When I do put him on a lead he will either go bananas, fight, strangle himself and then bite me. Or he will flop on the ground submissively, lay there, refusing to budge. If I want to restrain him I have to hold him in my arms. If I want to get him from point A to point B I have to physically carry him.

There is a second new adult dog here too, a real little character who has no issues with being tied, or leading. He is happy and obedient. Sadly, he’s not the pig dog I need, but he’ll make a great hunting mate for Ted, my twelve-year-old nephew. I have no doubt that they’ll be the best of buddies and they’ll have adventures aplenty. He and Ted will do everything together, go everywhere together.

I have already found this little dog’s only downfall - he’s never been introduced to

water. He took one look at the Rai River and panicked. While my dogs, including a three-month-old pup, swam like fish, he hung back whimpering. He hurried back and forward along the river’s edge, crying and trembling. Eventually he did an enormous leap and then set-to in a flurry. Front legs flailing, he showered his eyes and ears with cold water and nearly drowned.

Happily this little character got some support, and some swimming instructions, from his canine mates. Happily, on a sweltering hot day, he found the Rai River’s cooling waters a revelation. And the big playground on ‘the other side’ is fit reward for the most reluctant of water-boys. These days he forges into the river without hesitation, he even frolics in the shallows with the pup. With a future as Ted’s mate he will need to swim well. As an adult dog he should have already known how!

I have three wishes. I don’t think they’re unduly extravagant. I hope they are actually very realistic. I know they are easily achievable, if I can fulfil them myself, anyone can. My wishes are that pig hunters, and all dog owners, take that little bit of extra time and effort to teach their dogs to a) tie up, b) lead and c) swim.

I have found the best time to teach all these things is

when dogs are young. Puppies learn new skills very quickly. Especially if you keep their lessons short, enjoyable and rewarding.

A pup’s growth is not just physical. The more you do with them while they’re maturing, the more they will take in. The better you socialise and handle them, the better they will cope with life’s adventures. Take pride in what your dogs can and will do, don’t be embarrassed about what they can’t or won’t do!

There are hundreds of things you could teach your dogs, if you want to, and they may be better for it. But it’s the essentials, such as coming to their name (or a whistle), not eating non-target species such as sheep, cats and children, coping with outdoor obstacles and being happy pig hunting partners, that really matter.

The skills of finding and catching a pig come later. After all, what good is a flashy find, bail and hold dog if it is its own master?

three Wishes By Kim Swan

Vacuum Pack ItBy Daryl Crimp

I bought a good quality vacuum packer a couple of years back and it’s brilliant for packing game and seafood for the freezer. It also comes in handy to shrink pack smaller items of clothing for hunting trips, saving space and keeping things dry. This is brilliant when fly camping and if you don’t use the items, they’ll stay clean and packed for the next trip.

I also make my own easy meals by pre-cooking food for the trip, like curries, rice, stew, mashed spuds, pasta and the like. I vacuum pack it and once in camp, only have to heat in the bag in boiling water. This saves on time and fuel.

new zealand hunTing news www.thefishingpaper.co.nz18

blooding the a7By Malcolm Halstead

Twenty years ago I made the bold move and purchased my first brand new rifle, a Ruger M77 S/S .223. It was the first rifle I had been able to purchase new and has worked well for me over the years securing red deer, pigs, goats, chamois, whitetail deer and bull tahr. Arguably I had been lucky with some of these kills, so recently I made the decision to get something with a bit more grunt, albeit not over the top. I settled on .243 as a calibre and because I wanted a rifle that would last, I went for a Sako A7.

Mark and Simon from Hamills in Christchurch were a great help in securing the Sako and also recommended to match it with a Minnox ZA3 scope. My son Jack and I then set about sighting the A7 in, running it in on some targets. At the end of the sighting-in session we went for a walk on a local farm and knocked a rabbit over at 150 metres.

Being keen to try something bigger, we beaded to South Canterbury for a couple of days to chase goats. I would be using the A7, while Jack took

the Ruger. We also took along the video camera to get some footage of the hunt.

The first goat stood side on at 150 metres and once the camera was set up and running, I loaded the A7 and got comfortable. At the shot the goat gave a bleat and took off, as a cloud of dust rose above it. Another goat took its place and Jack dispatched it with the Ruger. Yet another goat emerged from the scrub and at the crack of the .243 it crumpled on the spot. While I was happy with that shot, I was not with the first one, missing like that was unusual and gave Jack some reason to give me stick.

The next goat was side on at 100 metres and dropped like a stone on the first shot, Jack then cleaned up the second one with the .223. Things were looking up, as I gained confidence with the A7.

The next day we headed up a different creek and the first mob had a billy and two nannies. Once again the camera was set up and a shot was sent on its way from the A7. To my dismay they all ran away, yet again Jack backed me up by dropping the

billy. Once again I faced more ribbing from the youngster! This was starting to concern me, the last thing I needed was a rifle I had no confidence in!

The next mob got a surprise as we crested a ridge a mere twenty metres from them and with three quick shots all three lay dead. Jack had dropped two and I got one, which restored a small bit of faith.

Further up the creek Jack pointed out two goats about 400 metres away and suggested I have a shot. I wasn’t keen because of the distance, but in the end I agreed and holding about 100mm over its head I let strip. The last thing we saw of that goat was it somersaulting down the face it had been on. That was the confidence boost I needed.

On the return journey I dropped a good billy with one shot at 75 metres and was happy with that finish to the day.

Back at home we reviewed the footage and were stunned to see the two goats I thought I had missed had in fact been hit. The bullet passed straight through without doing the necessary damage.

I have now changed from 100 grain pills to 90 grain in an effort to get better killing power. With my confidence in the A7 now well and truly instilled, I can’t wait for the next outing.

Fitting snugly into the genre of nostalgic archetypal Kiwi pioneering spirit, this book offers a new twist on the many that have come before it; namely, photographic essay, editorial snapshots and cinematic DVD. Quite simply, if you have any level of interest in this subject, the book is worth having in your library.While this subject has been tackled from several angles previously, what gives this book a fresh perspective is that it comes through the eyes and minds of two professional women, author and photographer, Olivia Page, and award winning filmmaker, Marion Poizeau. As opposed

to looking at the industry from within, these two have recorded the adventure from the dicky-seat, giving the book and DVD a vivid, crisp quality that refreshes the subject matter.While shot and recorded on location over the summer of 2011 and ostensibly a snapshot of the industry as it stands today, the book also gives a brief insight into the whole venison recovery industry as a timeline, from historical through to future, much of it through interviews with some great characters.A nice pocket-coffee table production that is afforded added wings with the beautifully shot and edited DVD.

The Last Great Southern AdventureHELICoPTER HuNTING FIoRDLANDBy olivia PagePublished The Halcyon PressRrp $40Reviewed By Daryl Crimp

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A 4.00am start from Christchurch in search of a Rangitata Tahr should have been enough to tell me it was going to be a hard slog but it could only get worse. The Rangitata is a huge valley system with impressive craggy peaks and high mountain sides that towered over us as Dad, his mate Hugh and I trudged onwards and it seemed to take forever before we came to a stop.

I reckon we’d walked 25km before we spotted a huge bull tahr high up on a steep face at least a kilometre away. The steep climb to get within range was very hard going and if that wasn’t challenging enough, he was surrounded by a mob of around 30 other tahr. Climbing over huge boulders and pressing ever upwards,

we eventually found a rock that made a good shooting platform so I settled in and waited. The mob was feeding toward us and when they were about 180m away, the bull presented a good shot so I took it and planted a .243 projectile in its shoulder. The big bull rolled down a shingle scree and at 50m I placed a neck shot with the Ruger to finish it off.

I was pretty stoked to have bagged my first big game animal and a trophy one as well. He measured 12 inches and now looks down upon me from my bedroom wall so I get to relive that awesome hunt every time I look at him. I feel pretty proud to have walked all that way, taken the shot and nailed it first time up.

toppling a Rangitata tahrBy Ashley Noriss

Ever thought you’d like to give hunting a go, but don’t know where to start?

Nelson Marlborough Fish & Game and NZ Deerstalkers Association are again offering an introductory course in hunting (both game bird and big game), designed to help and encourage new and potential hunters into the sport. This course, with a minimum age of 16, is hands on and a great opportunity to gain practical skills and information from experienced instructors.

The course covers the Hunter National Training Scheme (HUNTS) programme, plus an introduction to game bird hunting.

Topics will include; • Hunting ethics and wildlife management,• Equipment and clothing, • Navigation and safety around water/river

crossings,• Game species - biology, habitat and

behaviour,• Firearm safety and shooting technique,• Hunting techniques for different species,• When things go wrong … and much more!

The course is held at the Fish & Game Rooms in Richmond and involves seven, two hour evening sessions, plus two weekends. Final course dates are yet to be confirmed but it’s likely to be held Thursday evenings starting late next month or in early July.

The cost is $210 (less for students) and includes a NZDA membership subscription that provides access to NZDA rifle ranges and public liability insurance (Hunting trip costs additional).

For more information contact Fish & Game NZ, Nelson Marlborough Region (03) 544 6382 or Bill o’Leary, NZ Deerstalkers’ Association (03) 547 6202.

HUNTS programme participants practice river crossing – Photo: Martin de Ruyter, Nelson Mail

By Nelson Fish & Game Office - Lawson Davey

Interested In taking up Hunting?

How to solve Sudoku!Fill the grid so that every row and every 3x3 square contains the digits 1 to 9. Answers on page 27.

Sudoku

The Pink PageThe fishing PaPer www.thefishingpaper.co.nz20

Fran Did it Again!

By Lawson DaveyIt’s happened again, for the

second consecutive year a well known Nelson hunting and fishing identity, (we won’t mention Bill’s name) has again been out-fished by his wife, Frances O’Leary.

Frances has managed to land three good salmon in the Waimakariri, two last season and one this year. Unfortunately for our well-known fishing identity, he is yet to land one - Tekapo canal salmon don’t count!

Apparently, Frances managed to hook up on her first Waimak salmon last season before he had even set up his own rod. To further rub salt into the wound, rumour has it, Fran’s second salmon was caught while she was fishing from her deck chair!

After a year of waiting to even the score, unfortunately for our well known identity, Fran managed to hook and land this nice salmon on the Waimak, after her third cast, on their first day of fishing this season.

Despite thrashing the water to foam for the rest of their fishing trip, our well-known identity is yet to match his wife’s success. To be fair, he did manage to hook one good salmon but wasn’t able to land it. It apparently spat the hook at his feet, much to his disappointment.

Better luck next year mate, but I suggest if you want any advice on salmon fishing, ask Fran!

Kirsten Mannix (left) Kelly Marshall (right) in gloating mode.

Men absent for good reason!

By Kirsten Mannix

We all love family fishing weekends to give the kids the experience of hooking the fighting cod and trolling for the feisty kahawai. But when the going is quiet and the; “I’m hungry,” “I’m bored” and “Can we go back?” starts, the act of fishing can become a challenge for those who would be happy to sit and wait for that big one to come along.

So, a weekend for the ‘grown ups’ was planned and big stories cooked about what would be caught. One Friday night after school when the kids were settled at their friends’ homes, James, Kelly, Craig and I made the drive up to French Pass for a weekend of uninterrupted fishing.

Saturday looked promising, with flat waters, blue skies and little wind. Supplies were organized, the boat loaded and off we went, heading up towards Stephen’s Passage, racing past d’Urville Island. Coming round Stephen’s Island gannets were spotted plummeting into the water, so lures were fastened and the excitement began.

Kahawai surrounded the boat, flipping over on the surface of the water. Reels started buzzing as the kahawai struggled against the line – it was all go. Eight beautiful fish later and with exhausted arms aching, we headed back around Stephen’s Island.

Craig had been talking for weeks leading up to the weekend about a hole where elusive hapuku lurked. We all dropped our lines into over 170m of water and the waiting began. A huge scary looking 6ft pink eel was the first to make it to the surface on Kelly’s line, (and very quickly put back!) and Craig pulled in two sharks.

Then Kelly’s trusty pink rod’s line became very heavy. After twenty-minutes of winding and wondering what was on the line, a monster from the deep rose to the surface. Kelly’s first hapuku! Holding it up, we estimated it to be around 15kg.

Suddenly, my rod loaded and the struggle to wind in began. Finally another hapuku broached the surface – my first! The men were very envious of the ‘lady luck’ on board!

The margaritas came out that night - a perfect way to end a fantastic weekend of uninterrupted and successful ‘grown up’ fishing.

Groping Away in Margaritaville

21www.thefishingpaper.co.nz The fishing PaPer

SpearfishingWith Mark Roden

Finally, we’ve had some good weather. I’ve been taking advantage of the almost Indian Summer and getting out as often as possible. With light easterlies dominating the weather pattern, Okiwi Bay has been the perfect place to launch, no problems there, although we did get caught out with the big tides over Easter, but that’s another story! We generally head up towards d’Urville and stop to have a look around Paddock Rocks to see what the visibility is like, because there’s usually some great diving in the area. Although, over the past few months we have generally pushed on towards Bottle Point and even Port Hardy, sometimes to get better vis and sometimes just because we can!

While the line fishos have been having good luck on the snapper, we’ve been targeting the usual species of butterfish, moki, blue cod and tarakihi, with a mixed bag usually coming aboard. Interestingly, in this region we don’t often see snapper when we are in the water, unlike up north where the big ones mooch around in the shallows and spearos target them. We don’t see big snapper around the rocks, just the occasional little ones come in for a look and by ‘little’ I mean 200/250mm.

One thing we always like to do is try new

spots. Sometimes the weather forces us to anchor in the lee of a headland and we’ll find it surprisingly fishy. Probably because it’s a place that people zoom straight past on their way to their, and often everybody else’s, favourite spot. I suggest you go right into the bays. Don’t just fish the headlands and points. We often see a gaggle of boats at Bottle Point or Nile Head and yet we go into Otu or Port Hardy and have the whole places to ourselves.

As I write the story, (on Anzac Day) I don’t think I’ve seen so many boats, in the water, at the ramp, at the gas stations. Mostly tinnies and have you noticed how the average ‘tinnie’ is now a 6m hardtop with a 150hp engine? They’re all bristling with fishing rods. Great to see everyone getting out there, and great to know that there are fish to catch. Some of the credit for the current snapper numbers can be attributed to the good work being done by TASFISH in keeping the lid on the commercial catch. The pressure from the commercial sector is on though and a battle is brewing, as the government is becoming increasingly money hungry and as we all know ‘fish equals money’!

Autumn is the new Summer

Craig Finnie with dinner Jason Terry with several dinners

After nearly three years of the tagging programme, our first Nelson tagged kingfish has be recaught.

Peter Connolly caught a 100cm kingfish in French Pass on the 01 June 2011.

It was recently recaptured

off the Otago Peninsula in a commercial fisher’s set net. According to marine scientists, it’s the southern most tagged kingfish ever caught.

It travelled 366 nautical miles in 242 days and had grown in length by seven centimetres.

StOP PReSSFirst Tagged Kingi CaughtSuccess for The Fishing Paper kingfish tagging programme.

Dedicated tagger, Peter Connolly

The fishing PaPer www.thefishingpaper.co.nz22

it Was How Big? By Darryn Palmer

It never ceases to amaze me how fishing tales can grow.

We had a call at The Fishing Paper office the from a chap who’d heard on TV about a 26lb trout being caught near Murchison. Initially he thought he’d heard it was a 26kg trout, but decided that may have been a bit too big!

Never wanting to miss a story about impressive fish I immediately phoned Lawson Davy at Fish & Game to see if he’d heard about it.

“Nope,” was his reply, but he did tell me he saw some trout at an estimated 15lbs on a drift dive survey near Murchison a couple of months ago.

“Where,” I asked casually – just hoping he’d let slip.

“In the Buller River,” was his very quick answer.Damn, you can’t say I didn’t try!Back on the trail of the reported massive fish,

a quick search of TV news archives and I found what I was looking for.

But it was a little different to a 26-pounder being caught at Murchison.

It was actually a TVNZ Close-up story about a man who’d waited 11-years to receive his trophy trout, which he‘d sent to the taxidermist for mounting. It was, in fact, a 6.3 kilo or 14-pound trout, which was caught in the Kawarau River near Queenstown.

Not quite Murchison and not quite a 26-pounder, but a good story never-the-less.

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Ph 03 544 7020 Fax 03 544 7040

www.thefishingpaper.co.nzEditor

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ContributorsDaryl Crimp

Darryn PalmerAli KennardPoppa Mike

Ron PrestageKim Swan

Dave DuncanEmily Arthur

Gary PantlingMark Roden

Malcolm HalsteadDave DixonPeter HarkerIvan Wilson

Kevin BannanMark Wills

Lawson DaveyRon Stuart

Renee RoeskeJim MikozPhil Cairns

Mike Walker Juan van den Berg

Lee DixonPete Walsh

Justin HobbsRafael SixtusIan Martella

Ashley NorissKirsten Mannix

Heather Baigent Imo McCarthyDanny Boulton

The Fishing Paper is published by Coastal Media Ltd. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of the staff, management or directors of Coastal Media Ltd. Unsolicited editorial, letters, photographs will only be returned if you include a stamped self addressed envelope.The Fishing Paper encorporates the Top of the South Edition and The Canterbury Edition.

FISHINGPAPER

THE

Recently I read the life story of Westport fisherman, Alf Thompson, From Fisherman to Master Mariner. This caused me to reminisce about my own fishing experiences through my life that stretches back over sixty years.

My first fishing experience was with my teenage neighbour Peter Pottinger, who went on to become a prominent New Zealand scientist. Peter took me, a lad of about eight years old, to the Orowaiti River in Westport where we caught yellow-eyed mullet, referred to in those days as ‘herrings’. I can recall asking him, “How will I know if I’ve got a fish?”

The reply, “You’ll know all right!” And sure enough that first tugging on the hand line is still in my memory today.

From then on, all my spare time seemed to revolve around fishing. From the Orowaiti Bridge every day of the school holidays and at the creeks where we caught ‘mountain trout’, which must have been adult whitebait and eels. The next step was chasing kahawai from the Buller Bridge, where we’d float a boat shaped board on a thick cotton line from the bridge in central river, down towards the sea in the current. When the 100m or so of line was all out, we’d pull it back as fast as we could and catch kahawai on a lure attached to the ‘boat’ with a length of nylon. Huge shoals of big kahawai used to swim well up the river at high tide in those days.

Surfcasting from the tiphead of the Buller River was the next big thing. This was in the heyday of surfcasting, when a common sight in Westport was a fisherman biking home from the tiphead, with the tail of a big snapper poking out from the top of a sugar bag on his back, Rangoon cane rods tied

to his bike. My first big snapper was caught at the tiphead. Then my surfcasting mentor Geoff White introduced me to beach surfcasting.

My rods progressed from Rangoon cane through to fibreglass and a regular catch was five or six 15lb snapper in a session. At the end of this period, my brother-in-law Cliff Smith, built a sea going jet boat and my boat fishing began, with some big catches of snapper and gurnard, once we had crossed the treacherous Buller River bar.

A move to Little River in Canterbury saw the local trout and perch populations take a hit. Surfcasting at Birdlings Flat and trips back to the West Coast every Christmas holidays carried on until my move to Nelson. While living on Banks Peninsula we regularly caught moki and butterfish, netting in Peraki Bay with friends.

In Nelson, Rabbit Island in those days, was the place to catch snapper and for a few years provided all the fish I wanted, as the catch limit for snapper was 30 per person per day! As surfcasting catches declined I moved more into boat fishing using a 10ft dinghy and Seagull outboard to keep the supply of fish up.

My fishing friends and I upgraded our boats as we could afford to and quality craft allowed us to expand our fishing horizons to d’Urville Island and the Marlborough Sounds. Today I still enjoy my surfcasting on the West Coast and around Nelson, but most of my fishing is now done close to home in Tasman Bay.

Unfortunately in my youth the concept of conservation was not understood. We just thought things would go on forever the way they were. How wrong we were and what a lot of damage we did!

From Sinker to Smoker By Ron Prestage

The Good Old Bad Old Days!

A snap from the good old, bad old days!

23www.thefishingpaper.co.nz The fishing PaPer

On April 01 the catch limit for commercial fishers in the Gisborne rock lobster fishery increased, while the limit in Otago decreased.

James Stevenson-Wallace, MAF’s Director for Fisheries Management, said the catch limit changes were based on careful consideration of the best available scientific and management information, as well as submissions from customary, recreational and commercial fishers and the public. For the rock lobster fishery in the Gisborne area (which MAF calls CRA3), the total commercial catch limit increased from 293 tonnes to 322.3 tonnes. This increase is possible because scientific work indicates there are more rock lobsters in the fishery.

In Otago (CRA 7) the total commercial catch limit decreased from 95.7 tonnes to 83.9 tonnes. The non-commercial allowances are unchanged.

“The CRA 7 Industry Association is supportive of the reduction and committed to building a stable fishery,” said Mr Stevenson-Wallace.

The CRA 7 fishery is currently going through a period of cyclic decline. The management tool being used is expected to provide a mechanism to rebuild the fishery.

New Zealand Rock Lobster Industry Council Executive Officer, Daryl Sykes, said the Minister of Primary Industries, David Carter, had confirmed a number of rock lobster fisheries management decisions that will find favour with all commercial fishing interests.

“Decisions based on good science are credible and easily understood. We are very supportive of the Minister’s decisions in that they vindicate ongoing joint Government and industry investments in world-leading stock assessment research and the further refinement of robust management procedure evaluations.”

Mr Sykes says that since 1997, rock lobster stocks in New Zealand have responded well to interventions generated by the operation of management procedures, and the TAC adjustments announced by the Minister for the 2012/13 season and beyond will consolidate the role of science in guiding decision-making.

PO Box 175, Nelson - 137 Vickerman StreetPh 03 548 0711 - Fax 03 548 0783email: cscott@scallop.co.nz

Representing your fishing interests and property rights

Rock Lobster Catch Limit Changes Find Favour

The fishing PaPer24 www.thefishingpaper.co.nz

Coastlines By Ivan Wilson

Spotties for Miles!By Imo McCarthy

Here is Miles McCarthy and his first big spotty. He went, with brother Jack, on Grandad’s boat to Okiwi Bay, where they got scallops and then fished near the mussel raft. The catch included tarakihi, cod and snapper but they learnt they could only keep the big spotties because the others were too small. Spotty fillets for tea that night.

It was a day of soft takes, following a rather unconventional Christmas, with daughter and son-in law’s baby deciding to stage an early breakout on the twenty-second of December, which meant trips to Christchurch for all.

Then one of the relatives turned up after we got home. Uncle Murphy, from my wife’s side of the family, shuffled up the drive as we got out of the car. There he was, a grin all over his Irish face. Of course whenever he appears, we are also visited by trouble and inconvenience.

I’d not followed my own rule, and failed to slip the fishing rod back into its case. Yeah you guessed it, Murphy’s Law prevailed and for the second time in my life I turned a rod into a three piece, shutting the rod in the hatch of the car.

I got a lot less than expected from the insurance, but there’s always another rod in the shed, so now it was time to fish. I

arrived to a flat lake and launched just after 7.00am, buzzing across to a reach that usually fishes well - there were fins out of the water around the edges so the pheasant tail worked.

Stealthy stalking brought a couple of soft takes from feeding fish. They then began to ignore the nymph, so time to ring the changes with a battered old Hamills Killer.

More soft takes – they tried harder once they realised they were hooked though!

The overcast conditions thinned, winds freshened and it became hard to see through the ripples, but the sun snuck back out and it began to warm. It was a better light for stalking and drifting the shoreline in the wind, great conditions!

The only thing that stuck in my craw was DoC’s ugly swathes of poisoned willow trees, with waters around the margins a mess of fallen dead branches. The willows are not endemic to Aotearoa, so according

to DoC they have to go. However, they are part of my heritage and life experience, look good and provide food and shelter for a range of fish and fowl. Over-hanging willows provide great habitat for trout, but of course, they are introduced and probably don’t belong here either!

It was a useful device to drift down the south westerly, dropping flies into likely spots, or to fish that were actually spotted. But I was not alone.

The lake reverberated with the throaty growls of huge marine motors as people were towed behind boats – yahooing to prove they were having a good time.

Five fish ended up in the Osprey to be quickly released, I took the fly out of the mouth of a couple of others and watched a number choose to ignore the offering with finny derision. Plenty of interest and satisfaction on a day of soft takes.

The massive moon disappeared over the mountains in the west as the sun edged up over the hills to the east. Cable Bay was picture perfect and with no wind it was like a sheet of glass.

It was mid tide as we paddled about a kilometre out to a depth of around 70ft.

The first snapper was in the kayak before I had baited up my second rod and by 8.30am I had five decent snapper along with a good sized gurnard on the stringer, tucked away in the thermo storage behind me.

A chilly breeze came up and stayed with us for about an hour, but we sat it out, continuing to fish. We’d been on the water about two and a half hours when my rod bent to the butt and line peeled from the reel. For 10 minutes the beast fought and took line. I tried to fight back, but it was a losing battle, then abruptly it stopped, the line went ping and I’d been broken off. After a few choice words I re-

rigged and baited up for another go, with no idea what had taken my rig, but knew it was a big boy!

Within five minutes there was a repeat performance, but this time the fish let go and I got my rig back. It was a homemade rig on a 40lb wire trace with twin No 7 Wasabi hooks and a single 1oz lead, on 20lb braid. I baited up with a whole baby squid and dropped it over the side for yet another go. As it sank to the bottom, I baited my second rod. Minutes later I noticed a small ’tap tap’ on the tip of the rod. I grabbed it, but didn’t strike, waiting for another tap, then bam, I struck.

Again the line flew from my reel as I held on for dear life trying to claw some back. The butt was bending in my hands, I thought it was going to snap, but managed to regain control and pull the baby home.

I grabbed a glimpse of colour coming toward my kayak and knew this was going to be ‘the one.’ My heart pounded,

adrenaline pumped as my kayaking pals stopped what they were doing to see what all the commotion was about.

There was no way this baby was getting away. I had to get it to the kayak and onto my lap quickly. I gaffed it and hauled it home. While I was trying to dispatch it on my lap the tail swung round and smashed my Humminbird sounder straight off its holder. I’d never had anything this size in the kayak before and it was a major battle to get it strung then in the back without me falling out of the kayak.

I recovered and managed to proudly paddle back to shore with a smiling snapper face poking out of the thermal cover in the back well of my kayak.

Big smiles and gaping jaws decorated my fishing buddies faces too, but weighing in at 9.91kg and measuring 870mm in length I had the biggest grin of all!

A Big One For The Cabinet of MemoriesBy Gary Pantling

Yakking with Kathy Gary

Dawnbreaker

Fishing Club

Story

25www.thefishingpaper.co.nz The fishing PaPer

PrOdUCT PreVieW

There are times in competitions when fish seem to just disappear. That was the case at the recent Trans-Tasman Championship and NZ

Nationals at Lake Rotokohatu in Christchurch.Questions over weather conditions were

discounted, which only left angling pressure as the reason for a lack of fish. With 40 anglers fishing around the lake for six days out of eight, most fish backed off.

Numerous ‘blanks’ were recorded throughout the four major matches, with fish activity much lower than normally seen at the time of year.

A few days before the tournament, a practice match was held, which provided the first indication fishing was going to be hard. I chose not to fish the practice session, and instead spent a couple of hours walking around the lake watching others fish. Two Australian anglers were doing much better than everyone else and interestingly, these were a couple of guys who’d probably not consider themselves to be first on the team score sheet!

My philosophy is, we can learn from anyone, so I spoke to them and looked closely at their rigs and what they were doing. Despite their technique

being basic, it seemed they were achieving a level of bait presentation and bite detection, not possible with the more delicate rigs we normally use, so I modified mine to incorporate some of their elements. I’m convinced this enabled me to see tiny bites that others were missing.

I then reviewed how to introduce bait and groundbait into the swim, to hold fish there.

I made sure my groundbait was darkly coloured to match the lakebed, giving fish the confidence to swim over it. I also decided to concentrate my bait particles, corn and maggots, into a small area, so I knew where the fish were likely to be.

I put a small amount of feed inside each ball of groundbait, squeezing it hard to get it down to the bottom in a tight cluster, which is very important when fishing depths of 14-15ft.

Finally, I worked hard to try every option during the match. It’s easy to just do the same old thing, or get mesmerised by one particular method. I tried to remain aware of when fish indications slowed and then responded, by changing something, whether it was the bait, or shotting pattern, or depth, or trying further out, or in, or to the side.

I’ve written many times about when I’ve failed to switch methods soon enough, but this time I feel I managed to ring in the changes better than ever before.

Coarse Fishing By Dave Dixon

Watch and Learn

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Zac attack By Heather Baigent

Life can be an ordeal when you are nine-months-old but Zac Walker is not one to give up the fight without a snooze. Fishing with his mum and dad down the Sounds in late February, Zac set his sights high and settled in for the duration.

Many wait a lifetime for a twenty-pound snapper and not all succeed, but Zac decided there was no point waiting around for milestones and snagged that dream fish on the first outing. At 21lb it was heavier and longer than the little man, but what the hell … he’s got time to grow into it!

The fishing PaPer www.thefishingpaper.co.nz26

4 medium snapper fillets; skin on and cut in two½ packet of dried spaghetti1 red capsicum de-seeded and finely diced8-10 large anchovy fillets roughly chopped1tbsp capers2-3 tbsp olive oil15 - 25g butter

Cook spaghetti as per instructions on packet and drain.Heat oil in a frying pan over a high heat and

melt in butter until turns nutty brown. Turn heat back a bit to stop from burning and pan-sear fillets in batches, flesh side first until coloured. Flip over and sear skin side until crispy. Remove to a warmer.Once all fillets have been cooked, add anchovies, capsicum and capers to the pan, frying lightly.Toss in spaghetti and combine ingredients using tongs, until spaghetti is nicely coated and heated through.Serve with crispy snapper fillets on top.

Crispy Pan-seared Snapper with Mediterranean Tossed Spaghetti

This is a robust and hearty soup ideal for cold winter evenings. If harvesting your own cockles, soak overnight in cold seawater to which half-a-cup of oatmeal has been stirred. The cockles will spit out any sand and in turn, cook up plump and juicy. To cook, simply cover the base of a saucepan in 2cm of water, bring to the boil, add cockles, place lid on and steam until opened. Don’t discard those that are only partially opened, as they are fine. Strain and reserve the liquor, to be added to the soup stock later.

50g butter2 small leeks, white part only3 medium potatoes sliced thinly1.5 litres fish or chicken stock100ml cream1-2 cups cooked cocklesSalt & pepper to season

Cut leeks into thin rounds and gently sweat until soft in half the

melted butter. Add to stock and bring to simmer.Sweat potatoes in remaining butter until soft. Add to stock and season to taste. Continue simmering until potatoes and leeks are well cooked. Add to a blender and process until smooth; strain through a sieve and return to the heat. Stir in cream and bring to a gentle simmer without boiling.Remove from heat and add cockles, standing for five minutes before serving to let cockles warm through.

Leek & Cockle Soup

The fishing PaPer 27www.thefishingpaper.co.nz

From Westport: Greymouth +05 minutes Hokitika +10 minutes Karamea +35 minutes Whanganui inlet -1 hour 05 minutes

From Nelson: Picton is -47 minutes on the high tides and -1 hour 19 minutes on the low tide elaine Bay -35 minutes Stephens island -30 minutes Collingwood -25 minutes Croisilles Harbour -18 minutes on the high tides and -02 minutes on the low tides

From Akaroa: Kaikoura +1 hour 08 minutes on the high tides and +1 hour on the low tides Lyttelton +43 minutes on the high tides and +42 minutes on the low tides Moeraki -1 hour 08 minutes on the high tides and -35 minutes on the low tides

FiSHiNG WiTH CriMPY

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Tidal data supplied by OceanFun Publishing Ltd www.ofu.co.nz Note: Tides in chronological order. Lower daily depth = low tides. Higher daily depth = high tides.

To find out what’s hot and what’s not and whose rod has a in it.

Join Crimpy and Darryn for fishing mayhem, madness and much more!

Long time Fish & Game Councillor and Ranger Bob Stanton, prepared for opening weekend by collecting acorns. Does he have a pet squirrel? No – he knows that ducks love acorns so was ‘feeding out’ the pond he shoots.

Bob is a well known hunter in Canterbury. He was encouraged to become a member of the Council more than 10 years ago by his shooting club, who felt there should be more hunter representation. Since then he has not looked back; getting involved with a number of great initiatives and being one of Fish & Game’s most reliable volunteers.

One initiative he kicked off was the Young Hunter Programme. Knowing that many youngsters don’t have the chance to learn how to shoot, he started a programme at St Bede’s College with fellow hunter and teacher Jim O’ Carroll. Since then he has expanded the programme to include Shirley Boys and Papanui High School. Here the

boys learn how to use firearms safely, identify game birds, practice target shooting and generally pick up lots of tips that will help them get into the sport. They end the programme by going on a shoot with experienced hunters.

Bob is supported in his Young Hunter Programme by a crew from the North Canterbury Game Shooters including Leighton Diggs and Donny Swift. The NZ Hand Loaders Association also helps out by

letting the young hunters use their range at McLean’s Island Road.

Bob has also been involved with setting up a programme to breed and release pheasants into the Waimakariri Regional Park. This has also meant trapping wild cats that predate on these birds. Next he has his eyes on chuckar, an upland game bird currently unable to be hunted in North Canterbury due to low population numbers.

In touCHwith north Canterbury

By Emily Arthur

Hunter Profile – Councillor Bob Stanton

The Marlborough Sounds is a unique and nationally significant ecosystem that is now under threat from concentrated fish feeding farms, also known as marine piggeries and salmon farms.

NZ King Salmon has made application for eight new salmon farms, almost doubling the current number of farms in the Sounds. This could have devastating effects on our iconic waterways, robbing us of the simple things we have come to enjoy like boating, fishing, picnics or a walk along the beach. Some of the proposed farm sites are adjacent to or encroach on the habitats of the Hector's dolphin and the NZ king shag – endemic species that are classified as ‘nationally endangered’.

A local fisherman was reported in the Marlborough Express newspaper as saying he knew salmon farms were noisy, smelly, and busy, with lots of people and service boats coming and going. On

top of the constant drone of a generator, there was the rattle of pellets at feeding times and a smell of ammonia, possibly due to heavy fouling by seagulls. They feared winds would push waste, which smelt like rotten eggs, onto the beach, along with discarded rubbish.

These proposals are also looking at changing the district plan to enable overseas ownership of public water space and they will get it for free - something we should all be very concerned about.

The King Salmon proposal, supported by the Government, will circulate the equivalent waste of over half-a-million people into the Sounds. Think about it, 500,000 people defecating in our marine back yard. This will load the system with nitrogen, creating harmful algae blooms known as HAB’s. These can collapse a marine ecosystem, leading to a dead zone. We already have two dead zones in NZ: one at Big Glory Bay that is partially

caused by the salmon farm. Is that a concern? Yes,

because it means the Sounds, as you know it, will be no more. A collapsed system means less fish, less scallops, less marine mammals, less birdlife - you name it, it will be gone.

For more information go to www.sustainoursounds.org.nz and to see the devastating effects of nutrient/nitrogen overload go to www.latimes.com/oceans

VieWPOintBy Danny Boulton

Marine Piggeries Threaten Sounds

SudokuANSWERS

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TIDES OF CHANGE By Poppa Mike

Alexander and his Jollies When the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in

April 1912 with the loss of 1,519 lives, there were only 705 survivors. Most were women and children in lifeboats. Other than one or two crewmen per lifeboat, all other men were refused a place. A few men did survive the cold waters, but most died quickly as the ship sank in the icy conditions. What most would not have known, is that this custom of the sea of ‘women and children first’ came about because of Colonel Alexander Seton, 60 years earlier.

Colonel Seton was a 37-year-old Scot in command of more than 200 men of the Sixth Foot Regiment, nicknamed the Jollies, on board the iron paddle steamer Birkenhead heading for Eastern Cape, South Africa. Through a navigational error, Birkenhead hit the rocks of Danger Point. While the crew tried to save the situation, three lifeboats were launched carrying off all the women and children. Colonel Seton assembled his men on the deck and gave those who could swim permission to jump overboard, an ‘everyman for himself’ situation knowing there were not enough lifeboats left for his men. When a large number, far more than he anticipated, rushed for the rails he quickly stopped them with the famous words, “Stand fast I beg you. Do not rush the boats carrying the women and children. You will swamp them.”

Only three men disobeyed his orders and dived overboard. The rest held their ranks until minutes later Birkenhead broke up and sank. More than four hundred men drowned, including the entire Sixth Foot Regiment. All

the women and children who got away in the Birkenhead lifeboats were eventually rescued.

News of the ‘women and children first’ bravery of Colonel Alexander Seton and his Jollies soon spread and their selfless heroism gained much public recognition, and soon became known world-wide as the ‘Birkenhead drill’.

Rudyard Kipling celebrated this in a poem headed ‘ Soldier an’ Sailor Too’.

To take your chance in the thick of a rush,

With firing all about,

Is nothing so bad when you’ve cover to ‘and,

An’ leave an’ likin’ to shout;

But to stand an’ be still to the Birken’ead drill

Is a damn tough bullet to chew,

An’ they done it, the Jollies –

‘Er Majesty’s Jollies –

Soldier an’ sailor too!

One of Titanic’s lifeboats

What an Utter Waste! By Mark Wills

It was a perfect morning for fishing, no wind in the forecast and only slight cloud cover.

Brett and I loaded the rods and a chilly bin, then set off down to Dieffenbach Point to catch a feed of fish for tea. All we had to do was go to the GPS mark and drop our lines. As soon as they hit the bottom it was thump thump, the cod started to bite. The fishing was constant for about two hours, before the tide went slack and turned.

We landed a total of twenty five cod to get just four inside the new slot rule. We threw back three smaller fish, as well as 18 over the 35 millimetre slot.

Of those we returned, shags got twelve. They couldn’t swallow three of the larger ones, but managed to kill them anyway. What a bloody waste! Of the seven other big cod, only four looked healthy enough to survive, as they swam back down towards the bottom. Unbelievable, a complete and utter waste!

We then fished out deeper chasing sea perch, so at least we had enough fish to feed the whole family.

I filleted the cod at home, and I didn’t waste much, getting an average of 140 grams of flesh from each cod. This per fisher, equated to 280 grams, not enough to feed a family. Yet one of the fish that was over the slot, would have easily given us more flesh than two in the slot. We all know that the ministry has made a major stuff up. When will they change this before they ruin a strong fishery?

Anyway, once we got cleaned up it was time for a beer and to prepare tea. The fish was dusted in flour popped into tempura batter, with grated lemon rind added, then deep fried. It was served with mash with a dusting of parmesan cheese and peas on the side. For a sauce, I added lemon juice and sweet chilli to tartare sauce. This was all washed down with a lighty chilled buttery chardonnay.