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ENJOY FISHING? SUBSCRIBE TO NZ FISHER E-MAGAZINE! If you love fishing you'll love NZ Fisher e-Magazine, the fresh new digital mag for Kiwi fishing enthusiasts... and it's free! Packed full of tips, ideas and stories to see you through to your next fishing outing, you'll land a shiny new issue direct in your email inbox every four weeks!
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www.nzfisher.co.nz 1
ISSUE 8 May 2011
// The new Ocean Kayak Prowler 4.3 NZFisher scores gold at NZACA Nationals//
The Landbased Pilgrimage - Lottin or bust//
www.nzfisher.co.nz
2 www.nzfisher.co.nz
THE RUM THAT INVENTED RUM
www.mountgayrum.com Enjoy the adventure, drink responsibly
www.nzfisher.co.nz 3
Pg 20
6
16
GAMEFISHING
6 Landbased Game – The East
Cape Mecca Pilgrimage
SPORTFISHING
10 The NZACA Nationals 2011
KAYAKFISHING
16 Ocean Kayak Ultra 4.3 makes
a splash at the Boat show
BOATFISHING
18 The NZFisher competition
winners report
20 How to win a National Championship
22 Fishing Video of the Month
23 Competition
THE CLUBHOUSE
24 The NZFisher Club est. 2011
26 Regional ReportsPg 10
CONTENTS
4 www.nzfisher.co.nz
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Take your mates fishing for less than $4 each‡!
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This is a GREEN MAG, created and distrib-uted without the use of paper so it's envi-ronmentally friendly. Please think before
you print. Thank you!
April And MAy are the end of the
Game Season and the beginning of my
favourite fishing months of the year. It was
May last year that I wrote what became
the headline article for NZFisher’s’ first
issue. May, June and July present the
best and worst of fishing in NZ. The best
because it’s when the big players turn
up across most of our bread and butter
species; Kingfish on deep reefs, Snapper
in the shallows, Hapuka and Bass come
in close (well, closer) and for those really
hardy anglers Broadbill spearfish.
I was born on the shore and there is
nothing that excites me more than the
accelerating of a clicker as a big snapper
takes a big bait that’s been soaking in
amongst the kelp on a rocky shore. That
hit of adrenaline out of no-where hooks me
every time. It might not even happen every
trip – hell it might not happen every four
trips! But when it does, ye-gods I forgive
myself the early starts, the frozen hands,
the wet feet and even the sore shoulders
from lumping in 40kgs of bait and burley.
I have two fishing friends that are 20lb
virgins; one has never caught one and the
other never from the shore. This winter
we’re pretty determined to break the
duck and nail them one each. I can feel
the cold seeping in already!
The big talking point this week has been
the Hutchwilco Boatshow held at Auckland
Show grounds. I’m always impressed
at the breadth of the marine industry in
New Zealand. The products, innovations
and great ideas could keep you busy for
a week. I took some time to check out
the Q-Sub, damn cool, but not much of a
fishing platform! My one year old, Oscar
was completely enamoured with the Ocean
Kayaks, especially the new Prowler Ultra
4.3 – or maybe that was just because of the
bright yellow hull and free stickers he was
given there. Either way I’m keen to paddle it
soon and see if it’s really up to all the hype.
The NZRFC is holding their 2011 annual
conference in New Plymouth on the 1st
and 2nd July. It’s shaping up to be an
important event where a number of the
big issues facing the recreational fishing
fraternity will have an opportunity to be
discussed, argued over and perhaps,
reconciled. What we’re really missing
here is some open, free discussion on
our future. Too many times we hold our
tongues for fear of offending or being
labelled one way or the other.
What I do know is that I don’t know what
is best. What I want to know is if all those
out there with their stakes in the ground
can be strong enough to pick them up, toss
them aside and meet to look for a winning
strategy, not another excuse to try and build
bigger walls, we will find a useful solution.
Anyway, for the short term I’m working
hard in the garden to earn some brownie
points for the first big fish mission next
week. Bring on the moochers!
ABOUT /
Short and sharp, NZ Fisher is
a free e-magazine delivering
thought provoking and en-
lightening articles, and indus-
try news and information to
forward-thinking fisher people.
EDITOR / Derrick Paull
ART DIRECTOR / Jodi Olsson
GROUP EDITOR / Trudi Caffell
CONTENT ENQUIRIES /
Phone Derrick on 021 629 327
or email
derrickp@NZ Fisher.co.nz
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES /
Phone Richard on 09 522 7257
or email
ADDRESS / NZ Fisher,
C/- Espire Media, PO Box 137162,
Parnell,Auckland 1151, NZ
WEBSITE / www.NZ Fisher.co.nz
//From the
EDITOR
Happy Fishing! Derrick
Cover Image: Peter Michael
taken by Aileen Michael
6 www.nzfisher.co.nz
Landbased Game – The East Cape Mecca Pilgrimage
gameFISHING
Words and picutres by Forsyth Thompson
For lBG FisHerMen there are a
few places in New Zealand which have
assumed true legend status like East
Cape has.
A while back in the Walk About forum on
fishing.net.nz someone posted a question
as to where you’d most like to fish land
based. Unsurprisingly Maria van Diemen
and Great Barrier featured heavily, along
of course, with the East Cape. So when
I got an invitation to join the boys from
NZLBG down at Cape Runaway for a few
days over Easter there was no way I was
turning that down (thanks to Ben Hall for
that). Considering it was Easter, it sure
pays to have an understanding wife!
With me came Andrew, my keen mate
(some of you will have seen him in Issue
6 with an enormous grin and a pretty big
snapper too!), who was looking for some
more PBs. Every time he’s come fishing
with me in the last 18 months he’s got
a PB of some sort, so the bar has been
set pretty high but with all the legendary
kingfish of East Cape just waiting to throw
themselves at us, we were both pretty
confident. I’ve not had a land based PB
in quite a while now (needing to beat
21lb for snapper and 21kg for a king) but
I thought this was going to be my time.
Turns out one of us was right…
Launching’s a cinch when the weather gods play along
www.nzfisher.co.nz 7
gameFISHING
The 2 days before we left I was flat out
at work but somehow managed to find
time to check the swell and weather
forecast about every 15 minutes! We left
on Weds evening to drive down, ready
for a full day Thursday and got there to
some not very exciting news: just one
king, weighing in at just 14kg had been
landed in the previous 5 days, with some
pretty experienced fishos putting in some
serious time swimming liveys.
Clearly we weren’t going to be put off
by that so we headed off the following
morning in the trusty Baby Stabi for
a beach launch at Lottin , destination
Medway. As we drove the boat round
Lottin point and headed east we were
greeted by ledge after ledge, deep
water and some of the fishiest country
you could ever hope to see. I’d never
seen this part of the country first-hand
and it was even better than I’d thought,
the sounder showing 30+m right off
the ledge and some nice white wash
everywhere.
So, boat unloaded, berley in and pillies
straight in to get our livebaits. And it was
all on: a couple of kahawai came straight
in and went straight out, then a rod
bent over a long way without the classic
thumps of a snapper. Sure enough, the
first of what was to be a huge number
of rat kings was landed followed by a
succession of kahawai and snapper, both
in the 2-3kg range. And the day pretty
much stayed like that nonstop, but for a
mid-tide lull.
Several kings were landed over 75cm
but nothing worth keeping and certainly
nothing like what we’d come there for.
But the action had been great and we’d
all had as many snapper as you could
want in a day, even if there were no
bigger models to be seen. Getting back
to the house that night, it turned out
we’d had the best of the fishing by some
margin, with no big kings even sighted.
The next day we moved up the coast
a bit further, putting the Stabi in at the
river mouth in Waihau Bay and heading
back round Cape Runaway for some
more new country to me. The wind had
picked up from the NE and coming round
the Cape was a little bit “interesting”
in a 3.49m boat. Not as interesting as
landing on “the fingers” was, the writer
very nearly ending up in the drink, but
all went ok in the end (alloy props are
made for collecting dings as all good
LBG fishos know). This was going to be
a different day and we struggled even to
find a kahawai in the berley.
Turned out that was because they were all a
bit further off the point but once we found
them we had liveys out for all 3 of us. The
snapper were much smaller than the day
before and fewer but the kahawai were
constant all day, Andrew nailing a land-based
PB at a creditable 3.44kg and plenty of other
good sized ones joining it in the livey pool.
Another trip, another PB for him…
As with the day before there were rat
kings everywhere but again no bigger
Andrew Evans with the winning Snapper
8 www.nzfisher.co.nz
ones. So Andrew switched to a 6kg set
with a tiny popper (maybe 70mm long!)
and started popping horse kahawai which
was tremendous fun for him and for Ben &
I to watch. Certainly it got heaps of action
going in the water which we hoped might
get the bigger kings coming but just the
small ones kept coming, a couple around
10kg in the berley and a few just legal
ones landed but that was our lot.
Right on the end of the day when my
livey had started doing backstroke,
we saw a good 15-20kg king come
through right at our feet. It sniffed Ben’s
popper about 1m off the rocks and then
studiously ignored the fresh livey I put
out as well as the other 2. And that was
it for the day, the light just about gone as
we got back to the beach at Waihau Bay.
As this is a fishing report I won’t go into
details about the pub at Waihau except
to say that if you want a great night out
and some awesome local hospitality,
make sure you go!
Back to Medway for day 3, we figured,
so headed down to Lottin again and
back round to the same spot as the first
day. Again, there were kahawai there
immediately and out went the liveys. I’d
just put my rod down when the sight of a
big green back and a yellow tail coming
out of the water got my adrenaline going
hard out! The livey was a good 2.5kg fish
so as the balloon was popped straight off
with no messing, I knew this was no rat.
Out ran line, the TLD25 making that
great sound and then the line went slack.
Really slack. Winding furiously, I realised
the fish had turned and come straight
back to the ledge and before I had even
had a fight, there it was, literally at my
feet with 4 of its fat mates, swivel at the
rod tip and no gaff in sight. Before one
of the boys could get there the 11/0
hook pulled (how I’ll never know) and I
watched it swim away. Hooked and got
to the ledge; if we’d had a gaffman there
it would have been all over in less than
60 seconds. Well, it was all over in 60
seconds, just not the result we wanted.
To say I managed some choice language
would be an understatement. After 3
liveys all day for 2 days, to lose the first
strike at the rocks wasn’t what I was
hoping for! The boys both had their
liveys out and within a minute I had
another one out too. No more than 5
minutes later it looked like Andrew was
about to get his first taste of landbased
kings but the good looking fish swam
straight past his livey without stopping.
More cursing ensued, but only for a
matter of seconds as it monstered Ben’s
livey and set off full speed for
the Ranfurly’s!
What followed was a great fight, the fish
taking lots of line in huge runs and not
showing any signs of giving in right up
until Andrew hit it with a great gaff shot,
first time ever off the rocks and right in
behind the gill plate. And there we had
it, a great solid looking fish and our first
good one from the East Cape. 2 days
of livey-swimming disappointment was
forgotten and we weren’t even an hour
into the day!
The weather wasn’t getting any better
though, and the swell picked up along
with some really good squally showers
to keep us honest. The snapper fishing
was slower than the first day, but then
Andrew hooked up solid and landed a
4.5kg fish, his new PB off the rocks and
his second land-based PB in 24 hrs. The
tradition continued!
The day continued much like the first,
rats, pannies and kahawai in abundance
but the good kings had put in their single
appearance for the day. Turns out they
didn’t disappear completely, Scott from
NZLBGC nailing a really long fish that only
stayed under 30kg (27.4kg) by virtue of
being so lean. And Rob with a 20kg fish
that was the fattest king any of us had
ever seen, genuinely shaped like a tuna!
So Andrew and I had some serious
Benjamin Hall with the best king of the trip at 19.4kggameFISHING
www.nzfisher.co.nz 9
work to do on the last day to try to
get the kings we’d come for, and
having picked a mate up off Lottin
on the way home the night before
(saving him the walk out), his story of
an est. 25 kg landed and 3 or 4 other
bigger ones seen, we knew where we
were going to spend our last day!
At the furthest part of Lottin the water
was a fantastic blue and the current
was pumping around the point, surely
the kings were going to be there?? Out
came another livey set and we swam
4 liveys all day. Unfortunately that’s
all they did: swim! But we had plenty
of snapper to keep us busy, several in
the 3-4+kg range and plenty of others
but that was it. So, with weigh-in for
the Waihau Bay comp looming, Ben
& Andrew shot off to weigh their fish
while I stayed on in case the kings
turned up. Which they didn’t, so I
amused myself catching snapper after
snapper, the best of which went 4.2kg.
The boys came back and we kept on
catching snapper and waiting for the
big kings to show up. As the light faded
we had no choice but to accept that it
wasn’t going to happen and we packed
the Stabi for the last time on the trip
just giving ourselves enough time to
make the prize giving and dinner at the
justifiably-famous Waihau Bay Club.
Andrew, fishing the Open section, not
the landbased one (there’s confidence
for you!) took out both heaviest kahawai
and heaviest snapper – 2 PBs, 2 wins
and his first ever in a comp. Fair to
say he was pleased! Ben, Scott and
Rob all won prizes too taking out
landbased and kingi sections, all up
the landbased boys cleaned up. Just
shows, the rocks are where it’s at!
So we didn’t get the kings we
spent the entire journey there and
back talking about but we did have
some tremendous fishing, a lot of
fun and some great laughs and
more than enough fish for us and
the families when we got home.
Big thanks to the nZlBGC boys
for putting on a great trip, to
the Waihau Bay Fishing Club for
amazing hospitality and possibly the
best fishing comp dinner ever.
If you’re ever thinking about a land
based trip to E Cape, my advice would
be this: a) Do it, stop thinking about
it; b) no, really, just go; and c) get in
touch with Jim & Sally Kemp and stay at
Haywards Farm, you’ll be glad you did!
Andrew with his winning 3.44kg Kahawai -
another Personal Best for the Babi-Stabi
gameFISHING
www.nzfisher.co.nz 11
i AM A MeMBer of quite a few fishing
clubs. It’s not an obsession, but I like
to support the clubs that support me
and NZFisher.
Two of these clubs are the North Shore
Surfcasting Club and the Hibiscus Kayak
fishing Club and as it turns out these
two were the hosts of the 2011 New
Zealand Angling & Casting Association
Nationals (I’ve been accused of being
quite a strong influence on this decision,
but I cannot comment!) and I was on the
organising committee.
It’s been a goal of mine to run nationals
since about 1993 when the North Shore
committee said no to running the in ’95.
I’m not sure my mates in these clubs will
be too keen to do it again soon – but
what a blast!
We chose to host this year’s
championships from Orewa due to
its proximity to fantastic fisheries on
both coasts, both sand & rocky shore
fishing and about thirty boat ramps for
the boaties. Barry Smith, North Shore
President and Orewa Primary School
grounds man made sure the logistics were
in place and that the back of house work
allowed for a smooth running event.
The main thing we were hoping for was
good fishing and thankfully the gods were
smiling on us! The fishing was fantastic;
no real monsters, but plenty for everyone
and some truly exceptional catches in the
mix. Most notably were a 7.72kg by junior
Zachery Moxam of Fielding Surfcasting
club and an 8.25kg Kingfish by Hibiscus
KFC’s Aileen Michael – her biggest and
first King from the Yak. Aileen’s fish was
The NZACA Nationals 2011
By derrick paull
Steve Rigby - Winner
sportFISHING
NZFisher Club makes a big splash in its first outing
12 www.nzfisher.co.nz
sportFISHING
The flag raising
Peter Froggatt casting his way to First place, 200M plus takes a lot of effort!
www.nzfisher.co.nz 13
sportFISHING
the second heaviest overall, just behind
fellow Hibiscus member, Dave Brown who
weighed in an 8.46kg Snapper.
These are great fish, but the National
Championships are about more than just
one fish. To succeed at the Nationals
you need to catch a ‘bag’ of fish across a
specified number of species, maximising
points. The champs are broken down into
three divisions, Boat, Shore and for the
first time this year – Kayak.
While there’s no official ‘Over-all Fishing
Champion’ the last two years and now
2011 have seen a kayaker score the
highest out of all competitors. This year’s
Kayak champion & overall highest scorer,
Steve Rigby, is another Hibiscus local who
put his knowledge of the area to good
use & landed a very impressive ‘bag’ of
fish paddling out of Leigh Harbour. Steve’s
total points of 338 were well ahead of
second place Derrick Paulls 284.
The National Championships are about more than just one fish. To succeed at the Nationals you need to catch a ‘bag’ of fish across a specified number of species, maximising points.
14 www.nzfisher.co.nz
gameFISHING
One thing that always impresses me is the
enthusiasm & exceptional results of the
Auckland Lady Anglers club. Once again
they dominated the ladies section and
took out the Club Boat Section, ahead of
all other clubs. Not only do they fish and
cast well, but these ladies show the rest
of us smelly, boring fisho’s how to have a
good time at the prize giving too.
There were some hic-ups and there always
will be but there is no doubt the fishing,
casting & prize giving were great and
thoroughly enjoyable.
Next year’s Nationals are being hosted
by the Fielding Surfcasting Club, based
from Fielding and including enormous
boundaries including West, South
& East coasts to provide the best
opportunity for great fishing. Their
casting venue is none other than the
world famous Manfield race track with
a near perfect casting court for the
best of the best to heave their stuff.
NZFisher club will be there – we have
some trophies to defend!
The Casting Kit
www.nzfisher.co.nz 15
“If it works for the NZ Army, it’ll work for you!”
As used by the NZ Defence Force!
Ask for the Active Duty sun and bug skin defence range at selected pharmacies and retailers throughout New Zealand or order online at www.skinshield.co.nz
16 www.nzfisher.co.nz
kayakFISHING
THE ULTRA 4.3 is latest in a line of five
ocean kayak fishing kayaks manufac-
tured in New Zealand over the last 6
years. It is combination of knowledge
learnt from the above and Ocean
kayak NZ.s consistent innovation and
determination to build the ultimate
fishing kayak.
At 4.3 meters the boat retains very good
hull speed, but delivers good stability
and impressive maneuverability.
The new features include:
The click seal hatch- water proof •
front storage with locking easy ac-
cess hatch.
Adjustable foot track system – al-•
lows multiple foot positions for the
comfort of different size paddlers
Press in foam seat – comfortable •
backside support
Ocean Kayak Ultra 4.3 makes a splash Elite, Ultra and then...?
By reagan Ashton
www.nzfisher.co.nz 17
Adjustable back rest- three position •
adjustable back rest.
Molded in rod holders behind the seat.•
Hatch access behind the seat- this •
allows the battery to mounted at
the center of the boat.
Multi fit transducer scupper.•
The ultra 4.3 retains the standard
features the ocean kayak range is re-
nowned for.
Molded in inserts•
Flag holder•
Solid side handles•
Replaceable skid plate•
This boat has been designed with input
from New Zealand’s top kayak fisherman
and hull designers with the sole aim of
making the world’s best fishing kayak.
For further information on the Ultra 4.3
and the ocean kayak range go to
www.oceankayak.co.nz
kayakFISHING
18 www.nzfisher.co.nz
boatFISHING
See this article and comments online at fishing.net.nz
The NZFisher Competition Winners Report
AFTer one CAnCellATion due to
weather the trip I won via NZ Fisher (online
mag - look it up if you haven’t subscribed)
out with Carl on Epic was finally on last
Wednesday. A slightly late 4.50am start
from Rotorua meant some quick times
across the Waikato to pull into Tairua with 5
minutes to spare at 6.55.
Unfortunately the rest of the crew - Derrick
(NZ Fisher mag), Jai and Paul had been
held up as an accident was cleared off h
way 27 and were still an hour behind. No
worries though - this gave Carl time to
wander up to the bakery for some brekkie
and allowed us to put another 5 or 6 liveys
in the tank.
Once the boys arrived with arm loads
of rods and gear we were off to make it
across a slightly lumpy looking bar before it
was a no go.
Finding more liveys in the soupy looking
water inshore of Slipper proved fruitless so
the call was made and Carl headed us out to
the north of the Aldy’s. After a bit of a slow
start to the jigging and with a brand new
zest tail weighted on I finally hooked into
something with weight on my poor old ter-
minator 400 and Duel Speedy 20. lift, crank.
Lose line, lift, crank, get a bit of line back,
lose line again. and then, crack. Should
have replaced that line really aye.
No worries - this means I got to play with
Carl’s bling.
Jai the fired into life after looking a bit
green on the trip out and proceeded to
land three or four solid fish over the day in
amongst the rats. He had the magic touch
for the day and seemed to be able to do
no wrong on the jigs or liveys.
2
Shane makes the honours board too
By Shane Cameron
www.nzfisher.co.nz 19
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For more info check out the Accurate website www.accuratefishing.com
boatFISHING
which resulted in........ 1)
and a jig caught king.... 2)
Paul got in on the action too..... 3)
and after a long day the rain finally came in
and the last few drops were done in the wet
A wicked day with a skipper who went the
extra mile to find us fish and didn’t once
laugh at my spastic imitation stick-insect
jigging style. Carl had us on the go all day
and didn’t get us back into the harbour un-
til after 5. He certainly does the hard yards!
On the road just after 6 - a detour up the
Thames coast to drop some firewood to the
in-laws batch and home to collapse in bed
just after 10. Waaaay better than working!
After 2 hours in the dish washer the final
product came out looking like this:
HUGE THANKS TO DERRICK AND CARL
FOR THE DAY!! Can’t wait to do it again
sometime. (So no one else enter any of
their comps!)
1 2
32
20 www.nzfisher.co.nz
THis is My ACCounT oF reGAn And
sTeve’s nATionAls experienCe.
reGAn And i left Leigh boat ramp
early with a plan to anchor near Cape
Rodney to catch a few yellow tail for
livebaits and stray line for snapper.
We found a likely looking spot and
started fishing at about 05.15, just after
lines-down.
Straight away we started catching kaha-
wai; they were so abundant that I could
not get a bait past them, nor could I get
any yellow tail for bait.
Regan did considerably better than me
and got his limit of 5 kahawai and two
nice snapper very early, one of which
was around 4.5 kg. I landed 4 weighable
kahawai, a few blue mao mao, and a
couple of throwback snapper.
At 07.30 we pulled our anchors and
paddled out to our first deep water
spot. Upon arrival we found some good
looking sign on the sounder. Except
for a few gentle tugs and a couple of
chewed softbaits we had no good bites
though. We had stayed on our first spot
a bit too long and by now the tide had
slackened off a bit and the snapper had
stopped feeding. Undeterred we kept
trying, for another hour or so, largely
unsuccessfully apart for a large barra-
couta for me.
By about 9 am I was close to giving up
on this spot so I called Regan to tell him
that I was going to try somewhere else, he
told me that he had just caught a snapper
and was getting bites again, things were
looking up! Encouraged by this news I
paddled towards him a few metres and
found some likely looking sign. The first
drop resulted in a nice snapper of about
3kg, ok this was good.
A few minutes later my lure got hit very
aggressively on the way down by what
was obviously a better fish. After a few
long runs and big headshakes the fish
started to come up and soon enough was
on the surface. I reached for my gaff, but
realised to my horror that I had left it in
the ute, Bugger!
I could see that the fish was only hooked in
the skin of its top lip so just lifting it out of
the water was not an option, after a bit of
careful manoeuvring I managed to get my
fingers into its gills and lifted it aboard.
When I went to Iki this fish it started to thrash
around on my lap and in order not to let go
I stuck my thumb further in to get a better
hold. Bad idea! I then discovered with how
much pressure a 5 kg snapper can bite with
boatFISHING
How to win a National ChampionshipThe NZACA National Champ’s wordsBy Steve Rigby
www.nzfisher.co.nz 21
its back teeth and how much it hurts. With a
throbbing thumb I started fishing again
and caught a few smaller snapper in
the 1 to 1.5 kg range which I released (
I would regret this later) , another nice
one of about 2.5 kg and a trevally of
about 2kg.
By now we were getting fewer bites
and seeing less sign on the sounder
so we decided to move. By this time
Regan had 7 snapper and 5 kahawai on
board and I had 4 kahawai, 3 snapper
and a trevally.
We headed back towards the Leigh reef
against a pretty strong tide, progress
was slow, and about 5km/h was all I
could manage. I noticed some birds
working further out to sea so I headed
out towards them trolling a fly, while
Regan chose to paddle a more direct
route towards the reef.
Upon reaching the birds I could see
several small schools of skipjack tuna
on the surface but despite my best ef-
forts and several changes of lure I could
not tempt them to bite.
As I got nearer to Leigh Reef I started to
see more and more sign on the sounder
but despite stopping and dropping
lures down I got no bites. The tide was
so strong that each time I tried this I
drifted back quite a long way.
Eventually I reached the area which I want-
ed to fish and found a good school of fish
which looked like they might have been
kingies. I wasted no time in dropping a
200 gram jig down to them . The first drop
resulted in a hook up, it didn’t feel like a
kingie though, no strong runs just constant
weight and that tell tale nodding of the rod
tip I suspected that this was a Trevally so I
backed the drag off a bit and gently lifted
the fish up through the water.
I landed this fish which was indeed a
trevally without too much trouble and
paddled back up to the school. This time
I dropped soft bait down and it got hit on
the drop by another trevally.
Regan paddled over to me at this spot
and we did a few more drifts through
this area where I caught another trevally
and another couple of snapper one of
which was my best one of the day at 7.5
kg. Regan got another couple of snap-
per but no trevs.
We paddled around this area for a while
looking for likely kingfish sign until I
found a nice densely packed school of
baitfish with a few bigger fish around
the edges. We dropped jigs here and
caught a few rat kingies each before
calling it a day and heading home.
Paddling back was hard work with very
heavily loaded fish wells and tired arms.
We had been on the water for over 10
hours and had covered 24kms.
What a day it had been, near perfect
weather and plenty of hungry fish. We
had been fishing mainly in water that was
boatFISHING
130 to 140 feet deep and were using 1oz
jig heads to get down to the fish. Most of
the snapper were caught on 4 inch gulp
jigging grubs whereas the trevally seemed
to prefer 5 inch jerk shads.
As the weather forecast for Friday was
less than ideal, 20knot north easterlies
developing in the morning we decided
to make Friday’s trip a short one, the
plan was to try for a kingie at Leigh reef
before the wind got too strong. We left
the boat ramp at about 6.30 and as we
got to the harbour entrance the wind
was already about 15 knots. The sea was
already quite rough when we reached
the end of the reef (despite the wind and
tide being from the same direction). With
sea anchors out we were drifting along at
2.5km/h and paddling back against the
wind we only managed 3.5km/h, this was
hard work. We found little in the way of
kingfish sign, just a few bait schools. We
did catch a couple of rat kings on jigs
and one on a soft bait.
Regan and I both caught a trevally on
softbaits and I caught a kahawai and
three barely weighable snapper (I should
have kept some of the ones I released
on Thursday). Regan already had his
limit of snapper so he released the ones
he caught. By 9.30 the wind was increas-
ing and rainclouds were gathering so
we decided enough was enough and
headed home.
ED: Steve’s bag of fish weighed in
ahead of all others at the Nationals
and for the third year in a row the Hi-
biscus Kayak Fishing club topped the
tables. Well done Steve!
Steve’s bag of fish weighed in ahead of all others at the Nationals and for the third year in a row the Hibiscus Kayak Fishing club topped the tables. Well done Steve!
22 www.nzfisher.co.nz
i CAn’T sAy too much about this
month’s Fishing Video, but can confirm
no sharks were killed in the making of
this film.
Please be aware, it is a little bit bloody,
but there’s a happy ending!
See www.youtube.com/
watch?v=lnM7pB5etz8 to watch this video
For Espresso’s awesome video on catch-
ing big snapper on stupidly light line,
click here. Be sure to follow Espresso on
The Fishing Website .
Fishing Video of the Month
FISHINGvideo
www.nzfisher.co.nz 23
Our very own Jai Sanders of Hibiscus
Kayak Fishing Club had a once in a
lifetime opportunity to fish with legend-
ary Jim Sammons on Jims recent trip to
New Zealand. Yes, Jai’s an accomplished
fisho in his own right, but fishing with
Jim was an extraordinary experience.
We have secured one copy of this great
DVD to give away to a lucky NZFisher
reader, but wait – that’s not all – our
copy is even signed by Jai himself!
To win this disc, simply click here
[Hyperlink : [email protected] ]
to send an email to Editor Derrick to
enter the draw. To get a second entry,
go to our NZFisher face book page
[Hyperlink: http://www.facebook.com/
NZFisherMagazine] & tell us who you’d
really like the disc signed by!
competition
The Kayaker’s Eldorado
24 www.nzfisher.co.nz24 www.nzfisher.co.nz
THEclubhouse
As oF THe 30th May, the NZFisher club
has a total membership of 4 people.
Despite this small number, we four
managed to win two sections at the
NZACA Nationals and come second and
third in two others.
The 2011 Championships coincided with
the beginnings of the NZFisher Club and
were the perfect platform to kick start
the clubs being. An old fishing buddy of
mine teamed up with NZACA Masters
champ Scott Tindale to compete in
the men’s teams division which they
managed to pip the opposition and take
out first place.
I fished in the boat section & also
managed first place. Scott, in his capacity
as an individual also placed third in the
men’s boat section and our fourth, non-
fishing but master casting member, Neil
Angus rounded out a spectacular debut
nabbing a second placing in the hard
fought casting competition.
We began the NZFisher club with the
intention of offering a web-based club to
any anglers & casters who wish to join a
club that will probably only meet once a
year, have no finances to worry about &
will offer full access to IGFA, NZ Records,
trophies and merit awards by joining
the NZACA. As we have the intention of
receiving no funds on behalf of the club
membership is set at just $10 for an adult
– all of which is paid to the NZACA.
NZFisher has always been about
promoting fishing as a recreation in New
Zealand and the club will reflect this
desire by rewarding anglers who submit
their own personal bests and running an
annual ‘sweep’ for the best fish in the
following species; Kingfish, Snapper,
Kahawai, Blue Cod & Gurnard.
Unlike so many of our fellow clubs
we don’t have clubrooms per-se,
but you can find our ‘Clubhouse’
at www.nzfisher.co.nz/clubhouse
in a couple of months.
The plan is to get some teams together
to fish the likes of the Furuno’s, the
Nationals (Both NZACA & Sport Fishing
if they’ll let us!) and some regional
comps – I’m very keen to get on the
water nationwide!
If you’re keen to join or simply want
more info, please drop me an email at
The NZFisher Club est. 2011
The Newest champions on the block!
www.nzfisher.co.nz 25
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AnoTHer BiG Wind day followed
by three beauts – not a bad ratio.
Quite a few boats taking advantage
of nice weather inshore, predictably
far fewer further afield. Listening
to the radio most everyone on the
water sounds cheerful and happy in
their work – and why wouldn’t they
be in such glorious conditions.
doubtless Bay – Cape Karikari
Status quo. Water has cleaned
up considerably from last week’s
deluges but this doesn’t seem to
affect the fishing one iota.
Great exhibition Bay
Also very similar to last week’s
report. A distinct lack of skippies, a
very few marlin and seemingly nice
plump snapper everywhere.
Garden patch
Renewed interest and effort put into
the sword fishing there, both day and
night propositions with success at
both. Veteran angler Guy Jacobsen
has had another couple chances at
more coveted records with the last,
an unsuccessful bid on 10 kilo tackle
ended after five hours of toil.
On a more positive note, young
Bevan Beauchamp in his first year
behind the wheel of “Harlequin”
has had a cracker in every regard.
Landing more billfish than most any
other boat this year, he’s still making
the most of his somewhat limited
opportunities at this time of year.
Girlfriend Olivia Woolston
successfully boated a national record
sword of 149 kilos on 60k tackle – a
fitting catch to what may be the
conclusion of a brilliant inaugural
start – well done. Otherwise a
few marlin seen here behind lures
or feeding on saurie but more
landed. Bottom fishing has taken
an abundant turn and suddenly
become much harder after being
quite vibrant over the last couple
months. Water remains warm at 19
degrees C.
north Cape – The Hook –
Compass rose
A few skippies have turned up
around here along with nice water
but no marlin seen of late. Here,
too, bottomfishing has fallen off
quite dramatically for no apparent
reason. Back inshore, however,
snapper are biting their heads off
with some excellent quality amongst
the numbers. Also an influx of
decent trevally are testing anglers
and providing good sashimi.
Three Kings – princes Group
While koheru are still relatively easy to
come by in Norwest Bay, using them
has been far more difficult. An influx of
cold water (14-15 around the islands)
may be the damper on kingfish feeding
with difficult times of late – particularly
with anything artificial.
Middlesex Bank
After a brilliant spree which saw one
boat land five stripies over a two day
period and another manage three
out of a quadruple strike, things
have cooled (literally) considerably.
Water temp and quality plummeted
despite little or favourable
(northerly) wind. Must be the act of
sinister currents at work here which
we’ve seen so often, despite a kind
moon phase. Otherwise kingis and
bottom fish have cooperated as per
usual as have the bronzies if (when)
you outstay your welcome in any
one posse!
King Bank
Similar here. After a decent marlin
bite here only days ago, one visiting
boat could only muster two bites
and one fish for its troubles. That
fish, at 97kgs, was decidedly taking
advantage of the rich bounty there
with five whole, maximum sized
mao mao distending its stomach to
capacity! Water had dropped a full
degree (obviously still good enough)
with a decidedly green tinge to it.
Kingis and bass still keen to make up
the difference.
newsflash
On Wednesday afternoon May 11th
charter boat “Enchanter” while
passing North Cape enrooted to the
Three Kings made an unexpected
but spectacular catch. Mt
Maunganui angler Mike Holdaway
landed an All Tackle World Record
claim shortbill spearfish landed in
a mere 130m water in less than
outstanding water quality the
38.75kg fish surprised everyone.
After being weighed in at Houhora
the crew continued on with the big
fish mounted by Kevin Flute
Rick
The Far Northsource: rick pollockwww.pursuit.co.nz
regionalREVIEWS
www.nzfisher.co.nz 27
Hi All, THis time of year takes a lot of
beating. The Eastern Coromandel is
packed at the moment with fish and they
are feeding up large. You don’t have to
have a large boat to get into it either, as
soon as you are a 100m or so from port
you will spot birds, fish and the hardest
part will be choosing where to go and
what to chase.
Our livebait catching activities have often
been relegated to the wharf in the dark
early hours of the morning as once the
sun is up; there is that much carnage
from the kahawai, snapper and kingfish
that the bait is too scary and flighty to
be caught. Here’s a bit of a run down on
what is on offer at the moment:
MARLIN
While there are not that many captures
to report over the last month, they are
still there, it is more a factor of no one
out targeting them. Thames fisho Drew
Edwards proved this two weeks ago,
venturing out in a 4.5m Stabicraft on
two glassy days in row and bagging a
marlin both days, the biggest a healthy
140kg specimen.
Both of Drew’s marlin were caught on
livebaited skippies (not that Drew would
be seen dead trolling a lure!) on nice
glassy days, one reasonably close to the
100m line where the bait was caught, the
other right on top of the Hook.
Another boat Black Jack caught a stripey in
similar conditions a few days later amongst
the bait, birds and dolphins south of Red
Merc, again on a livebaited skipjack.
Only this last Easter weekend Tairua
spearo Rick Turner was at Stingray rock
south of the Aldermens with spear
fishermen in the water had to rub his eyes
in disbelief as a striped marlin swum right
in to the transom of his boat. Looking at
the STT chart for Easter weekend (that will
teach me to look at it after the fact and
leave the marlin gear at home!) it is pretty
evident to see why, a nice patch of warm
water coming in from the south, pushing
21 degrees in places between the Aldies
and the Mayor.
So, they are still there it’s just a matter of
putting some time in. May last year we
had a stripey smashing up saurie next to
us while we were catching kingfish. June
last year one of our fishos had a makka
livebait destined for a kingfish stolen by
a marlin. There’s still some marlin to be
caught yet we reckon.....
KINGFISH
The inshore kingfish are starting to show
up in better size and we’ve had a couple
of great stickbaiting sessions in close
lately out from Tairua. The exception
to the lack of catchable bait mentioned
above is when the kingis are in residence
and in hunting mode, a big densely
packed bait ball generally is a sign of
kingfish in numbers and this is when the
inshore stickbaiting really fires up for us.
April has seen the jigging produce some
really good action, over the first week
of April anything in orange was the hot
colour and loads of fish in the 15-20kg
mark were caught on jigs. Since then
the fish have switched a little more to
livebaits and we’ve seen all day bites and
sounders just loaded with good schools
of kingfish. These fish are fighting hard
and an awesome average size. Plenty of
solid 20kg ++ fish taking baits.
Out wide most of the structure around
the Aldermen Islands is holding good
kingfish. Scott Stonex fishing from his
little Surtees centre console reported
catching an est. 30kg fish quite a way
south of the Aldies at Easter on jig and
another which just dusted him big time
(and Scott can stop most of them....)
The Mercury Pins have fired up big time.
Crackerjack reef in particular (where we
released 100kingis in a day on jigs last
year) has been firing back up, if you really
want to have your arms stretched big time
this is the time of year to do it....with a lot
of the kingfish moving out of the Gulf this
spot holds a good congregations of these
fish before they fan out back along the
coast. The average size is not huge but
there a big numbers of fish and still some
big ones amongst them.
SNAPPER
Softbaiting in around the kahawai schools
along the coast, you can’t go wrong, the
10-20m mark is loaded with respectable
sized snapper. Great fishing for those
in skis’ kayaks and small boats close
to home. Most of our snapper fishing
though has been in the deep while we’re
targeting kingfish with livebaits and fresh
bait producing nice lines of snapper to
top off some awesome kingi fishing.
Now, we just need this easterly to blow out
of steam and enjoy it! If you’re keen to get
amongst the action and maybe learn a trick
or two we have plenty of spots coming up
over May and June. Check out of calendar
here and let us know if you’re keen to get
amongst it. www.epicadventures.co.nz/
availability.html
Cheers
Carl and Tobes
Coromandel source: Carl Muir www.epicAdventures.co.nz
regionalREVIEWS
28 www.nzfisher.co.nz
regionalREVIEWS
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Ask instore for details. www.fin-norfishing.com
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i KnoW iT HAs just been far too
long since my last report, not that
things haven’t been happening but
its more just a matter of getting
down in front of the computer to
write it all down.
3 Kings
We have just got back from an
exhausting and successful trip to
the Three Kings islands, this year
we ventured up on the reliable
vessel cascade.
This is my third trip on Cascade
and I have to say I am always blown
away by the level of service these
guys give.
Mike Boswell is a great skipper and
gave his all to give our guys the best
opportunity to get stuck into the
fish. The top water action just did
not happen for us on this trip, after
last year’s impressive effort I was
hoping for much the same but the
big buggers just did not look up to
smash our lures.
Out on the banks the jigging was
fantastic with two days of steady
action and great weather, lots of fish
in the 20kg class and plenty of mid to
late twenties as well.
I will be doing some more detailed
reports for the bay fisher and Modern
fishing for all you Australians out there.
After this trip a few of the guys
have already banged their names
down for a trip to Ranfurly banks
in December, for those of you who
think you can handle giant kings
slamming jigs all day long and may
want to join us then let me know
ASAP because this one is already
half full.
local fishing
As we head into winter everybody
starts to complain about the fishing
and even put some of the gear
away. Not me though, this is the
time to get out there and into
some of the best kingfish action
the bay of Plenty offers.
The next couple of months will be
full of solid jigging action as the
fish start to school up again on
the reefs and then just around the
corner it will be top water time.
I simply cannot wait for those huge
schools of fish to turn up and start
smashing surface lures, there is simply
no better way to catch a big king.
For myself I am off to New Caledonia
on an ocean Blue fishing trip soon to
tangle with some GTs and then when
I get back I hope to give the Swords
a hard time during the day, this will
all be in between chasing mega kings
and trying out some new techniques
that I assure you will be something to
look out for.
Bay of Plenty source: Mark Armishawwww.extremesportfishing.co.nz
www.nzfisher.co.nz 29
FOSTERING CHANGEMarine recreational fishing in New Zealand
NZ Recreational Fishing Council Conference1st-2nd July 2011
New Plymouth Sportfishing & Underwater Club, New Plymouth
Register online at www.recfish.co.nz
or contact Secretary, Sheryl Hart 07 8258867
Get involved...to design a future that has guaranteed access to abundant fisheries for all the fishing public in NZ. Hear ideas about reform of the recreational fishing sector, lessons from recreational models in operation and from the fishing media about public opinion for change.
All welcomeMembers and non-members
30 www.nzfisher.co.nz
In the next issue of NZ Fisher…A week at the Three Kings•Broadbill season warms up•The Prowler Ultra 4.3 Paddled•
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