NZ Fisher Issue 9

www.nzfisher.co.nz 1

ISSUE 9 June 2011

// Broadbill season fires up in the chill of winter

Kawau by Kayak//

// The Prowler 4.3 tested

Monster Snapper at NZLBG Nationals

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2 www.nzfisher.co.nz

THE RUM THAT INVENTED RUM

www.mountgayrum.com Enjoy the adventure, drink responsibly


Pg 6

12

20

SPORTFISHING

6 The NZ Landbased

Game Nationals

GAMEFISHING

12 Broadbill Swordfish:

Gladiators of the Sea

KAYAKFISHING

16 Testing the Ocean Kayak

Prowler 4.3

20 Kawau by Kayak

22 Fishing Video of the Month

THE CLUBHOUSE

24 Feilding Surfcasting Club

26 Regional ReportsPg 24

CONTENTS

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you print. Thank you!

Its wInter, but no one seems to

have told Mother Nature. Warm waters

at about 17 degrees and Northland is

still producing Striped Marlin, (albeit

few and far between) very late in

the season. We even had skippies at

Rawhiti on the 10th of June – crazy!

This unseasonably warm water may

not be a bad thing for traditional

game fishing but it is nothing short of

sensational for the broadbill swordfish

season. Admittedly more boats than

ever are out chasing them, but the

returns have been nothing short of

exceptional. One boat landed two in a

night and hooked another five.

Primetime Skipper John Gregory has

been like a Broadbill magnet with

at least 5 under his belt in the first

two weeks of June. It used to be a

remarkable catch when a game club

weighed one swordfish a season.

Now weigh masters across the North

Island sleep with their cell phones

on, expecting the call to come weigh

another swordfish almost nightly.

Check this out for an awesome story

of two young chaps in a trailer boat

chasing swords off Northlands east

coast. Broadbill are a species that has

had a bit of a torrid time in the last

few years, but since being bought

into the Quota Management System

(QMS) in 2009 they appear to be on

something of a rebound; that makes it

a success in my mind.

Sadly the QMS isn’t always titled

in our favour and based on what

the Minister of Fisheries has been

up to, we should be more than a

bit concerned about keeping the

successes we’ve had rebuilding our

stocks to the levels we’re at now.

I don’t generally agree with taking your

limit and certainly can’t recommend

it, but have to wonder about the logic

of releasing fish just for the Minister

to give them away to the commercial

harvesters! We’ve worked hard to

educate fishers about looking after

our stocks, not abusing them and how

to safely release fish just to hear the

Minister (who honestly isn’t a fisher

despite his claims to be one) say there’s

money in it, so let’s sell ‘em all!

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

[email protected]

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: Saul Harman with 11.26kg Northland snapper

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mailto:[email protected]


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The NZ Landbased Game Nationals story & Photos by saul Harman

sportFISHING

A winners tale

Ben’s hooked up!


It’s been a goal of mine to land a

25kg plus landbased kingfish for more

than 5 years now. It’s my bogie fish.

I’ve fished the Coromandel Peninsula

more times than I care to remember,

I’ve fished Lottin Point, the Cavalli’s

and I’ve had a crack at Great Barrier

Island but I’ve never fished the Far

North. So when I read that that the

NZLBGC National’s competition in

May was to be based out of Waitiki

Landing in the Far North I thought this

is my perfect opportunity.

With a green light on the home front

we pulled out of Ben’s driveway in

Onehunga at 5am with 300ltrs of

IceyTek chilli-bins filled to the brim

with bait, burley, food, beer and ice

and heading the back of my mind, a

voice was saying that this was it – in a

few days from now the fish I had been

chasing for 5 years would be mine.

A good run saw us pulling up at

Waitiki Landing campground around

midday. The talk around the kitchen

table that night was of the big swell

from the storms earlier that week

dropping so when we woke at

6am the next morning to a virtually

still morning, there was only one

thought on our mind – crossing the

Parengarenga bar and getting into

some serious fish!

Having only ever embarked on a

couple of very smooth bar crossings in

much larger boats, as we approached

the bar in the 349 Stabi I suddenly

realised my good fortune – I was

soaking wet in togs with no undies!

To cut a long story short, full faith was

placed in our skipper as Ben expertly

navigated the 2m breakers crashing

all around us and put us safely on the

other side of what I would have called

for an impossible bar. It had been

white knuckle stuff but all of a sudden

we were planing on an open smooth

deep blue sea.

As we made our way north the

realisation of how remote, wild and

untouched this coastline really is

began to creep in. The awestruck

feeling created by the image of

towering cliffs plummeting down to

kelp covered ledges awash with white

water and ripping current lines soon

changed to one of excitement and

anticipation. The whole coastline

screamed fish and my pulse was

starting to quicken.

After a fair old hike we finally found

ourselves on a stretch of coastline that

looked to have a one or two ledges

that may be fishable. Unfortunately

with 150 ponies on the back, team

The NZ Landbased Game Nationals

sportFISHING

Planing on the other side of the bar


sportFISHING

Demolition had put the hammer down

after we appeared out the other side

of the bar and beaten us to it. They

were already unloaded and tying off

their bungee when we arrived.

Thankfully though she was a big bit of

coast and we were able to find a nice

fishable ledge far enough away to be

called our own but not too far to be

hammered by the swell.

After a fairly intense 20 minutes of

setting the pulley ropes and unloading

the gear we were on our ledge and

the first burley was in the water. By

the time we had set up our livie rigs

and baited the first hook on lighter

gear there were stacks of kahawai in

the burley. With two livies swimming

under balloons within half an hour of

arriving we settled in to soaking some

snapper baits.

The first few hours on the rocks were

pretty slow. There was plenty of action

in the burley with kahawai, maomao,

and rat kings being present pretty

much all the time. A few moray and

even the occasional snapper would

come up to have a nibble out of the

burley bag but it wasn’t until just

before midday that the first decent

kings turned up and started harassing

Mark’s livebait. His livie was set a fair

distance out but even from where

we were standing you could tell they

were big fish, possibly the fish I had

come here for! There were maybe two

or three fish all rolling and mauling

Mark’s kahawai, any one of them

easily big enough to swallow it, but it

seemed these fish were just bullies out

for kicks with no particular interest in

eating.

Ben cast out a popper and had one of

these fish give good chase, giving off

a nice bow wave and almost nosing

Mark 6.5 kg

Demolition tying off


sportFISHING

the popper but we just couldn’t

seem to get a strike out of them.

The frustration continued for a good

5 minutes until the kings got bored

and decided to move on. The only

attention any of our livies got for the

rest of the day was a big ocean sea

turtle! Swimming with its head out

of the water it seemed to be trying

to eat my balloon. I never knew they

even existed in our waters, let alone

hung around the rocks and enjoyed

playing games with balloons! Just

a testament to how warm our

waters really are becoming – even

at the end of May. I’m certain it

won’t be long before somebody is

going to appear on the front of the

Herald next to New Zealand’s first

landbased CaugHt marlin.

Concentrating on snapper fishing

now, we had a steady stream of 2-3kg

fish joining us on the rocks. Whole

pillies were a waste of time and even

the bigger slabs of kahawai and baby

blues were getting nailed by these

pannie sized fish. I could feel a good

bite starting to form.

It was at this point that I noticed Ben

rigging up a nice big chunky section of

kahawai – good idea I thought, these

“small” 3kg fish would have a hard

time swallowing one of these baits.

So I followed suit and lobbed out a

similar bait over the sandy bottom

between a couple of patches of kelpie

foul and sat back to wait for Mr Big.

After waiting a little longer than

I had hoped I decided on a bit of

excitement and so brought my bait

up off the bottom in an attempt to

hook into a slightly larger king of

about 12kg’s that had been enjoying

a free lunch in our burley trail. I waited

until he disappeared in the general

direction of my bait and gave a couple

of quick cranks of the handle, dropped

it into free spool and BANG he picked

it up and took off. I locked up pretty

quickly and enjoyed a nice long run

before dropping the fish. Damn, well

that will be him gone I thought.

This time I removed the Walleye from

the back of the bait and hooked it

through the gut cavity of the big

section and cast out again – same

bat time, same bat channel. Again, I

didn’t have to wait long before the

bait was picked up half way down the

water column and the fish steamed

7.5ish kg & 11.26 kg


sportFISHING

off with it. This time when I struck, I

struck hard and held it there. The rod

doubled over and line peeled from

the spool. I gave it another hard

strike to be sure this time and settled

into a nice scrap on the 15kg gear.

The fish made a couple of heavy runs

toward the foul and thinking it to be

a king of around the 10-12kg mark I

was fairly flippant with how I treated

it, thumbing the drag and giving it

death. It wasn’t until Ben calls out

“nice snapper bro” that I suddenly

started to take things seriously. I

looked down and sure enough there

was the big red side of possibly the

largest snapper I had hooked up to

and I had been treating it like “a bit

of fun” – well I guess at the end of

the day a bit of fun is what’s all about

right?.... WRONG!!

“Grab the f*****g net bro – hurry up,

hurry up – get under it bro – s**t –

f***** get it in the net man – net it,

net it - YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!! “

As Mark climbed back up the ledge

the size of this fish became apparent

and we knew we had a goody. After

some high fiving, man grunts and

apologies for my colourful directions

to Mark while netting, the fish was

iki’ed and weighed.

By Ben’s Berkley digital scales, this

fish went somewhere between 11.0

and 12.0kg on the rocks – it later

pulled 11.26kg at the weigh-in on

calibrated scales. This was by far my

biggest snapper, blitzing my previous

PB by more than 2kg!

The next few hours were some

of the best snapper fishing I have

ever experienced. We all landed a

succession of fish in the 3-5kg range,

most of which went back. Mark

landed a model around the 6.5kg

mark and I landed another that that

went around 7.5kg.

As the snapper bite started to

slow we began focusing on the

trevs that had become more and

more prolific in the burley. We all

managed to sight fish a trevally

each around the 3kg mark but the

bigger ones seemed to elude us,

with kahawai and snapper often

shooting up out of the depths and

scarfing our pillie heads before we

had a chance to react!

The confidence of having a leading

fish was quickly zapped out of me

when we got back to Waitiki Landing

and the guys in the cabin next to

us had a fish in excess of 10kg in

their bin along with a number of

other impressive lumpheads. From

memory at least one other fish was

weighed in that night over the 20lb

mark and a heap of others around

the 7 and 8kg mark. All these massive

fish and from only 28 anglers fishing

the comp!

Strangely, only one king was

weighed in (somewhere just over

18 kilo’s). Most of the other guys

had only seen rats all day. The nasty

weather earlier in the week had

obviously made for great snapper

fishing but the kings didn’t seem to

appreciate the dirty water.

That night the drinks were flowing

and so were the yarns. This was only

my second fishing comp and my first

multi-day comp so it was great to be

able to sit up all night talking about

fishing and not once feel like having

to change the subject!

Saul Harman

...Part two next montH.

Ledge 2

Livies Day 2

Mark - 8.04 kg


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Broadbill Swordfish: Gladiators of the Sea

gameFISHING

story by Kurt bennetto

Photos by tom gray


...for once in a blue moon the weather was right so we headed out in pursuit for the gladiator of the sea.

gameFISHING

In aPrIl I wrote about the marlin

season coming to a close but also

mentioned there was still a chance

to get out and drift for a Broadbill

Sword Fish. Well, for once in a blue

moon the weather was right so we

headed out in pursuit for the gladiator

of the sea.

Any game fisherman will tell you

that catching a Broadbill sword fish

is a once in a life time fish. These

fish are labeled the ‘gladiator of

the sea’ for one reason only, they

fight like no other. Anglers have

played these fish for in excesses

of 10 hours and have lost them

due to their amazing strength.

The anticipation was huge and the

crew was buzzing as we geared

the boat up for what we were

anticipating was to be an epic night.

We set the 80 wide reels to 20 kg of

drag at strike and we threw the big

squids in the fish bin.

We headed north to fish a seamount

of Northland’s East Coast, where the

action had previously been. As we

headed out we got in contact with a

friend of mine who was fishing on his

boat in the same area. It was good to

know there was another boat out there

as it can be a very long night miles out

to sea by yourself in a trailer boat!


As the sun set the night was soon

upon us, we attached the light

sticks to the leaders as we deployed

one bait to 60 metres deep on a

downrigger and we set the second

bait on the surface. The wait began…

We didn’t have to wait long before

I had a call from my mate who was

absolutely ecstatic to say the least!

It was only 8pm and he already had

a sword on the deck! As you could

imagine I was over the moon for the

crew but I would be lying if I said I

didn’t fell the frustration setting in.

But what was very interesting about

this catch was that the fish was caught

on a live Kahawai surface bait at 7pm,

it had only been dark the best part

of 45 minutes. Looking back most

Broadbill are caught on dead baits.

As the long night progressed we got

bit at 4am, the adrenalin was pumping

but was short-lived as we soon had

the fish to the boat. It turned out

to be a dirty Mako shark with some

serious dental work. That was the end

of our night. We didn’t get the result

we were after but that’s just fishing.

We were soon informed of five Sword

Fish being caught that night from 9

boats fishing so the odds were not

bad at all.

I spoke to the crew the following night

and they informed me that when the

carcass of the fish was cut up it was

sitting on the duck board glowing

a fluorescent color. This discovery

intrigued me as the Broadbill is a fish

that is relatively unknown, even to

scientists. I immediately though this

could be something that assists the

fish when it is hunting its prey, much

like a striped marlin lighting up?

All and all it was an outstanding night

out on the water, with the weather in

our favour. Give me that in tandem

with the chance of catching a prime

game fish and there is simply nowhere

else I would rather be. We didn’t get

the result we were after but as they

say that’s fishing and I am sure there

will be another chance before the

season is over.

gameFISHING

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gameFISHING

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kayakFISHING

trIallIng new KayaKs is not

actually an easy task. You know what

you like and often, what you don’t.

I am sure that all yakker’s have pet

hates about even their favourite kayak.

In late 2009 I tested the new Ocean

Kayak Prowler Ultra 4.7 at Rawhiti

over a two day weekend. I absolutely

loved it and consequently purchased

one for myself. Over the next few

months I fished out of it a fair bit,

including a few offshore missions and

in some very inhospitable conditions.

It is a wonderful kayak with a lot of

great features, but the faults bugged

me and in some cases pained me by

the end of the day.

The Prowler 4.3 was designed to

fill a gap, to improve on the Ultra

and provide a hull more suitable for

inshore paddling while maintaining its

handling in the rough stuff.

The 4.3 gains a lot and gives away a

little, notably 400mm in length which

is mostly gained by removing the

livebait well immediately behind the

angler. By not reducing width, stability

has not been reduced over what

the Ultra offered; if anything this is,

incredibly, a more stable platform. The

Testing the Ocean Kayak Prowler 4.3

by Derrick Paull

Is less really more for a kayak?


hard chine’s have been rounded off in

an effort to reduce drag.

A reduction in speed is not obvious

between the 4.3 and Ultra on flat

water, but there was a noticeable drop

once the waves got above 300mm.

They have increased the waterline

length in the tail to provide better

speed and improve tracking. The

like the Ultra, the 4.3 feels great in a

following sea, tracking well and not

uncomfortable as waves get speed up.

Once on to the important stuff and

lines are in the water some of the

smaller changes become apparent.

The cockpit has been redesigned to

raise the anglers seat position and

provide a faster draining deck. I could

not figure exactly how they’d modified

it but the peddle tracks are now flush

mounted and do not catch as they

used to. The peddle design has been

improved so the system doesn’t bind

like previous models.

I had issues with the reversible lid

pouring any deck water straight into

the centre well. With some clever

engineering this has been overcome &

water now simply flows off the end of

the lid and out the foot-well scuppers.

kayakFISHING


kayakFISHING

The rear well now has an additional

scupper to aid draining and lessening

the water load faster. This works very

well (too well for those who like water

in there keeping fish fresh!) and will

most likely aid in rougher conditions.

One of the biggest and best received

changes was the addition of a

universal transducer mount that even

accepts both Humminbird & Lowrance

side/down scan transducers. It’s

not an attractive scupper, but once

the transducers in there, the design

changes are welcomed. Gone are the

days of chopping, welding & crying

when you’ve made your boat leak!

To accommodate large screen

sounders the centre well has also been

widened so you can conceal your

sounder inside during surf entries and

while transporting. The centre hatch is

now about 20% bigger and this makes

a surprising difference when it comes

to stuffing all your toys in!

We made plans to spend some time

on the rocks which is beneficial two-

foldFirstly so we could stretch a leg

and get off the yaks for lunch and

secondly because land based fishing

is bloody good value! Sadly this

weekend the rocks were not where

it was at. Off the water I had a good

look at the seat. I’ve been told that

the 4.3 seat was perfect for a big

guy like me, but after about 5 hours

my backside was about as numb as

normal so I can’t say it’s too much of

an improvement. Or maybe I just have

a soft ass.

Rock fishing generally requires you

to stow your gear and with the Ultra

accessing the hatch was a complete

nightmare. Yes, the neoprene hatch

seal kept water out but sadly it’s

application required a doctorate

and it became a focal point of hate

amongst many Ultra owners. Ocean

Kayak came across a genius hatch

system to save our sanity and now

opening and closing the hatch is a

simple as flicking a lever.

There are other improvements that

will appeal to many, but really it’s

the ride, speed and fishability that

we’re really interested in. A few other

yakker’s out with us asked me how

the 4.3 fared and the answer is, it was

great. But the Ultra’s great too. So

what’s the real difference?

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kayakFISHING

What really appeals to me is the

weight. At just 27kgs dry it is much

lighter and more easily handled that

the Ultra. The reduced weight makes

it slightly easier to handle on and off

the roof single-handed – something

the Ultra wasn’t great for.

The deck layout & foot well are

better proportioned to accommodate

longer or wider legs making paddling

easier & more comfortable for long

periods. While the seat is possibly an

improvement, the extra leg-well space

is a definite plus.

Having four rod holders immediately

behind the seat is fantastic. I think I’d

add a grommet in the two moulded

ones to stop rods rattling, but the

concept is so simple it’s brilliant. I

cannot think of an occasion where I’ll

need more than four rods and having

them tucked up in behind out of the

way works well.

So all in all this is an improvement

over the Ultra, but it’s not really trying

to replace it. The 4.3 is a new kayak,

not just an upgrade. If anything, the

4.3 is a replacement for the 4.5meter

Elite, the predecessor to the Ultra

and the last Ocean Kayak fishing yak

released without the now ubiquitous

rotating centre hatch.

Putting it simply, if you’re looking to

s very versatile, stable and spacious

kayak, there are few options as good

as the new 4.3. However, if you’re a

serious kayak fisher with aspirations to

chase and fight very big fish, paddle

long distances or in rough conditions

keep an eye on the Ultra.


Kawau by KayakOur first circumnavigationby aileen and Peter michael

kayakFISHING


Kawau by Kayak

we HaD been contemplating a

paddle around Kawau for a while and

looking at the forecast on the Friday,

it seemed like the next day would

be the perfect time to do it. SW

10 knots in the morning and NE 10

knots in the afternoon. Sweet as!

We sent a quick email inviting friends

to join us the next morning for a

6.30am start from Martin’s Bay; we

loaded the kayaks on to the trailer

and lots of food and water packed

for the trip.

Saturday morning, Dave and Jai

joined us (Jai taking the long way

round – he called wondering where

we were and it transpired he had

driven to Jones’ Bay instead of Mar-

tin’s) and we launched our kayaks just

on sunrise.

We paddled over to Kawau, troll-

ing lures all the way, and stopped

for a few casts when we got there.

We caught and released a few small

snapper, kahawai and a rat kingfish

before we carried on our merry way

around the island, fishing here and

there, catching a few more snapper

and kahawai and releasing them all.

Pete landed on a couple of beaches/

rocks to pick up some ‘floatation

devices’ (sounds better than ‘to pick

up buoys’) that had been washed

up. The day started off calm and got

even calmer, the water was like glass

most of the time and the scenery was

stunning. Little blue penguins were

popping up all over the place.

The only thing missing was big fish

action! We did however find a huge

school of large kahawai once we

were almost back to base – just off

Bon Accord Harbour. At least we

could get some nice fresh kahawai

for the smoker.

We kept about half a dozen good fat

kahawai and paddled back in to Martin’s

Bay as the sun was setting. Another

fantastic day on the water. Jai’s GPS said

we had done just over 33km.

We probably spent about half the

time fishing and half paddling, at a

rough guess. Needless to say, we are

looking forward to our next mission,

and a GPS is at the top of our wish

list – the map Ails traced from the

Spot X book was handy, but just not

the same!

kayakFISHING


CHeCK out brady rowe and Kyle

thomas’ dual swordfish action aboard

their trailer boat, Bluefix.

And for the skinny-stick jiggers out

there watch reece Claxton get railed

by a 30kg King of the ever productive

Kapiti Coast last month. Reece is a

star on you-tube with nearly 20 jigging

vids but this one is probably the best

of the lot.

Here’s a brief from Reece on

this video:

This fish was caught mechanical

jigging at Kapiti Island using a

Synit deepshot100 and a 200 grm

(Blue runner) Bite jig. Reel is a

Accurate500xn and braid is 24kg

Suffix performance. This has been

a goal of mine to catch a 30kg king

on this little red rod and I am very

pleased. Now it’s time for a 40kg

beast from local waters.

Please note these videos contain

offensive language and viewer

discretion is advised.

Fishing Video of the Month

FISHINGvideo

http://bit.ly/l7YLZK



http://bit.ly/lZEOQN


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THEclubhouse

Feilding Surfcasting Club by brent rolston,

nZaCa President & 2012 nationals Chair

This is what’s available at Waitarere on the good days

http://bit.ly/jsIYL4


tHe FeIlDIng surfcasting club are

hosting the New Zealand Angling

and Casting Association (NZACA)

nationals in March 2012. Feilding

might be considered by some

a strange place for a successful

surfcasting club, but it has, over the

past 13 years, been very successful -

winning many of the major trophies

on offer at the NZACA nationals.

The original idea for the Feilding

surfcasting club came from a mix

of Pania surfcasting club members

and motivated locals and since

its inception it has maintained a

membership of approximately 40

individuals and family groups.

The early movers and shakers within

the Feilding surfcasting committee

realised that the club would require

large boundaries because of being

located in the Manawatu: Patea

river mouth on the west coast,

south including all the Wellington

south coast and harbour and up

to Parangahau on the East coast.

These large boundaries enable us

to remove the weather factor from

preventing us fishing within our

boundaries for field weekends. They

will also be the boundaries used

when we host the NZACA nationals.

Apart from the advantages of avoiding

the weather, large boundaries and

diverse coastlines enable us to target

many species. While red cod, many

shark species and a few kahawai and

gurnard dominate the winter fishing,

the summer fishing can be spectacular.

Summer species include snapper up

to 14kgs, gurnard up to 1.5kgs, blue

moki up to 7kgs, with the odd kingfish

up to 18kgs as well as 4kg kahawai.

As a club we, like so many north

islanders, rate snapper highly. They

can be caught anywhere within our

boundaries, but in greater numbers

on the west coast, in the period from

February to May.

As well as fishing monthly the Feilding

surfcasting club have monthly

meetings at the St. Johns ambulance

rooms in Feilding, these meetings

typically having a guest speaker

or using more experienced club

members to give guidance to others.

Anyone who would like to join the

Feilding surfcasting club or is planning

on attending the NZACA nationals

in 2012 and who would like more

information should contact any of the

following people.

President: brian snaith 06 3225567

[email protected]

secretary: Dick lash 027 242 2549

[email protected]

treasurer: maria moxham

027 557 9903 [email protected]

This is what’s available at Waitarere on the good days





as you reaD this “PURSUIT” and her

crew are leaving the Far North having

completed this year’s charter regime

slightly earlier than normal. We depart

somewhat reluctantly since things are

quite buoyant currently on all fronts –

arguably better than they have been

for many weeks – or make that months!

Doubtless bay

Still brilliant snapper and kahawai

fishing, even if the quality isn’t so good.

Again limit fishing for pannies coming in

just hours, sometimes less.

great exhibition bay

Also very good snapper with better

quality overall. A few nice fish in

double digits grace most catches

right throughout this expansive bay.

A few more kingfish also apparent

after a fairly lean time of late. A few

stripies have also been plucked from

between Mount Camel to North Cape

in 120-140 metres in rather cool (but

obviously acceptable) water.

garden Patch

Here is the premier spot in the country

for two premier species. Most boats

here are seeing and coming into contact

with at least one striped marlin each

day, some many more. Seeing fish

feeding on saury and forming meatballs

has been quite common just lately. With

the settled weather lately there’s been

a pleasing upsurge in effort with some

reasonable success. While this has been

a great bonus, it pales in comparison

with what’s happening on the broadbill

front. While there’s been a lot of

effort (17 boats one night!?!?) there’s

also been a good amount of success.

Highlighted was a 168k sword taken

on 15k by Carl angers off the national

and world records. This was followed

up the next day with a spanking on 10

kilo tackle – same angler, same boat – a

spool job after nearly seven hours of

hopeful toil. All this took a backseat to

what well known skipper John Gregory

did, single handed, onboard his equally

famous “Primetime”. After landing a

solo sword a couple weeks previous,

he followed that up with an incredible

four in one night! He tagged three and

was forced to keep the fourth –DOA

and just to sweeten the deal he also

caught several bluenose between 25-43

kilos plus tagged a 100 kilo stripey in

his travels! What a trip! Just to finish

off, many boats did exceptionally well

on the bluenose, averaging 10-20 kilos

in size if you can get them through the

killer whales.

north Cape – “the shelf”

Beautiful water with plenty of

temperature, especially on the bottom

end of the region. Also, not surprisingly,

there’s still good numbers of skippies

(some over 5 kilos) and the odd stripey

lurking about. Snapper have obliged

well inshore with many in double digits

and a few over the bite with some

excellent sessions on both bait and jigs

– definitely better and more consistent

than anything we’ve seen there over

the past two months. Not only numbers

(most 13-18kgs) but a few trophy fish

over 30 are available now. Deepwater

(140-200+ metres) has also been

productive – not amazing with few big

fish but good steady fishing. A nice mix

of bass and hapuka grace anglers hooks

here, often two at a time.

King bank

Some nice fishing here with a real mix.

On the right day (not every day) there

is still some class striped marlin to be

had. “Reel Passion” enjoyed a great day

with three stripies to his credit. These

late season fish have taken a real liking

to bait with few rising to trolled lures.

Skipper Mark Hoare utilized live bridled

rigged skippies to entice these fine fish

– all in excellent condition between 120-

160 kilos. However, and just to prove

the opening statement, he followed

that brilliant day up with a fishless one

at exactly the same locale! Also some

great bottom fishing (three bass over

60kgs!) with kingis vastly improved as

well. Many of the latter are over 20k’s

with the odd one approaching 30.

In the case of this bank, it just seems

to be getting better with time. More

opportunity on more species (albeit on

an intermittent basis) now at this late

stage – what a screwy season it’s been.

middlesex bank

Same old, same old here. Water plenty

good enough for stripies but none seen

by the very little traffic just lately. Plenty

of skippies and a few decent (to 20kgs)

albacore showing for trollers. Bottom

fishing is pretty ho hum by this bank’s

standards. Still pretty decent on a

mixture of bass and puka (as many king

terakihi as you would like) but few fish

over 30k’s. KIngIs, quality kingis, are

abundant here – easily affording ones

best chance at a 30 Kilo and even 40

kilo fish. Bronzies, and a few XOS mako,

still are in abundance meaning you can’t

stay too long anywhere regardless of

how good (or bad) the fishing is!

summary

Still great fishing opportunities as

you’ve just read and, in many instances,

better than anything over the past

couple months. Yes, wish (weather

permitting) the “PURSUIT” team had

another few weeks to exPlore those

opportunities. But alas duty calls and

we’ll be alternating our efforts between

White Island and Ranfurly Bank over

the next six weeks. Expect another

Eastern Bay of Plenty report soon.

Rick

The Far Northsource: rick Pollock www.Pursuit.co.nz

regionalREVIEWS

http://bit.ly/jd9ien


epic Coromandel Kingfish action!!

Hi All!

We’re officially in to winter but with

the water temps we have, the bait

that is around and the spell of weather

we’ve had lately who would know it!!!

SST charts are showing patches of

water still pushing 19 degrees in

places, the bait reads on the sounder

have been chocka, there have been

dolphins and birds galore and the

fishing - well it has been red hot!

KINGFISH

The last two weeks we’ve continued

to see some awesome action on the

kingfish front, some nice kingfish have

turned up in close round the bait

schools on the coast and out wide

they have been feasting up large. On

several occasions out wide we’ve had

bait being pushed right to the surface

presenting opportunities for stick baited

kings and kingfish slow trolled on the

surface (pretty sure we missed a marlin

bite this week doing just this as well...).

All day bites on kings in the teens to

early 20kgs have been the norm. Livies

are more consistent producers of the

kingfish but jigs still producing some

good fish for the guys and gals that

have gone hard on the jigging front.

There are some freight trains out there

too, best to hold on tight and keep some

steady footing, as one of our anglers

found out getting pulled over the rail by

a beast and losing $2500 worth of kit......

more on that in our full report here

HAPUKA

More a by-catch for us,

but with these tasty

beasts turning up round

the Aldies, Mercs and

Cuvier for spawning it’s

hard not to fish your

livebaits a bit deeper

than usual.

This nice 21kg puka

opposite was a nice

reward for an Aussie

angler who did just

that.

SNAPPER

Plenty of eating size

fish along with the

kingis, and some

horse sized fish

turning up in the

shallows, now is

a great time for

getting in close

and casting some

softbaits.

SWORDS

There have been a lot more boats

out there this year trying and

Tairua clubs first ever broadbill was

weighed a few weekends back for

club member and Pure Fishing rep

Jason Harris from the vicinity of the

Aldermen Knoll on Innova.

Some awesome captures have been

taken out the back of Mayor as well.

SPOTS

We’ve got plenty of openings

over the next few weeks, if you

are keen to get amongst the kingi

action check our calendar here www.

epicadventures.co.nz/availability.html

All the best

Epic Adventures

Cheers

Carl and Tobes

Coromandel source: Carl muir www.epicadventures.co.nz

regionalREVIEWS

http://bit.ly/mU5r36

http://bit.ly/lsV7NU

http://bit.ly/mEgPZN

http://bit.ly/mEgPZN


regionalREVIEWS

Sadly (or luckily for Mark) he

has been off in New Cale-

donia for the last couple of

weeks. He hasn’t got any

local reports, but check

out his facebook page for

plenty of pictures and here

for a brief report.

weatHer In tHe naKI isn’t

flash to say the least. Wind,

wind and more wind keeping

the boats at home. I’ve had

Narcosis is in Tauranga get-

ting an electrical fault sorted

(engine management) and that’s

meant more time off the water.

Good snapper are about right

along the coast in reasonably

shallow so when the wind does

allow, those who venture out are

generally doing well. The Gur-

nard are still there too, but it’s

no good if you’re land locked!

Spiky dog’s are here in numbers

now, along with Couta and they

can really ruin your day sadly.

For those who get the chance

to head out wide a few Puka

caught but fisho’s I have talked

to are a bit disappointed by

the lack of them. This is an area

of the fishery that needs some

close attention.

Duncan MacIver

Bay of Plenty New Caledonia source: Mark Armishaw

www.extremesportfishing.co.nz

Taranaki – West Coast source: The Taranaki AMF Team

www.amfboats.co.nz

http://on.fb.me/mg6VmX

http://bit.ly/iCGno5


Marquesa

Ask instore for details. www.fin-norfishing.com

™

Biscayne

AHAB

Free casio watch with every Fin-Nor rod & reel combo

valued at

$15000

tHey’ve arrIveD alrIgHt :(

“The gulf is a wonderful fishing

bonanza at this time of year.

Over the past few weeks there

has been exciting workup action

with whales, dolphins, gannets,

kahawai, snapper, kingfish,

‘couta…basically just tick ‘(d) all

of the above’ and much more in

attendance too. When the Mother

Nature’s dinner gong goes off the

feeding frenzy is epic and worth

the time and effort to find the pot

o’ gold action.

However fishing success can readily

be had without the tumult, simply

drifting along using the dancing

jigs (as I call them) – the Prowler/

Inchiku style jigs have and are

working an absolute treat on the

snapper, often when not much else

seems to be working.

The soft baits and soft plastics have

been coming on strong a bit later

in the bite. The wider in the gulf

you go, the bigger the snapper

seem to be at the moment, many

excellent snapper in the 10 to 16lb

range are grazing over the open

areas – worth a random drift fish

as I call it, just stop, drop and roll

so to speak. Keep an eye on fishing

calendars for bite times.

The inner city channels have

slowed, but can still produce

the goods, just not as easily as 2

months ago.

Also in closer drifting over reefs

and lumps in 10m out from most

land masses, let the tide run and

bounce your dancing jig or softie

along the bottom and a some

excellent snapper (many pannies

are around double digit pounds)

should be yours, with the odd

trevally thrown in for good and

tasty measure. The smaller and

darker soft plastics seem to be

working better than the larger

varieties right now.

There are miles and miles of

Kahawai feeding just north and

east of Tiri Tiri, the further you

go the less you get, but the more

‘couta! For the rest of the late

afternoon and right on dark there

should be some good fishing to be

had, shorter bite times but hungry

fish needing to feed during the

winter chill.”

The Hauraki source: espresso www.catch.org.nz


In the next issue of NZ Fisher…

Part two of the Land Based Game Nationals report•

Gurnard – The down low from the Carrot King•

More Broadbill madness•

NEXTmonth

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NZ Fisher Issue 9