NZ Fisher Issue Six

www.nzfisher.co.nz 1

ISSUE 6 March 2011

// Northern adventure scores large for newby crew

Landbased – from the boat?//

Goin’ deep for the

big Ones!//

www.nzfisher.co.nz

www.nzfisher.co.nz

2 www.nzfisher.co.nz

THE RUM THAT INVENTED RUM

www.mountgayrum.com Enjoy the adventure, drink responsibly


Pg 6

12 14

6 Land Based Fishing out of a Boat

Coromandel – last weekend

ofofficialsummer2011

12 Boat Fishing

Newbietakesashinetosoftplastics

14 The King & I

OnKingfishintheHaurakiGulf

18 Underwater

Momentsthatgetyouamped

22 The Clubhouse

NgawiSportsFishingClub

24 Regional Reviews

27 New Products

Killerseriesstickbaits

28 The NZACA National

Pg 22

27

www.fishing.net.nz


Find your local

dealer at:

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‡Honda test boat did 73km on a 25 litre tote tank at 40km/hr cruising speed.

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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!

Happy Fishing!

Derrick

would like to extend our sincer-

est condolences to both our fellow

fishers, their families and friends in

Christchurch and more recently, more terri-

fyingly, the people of Japan. Kia kaha. We

mourn with you and wish you the speedi-

est, safest path out of your troubles.

I was pleasantly surprised by the

positive, albeit it reserved feedback I

received on my editorial last month.

Licensing is going to be the elephant in

the room for a long time to come and I

have enjoyed the opportunity to discuss

the subject with a wide and varied

kaleidoscope of fishing enthusiasts and

a fair few intellectuals. So, while plenty

of you would like to see me hang myself

and put my stake in the ground, I’ll ask

that you take the opportunity to talk

about the future of our fisheries with

your fishing buddies and decide for

yourselves – for all of us, what is the

best way forward. It’s your fishery.

So, on to the important stuff. Fishing

is cool! This month we have a number

of great readers stories – good ones,

with great results as some real newbies

getting into some serious fish. Chris

Hadlee is an old mate of mine who I’ve

had the pleasure of putting on to a

few personal bests in the past, but this

summer Chris set out on his own and

the results were fantastic.

We’ve bought a new underwater writer,

James Gordon (creater of the Flikee Moi

– watch this space), who shares the story

of his first big king. James has a few

years experience under his weight belt

but we look forward to more firsts and

big fish tales from James.

The NZ Angling and casting

championships are being held from

Orewa from April 20-23rd. The champs

include both fishing and casting and are

well attended. The difference between

the champs and most competitions

(aside from the fact that there’s no

monetary prizes) is that anglers fish

for the heaviest combined weight of a

multi-species bag over two days. Shore

compete against shore, Boat against

boat and now, kayak against kayak.

NZFisher is looking to enter a team this

year and welcome readers to join us.

For more info, please email the editor

on [email protected]

Most importantly though – go fishing!

The time is always right to fish!

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 Alastair on 021 866 036

or email

[email protected]

ADDRESS / NZ Fisher,

C/- Espire Media, PO Box 137162,

Parnell,Auckland 1151, NZ

WEBSITE / www.NZ Fisher.co.nz

EDITOR

www.espiremedia.com

mailto:[email protected]


ell it’s been a great sum-

mer for fishing so far, hav-

ing been able to fit in 2-3

trips a week around Rangi soft baiting

out of the baby Stabi I’ve been well

served. But as always happens at this

time of year, I really start to miss land

based fishing. So I headed down to

Coro with a keen young mate of mine

for 2 ½ days to have a go at some land

based kings.

I’ve taken Andrew on a couple of land

based trips previously and we’d got

him his PB snapper at all of about three

kilos but he’d never caught anything

bigger, so I was confident we’d smash

that for him with some land based

kingy action. As it turned out, was a

bloody good thing we had a Plan B!

Both my best land based fish have

come from that area – a 21lb snapper

and a 21kg kingy so I always get a

bit of hyped up form anticipation

any time I’m heading up that way.

Thursday saw the remnants of yet

another tropical cyclone hit the north,

meaning that the swell at the top of

the Coro was going to be really big,

coming in from the NE – far too much

for safely getting on and off a small boat

on the rocks. So we headed up the w

coast thinking we’d fish Blair’s ledge

up near Port Jackson. By the time we

got to Fantail Bay though the wind was

a good 20k SW and building, making

fishing that western side no fun at all.

Back down, round to Colville and up to

Sandy Bay added even more time to

the journey and we were itching for a

fish. In went the boat, I drove round to

Stony Bay to set up camp and we loaded

the boat and set off round towards the

Pinnacles – a part of the country lots

of readers have probably fished and a

place those who haven’t realy should,

it’s some amazing country up there.

landBASEDfeature

Land Based FishingOutof a Boat!//Coromandel–lastweekendofofficialsummer2011


By Derrick Paull

Excited

Andrew with

Personal Best

‘LBG’ Snapper


Well, Plan A fell through really quickly:

as soon as we got out of the bay we

could see just how much swell was

hitting the ledges and there was just

no way we were going to landbase.

So we switched to Plan B which

involved land based fishing out of a

Stabi 349! Anchored up just off some

great looking rocks, we got the berley

going, cubed some pillies in and got

set up. Of course we had no boat

fishing gear with us at all just our LBG

gear which was interesting in such a

small boat. But with a good sense of

humour, a couple of cold drinks and a

steady supply of snapper around the

40-50cm mark, it turned into a really

fun afternoon – just two bloke bobbing

around the top of Coro in a tiny tinny

with rods longer than the boat!

We didn’t look like being in any

danger of breaking Andrew’s PB

but at least the weather had come

right. Or so we thought….

Being such a nice calm night we didn’t

bother getting the boat out of the water

and just anchored in the bay and swam

in to shore, leaving all the gear on the

boat. Nor did we bother putting the

second anchor out. And that is the first

and last time I’ll ever make that mistake.

In the night the wind got up and just

kept rising, howling down the hill and

making the tent feel like it was going to

take off. You can imagine how worried

about the boat I was but at 3 in the

morning in the pitch black there wasn’t

a lot that I was going to be able to do.

As soon as there was any light I raced

straight out only to be confronted with

a perfect view of flat seas all the way

to Great Barrier. But no boat anywhere

to be seen. Raced down to the beach

and all the way over to the eastern side

of the bay, just near the point, was a

very small shape that just might be the

boat, floating nicely off the rocks but it

seemed too much to hope for. Thankfully

it wasn’t and she’d dragged all the

way across and out of the bay, but had

caught the anchor on a submerged rock

not far from the point but far enough

off to be completely undamaged in

any way, and not lost. The day turned

from disaster to relief in seconds!

Once the skipper had composed

himself we loaded up with as much bait

and berley as we could and headed

off for my Spot X thinking the swell

had dropped off. Which it had - but

nowhere near enough to fish where

we wanted. So on to Plan C we went,

picking our gap in some big sets to

get off at the Pinnacles and get set

up. We’d got the berley in, the livie

rigs set up and were getting towards

mid-tide when the sets started getting

bigger and bigger and washing right

over the ledge. Never seen it that big

at that stage of the tide so we had to

do the only sensible thing and get off.

It’s rare that I find myself in a lifejacket

on the rocks but this was certainly one

of those days. By now it was fair to say

things weren’t going according to plan.

But after the previous afternoon we felt

like we were land based boat fishing

experts (!) so figured some LBG out

of the boat was the best option. Turns

out Plan D was my best one so far – I

guess in fairness the others hadn’t been

that great so I was probably due one!

We fished just off our chosen ledge

in about 20m of water which had gone

from green on Friday to brilliant clear

bright blue by Sat. We could see the

burley a good 10+m below the boat

and before we even had a line in the

water, a reasonable snapper sniffing

at the bag. The horror morning was

quickly being forgotten as baits went

in the water and livey rigs got set up in

anticipation. 5 rods in a 349 is something

the manufacturers probably never had in

mind. Fair to say it was a bit cramped!

Within minutes the snapper were on


the bite, going to 55cm and feeding

hard like I find they so often do after

a big swell, both of us fishing an 8kg

set and a 15kg. Before long my Stradic

started making that high pitched noise

when line is really being peeled off

under pressure, and just didn’t stop.

Andrew was clearly onto a PB but as

the braid ran out and he got onto the

mono backing I started to wonder if it

might just be a ray. But then he started

getting some line back, a few meters

at a time, only to lose it all again in

another long run. 10 minutes later we

still had no colour even with the water

being so clear and the fish was keeping

its head down but thankfully out of the

foul. Andrew kept working it with a

lot more composure than you’d think

from a man who’d never even caught

a 3.5kg fish. Eventually (Well, it felt like

for ever!) it came into site under the

boat but as she came to the surface the

keeper hook caught the berley line…

With trace in hand and net in the other

we just couldn’t net her (the berley was

tied on the other side of the boat), but

we got a great look at her for a couple

of minutes and had decided to let her

go when the hook rolled out before we

could get the camera. She was too big

to go in the net and would have pushed

7kg. Andrew was one happy man but

gutted that he’d not for the photo (His

brother Nick Evans, former All Black is

a mad keen fisherman working in the

UK now and there’s more than a streak

of competitiveness between them!).

Thankfully the snapper weren’t done yet.

Again the 8kg set went off and Andrew

set the hook. If the last one went off

hard, this one was something else. 50m

of braid later he was on the backing and

this wasn’t slowing down while I cleared

the other 3 rods. Then the mono started

to run out until I could see the spool

so there was nothing to do but put the

hand on the spool and hope like hell we

got lucky. The rod bent round further

and further till I could just about hear

the bust off then miraculously it slowly

came round as the fish’s head turned.

Forsyth

with his

first ‘LBG-Bo

at

Snapper’


But with an empty spool it was going

to need a bit more luck. Andrew worked

the fish slowly back but every time he

got 10m back it’d peel off another 9 ½

so things were pretty tense. Surely it had

to be a king with these huge runs and no

head nods? Somehow it stayed out of

the foul and 20 minutes later we could

see some colour and it was another big

snapper. Quickly got the berley line out

of the way and got the fish in the net

and into the boat. Another great fish

for Andrew, a little bit smaller than the

previous one but the best fight I’ve seen

out of a snapper of any size. It just never

gave up and those little Stradics put

out plenty of drag. You can see in the

pics how happy he was far better than

I can describe. 2 PBs in 20 minutes!

Finally everything had come good

and we’d got a great fish for Andrew,

smashed his PB and really got the hang

of LBG in the boat! Meanwhile I’d put

a 4.5kg in the bin and we’d got a few

more around the 2.5 – 3kg mark.

Then the kahawai turned up. None

smaller than about 50-60cm and

smashing baits as they do. First one

got turned straight round as a livie

and out the back under the 24kg set

while we continued snapper fishing.

This was just like an LBG day but

without the L! Minutes later the kings

arrived, chasing everything they could

see – berley, cubes, baits, livies the

whole lot. Unfortunately they were all

on the small side, legal or just under

but when they’re around like that,

they’re just so much fun it’s rude not to

catch a few. So I hooked a jig onto my

Rocky 2 (another first for the day!) and

proceeded to jig up 6 of them in about

40 minutes. Jigging to fish you can see

under the boat was another first, a lot

of fun, and something I don’t expect to

replicate off the rocks any time soon!

The kings moved away, the kahawai too

and we were back to snapper for a while,

nothing big but steady 2-3kg fish until

we saw the blue water being replaced

by murky green and sure enough the

small fish came out of hiding. By this

point we’d had a few hours of constantly

special fishing and really just didn’t care!

About when we were calling it quits we

saw a couple of better kings chasing a

small snapper to the boat. They were

both legal sized but not big enough for

the 3kg kahawai livebait but a whole

pilly ‘skipbait’ later and I was hooked

up, the second fish following the first

to the boat where Andrew hooked it!

Unfortunately the fish was too big

for the net and with both of us on

fish I lost mine at the boat trying to

trace it. The second one wasn’t so

lucky and ended up in the very full

bin. By this point we were more than

happy to call it a day and head back

to camp. But not before unloading the

boat and getting it out of the water.

Lesson well and truly learned there!

The next morning the wind turned to

a cooler SE and the fishing died with

it so we packed up and headed home.

It might not have been LBG in the

strictest (ok, in any) sense of the word

but it was a great weekend of fishing

and adventures in a really magic part of

the country. And the best bit? We know

the fishing up there is just going to get

better and better of the coming months.

Time to put away the softbait gear

and get back to the LBG. I can’t wait.

Itwasagreatweekendoffishingandadventuresinareallymagicpartofthecountry.Andthebestbit?Weknowthefishingupthereisjustgoingtogetbetterandbetterofthecomingmonths.


ust before Christmas I was lucky

enough to receive an early gift

in the form of a 7ft Penn soft

plastic rod and reel set, thanks to a

very special lady. As is understandable

I was gagging to get some new jig

heads and baits and get a line in the

water. After enduring a rather shaky

Christmas holiday in Christchurch I was

even more enthusiastic about getting

away from that fault line and up to the

Far North to try out the new gear.

Our friends were back from overseas and

had a parent’s batch in Rangiputa with a

nice new Surtees 4.7 available for us to

use once the olds had had a morning fish.

Perfect for us- sleep off the hang-over then

smash some nice late-arvo snapper. Our

first trip out was in the afternoon of New

Years Eve. I was all excited about having

my first turn at soft plastics and couldn’t

wait to get out there. One wise piece of

advice was handed to me on launching the

boat from my mates Mum; “You know you

have to throw you first fish back on that

new rod for good luck?”to which “yeah for

sure” I replied. And off we went.

We decided to take a tip of drifting over

the 14m mark of some of the beaches

around the Karikari Peninsula. For the first

bait I ‘had’ to go with the Nuke Chook that

I had heard so much about their fishiness.

One cast and “Bang” - I had my first hook

up straight away! Wow - so much fight and

kick on this light gear- I could feel every

head nod and my reel was making those

funny pinging noises that I usually only

hear on fishing TV shows- Awesome.

Once I got first fish on board the call

boatFISHING

By Chris Hadlee Newbietakesashinetosoftplastics

Doubtless bay pannie

By Chris Hadlee


went out that beauty was not going back

and in fact had dinner written all over it.

Not ever being one for superstitions I

‘thought yeah keep it, get one in the bag’.

Well minutes later when my reel screamed

off again I thought this is easy! This one

was much bigger than the first and a call

for the net went around the boat and a

foldable net was deployed. When a mate

went to scoop the fish the net collapsed

and the fish kicked about and I watched in

horror as my biggest snapper to date dove

for the bottom, with a nice new bit of nuke

chook bling to show his mates.....then

nothing. Dam superstitions.

After the haze of new years we gave it

another shot; I had to get this monkey off

my back, this time we headed further out

to the Moturoa Islands. After running into

a feeding school of Skipjack on the way

out and getting one on the tuna lure and

a hook up on the soft baits then a kingie

amongst the tuna – life is good.

We decided to give the soft baits a flick

around some wash. Again not being one

to muck around I was the first to get a bait

in the water. Bang, big snapper right on

the surface. Well that monkey didn’t last

long. That great snapper (a new PB) was

soon followed by a large rat kingie which

gave my gear a good test. We shifted and

found some good sign on the sounder,

so decided to throw the drogue chute

out and drift in from 40 metre mark over

the good looking bottom. What followed

was one of the most amazing afternoons

fishing ever. We filled up the chiller bag

with nice pannies, also added two nice

blue cod on soft baits. I threw back fish

that would have been catch of the day in

the Gulf – too easy!

After a long battle with a Barracuda, my

good friend Charlotte (fresh back from the

U.K) had another fight on her hands and

it wasn’t until we saw that reddish colour

coming up from the deep that the boys

realised they had lost the ‘best fish of the

day prize’. A quick weigh in revealed an

18lb snapper followed few minutes later

by Callum with a nice 15lber - both were

successfully released. What a spot.

I had so much fun fishing around the

Peninsula on my soft plastics and was

amazed at the variety of fish I caught

on them, Snapper, Kingies, Skip jack,

Trevally, Dory, Kahawai, and a few less

desirable species too. Now I can’t wait

to get back up there later in the season

and through winter and see what we can

get our hooks into.

Chris’s PB


SnapperFreeZoneHeading in after a day out in the sunny

Hauraki Gulf with not a single solitary

snapper to show for the days fishing,

and being happy about it? Absolutely!

I know - it just doesn’t sound quite

right does it. And no it isn’t the sign

of being skunked and in denial, of

shedding ones right to claims of being

a fisherman, far from it. In fact some

of the best fishing days are where

everything but snapper is targeted,

and to catch a snapper is a ‘fail’ can

be a fantastic days fishing. Right now

in the Gulf we have a real opportunity,

one of broadening horizons of the

given norms of (snapper) fishing and

boosting the fun factor.

“Catch any fish”? One of the most

common questions asked on return to

the local neighbourhood. What they

mean is, were any snapper caught…

no… What? “Whaddaya mean,

skunked” (often with a devilishly

inquisitive gleam)?!

“No, had a fast action packed day of

catching fish and filled the bin mate,

arms are stuffed, legs wobbly, great

day…”

”Say what”?

“Yeah kingfish, and the biggest

kahawai you’ve ever seen, and a whole

bunch of skipjack tuna – let the good

times roll”.

TheKingandIThe outstanding fish, the King of fish

are almost everywhere in the Hauraki

gulf (and many other areas) this season

providing some of the most entertaining,

powerful running, hoodlum of the sea

attitude ever. Their speed and agility,

tenaciously dogged fight right to the

boat, and the inevitably the several

encore runs that threaten knots, rod tips,

lines, arm strength and all are thoroughly

rewarding. Many are ‘small’ or rats to

what they can become, but this is no

matter. Kingfish without a doubt are

some of the most sporting, dirty tricked

filled, hard out barrels of muscle in the

ocean. Excellent.

boatFISHING

TheKing&IStory and photos by Espresso


And this year is our chance to make the

most of them, to go and experience that

nitrous like burst of power on the strike,

the sheer low down grunt of these fine

looking fish with their beautiful racing

stripe sheen, and a welcome lack of

finger piercing teeth ticking an optional

extra box. In most places while many

are under size, but many aren’t and the

surface takes and very visual aspect of

catching them takes your breath away,

every time. Watching a gang of Kingfish

hone in on a fast retrieved soft plastic or

surface popper is always an eye grabber.

As they hunt down the fleeing prey and

work themselves into the strike frenzy.

Bow wakes as they tail and harass the

lure, perhaps many times before one

take the bait so to speak. Then it’s all on!

Whether you’re land based, spear-fishing,

in a dinghy, a Kayak, a trailer boat or

bigger – the kingfish really don’t mind.

Or maybe you like the livie approach,

perhaps a slow troll around your favourite

headland or reef, or drop a livie down

the sides of a baitschool on the sounder

(whether being worked over by other

predators or not)…feeling the change in

twitch of the livie as you let the line get

taken out by the king and after the turn

securing the hook in the jaw...their runs

heating the reel’s drag to ouch point. Ah

it’s a wonderful thing, king fishing.

The number of ways to get your

kicks on route 66 – the kings highway

so to speak, is always increasing,

being rediscovered or improved…live

baits, stick baits, poppers, jigs, soft

plastics, dead baits…all good. And

right now the kingfish are here, there,

and everywhere ready and waiting for

the game to begin. Just a quick word

– cradle them well when handling as

picking up by the tail can apparently

dislocate their spine, not good.

Skipjack tuna have managed to get

past trawlers along with other big

predators and find their way into the

Gulf, north and east of Flat Rock has

a few nice specimens at the moment,

and trolling a little lure or SP at about

Thisyearisourchancetomakethemostofthem,togoandexperiencethatnitrouslikeburstofpoweronthestrike,thesheerlowdowngruntofthesefinelookingfishwiththeirbeautifulracingstripesheen

Smoked king and big snapper


5kts behind the boat (just out of the

bubbles) can be just like big game

fishing, just downsize your reels (to

whatever you have), look for any surface

blips, flips or activity (often mistaken

for surface kahawai), current lines

and a new summer thrill awaits. On

light tackle the skippies just explode

on their own nitro-circus act runs and

look incredible with their chrome and

iridescent blue all lit up. They make

great catching and when prepped well

immediately, they can be darn good

eating smoked – by bleeding, icing

down and removal of blood lines when

filleting, then their taste is fantastic

straight out of the smoker.

Skippies are a fish not often found

in the gulf so while they are here,

certainly worth specifically targeting

and such a ton of fun (especially that

light tackle approach!). And they do

make some of the best big snapper

winter baits around.

Between the marauding Kingfish and

the flash-harry Skippies, the Kahawai

have been in all shapes and sizes

too. Some stunningly coloured and

patterned ones of the small to mid size

have been schooling in an around the

Noises and David rock areas, along with

the big-as ocean goers all hassling the

anchovy schools that are right in the

shallows all around the edges of gulf

right now. While I love snapper, change

is a good thing and it keeps the thrills

and enjoyment factor way up. When

heading out for a fast paced fishing day

is first on the agenda….head over to a

shoreline, or an inner harbor channel

pretty much anywhere, and you’ll find

all the fish you can poke your rod at.

The kahawai and kingfish are hunting

in big packs and so either trolling or

casting into them with a fast retrieve on

your favorite spinning reel has to be the

go at the mo’. Without having to spend

a small fortune and many hours/days


trolling for big game fish – get into the

smaller game fish approach and plenty of

excitement is still to be had, without the

time, huge expense and long hours of not

much. Troll for some skippies watch out

for a king strike or a monster kahawai that

you’ll swear is a kingie with their dogged

determination and hard-out explosions of

line peeling speed.

So whether it’s fresh kingfish steaks,

smoked kingfish, crumbed kingfish,

curried kingfish, battered kingfish…all

absolutely divine especially when fresh.

Similarly with the Kahawai when treated

correctly from moment of capture,

smoked kahawai flavor will often surpass

that of Snapper and many others, it’s

all in the technique of bleeding (I cut the

jugular) then into ice slurry within a minute

or two, then a simple boneless fillet at days’

end, cured in various flavour concoctions

for 3 days, followed by a whole days cold

smoke (hey use a hot smoker if that’s

what you have). The flavor is totally mouth

watering, and once smoked they can be

frozen and keep well for months, especially

when vacuum packed (for smoked fish

cakes second to none).

Oh yeah and of course, the golden

rule, where the food is, the fish arew,

so the snapper are right in close too,

have been for several weeks, and

should remain there for a few more.

In some of the busiest water highways

there are excellent snapper schools,

the harbor bridge area for instance –

excellent fishing at the moment. The

inner harbor channels, all around the

big volcano, the Kawau islands, and

over the eastern side of Waiheke,

great results are being achieved on

a daily basis. I hear so often, and fair

enough lately that many times the fish

just aren’t interested…well yes the

SNAPPER may go off the bite, but

think a little more than just one fish…

the kingfish, kahawai, tuna (some

bigger tuna and other predatory

game fish are in the northern areas

of the gulf!!) are all around, so take

off the snapper blinkers and go for a

new experience if you haven’t already

and enjoy a new way to spend the

day, bring home some exciting tales

of triumph and woe, as well as some

different tasting fish for a treat. Most

excellent adventures are to be had and

yet return snapper-less.

What an encounter!

www.baitstation.co.nz


Momentsthatyougetamped

underWATERfeature

here are some moments during

winter when you’re reading a

good fishing story that gets

you very amped for summer missions.

After an infamously poor New Zealand

ski season, i.e. no snow, I had whittled

it down to two activities: running and

pondering the next spearo mission in

my 4.3 metre RIB.

My favourite thing about my little boat

is the looks I get when I am 20-30 miles

off shore and whipping along the coast

of an island. I get sideways looks from

drivers in 6 metre plus boats who are

thinking, “now where’s mummy and

daddy’s big launch?” This little boat has

had some modifications, the obvious one

being a substantially larger gas tank to

fuel the 30 mighty horses attached to

the transom.

Warmish weather is the key to surviving

in such an exposed little boat, so our first

mission was saved for the beginning of

December. Finding enthusiastic, marine-

minded and endurance savvy boating

mates can be a challenge when half of

them are overseas and the remaining

few are ‘whipped’. Luckily, Nick, a

Scottish fella from work, cut the mustard

and we had locked in a date: a date that

neither of us would ever forget.

Preparation for the day involved

endless refreshing of the marine met

service page and metvuw.com. Never

mind the gear, it was all streamlined to

only the essentials and already packed

into a pre-fuelled boat.

The day finally came and we were up

at the crack of dawn and on the road

Story and photos by James Gordon


to Mangawhai. Nick was in good shape

this time - his last trip involved multiple

burley bombs over the pontoons after

trying to keep up with his kiwi in-laws

the night before. A quick launch and

two yanks on the pull-start had the tiller

yearning to be opened up.

Mangawhai bar is always full of

surprises. Good strong currents and

peeling waves makes dodging surfers

fun. Not this time -we hit the point to

find it a millpond: brilliant! We wound

up the 30 horses and hit the weed line

inside from the copper mine reef in a

good half hour. The water was alive with

baitfish, blue maomao, trevs and the like

-we could smell the kingis. We spent the

next few hours warming up and chasing

baitfish, butters and a few porae - next

stop the copper mine.

Limited to a depth finder, we spent

a bit of time trolling round doing the

typical search pattern, trying to locate

the copper mine. With the help of

a growing sun, a large white patch

emerged in about 7-8 metres: bingo,

anchor down. An hour of pushing into

the current with our guns, and one up/

one down diving the reef, we came up

with nothing but a few rat kingies and a

heap of koheru - time to move on.

We were a little beaten up from the

workout and had nothing to show for it,

but we still felt the vibe that our prized

kingi would show up. Two more dive

spots, lunch and a few more fish for the

bin saw us well into the afternoon.

Our final stop was the reefs off

Lady Alice. Still dead calm seas, the

conditions were idyllic. The run in

saw us pushing out wide to allow for

two boats who were being swarmed

by large ocean-going kahawai. We

anchored in two metres of water (the

beauty of having such a light boat) as

it pushed over the semi exposed reef

in the mid-tide. The game plan was to

be sucked out over the back of the reef

Nick hunting

www.gofish.co.nz


and work our way round. The incredibly

oversized dive flag went up and we

were out off the back of the boat in no

time, in amongst the baitfish.

A few yellow-fins appeared, had a quick

look at us and moved on before we

could point our muzzles behind their gill

plates. We pushed on around the side of

the reef, remembering kingfish generally

do the rounds every 20 minutes. Nick

was in front of me. I was getting tired

and trying to conserve my energy. To the

left I saw a large figure swimming into

the current with me. I made the mistake

of trying to approach it and got a flick

of a yellow tail - a 20kg plus kingfish.

From the surface I yelled at Nick to keep

his eyes peeled and we pressed on.

The front of the reef was dead and we

moved on to the next side. I was starting

to feel it now and didn’t want to cramp

up so I told Nick I was heading back to

the boat. He was a good ten metres in

front of me. I put my head back in the

water and swung my body around to

swim in the other direction. There on

my tail, cruising in for a look was the

distinctive white jaw and green head.

With no buddies around him, I knew he

would spook easily. My heart was racing,

but I did what I’ve read in many spearing

stories: turned again to face away, took a

sharp breath and dove down. I kept him

in view out of the corner of my eye as we

both swam into the current, but he was

steadily moving away.

Back to the surface, I yelled at Nick

where the fish was heading down. “GO

DOWN!” My excitement must have said

it all. I knew we only had once chance at

getting this fish, as he would check us

out once and move on. I swam towards

were Nick had dived down. It was then I

saw the flash of the white belly and Nick

swimming wide eyed. He knew he’d

hit the beast. I took a breath and swam

down to plug it with a second shot. The

fish was going nuts, luckily, it was only six

to eight metres, but the fish was quickly

heading for deeper water. Nick had

taken the shot from a good distance but

landed it in the softest part of the gut.

Unfortunately the flopper didn’t hold

and was lost, pulling through the fish’s

gut as it fought frantically along the rock.

I dove deeper and chased the fish until

I had it broadside. I fully extended my

arm with tip pointed for the money-shot,

right behind the gill plate. Safety off,

two 16 millimetre rubbers fully tensioned

and finger squeezing the trigger, and the

spear ripped right through the fish as it

thrashed to get the first shaft out. I came

screaming to the surface claiming we’d

got him! Nick obviously wasn’t convinced

as he wasn’t in the boat.

We spent the next ten minutes battling

the fish, fighting to not get tangled and

keep the buoys above the surface. After

several grabs, we finally caught him by

the gills and put him to rest with a quick

icky to the head. We put him through

the fish stringer attached to the float and

bear-hugged him as we swam through

the current and back onto the reef where

the boat was. It was pushing 5pm and

we’d been on the water for ten hours,

but we had a second wind and it got us

back the 22 miles we had travelled.

Back home and filleting the beast is

always fun; it’s just a dilemma as to how

big you cut the steaks, with the result

a reflection of how much you were

salivating at the time. Cooked simply,

and if anything undercooked, kingfish

is my favourite. Sharing the story and

eating good food with many friends

and family is more than half the fun. Its

moments like these that get you already

amped for your next mission!

Itwasagreatweekendoffishingand

adventuresinareallymagicpartofthe

country.Andthebestbit?Weknowthe

fishingupthereisjustgoingtogetbetter

andbetterofthecomingmonths.


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THEclubhouse

By Shona Zander

he Ngawi Sports Fishing

Club was formed on 1st July

1991with a financial member-

ship of twenty. This was quite an effort

for a small fishing village, but what bet-

ter place to start up a fishing club than

on the southern-most (and fishiest!)

coast of the North Island.

Less than 3 kilometres out from the

coast, you can be in 100 fathoms (Thats

180m to the rets of us – Ed.) of water

so the prospect of being able to catch

large sharks, both Mako and Blues, and

broadbill being sighted and caught the

odd occasion around the area, the newly

formed club decided to hold its first

fishing competition.

A large variety of fish can be caught in

the area, with the club having trophies

for blue cod, groper (hapuka), tarakihi,

trumpeter, kingfish, tuna, kahawai,

snapper, shark and billfish.

Although the club has not (yet)

weighed in a billfish, a broadbill of

300kg was netted by a trawler off

the Ngawi Coast and it was taken to

Wellington for weighing.

Our annual Ngawi Big 3 Fishing

Competition which is held on the third

weekend in February had its 20th

anniversary this year with 487 anglers

and 141 boats - no small feat for the

small village with approximately 30

fulltime residents! The small fishing

village swells to capacity with bachs

chocker and all the free camping area

packed with campervans and tents.

The Ngawi Sports Fishing Club runs a

full calendar for all it’s members. Club

days aimed at Children and small fry,

and Woman anglers, with the Interclub

contests with Wairarapa, Pukemanu,

Plimmerton and Kapiti Fishing Clubs,

for the more serious anglers. These

Club days are fantastic fun, everyone

NgawiSportsFishingClub

Prime Ngawai Snapper Ngawi Junior, Sam with a sizable Groper

Ngawi Local, Craig with a good southern Kingfish


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gets to know someone new, and a lot of

laughter, threats, bribes and big white

lies, in true fisherperson fashion, become

the order of the day.

The Ngawi Sports Fishing Club, along

with the Ngawi Hit Around Golf Club,

use the local community hall as their

Clubrooms. It is in this hall that the

tournament office is run from with an

18mx18m marquee, purchased by the

club this year, being the competitors

base for prize giving’s and the necessary

bar facilities!

I believe Ngawi is one of the most

photographed places in New Zealand

with not a day going by without

someone taking photos. The small

Ngawi Bay is lined with commercial and

recreational boats, the former mostly

for crayfish harvesting with a couple of

wet fish quota holders, on large beach

trailers with 6m plus drawbars. Every

trailer is hooked up to a bulldozer and

every breed of bulldozer imaginable can

be found there! Some have had a little

spruce up, new paint jobs - pink, purple,

green!! - and some are in dire need of

one! To the bulldozer enthusiast, it is

definitely a must see.

The Club has a large number of

sponsors and it is the continued support

of these wonderful sponsors that make

the Ngawi Big 3 Fishing Competition

the biggest in the Lower North Island –

check out the photos along side.

On top of the Big Three, the Club also

has ten monthly ‘Club Days’ for members

with prize money jackpotting for any

species not caught or a cancelled club day.

Many a yarn is told after a day on the

water over a beer with food and prize

giving at the end of the day.

The Club has purchased two 3140 John

Deere tractors for its members to use

when launching and retrieving their boats.

With no ramps, launching can be a

challenge as the beach is of small shingle

which can change with each tide and

rough seas.

The Ngawi Sports Fishing Club is

proud of its history of participation in

the fishery management, with delegates

attending meetings around the country

and submitting submissions on species

pertaining to our club, trying to ensure

that there will always be fish in the sea for

its members and their future generations.

Ngawi is truly a great club to belong to,

with a fantastic group of people willing

to ensure that all fisher people have a

great time, this is more than evident in

the number of financial members the

club currently has.

www.decoro.co.nz


regionalREVIEWS

HaurakiGulfSource: Grant Bittle ‘Espresso’ www.catch.org.nz

ell there are still plenty of

marlin around and some

big kingfish to boot. We

had some good fun over the weekend

fishing the Tairua Ladies comp, and the

crew we assembled took out 1st, 2nd

and 3rd kingfish regular fisho Hayley

Bonnici taking out biggest fish overall

with this 23.5kg kingfish, caught in

front of a big audience of other boats

fishing the comp, and awesome effort!

Well done Hayley!

It was an awesome week building

up to the comp and we managed to

bag another striped marlin on the

new Senator from an hours worth of

trolling, once again a striped marlin

choosing to devour the Bonze Apache,

in black over orange skirt. The angler

Darren Cade who has been watching

our website for the last two years and

in the end he just had to come and

get into some kingfish action! The

stripey came from some very good bait

sign in on the 100m line close to the

Aldermen Islands very close to Tairua.

The stripey was an added bonus

and Darren managed to get his arms

well and truly stretched on some solid

kingfish in his three days of fishing.

For more from the last week check our

report and photos here.

Coromandel/TairuaSource: Carl Muirwww.EpicAdventures.co.nz

ow what a wonderful fish-

ing season this has been,

and it continues. Good

healthy snapper are still in the 10-20m

depths all around the edges of the gulf

and the big sleepy volcano, with every

type size shape and species of fish too

– like kingfish, kahawai, mako, thresher,

even orcas in so shallow they must be

scratching their bellies!

The moons influence has been strong

and around that full moon the fishing

generally slows, but when the moon

calms down along with the wind, the

inner channels have been the place to

be rather than ‘out wide’ in the gulf

burning lots of gas leaving the best

fishing behind.

Workups have been few and far

between over the past month or so

further rout, but nothing lasts forever

good or bad and the sea ‘n sky vortex

of gannets is a happening thing again –

much to the pleasure of storm chasing

fishermen. Mostly though I’d keep

the gas budget for multiple close-in

evening or morning fishing sessions

rather than the gas burner of heading

out to 50m depths.

Skippies have returned and are out

east of Flat rock which are great fun to

catch surface trolling a tiny lure as you

would for kahawai. Kingfish, well they

seem to be popping up pretty much

everywhere, and near every marker

pole or buoy in the entire harbor and

gulf. Excellent fun even if lots of smaller

models are around, using lighter gear

and watching a youngster catch a king

is thoroughly rewarding even if the fish

is undersize and released, the thrill just

lasts and lasts.

My pick – a morning drift with softies

on lightweight jigheads (1/2oz say)

anywhere around islands and channels

between islands, a flick of a popper at

marker buoys or over surface schools of

various fish – again all in close, and keep

your eyes peeled, you’ll see the anchovy

schools in numbers (and some prawns!)

right into very shallow water – no

wonder all the big fish are there! That’ll

tell you what’s working bait or imitation

bait wise ay.

http://epicadventures.co.nz/early_march_2011_marlin_darren_ladies_fishingcomp.html


ishing over the past few weeks

has been a bit up and down, the

good run of kingfish that were

greedily taking down any jig on offer

seem to have moved on. But the good

news is the snapper have moved in close

in big numbers and there are some

pretty big models in amongst them. We

have been landing some good fish but

we have also been humbled by some of

these monsters as well with some big

bust offs occurring.

Big news for the past week was the

capture of a giant snapper on a stick

bait, snapper on stick baits are a pretty

rare capture but this one was even more

special because it cracked the 20 pound

mark. This big snapper took an Angel

Tackle lure which are now available form

us for under the $100 mark, pretty good

value for top quality stick bait. The fish

was duly released and swam away well.

Only two days later we hooked another

big snapper on a stick bait but pulled the

hooks before we could land it.

Even with the patchy fishing we have

just enjoyed one of the

most memorable days

fishing I have ever had,

with a couple of Aussies

on board we ventured

out to a secret location

and hauled in fish after

fish right from the start.

We landed a few good

fish but the really big

ones just kept eluding

us, one pulled the

hook and another

monster got mauled

by a shark. Then finally

at the end of the day we hooked up to a

freight train, this fish fought well above

its weight class and it was a pretty tense

battle in shallow water. Eventually up

popped a beautifully conditioned kingfish

in the mid to high 20kg bracket. But

the most interesting thing we witnessed

during the day was when a monster

kingfish come up and tried to eat a

smaller kingfish we had hooked up, it was

absolutely huge.

BayofPlenty Source: Mark Armisteadwww.extremesportfishing.co.nz

Marquesa

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

™

Biscayne

AHAB

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

valued at

$15000

A Snapper on a stick bait – and a 20lber at that!!


he marlin have finally arrived

off the Naki and boy are they

hungry. Just days before going

to print (the week before the AMF

boats 2011 Gamefishing Competition)

ten marlin were landed in just one day

including a 110kg beauty by Kevin

Moratti, New Plymouth Sportsfishing

and Underwater club stalwart and local

fishing personality, caught on board

Duncan McIver’s AMF 660, Narcosis.

Shot boys!

The best fishing has been just north of

the port in anything from 60 meters or

greater. With water sitting at above 21

degrees almost everyday and blue water

everywhere, it might b hard to miss

out. There are plenty of Albacore and

Skippies too, but size hasn’t been great.

For those hitting inshore species,

there’s still snapper about but in

reduced numbers than January. If you

like kingfish, now is the time. Some of

the best kingfish in the last decade have

been coming in and special mention has

to be made of Kane Wrigglesworth’s

36kg (ish?) Landbased king landed

‘south of Whanganui’ last month. Kane’s

fish beat the club record of 21kg by a

huge margin! Well done Kane – that’ll

take some beating!

TheNZSportFishingNationalsThe 2011 NZSFC Nationals were held in February and there were some

outstanding results. In total 1,492 Anglers fished from 422 teams and 39 Clubs

took part retuning 738 fish to be weighed and 642 were tagged and released.

TOTAL FISH WEIGHED & TAGGED DURING THE 2011 NATIONALS

The total number of fish weighed during the contest 738

Total number of Billfish weighed 40

Blue Marlin 40

Total number of Striped Marlin weighed 32

Total number of Shortbill Spearfish weighed 12

Total number of Shark weighed 21

Blue Shark 8

Bronze Whaler 3

Mako 10

Total number of Tuna weighed 2

Yellowfin 0

Bigeye 2

Total number of Slender Tuna

Total number of Skipjack 273

Total number of Albacore 106

Total number of Yellowtail 20

Total number of Kahawai 110

Total number of Snapper 70

Total Number of Trevally 32

Total number of Mahimahi 20

Total number of Fish tagged and released 642

Total number of Billfish tagged and released 39

Black Marlin 0

Blue Marlin 39

Total number of Striped Marlin tagged and released 217

Total number of Shortbill Spearfish tagged and released 7

Total number of Shark tagged and released 233

Blue shark 52

Bronze Whaler 11

Hammerhead 3

Mako 167

Total number of Yellowtail tagged and released 146

Total number of tuna tagged and released 0

Taranaki/WestCoastSource: Bought to you by The Taranaki

AMF Team – www.amfboats.co.nz

Congratulations to all who took part whether you landed fish or not,

this was an exceptional competition.

Kev’s 110kg Marlin

regionalREVIEWS


By Derrick Paull

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Serving New Zealand’s Best Seafood For Over 13 years!

If you love seafood you’ll love Swashbucklers

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Located at Westhaven Marina on the edge of the

shores of the magnificent ‘City of Sails’, pop in

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cold ale in our Boatshed Bar.

Phone 09 307 5979 for bookings or just come on down. Open ‘til late!

Proud to support the launch of NZ Fisher e-Magazine!

TOTAL FISH WEIGHED & TAGGED DURING THE 2011 NATIONALS

nzFISHERvideo - NEWproduct

ast month we presented a brief

on what stick baits are and

this month I’m keen to expand

on that somewhat with a short video

showing how stickbaits (should) act

when they’re worked correctly and

they’re a well balanced product.

The lure in the video is a Killer Series

handmade and sourced from Japan.

The new Killer series stickbaits are

available from Yeehaa in Panmure.

[Image: Killer; and kilfish; Caption: N/A]

Click here to see this very clear video

on the action of a Killer stickbait -how

could fish possibly resist?!?!?!? (Scroll

down to see video).

Killer stickbaits - they’re

lethal on kingfish

KillerSeriesStick-baits

www.yeehaa.co.nz

http://www.killer-jig.com/movie/movie.html


nationalbody REPORT

he North Shore Surfcasting

Club and Hibiscus Kayak Fish-

ing Club in association with

the NZACA are excited to invite you

compete at the 2011 New Zealand An-

gling and Casting Association National

Championships to be based at Orewa

on the beautiful Hibiscus Coast north

of Auckland. The 2011 nationals are to

be held 20-23rd April 2011.

The Nationals are the highlight of the

NZACA’s annual fishing calendar and

an awesome event for all keen anglers

and casters.

Orewa in Rodney District is the

gateway to the amazing Hauraki Gulf

and stunning wild West Coast beaches.

The 2011 Nationals will have extremely

generous boundaries extending from

Bream Tail and North Head of the

Kaipara in the North to Orere Point and

the Waikato River to the south.

Specific boundaries may be set within

these limits. These waters are extremely

fishy waters and produce fantastic fishing

every year for those luckily enough to

enjoy them.

These boundaries include many easy

walking and productive spots as well as

innumerable boatfishing locations that can

be accessed from over 20 boat ramps.

The new Kayak section will bring

plenty of interest to the Nationals and

the upper Hauraki Gulf is recognised as

the best kayak fishing location in New

Zealand with many 20lb plus Snapper

caught here by kayakers in 2009 and

2010. Early captures in 2011 have

included 20.

For those chasing Kingfish they are

abundant throughout the gulf until

May and can be found chasing live

baits and jigs all day - if you can them

is the question!!!???

Accommodation:Rodney is a tourist focussed region

with many options for accommodation

from DoC Camping grounds in

Mahurangi, Motels on the Hibiscus

Coast to rustic beach bachs at Snells

Beach. Finding a place to lay your head

will never be a problem.

FamilyThe event is being held to coincide with

the school Holidays and the Hibiscus

Coast offers a great base for family

holidays. Plan to bring the whole family

along and involve fishing in your activities.

EntertainmentIf you’re bringing the family (and

perhaps they don’t want to fish –

Horror!) the massive Albany Mall and

new Whangaparaoa Shopping Malls

are just minutes away. The Hibiscus

Coast is lined with stunning white

sand beaches perfect for picnics and

summer swims with few waves to

burden the little ones. When the fishing

is done you’re in the country’s biggest

neighbourhood with 100’s of bars and

restaurants within 30 minutes.

CharterBoats:Gulf Harbour, on the Whangaparaoa

modern and very competent Charter

fleet happy to take you to where the fish

are. The Kaipara Harbour on the west

coast also has a strong charter fleet, but

be quick they’re in hot demand.

Casting:The casting will be held at a very new

venue (almost) tailor made for casting.

The interest in this Nationals Casting

event is already strong with many new

casters testing themselves in preparation

for the 2011 Championships.

The Casting will be run on the same

day for both Distance and Accuracy,

thereby reducing the time commitments

to compete in all sections.

For any information or if you

wish to enter, please email

[email protected] and go to

www.nzaca.co.nz

TheNZACANationalChampionships2011

NEW ZEALAND ANGLING & CASTING ASSOCIATION 2011 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

//TakingittoCityofSails

mailto:[email protected]

www.nzaca.co.nz

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//Inthenextissueof NZFisher…

The all new Ocean Kayak Prowler 4.1 – Tested•

The NZACA Nationals – NZFisher’s efforts – Are we victorious?•

A week at the Three Kings – A fisher’s El Dorado•

HaveyousubscribedtoNZFisher?It’sfree!Simplyvisitwww.nzfisher.co.nz togetacopyofNZFisherdeliveredstraighttoyourinboxeverythirdWednesday!

Next edition out 2011

Documents

NZ Fisher Issue Six