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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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

richardl@espiremedia.com

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

10 www.nzfisher.co.nz

sportFISHING

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 : derrickp@nzfisher.co.nz ]

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

derrickp@nzfisher.co.nz.

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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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•

NEXTmonth

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