NZ Fisher Issue 3

www.nzfisher.co.nz 1

ISSUE 3 November 2010

// Big boy snapper old Skool styles

Scallop’s perfected – The Fish Stock //

Kayaking for Kingfish - Far far north//

www.nzfisher.co.nz

2 www.nzfisher.co.nz

THE RUM THAT INVENTED RUM

www.mountgayrum.com Enjoy the adventure, drink responsibly


Pg 18

14

2214

6 Old School Snapper Tactics

Out with the old, in with the new!

11 Fishing Video of the Month

Gurnard capers with Espresso

12 Name the Species

14 The Scientist & the Fish

Where do the snapper go - Part II

18 As Far North as the Eye Can See

Kayakfishing

22 Scallops, Summer’s Richest Gift

24 Where Good Tackle Proves Itself

The Inchiku Rock-G

26 The Clubhouse

North Shore Surfcasting Club

28 Regional Reviews

30 Fisheries Management News ReportPg 24

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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

hings are hot in just about ev-

ery fishery. Spring is here with

a passion and you could be mis-

taken for thinking its summer already.

Auckland, Bay of Plenty & the upper

northwetsfisheriesareproducing

someofthebestsnapperfishingin

memory (well, who really remembers

what it was like before the trawlers

started pillaging?) Mayor, White & the

Alderman’s have proved that world class

YellowtailKingfishfisheriesarestillpart

of the mix with the charter operators

puttingpeopleonto30KGplusfishon

almost daily basis.

Issue three pays tribute to the good

oldfashionedfishingstyleweall(well,

most of us) grew up with – bait & burley.

KurtBennettolooksatthefinerdetails

of luring giant Snapper form the rough

while Darren Parson takes to the high

seas off the North of the north in search

ofKayakKingfish–again,baitisthekey.

Christmas is nearly upon us and there’s

aneedforstockingfillersformthe

family – we have a look at the Inchiku

Rock-G – perhaps the perfect stocking

filler?Orjustanothertrickinthetackle

boxforthefisherwhohaseverything!

And since it is the season for giving

we’ve added another competition for our

readers – see page 12 for the all new –

‘Name the species’ competition. Summer

is also scallop season, so when you’re out

there, jump in with a mask and have a

look around. Chef Chris has produced a

recipe to remember in The Fish Stock –

just odn’t over cook them please!!

Intheworldoffishingtherearefew

things more satisfying than seeing your

friends land their personal bests or at

leastnice,bigfish.Whilehehasboated

abetterfish(mentionedintheFarNorth

Article) the cover shot of Darren Parsons

with his best King on a jig is a doosey –

nice mate! The King was landed out with

Carl Muir from Epic Adventures – hat

tip to Carl for the pic.

EDITOR

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


boatFISHING feature

” Burley &

big baits do

the business.

”


ith the new technology

and methods such as soft

plastic fishing the days of

stray lining the big baits with massive

burley trails are fading away. Most

people you speak to on Monday at

work about there fishing weekend or

wherever it may be always seem to

catch their fish on soft plastics. Howev-

er the “old school” method produces

BIG snapper and in certain places is

BETTER and much more effective than

soft plastic fishing, in fact it is still my

personal favourite.

Location and ConditionsThe location is paramount when

targeting big snapper and the shallows

is the place to find them. Anything

from three to fifteen meters of water

is perfect. I look for anything from a

costal point to a costal gut, through

to a sunken rock just off the shore.

Whatever it may be it needs to look

rocky and rugged.

The perfect conditions for big snapper

fishing are after a big onshore storm or

blow has passed through. This generally

leaves behind a nice swell pounding

// Out with the new in with the old By Kurt Bennetto

Old School Snapper Tactics

the shore stirring everything up from

sand to kina which creates a haven for

big snapper. All of my best snapper

fishing has occurred when there is a

nice swell running.

Another big bonus for fishing in surgy

conditions is that your bait stays much

more active and doesn’t get snagged

near as often because it continuously

moving up and down in tandem with the

surge. This also assists and gives you an

advantage with keeping that 20 pounder

up off the bottom when you’re hooked

up. When you compare that to fishing

a dead calm day without any water

movement your bait easily sinks and gets

snagged which is extremely frustrating

and can get rather pricey.

Position the boat so that when you

cast your bait it lands halfway between

your boat and the rocks this is a good

method of getting your position right

which is normally not to far off the mark.

Obviously it’s not the same for every

spot but I use this method as the general

rule of thumb. Another important thing

to get right is your position aligned with

the current, here is nothing worse than

the burley going up past the anchor

closely followed by your line!

Bait and BurleyThe burley trail is the deal breaker, it is

so important to be stocked with burley

as you head out for your big snapper

hunt. The burley trail does take a while

to work, sometime up to a couple of

hours. But as all serious fishermen

know patients are required to achieve

the results. I find homemade burley is

the best, loaded with skip jack tuna

and kina which create a massive oil

slick on the surface. Plus making your

own burley is a good way to clean that

bait freezer out.

Bait presentation is also very important

when targeting snapper. I cringe when


I see someone cut a pilchard onto

quarters and put a cube on each hook,

it just looks so unnatural and wrong.

A lot of people don’t realise but a just

legal sized snapper will hoover back the

average whole pilchard no trouble at all.

I normally start off with whole pilchards

and as the burley trail starts working

and fish start getting bigger this is the

time to go for the big fresh bait such as

a whole butterflied mackerel or even a

full length kahawai fillet split down the

middle. Quite often when snapper fishing

with a big burley trail running you will

have kahawai, mackerel and even trivially

appear, take advantage of this and get

some fresh bait, you cant beat it and it

will pay off. I personally like to catch a few

mackerel in the harbour before we even

head out. Remember it is important with

cuts baits to have them presented well

which consists of long thin strips rather

than a square cut which is near impossible

for a snapper to suck back.

Now, when lobbing that big bait down

the burley trail it may take a while

before you get a taker for your big bait

but when you do its normally a good

snapper. When this happens be sure to

let this fish swallow the bait, because the

bait is bigger than normal give it longer

in free spool before you slam the drag

up and strike.

Put the plastic away for a weekend, get

out there and get back to the old skool

this method is still the best for catching

those big moochers in the shallows.

Remember location, Burley and big

baits. Good luck!

A lot of people don’t realise but a just legal sized snapper will hoover back the average whole pilchard no trouble at all.

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competition

ere’s a new competition for NZ Fisher Subscribers. We want to

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If you’re one of the lucky NZ Fisher subscribers listed below, simply fire an email to our editor

[email protected] before 5pm Friday 17 December 2010 to claim your prize!

Every issue, all NZ Fisher subscribers* go in the draw to get hooked up with some fantastic prizes

courtesy of generous NZ Fisher supporters. To find out if you’ve won simply check this section in each

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working days prior to issue date (‘cos that’s when our prize winners are drawn) and be a resident of New Zealand at the time of the draw. To

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What the tags revealedThe location at which tagged snapper

were recaptured was highly dependent

on where they were originally tagged.

The snapper least likely to move were

those tagged in shallow rocky reef areas

(in this case around the coast of Leigh

and Kawau Island).

The median distance between

release and recapture for these

fish was only 690 metres, with very

few fish moving greater distances.

Fish tagged in the inner Hauraki

Gulf were slightly more mobile. The

median distance between release and

recapture for these fish was 2.2 km

with some making longer-distance

movements. The most mobile of the

fish we tagged were from the mid

Hauraki Gulf. The median distance

between release and recapture for

these fish was 18.9 km. Many of these

fish moved long distances, often into

the Bay of Plenty. The longest distance

The Scientist & the Fish

scienceFEATURE

//Where do our Snapper go – Part IIBy Darren Parsons, Fisheries Scientist, NIWA

Areas where the tagged fish were released. Credit: NIWA


Areas where the tagged fish were released. Credit: NIWA Short Distance Movements” and “Long Distance Movements Credit: NIWA

Mel (NIWA) and fish Credit: NIWA


movement we observed was from a

fish that was recaptured just north of

Gisborne, a total movement in excess

of 450 km!

These results confirm what fishers

suspected, that both resident

‘kelpies’ and more mobile ‘school

fish’ are present within the same

snapper stock. Although we were

only able to tag snapper from a

limited area within the Hauraki

Gulf, it seems that snapper from

deeper water are more mobile and

those from shallower waters more

residential. The resident snapper

were also made up of both large and

small fish; big fish did not seem to

travel any more or less distance than

small ones. Snapper in the rocky reef

areas near Leigh and Kawau were

predominantly resident, as were the

snapper tagged in shallow muddy

areas near Auckland. This suggests

that even when the fishing in inshore

waters is poor, there are still likely

to be resident fish in the area. So

some snapper probably will not leave

their usual haunts, even over spring

when large numbers of other snapper

aggregate to spawn.

How fishing may affect different snapper populationsThe tagged snapper recaptured in this

study not only helped us understand

fish movements, but also the level of

extraction by fishing experienced in

the different areas in which tagging

occurred. Snapper from the rocky

reef areas near Leigh and Kawau

experienced the highest extraction

rates (~5% annually) whereas snapper

from the inner and mid Hauraki Gulf

areas had annual extraction rates of

around 4.3% and 3.3% respectively.

This result was somewhat surprising

as the level of fishing effort in the

inner Hauraki Gulf is much higher than

at Leigh and Kawau. The most likely

explanation is that the population size

of snapper on the rocky reefs near

Leigh and Kawau is small (meaning

less fishing effort can extract a greater

proportion of the population). If

correct this implies that populations of

resident snapper are more vulnerable

to overexploitation.

These results therefore suggest that

localised areas containing resident

snapper could become depleted

regardless of what the overall

snapper stock is doing. This is likely

an important issue for recreational

fishers, who largely fish in areas where

resident snapper are prevalent. I

Fishermen have known for many years that snapper are capable of undertaking long- distance movements or being resident to small areas.


suspect it comes down to a situation

of having your cake and eating it.

Healthy populations of resident

snapper ensure easy access to good

fishing experiences, but each localised

population will only be able to sustain

a certain amount of extraction.

Post script note:NIWA is continuing to analyse

other information arising from this

tagging programme which will be

communicated to the public in the

future. If you do catch a tagged

snapper we are still interested in

hearing from you, please call 09-

375 2050. Finally, we would like to

thank all the fishers who returned

information on tagged snapper to us.

Without your cooperation this project

would not have been possible.

Mel (NIWA) and fish

http://bit.ly/a4vPkb


As Far North As The Eye Can See

ish are where you find them,

but where might that be? I

guess you can look at it from

two perspectives. If dozens of boats

are all anchored up in the same spot

it might be because there are a lot of

fish there. Alternatively, there might be

virtually untouched fish populations in

areas where there are no boats? For

a while now, I have wanted to try the

second idea out and head to a really

remote area targeting big snapper and

kingfish. So with a tent, 30 packs of

soft baits and a kayak on the roof, to

the top of the North Island I went.

The Far North really is blessed with

loads of beautiful places and great

fishing too. As you head north of

Kaitaia you can feel the remoteness

creep in around you, and I was hoping

this would also spell big fish. My tactic

was to catch kahawai live baits, bridle

rig them and slow troll them behind

the kayak along remote stretches of

//Amanandhisfish Words and Pics by Daren Parsons,

kayakFEATURE


As Far North As The Eye Can See

northland coast. As I paddled along I

would also flick soft baits at any gnarly

looking rocks that might hold monster

snapper. This trip had been a long time

in the planning. Furthermore, a month

of easterly winds and an unexpected

transaction on a house delayed my

departure. The wait was worth it, the

weather was perfect and the water oh

so clear.

On my first days fishing the sun was just

coming over the horizon as I paddled

down a creek next to the camp site

where I was staying. I pulled my kayak

over a sand dune and set off into the

surf. I didn’t need to go far before

finding a reef that looked promising

and it was with great anticipation that

I made my first cast. “Whack”, my bait

was hit before sinking to the bottom, but

the fish was not big. Two hours later my

enthusiasm was waning. I had covered all

of a few hundred metres, caught a bunch

of snapper, but couldn’t entice anything

of decent size. Moving away from the

coast into slightly deeper water resulted

in a few fish of slightly better size,

but as I drifted out even further they

stopped biting. I put my rod down and

rearranged my position as something

gave the line a tug. I hooked the fish,

which initially didn’t pull hard, but as I

came into more direct contact the fish it

screamed off

This is why I was soft baiting with 20 lb

braid and a rod rated to 60 lb. I cranked

the drag and lent into him, but he kept

going and going. Feeling uneasy about

applying more pressure and risking

pulling the hook, there wasn’t much else

I could do. The fish eventually reefed

me, despite the bottom being pretty flat.

I could still feel the fish, and for the next

10 minutes I floated above trying to free

it.

The water was shallow (about 10

ft deep) and I toyed with the idea

of swimming down to free the line.

Eventually the line did snap however

and I cursed not taking the plunge. That

could have been the difference between

a successful or failed trip.

When I got back to shore I decided

to take advantage of the calm weather

and head to a more exposed spot

about as far north as you can go. I also

expected this to be even more remote,

but there were a lot of people in the

camp site and I soon discovered that

most of them were fishing.

Seems I was not the first person to

think the far north might be a likely spot

for a kingfish. Despite the numerous

” Midge

ts

Everywhe

re”


land based fisho’s, I was about the only

person fishing from some form of boat.

So as I paddled out the next morning it

was with some anxiety.

Aside from the open ocean, swirling

current lines and lack of other boats to

come to my aid if needed, I couldn’t

stop thinking that this was probably the

last place in the world you should really

be attaching yourself to a 2 kg kahawai

in a vessel with virtually no freeboard.

Stories of people hooking gigantic

sharks at this spot were firm in my mind

and as I passed around peninsulas where

the current would drag me out to sea I

felt slightly uneasy. What I did have in my

favour was a waterproof VHF and a call

schedule with the kind folk at Far North

Radio. Not that they could really help me

if I became connected to a shark. Earlier

in the summer this had happened on a

couple of occasions, but thankfully the

sharks (mako and hammerhead) were

both under 6 ft.

Catching a live-bait was not difficult.

What was more difficult was catching

one small enough so that I had more of a

chance of hooking a reasonable kingfish,

as opposed to something that would

tow me to Australia. Eventually a nice

1.5kg kahawai was bridle rigged and

sent behind the boat. I managed

to paddle and fish about 12 miles

of coast that day. There were plenty of

snapper up in the wash, but my biggest

was only about 3.5 kg.

I towed the kahawai behind me the

whole day, and aside from a couple of

very small kingfish jumping next to it,

there was no interest. After a long day

at the paddle I was most pleased to

set foot ashore. Mostly because I could

barely move my legs after 12 hours

sitting in the same position, but also

because that uneasy feeling disappeared

as I neared the beach.

The next morning I was

determined the day would

end differently, one way or another.

Unfortunately, it all seemed to play out the

same way. I caught my live bait, I caught a

bunch of ok snapper, my butt hurts again,

and still no kingfish. At least I was feeling

slightly more comfortable with being on

an exposed and barren stretch of coast

without a person in sight. Towards the end

of the day I had basically given up hope. I

”Onward to Surville Cliff”

<Photo>’Daz’s Far North

– North Cape and Beyond.

Caption: “s!” Credit: Darren

Parsons

A fine fish any day – but not the target today


had one more peninsula to round before

turning for camp, and I found myself

thinking, “If its going to happen it would

be better here than off that exposed and

current ridden peninsula”

……Cue screaming ratchet……..

“Slowly increase drag…..Holy heck,

I’m hooked up, and by the wake

coming off my kayak and the speed I

am heading out to sea its probably a

kingfish….Increase drag….Holy heck

×2, I am going even faster. I didn’t think

that was possible.”

About 1 mile from the coast (which

was also about 1 mile north of New

Zealand) I decided an emergency sea

anchor deployment was required. Of

course it was tangled and took another

couple of minutes to get into the water.

By now I was nearing 2 miles north

of New Zealand in the middle of a

gigantic current line. Fortunately the

sea was calm, but for a nano second I

did contemplate cutting the line. The

drogue slowed my progress and I was

able to push the drag up to strike, about

8 kg of drag being applied through 60

lb line. To be honest, the fish behaved

perfectly throughout the fight. Apart from

turning towards me initially, it had run in

a straight line for the entire fight. That

meant I was able to keep the line just off

my bow which put all the force over the

length of my kayak and kept me nice and

stable. A fish that size darting from side

to side would be a different

story, hence my reluctance

to apply full drag earlier in

the fight. Once I got over

the fish there were a few

blistering vertical runs, but

nothing like the initial 1

mile tow.

Eventually I could

see electric gold and

green beneath me

and while the speed of the

fish had given me confidence it wasn’t

a shark this was also a relief. The fish

then floated to the surface and didn’t

move a fin. This allowed me to take

some self pics (not easy) and lift on the

fish to feel its weight.

The pictures don’t do it justice as

the fish is more than a metre behind

my head, but I estimate its weight at

being in excess of 22 kg. As I had no

ice and planned to stay in the north

for another few days I had no other

option but to release it.

The rest of the trip pales in

comparison really, despite the white

sand dunes, crystal clear waters,

good snapper and 4.5 kg trevally that

were all present at my next camp site.

Overall I spent about 15 full days

towing kahawai behind my kayak

this summer for one fish. I imagine

I paddled over dozens of trophy

snapper in search of that one fish but

it was definitely worth it. Now I just

need to figure out a way of increasing

the catching and decreasing the

paddling, otherwise I’ll be doing the

miles again next summer.

”The battle comes to an end”

The mighty kingfish beaten – but so was the angler

Self takes are

so much fun!


Scallops, Summer’s Richest Gift

ello and welcome to the sec-

ond installment of the Fish

Stock. I hope you managed

to impress a few folks with the Kingfish

and Prosciutto Wraps from the first

issue. If you haven’t tried them yet they

will make the perfect entrée to this

month’s recipe.

What can possibly be better then

kicking back on a sunny summer’s

afternoon with a cold beer, after

gathering what would have to be one

of the most sought after and succulent

delicacies our coastline has to offer?

Zygochlamys delicatula, Scallops or

Tipa in Maori.

theFISHstock

Serves 4 as a main

Ingredients20 fresh scallops

300g soba noodles

2 tsp grated ginger

½ cup of good Sauvignon Blanc

or Pinot Gris

1 fresh red chili finely chopped

Rind of one lemon finely chopped

Juice of one lemon

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

200g rocket

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Fresh is best (and raw they’re delicious too!)

MethodThis is a great quick dish to whip up.

It pays to have all of the ingredients

cut, prepared and ready to go before

cranking up the pan; things need to cook

in unison to stay hot and fresh.

First of all, bring a pot of water to the

boil and cook the noodles for about 5-6

minutes before removing and rinsing in

cold water. While these are cooking; in a

fry pan add some olive oil and lightly fry

the garlic and chili, remove from the pan

and set aside (keep the pan on the heat).

Mix together the ginger with the wine.

Stir the fried chili, garlic, lemon juice

and rind through the noodles with a

pinch of salt and pepper and a good

glug of olive oil. Cover and set aside.

Pour a bit more oil to the hot pan, add the

scallops and fry for a minute on each side.

Keep the heat up and bit by bit pour the

wine and ginger mix over the scallops. Let it

reduce and deglaze all the goodness off the

pan onto your scallops for another minute.

Plate up the noodles with a share of the

scallops, a side of rocket and serve with

a fresh glass of Pinot Gris.

Tight lines and empty plates!


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Email: [email protected] Totara St

PO Box 4138, Mt MaunganuiCheck out our new website www.decoro.co.nz Become a member now!

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Fresh is best (and raw they’re delicious too!)


theWORKface

By Grant ‘Espresso’ Bittle

// The Inchiku Rock-G

ou know, there’s nothing like

shiny sparkling new and fasci-

nating looking fishing tackle

to try right? After-all doing the same

ol’ same ol’, can get a little staid and

it is possible to gradually diminish the

all-important aspect of discovery, chal-

lenge and the delight of finding a new

successful technique to hunt fish with.

When you’re out on the water and

perhaps looking at a bit of coastline

and thinking “that looks fishy”…here’s

something that might just tick all the

right boxes.

Having more than just one or two

methods delivering a knockout punch to

fish on the boat is essential in my books,

not every day is the same, and if it was,

fishing could become rather dull now and

then. Now looking at this new little jig

(new to me anyway) perked my intrigue

straight away – after all it has some very

good looking time honoured components

like the little luminous bead, a well known

attractant for many fish, especially New

Zealand Snapper. The colourful skirts – well

their flutter in water works wonders on fish

from Mackerel through to Marlin and pretty

much everything in between. In addition

the Rock-G has a holographic style shiny

scale-like weighted body, eyes, razor sharp

hook…things that do the fish catching trick,

so what about all of this in combo?

Other aspects that captured my

attention about this particular jig when

I first gazed upon it was the offset…

everything. Offset shaped weighted

body, offset hook attachment, all about it

seemed out of alignment and angled, out

of balance almost. But that offset nature

is exactly why this jig imparts its own

unique and tempting action in the water.

So even before tying it on the end

of my lightweight soft plastic rod and

reel setup out drifting around in the

big salty puddle I was excited about

the possibilities being conjured up in

my mind. I started to develop a plan, a

cunning plan, time to be lured in Mr. and

Mrs. Snapper!

With only limited knowledge about

how this could work, I set out on a day

when fishing was average at best, you

know the ones, moon not right, not a

lot of current - a good test in fact. The

moment I plopped this little jig in the

water and gave it a twitch, I just knew

this would work. The angled darting,

panicked, fleeting motion of the jig is

excellent. It moves just like a fleeing,

perhaps injured little baitfish – the very

prey that so many fish are after. In the

wash, down the face of deep drop offs,

darting in and out of weedy areas and

out over expanses of sand…a ‘oh hell

I’m in the wrong place’ kind of motion

is exactly what this Rock-G jig screams.

The neat sideways and seemingly

random drastic escaping swim action is

certainly enough to entice both feeding

and predatory strikes from Snapper and

other fish species no doubt.

A great accompaniment to the soft bait

and jigging arsenal of tackle prevalent

in mine and many other keen fishers

tackle bags. With retrieval action similar

to both styles its ideal to use on your

lighter setups with braided line, and

Where good tackle proves itself


stealthy lighter leader (the bite and

hookup is well back from the line so

little chance of bite-offs). What a great

option to have on the boat, carrying a

few different weighted Rock-Gs, always

at hand, clean and simple, no smell or

mess, goo or gunk, and no deterioration,

instantly ready and most importantly,

they catch fish!

Perfect to have in the tackle box to

increase the options and a truly fun way

to come home with the goods, especially

if you like jigging. Over the recent years

of fishing I have tried a lot of different

approaches to catching fish, enjoying

each and every one for their own process

to hunt down and capture my targeted

prey. Through interest and necessity I

now have increased the options available

and approaches used to catch fish. After

all to be successful each time, avoiding

the disappointment of a skunking (no

fish) you need more than one approach,

the more options the better.

While still occasionally venturing

out with bait and burley my personal

preference has turned towards the more

clinical approach. Clinical in terms of

reducing the clean up time, smell and

mess aboard my trailer boat, simplicity

if you like increasing both success rates

and reducing the ‘work’ associated with

fishing. My boat these days is being

transformed into a clinical fish hunting

machine. Fast, smell free, clean and

successful fish hunts are the order of

the day, much appreciated by kids (zero

bait smell helps reduce sea sickness),

and those that don’t like the smell of

bait or soft bait liquids in their fingers

after fishing – and these little jigs tick

lots of boxes.

With successful catching being the

number 1 priority, I’ve found that using

rod/reel, and line weights at least

roughly designed for what I’m doing

adds not only to the ability to detect

and secure hookups, but to the pleasure

in achieving a successful days fishing.

Various styles of jigs have been around

a long, long time and will continue

to be as they are an effective way of

hooking fish. Why they work is simple

– fish are more often than not attracted

to bite something with correct visual

stimulation/attraction. Even when using

a whole real Pilchard for instance, if it’s

just lying there on the sea floor, it will

eventually get eaten, but if you give it

some motion showing signs of (failing)

life, it’ll get hit far more often, and more

often than not by the bigger fish, not just

tiny pickers. That why jigs work, action,

flutter, attraction = a call to action!

Remember fish don’t have thumbs, the

only true way to check if something is

edible is to bite at it, the more attractive

the action, the more attention, the more

bites and hookups. The Rock G has a

very attractive action in the water not

only to fishers, but to the fish.

“Even stealthy old John

Dory love the Rock-G”

Credit: Derrick Paull

“Snapper find the Inchiku irresistable.”

Credit: Grant Bittle

http://bit.ly/cLs5LR


theCLUBHOUSE

North Shore Surfcasting Club


or over forty years the North

Shore Surfcasting Club has

been leading the way with

monster Snapper, Kingfish, Kahawai

and Trevally. Records for all three spe-

cies have at one time or another been

held by NSSC members, the Kahawai

record still stands, as do the Kingfish

and Snapper from the rocks.

The North Shore Surfcasting Club was

founded in 1968. Over the years it has

grown from a ‘small handful’ of die-hard

fishermen to its present day status - a

highly popular, family-oriented club

that boasts more NZ Fishing Records

(both Junior and Senior) than any other

land-base club in the country. We’ve

also taken won the NZACA Nationals

on many occasions in Senior Mens and

Women’s as well as juniors!

Currently there are 10 Life-members in

the club including former NZ angling and

casting past presidents Frank King and

Ted Audain.

The Club’s beginnings were strongly in

the hands of founding member and North

Shore Fishing legend Stu Hunt . The

early club members found that our type

of Rock and landbased fishing was well

suited to the use of Alvey fishing reels.

A large number of the clubs greatest

catches have been recorded on Alvey

reels, their simple, robust design has

been credited with many fine catches

over the years. These fine catches include

Trevor Savory’s TWO 30lb plus snappers!

Stu was an exceptional fisherman and a

great mate of many of the clubs past and

present members. The club was formed

by a group of die hard fisho’s with the

intention of getting out and catching

the best fish they could with their Mates.

Other founding members Sue and Ray

‘Cat-weasel’ MacIntyre and Ron Cross (all

now based in Tairua) regularly commute

to Auckland to remain involved with the

club. The last such trip was for the 2006

prize giving at the clubrooms in Milford.

Ray’s humorous story telling skills are

renowned and Ron’s exceptional memory

of the clubs history is priceless.

The club’s record at both Nationals

and local interclub competition is envied

by most of the National Body. The club

has produced Open, mens, Junior and

team wins at the NZAand CA’s national

champs in 5 of the last ten competitions

and missed overall wins in 2004 and 2006

by miniscule margins, often beating the

boaties outright. The club fishes against

other Auckland and Northland clubs each

year for the Davy Jones Challenge and

Stu Hunt Memorial challenge. These are

currently held by Rodney Fishing Club

after they won it back from NSSC in 2006.

NSSC and Doubtless Bay fish an annual

competition in Maunganui (Doubtless

Bay) over the Queens Birthday weekend

each year. This fish is usually the most

popular competition of the year with

up to 90 members from both clubs

competing for excellent prizes.

// Over Forty Years catching the best The NSSC Committee

http://bit.ly/cFzXYl


regionalREVIEWS

t has been a pretty special week at

the Aldermen Islands out of Tairua

this week, good crews on Epic with dif-

ferent day trips every day getting to some

quality fishing action.

Fish of the week on Epic was this monster

33kg kingfish - a solid fish going 1.35m - to

Andrew Foreman from Waiheke Island who

came out on a Boulder Guiding trip with

us to check out some of his rods and reels.

The kingfish took the biggest livie we had in

the tank, it has been fair to say the kingfish

have been proprtional to the size of the

livebaits you’ve stuck down this week.

The snapper have well and truly played

ball this week as well with Ian Du Plessis

pictured here with a nice snapper taken

on a livebait. Tobez has had a couple

of monster days on Sanity this week,

livebaiting the Aldermen Islands.

There has been a patch of XOS

mackeral in the Bay which has made for

a healthy livebait tank and you know

what they say - big bait - big fish, that

rang true and they accounted for some

very nice 20-30kg kingfish. The following

day saw a couple of big kings again to

Gazza pictured opposite with a 30 kegger

caught on the Jigstart spiral wrap.

All the snapper are out deep at present

and a long line of big snapper caught on

livebaits and softbaits this week was the

result, like this nice 9kg fish to Peter.

The conditions have been just superb over

the last week and the fishing out of Tairua

and Whitianga has just been awesome.

The water temp has also spung up a good

2 degrees to be pushing 18 degrees so it

isn’t long before the marlin and tuna turn up.

For more choice pics from the week on

Epic check the full report

www.epicadventures.co.nz

BOP

ell the fishing has been

nothing short of amazing

out of Tauranga over the

past month, the run of juvenile squid

have arrived and with that the kingfish

have become almost suicidal when

presented with a quality stick bait.

Jigs have been accounting for a large

number of fish and the biggest in recent

trips tipped the scales at the magical 50

pound mark. But the bigger fish on jigs

have been hard to come by as the little

kingies have been charging in before

they even get a chance.

Top water has been where it’s at and the

whole Bay of Plenty has been on fire from

Waihau Bay to Cuvier Island but for us it

has been out of Tauranga that has stood

out. Some days the bite will last all day with

fish busting up on the surface everywhere,

other days it has been more difficult but

you still get a bite at some stage.

Derrick & the team from NZ Fisher

headed out in Early October and were

treated to an unbelievable day on the

surface gear, while they didn’t hit any

monsters the fish were constant all

day. In all they nailed over 100 fish that

averaged 12-15kg. Aaron McDonald

topped the day with a 23kg fish taken on

top water gear.

We had Malcolm and Chris from Sydney

out recently on a trip organised by Ocean

Blue Fishing Adventures and the fish

turned up big time. Day one saw some

good fish landed up to around 20kg but

it was day two that stood out with the fish

biting their heads off all day. We never

counted the fish but we all guessed that

the final tally would have been over 100

and all of these fish were caught on top

water lures. I dropped one jig and it got

nailed straight away by a barracuda so

needless to say the jig rod spent the rest

of the day hidden away.

We have had some really memorable

trips out lately with some great fishing,

I would like to thank everybody who

has come out with us recently I have

thoroughly enjoyed your company.

www.extremesportfishing.co.nz

Coromandel Source: Carl Muir/Epic Adventures


Outer GulfSource: Grant Bittle ‘Espresso’

he middle Hauraki Gulf, eastern

Tiri, southern Whangaparaoa

peninsula, the Firth of Thames,

southern Kawau through to Orewa have

all been invaded by baitfish, and big bait

schools remain out wider. O.K. so we

aren’t out there targeting tiny baitfish

for dinner on even tinier sabikis – but

where there’s baitfish, the bigger preda-

tors lurk, and there are some big ones

in amongst the schooling fish. Many

Snapper in the 15lb+ mark (and a few

20lbers) are being caught close by the

bait-schools, nice legal sized Kingfish

too, and keep an eye out for the odd

toothy Mako showing off their nice shiny

suits. Over just the past couple of weeks

the baitfish have been hounded relent-

lessly right into the shallows of places

like Army Bay, Karepiro Bay and along

the North Shore Bays for instance.

The aerial bombardment has been

readily visible from land without

binoculars so searching for workups has

been as easy as looking seaward from

the beach. In fact 10m depth all round

the place has been the place to be after

work most weekday evenings, within fast

and easy reach - pannie Snapper city.

The water temperature struggles

upwards, but with it the Snapper and

Kingfish have been swarming in on their

prey, the baitfish. Worthwhile workups

have been out in the middle, out wide

and in close, with the right sort of

workup and the right attitude prolific

pickings are an almost certainty. I say the

right workups, because there’re workups

and there are workups…but that’s an

entire study in itself (basics are covered

in the Catch Snapper DVD).

Most forms of terminal tackle have

been working well, but those that

emulate a wounded Pilchard have been

the best. While swimming literally in a

bait-ball the other day the underwater

roundup is a majestic thing to see – and

it’s going on out there on a daily basis,

usually more than once a day too. The

condition of the Snapper, Kingfish,

Gurnard, Dory is simply superb with

early spawning season vitality. When

it’s on, it’s on, when it’s not – well it’s

probably on somewhere else! Move to

find the fish as they can swim around a

lot or change your tactics if there are

fish under your boat but not biting e.g.

using a slow retrieve of a soft plastic

for instance has been filling the bins for

many even when the bite has gone off,

subtle enticing motion is the key.

When you’re out in deeper water –

here’s some helpful tips on increasing

your success with Snapper, 3 minutes

is all you need www.youtube.com/

watch?v=vXsILZIH-3A

There are number of huge Whales

in the Gulf at the moment, in fact a

rare Blue Whale was graciously giving

a display along with a Brydes mother

and her calf just north of Flat Rock one

afternoon recently, what a wonderful

sight to unfold before me, just me and a

few Whales having a swim, breathtaking.

So from the biggest to the smallest

of species out there it’s all on – hey

speaking of smaller fish here’s a bit of

fun, catch some Gurnard – here’s how

with the softly softly approach www.

youtube.com/watch?v=qX3T3YuV1M8

West Coast/Taranaki

Things are definitely hot on the West

coast with most anglers heading out to

the 40-60m marks & nailing prime fish.

There have been many reports coming

back form the Raglan locals that it’s

easier to catch a 15-20 pound fish than a

pannie! NZFisher contributor Ian Biddick

was lured down to Raglan by the lure

of his first 20lb + snapper (the boat had

landed three the day before) and came

a way happy, but not that happy with a

new PB of nearly 8kgs. Rule of thumb,

deep ids good & smelly bait is the only

way to go!

Things around the Naki are also on the

improve with numerous 25+ snapper

being weighed and solid reports of

bag limits within the hour. The northern

reaches (Mokau & White Cliffs) seem to

be the best bet while the weather allows

and the southern haunts have been ‘ok’

without records being broken. Game fish

are only a couple of months away – get

that tackle serviced & make sure your

Gamefish club memberships’ up to date!


Morefishinthewateroption4 is a diverse group of people from

around Aotearoa who rallied in mid-

2000 in response to the government’s

Soundings policy, which sought to confine

every New Zealander’s right to fish.

In addition to limiting access, the

bureaucrats also proposed that

fishermen be licensed, irrespective if you

were fishing for food or pleasure.

PrinciplesLed by Paul Barnes, option4’s Project

leader, a team of dedicated people

travelled thousands of kilometers talking

at fishing clubs and public meetings.

Overwhelming support was given for

option4’s principles:

A priority right over commercial 1.

fishers for free access to a

reasonable daily bag limit to be

written into legislation.

The ability to exclude commercial 2.

methods that deplete recreationally

important areas.

The ability to devise plans to 3.

ensure future generations enjoy

the same or better quality of rights

while preventing fish conserved for

recreational use being given to the

commercial sector.

No licensing of recreational fishers.4.

By the submission deadline a record

60,000 Kiwis had rejected Sounding’s

options one, two and three. Clearly

New Zealanders valued their traditional

right to fish in the sea. A website www.

option4.co.nz was established to

provide hard-to-source information and

a contact point for people who wanted

to stay abreast of important access,

management and policy issues.

Public awarenessoption4 was also an integral part of

the four-year Kahawai Legal Challenge,

which concluded with the Supreme

Court decision in May 2009. The

outcome was mostly positive for non-

commercial interests. However, recent

management decisions have poorly

reflected the Court’s rulings.

Over the past five years option4

has evolved into providing service to

representative organisations seeking to

achieve “more fish in the water/kia maha

atu nga ika ki roto i te wai”. The Hokianga

Accord and the New Zealand Sport Fishing

Council have received much service.

The Hokianga Accord encompasses

the non-commercial fishing interests of

the mid north iwi of Ngapuhi and Ngati

Whatua, hapu and whanau, option4, the

NZ Sport Fishing Council and a number

of environmental organisations.

After fourteen overnight hui with

many people contributing a good

understanding of each other’s aspirations

and mutual concerns has developed.

Today a team of experienced writers,

policy analysts, fisheries management

specialists and legal advisors respond

to a variety of proposals and seek to

offer regular updates and insight on the

complex topics of fisheries management

and the allocation of public resources

For more information please don’t hesitate

to call or email either Trish Rea (09 8186205,

[email protected] ) or Scott Macindoe

(021 622463, [email protected] ).

FisheriesMANAGEMENTnewsREPORT

Option 4 - the ‘other’ team

If you wish to know more please visit www.nzsportfishing.co.nz.

Marquesa

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

™

Biscayne

AHAB

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valued at

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// In the next issue of NZ Fisher…

Big Snapper ‘old skool styles’•

We test the Power Jig Rock G Inchiku 15 •

gram

The conclusion to “where do the Snapper go?" •

NZ Fisher Issue 3

Documents

Transcript of NZ Fisher Issue 3