BLOG: Chasing local fish, abroad

The notion of travelling abroad to go fishing conjures up images of exotic locations, exotic species and experiences that one would not expect to encounter while fishing their home waters. That train of thought makes perfect sense, however, I bucked the trend recently by choosing to target fish overseas that I could easily catch in my own backyard.

Yellowtail kingfish are my favourite species; they’re an explosive adversary that I can easily chase year round off Sydney with the added bonus of our southern fish being great to eat. After seeing one too many reports and images of large kings caught across the ditch in New Zealand I decided to pack a few rods and head on over to see what difference travelling 2000 odd kilometres makes to a species I could chase much closer to home.

Truth be known I was fed up of getting reports from all of my buddies that had fished with NZ guide and Tairua local Carl Muir from Epic Adventures - the reports and images of big kings were making me sick and I could stand it no longer. I touched down in NZ the day the Wallabies beat the All Blacks in the Bledisloe cup – I kept an eye out for angry looking All Blacks supporters while blending in with the crowds and travelling incognito, my John Howard green and gold tracksuit sensibly left back home in Sydney.

Driving through the late afternoon New Zealand countryside highlighted the stunning beauty of the region with undulating lush green hills magnificently contrasting the volcanic mountainside. I arrived in Tairua, met with Carl and then trundled on over to the Tairua Shores motel where I was to stay for the week. 

Fast forwarding through the intricate detail, I spent a wonderful week fishing in New Zealand. We managed to get out for three solid days of kingie fishing plus a morning spent harassing the local snapper population. The first fish for Carl on our first afternoon fishing together was the biggest of the trip – a whopping 28kg plus bruiser that gave the skipper a solid workout. The remainder of the trip saw another 20 odd kilo fish taken by the master with a healthy smattering of fish around the 15kg mark to keep our arms stretched and smiles beaming.

The snapper fishing was interesting with the most successful lure being a 4 inch single tail Slam soft bait in Chartreuse, a lure I normally wouldn’t have used, but one that caught me a lovely 10lb fish.

After jigging kingfish solidly for the entire week I focussed all my efforts into livebaiting for a bruiser on the last day; the first three live baits that went down came back up with 15kilo fish, the last of those three kings fighting so hard I was forced to thumblock the spool on the 80lb jig outfit to stop it from reaching bottom - I thought I’d found the mother of all kings!

While we worked hard for our fish it was easy to see the appeal of the New Zealand fishery with Carl being a great host for what I hope to be the start of many such trips for me across the ditch in the future.

A nondescript exchange best sums up my week-long adventure in the land of the long white cloud. On one of the days with the sea and bar conditions less than favourable, Carl turned to me and smiled and in a decidedly Kiwi accent said: “another epic adventure hey bro”. Coining a phrase from the locals I smiled and thought to myself that it was “choice bro….. sweet as”.

Visit www.epicadventures.co.nz for more info on NZ kingfish and snapper with Carl Muir and www.tairuashores.co.nz for accommodation in Tairua.