A kingfish adventure on the M. V. Whai

yellow fin tuneA call asking if you want to go chasing kingfish for a week is always answered in the affirmative even if you’ve already used up all your annual leave.

The call was from Mick and Dulcie Ellwood who own and operate the charter vessel M.V. Whai out of Whitianga. The boat, my wife Louise (Lou) and I have managed to average about 25 days a year together over the last six years.

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For a winter break, the Ellwoods decided to once again do the B.O.I. Swordfish Club International Yellowtail Tournament. The four of us had competed previously in 1995 –the only year in the last five Lou and I hadn’t joined them on the Whai in Fiji to do the Pacific Harbour International Wahoo Tournament. This time, Ian and Dot Clacher, who also fish out of Whitianga on their boat Tranquillity, were coming along. They have quite a reputation for catching big snapper so we hoped they could catch kingfish too.

We met them at Russell on the Saturday afternoon following our long drive from Rotorua, while they had enjoyed perfect weather for a leisurely trip up after leaving Whitianga on Thursday night. Dinner followed the tournament briefing, the rum bottle was stowed, and we all welcomed an early night.

7am saw us lined up in the mist at the start line with most of the other 27 boats fishing the tournament before charging for open water. After a couple of hours fishing for the elusive koheru at Deep Water Cove, we joined quite a few of the others and fished our little hearts out all day around the Brett and other seemingly attractive spots.

Unfortunately, our lack of success was not that common and 18 fish were landed, with a World Record Claim lodged by Australian Sharon Oakes for her 29.4k fish brought aboard in 45 minutes on 6kg tackle – a worthy feat by any standard.

Monday and Tuesday turned into lazy days when the weather packed up, so we did a little bit of the tourist thing around the shops at Paihia and Russell before venturing out Sunday afternoon for a very successful snapper fish. If I remember correctly, this was where the Sulphur City fold cleaned up the Mercury Bay mob, but I could be wrong…

As you only ever fish four out of the six days the tournament runs, we hoped that the three days left would bring us better luck and better weather. This tournament is for 6 and 8kg tackle and kingfish only, nothing else counts. It is based on the standard points formula, so most people only fish 6kg to stay in the race. A strong contingent of nearly 30 Australians participate every year led by a hairy-looking bloke named Terry Tichener but fondly called ‘Tich’ by all. He has organised this annual trip for 21 years and brings along Aussie veterans of many tournaments, like Tommy Roach who has never missed one. We first met Tich at the 1993 Pacific Harbour Tournament when he underarm-bowled his way into winning a frog race, but that’s another story.

Wednesday and Thursday were very similar to Sunday in that we couldn’t seem to catch enough koheru. We had to persevere with slimy mackerel without much success. A few good strikes kept our interest and enthusiasm high, the weather wasn’t too bad and we were doing what we loved. So what more could we ask for?

Yeah I know! A good kingi or two and not the bloody barracoutta that kept slaying our baits! Only 21 kingfish were caught on these two days, which shows just how hard it was.

The rigs we were using were close enough to two metres of 200lb (90kg) mono trace with a 4oz (100g) ball sinker crimped in place about halfway down and a Black Magic 9/0 live bait hook firmly secured at the bottom.

With only one day left, we knew we needed to catch plenty of koheru for live baits if we were to have any chance at all. So we headed straight to the Brett and loaded up with about 15 good baits from under the lighthouse. While catching our baits, a couple of small kingies struck but fortunately let go. Nevertheless, they certainly fired our enthusiasm.

After spending a bit of time at the Cape we headed back to the Sisters where Ian had a good strike, which he skilfully played for just over an hour before bringing it on board. It turned out to be 14.2kg of superb kingfish. Obviously, we were all pretty pleased and hoped for more to follow, but that wasn’t to be the case, as the barracouta again plagued us everywhere we went.
Another  fish were caught that day, taking the total to 60 either weighed-in or released during the four days of the competition. This is not a lot spread over the 28 boats, but then light tackle fishing, especially for cautious kingfish, requires skill, patience, a certain amount of luck – nobody should expect it to be too easy.

That night was prizegiving and what great prizes there were! Rods, reels and much, much more, for individual anglers, teams and especially junior anglers who are really encouraged and supported in this tournament.

We all had a great week thoroughly enjoying the club’s hospitality, as well as the camaraderie of the other participants, so I’m sure we’ll go back for another shot and hopefully do a little better.

It was with extreme difficulty we climbed into the ute to begin the six-hour drive home, knowing that the rest of the team were in no hurry and had good weather for the Whai’s trip down the coast, stopping to fish at every likely spot they found. And they did – and they rang and told us about all the great fish they caught! What friends, eh?

 

A Blast From The Past!

 

January 1998 - by Grant Chapman
This article was originally suppled by
NZ Fisherman Magazine

and reviewed for Fishing.net.nz
2013 by John Eichelsheim
      Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited         

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