HOKIANGA FIRES FOR THIRD SEASON STRAIGHT

With well over 50 billfish accounted for in the last couple of weeks, the westcoast has produced a game-fishing bonanza of national significance. And when we consider the number of yellowfin tuna from 20-70kg landed last week, along with the 147kg striped marlin landed a day or two back, we can perhaps begin to realise just how good the fishing is.

Observing the exuberance at the Omapere weigh-in station myself the other afternoon, I was taken not only by the range in size of trailer boats involved [5-8m], but also the wonderful mix of families, teenage couples, bros and mums and dads scooting across the bar for an adventure in the great blue yonder. “Flat enough to cross in a dingy for several weeks now,” they reckon.

My egalitarian Kiwi instincts took a charge as I was reminded of the wonderful levelling nature of the fishing experience. Here we have Kiwi families on average incomes getting amongst the pleasures usually reserved for the leisured wealthy.

On the west coast, long the poor cousin of the business and recreational fishing community, a unique combination of favourable weather [prevailing and enduring easterly winds from 20-30knots] along with the early arrival of a warm tongue of tropical blue water in the region has produced this piscatorial bonanza.

Local folklore has good keen men from Northland’s west coast landing marlin for close on 20 years now. Very few are tagged and released. Strictly an amateur affair, most fish are eaten. Smoking is the preferred method of preserving the huge amounts of meat on a marlin or yellowfin. For, in the absence of bony protuberances such as the legs we have on land animals, even a small marlin can produce 50-70kg of prime, low fat meat.

And when we consider the reputed contribution of omega oils to human health, we should expect to see local fishos living to a ripe old age. That’s if they kept some of their other less life enhancing habits under control, which, truth to be told, few either manage to do or even aspire to.

Two major captures well illustrate both the amateur and egalitarian nature of west coast fishing.  First we have James McAllister, fresh and young son-in-law of local fishing identities John and Linda Pattinson. He’s new to fishing. May have landed a sprat or two off the jetty when he was a kid. With good team support, it took James 40 minutes to subdue the 147.5kg striped marlin that struck the family lures as they approached the Hokianga bar mid pm last Friday.

Then we have Clyde Mitchell, a good keen family man from Baileys Beach out of Dargaville; previous fishing experience limited to surfcasting. With skipper Mike Pickering, they launched directly into the surf at Baileys and returned later with a 64kg yellowfin in the boat. Was the culmination of a 50-minute struggle for Clyde, the angler in the hot seat. Took some hollering and dancing by the crew for Clyde to realise the significance of his catch.