Advice & Info: Star Trek charters - Mercury bay

It's been quite some time since I last spun and pumped my arms to exhaustion while jigging for kingfish.

But now, thanks to a recent Alderman Islands expedition, the dial's back to zero and I'm hanging out for more!

There's no doubt several factors helped make this trip an exciting and rewarding experience. For a start Sam Mossman and I were on Star Trek, a very comfortable, well proven and sea-kindly charter boat operating out of Whitianga with experienced skipper Dave Blake at the helm.

Then we had a heap of jigging gear to test, some of which turned out to be exceptionally good. Nor did it hurt to have Justin 'Fluff' Wilson on board; he's well known locally as a very keen angler who specialises in kingfish jigging - to the point he's become a professional jigging consultant and guide.

However, prior to setting out, I must admit to being a little sceptical. After all, we were in the midst of the wildest, most sodden winter I can recall, which had spurred most of Auckland's coastal kings into moving out long ago. It was therefore quite hard to be optimistic about the Aldermans producing any kingfish action at all, let alone a good jigging session.

But not Fluff, he was very confident; after all he and his mates have caught literally hundreds of kingfish to a very impressive 37.8kg from the area over recent years. Winter, summer, chilly rain or withering sun, it didn't matter; they always caught fish. Hmmmm. Better hope we weren't going to wreck this proud record.

So on the way out we set about preparing our assorted tackle to make it as good as it could be, and ready to be fished at a moment's notice. In the process however, despite having fished with some very skilled mechanical-jigging practitioners before, including BCS Enterprises' Chris Wong and his offsider, Shane Hartstone, Sam and I found ourselves learning a few valuable pointers from Fluff.

For a start, Fluff objects to being busted off, and quite understandably also believes the kings would prefer not to be left with some hefty jewellery hanging from their mouths, so rigs his lures on 200lb (90kg) trace. (Before this I thought 70kg was bordering on being too heavy, but Fluff's jigs certainly didn't suffer from a lack of bites.)

He also made some spare assist-hook rigs for his jigs, as new ones can be required for a variety of reasons. I had planned to learn how to do this, but had been deterred by the complex splices and/or knots suggested by print and film media. However, his way was so simple I could make my own soon after. (See Sam Mossman's jigging feature in this issue for more on the subject.)

Then it was time to assume battle stations, as one of Fluff's prime kingie spots had been reached, triggering the usual last moment scramble for gloves and rod buckets, despite all the earlier organising.

Consequently, three jigs still ended up splashing in the moment the 'start fishing' call was made, although when mine was swallowed up by the dark, wintry waters just a few metres down, I couldn't help remaining rather pessimistic about our chances.

So for the first few minutes my attention was mostly occupied by Fluff, as he was obviously a mechanical-jigging machine, his hands a blur of constant action.

Sam and I were definitely not in the same league - after all we're relatively inexperienced mechanical jiggers. But, having said that, we're no slouches when it comes to the more traditional speed jigging, and upon reverting to this proven technique, Sam soon hooked up solidly on his monstrous Katch1 King jig. This kingfish - around the 13kg size - certainly gave a good account of itself, hauling Sam up against the transom on occasion and making him grunt, before finally being landed, photographed and released. Afterwards a faintly smiling Fluff had that 'told you so' look on his face.

Then it was my turn, and although only slightly bigger than Sam's (of course!), the king gave me a pretty decent run around, so when it finally came time to lift it up for a few pics afterwards, I was feeling rather pooped already. (I blame this on too much soft-plastic fishing - the light outfits make you unfit and wimpy!)

By now the sea was getting pretty gnarly, so when Justin caught a good fish too (okay, it might have been slightly larger again than mine!), we decided to head in to the Aldermans for some shelter and snapper fishing, as the next morning was supposed to beautifully calm.

This pleasant interlude eventually resulted in a great soft-plastics session on snapper later that afternoon (cheers, skipper!), producing around 40 fish up to 5.5kg.

But our jubilation became rather muted upon learning that the light winds forecast for the following day had suddenly stirred themselves to become 20 knots. Not fair - false advertising!

So we made sure we had an early start the next morning, with Dave heroically firing up Star Trek at 4.30am to make sure we got to Fluff's suggested spot by dawn, hopefully before the wind got up.

This turned out to be a good strategy; the sun was still a glowing ember just beneath the horizon when Fluff hooked up for the first time, his reel losing line in powerful bursts.

By winning the torrid battle that followed, Fluff was rewarded with 13 kilos of fat kingfish, and heralded the start to a very productive and interesting period, with Fluff continuing to lead the charge. In addition to interesting surprises, such as warehou and ruby fish, there were a bunch of unwelcome barracouta and several more eagerly received kings, including one by Bryce Hooton, who owns Star Trek and is blind. Bryce was using Fluff's 'learner outfit', which features the TiCA Magma, an outrageous rod whose upper section folds completely away when fighting large fish, leaving anglers with a short, powerful lever.

Indeed, Bryce gave it heaps, not letting his disability slow him down at all, aided by Fluff by his side and quietly coaching him right through to the successful and jubilant conclusion. That's when I saw the other side to Fluff - he's obviously as good a teacher as he is a fisher.

As a result of these early morning efforts, we had enough fresh kingfish for all six people on board by 9am, so headed back to Whitianga a few hours earlier than planned. Bloody impressive.

More on kingfish guide, Justin 'Fluff' Wilson

Born and raised in Whitianga, Justin was taught how to fish by his local fishing-and-hunting legend father, Graham 'Fluff' Wilson. It is therefore a tribute to Justin's learning capabilities, drive and skills that the nickname of 'Fluff' has been passed down onto him.

Although competent at many forms of fishing, there's no doubt that Fluff (Junior) is completely obsessed by mechanical jigging right now. Normally quiet and thoughtful, he really lights up when discussing this aspect of the sport. As far as he's concerned, nothing else can match mechanical jigging for sheer thrills and excitement while chasing these yellow-tailed freight trains.

And, when you check out his record, that's hardly surprising, with highlights that include going out with three generations of the Wilkins family (father Dennis, himself and son Blake, along with good fishing buddy, Dale) and taking part in Dale's capture of the 37.8kg beast mentioned earlier, as well as 'dusting' 193 rampaging Coromandel kingies in just three sessions! He also gets a huge buzz from teaching first timers, such as Melisa Te Brake, wife of Maurice the 'Dutch Grocer' and a good friend of Fluff's, who managed to catch five nice kings to 19.5kg before collapsing in an exhausted but joyous heap. A very keen angler himself, Maurice was gutted that his wife had caught a bigger king than he has!

Essentially Fluff's a 'gun for hire'. He's happy to go aboard your boat to provide the jigging tuition/experiences, or he can take you on board one of several great boats at his disposal, including: a 5.5m Surtees; a 5.8m AMF; a 6.89m Stabi-Craft; and an 8.5m Custom Alli. So, depending on your requirements and how much you want to pay, Fluff is able to accommodate a wide range of preferences, ranging from an enclosed toilet and galley right through to an outdoor (transom) toilet and lunchbox! All boats, however, offer stability and safety, and have the potential for endless opportunities.

Each guiding trip comes with gear for those on board, from the nervous novice to the seasoned gun, and as Fluff has yet to strike out, an unforgettable day tangling with some of the best power-to-weight fish in the world is almost guaranteed!

Before finishing up though, I must rave a little about Whitianga, because the fishing available out from this port is fantastic! It really is a well-kept secret. All sorts of pelagics are present throughout the summer, and big snapper and even bigger kingfish remain abundant during the cooler months. Best of all, there is always somewhere to go and something to catch in all but the foulest conditions!

Accommodation in Whitianga is plentiful, so Fluff can arrange this for you if necessary, or you can see what's available and sort it out yourself by visiting www.whitianga.co.nz.

For those interested in learning cutting-edge mechanical jigging techniques and/or catching some of Whitianga's large and abundant kingfish at very reasonable rates with a highly competent, level-headed and passionate guide, Fluff Wilson can be contacted on mobile:

021 0243 1064 or home 07 866 0476, or email rewai@xtra.co.nz.

And for any anglers who like the sound of Star Trek, a comfortable and very sea-kindly boat with an experienced and easy-going skipper at the helm, phone Sue and Bryce Hooton on 07 888 9268 or 0274 962 640 - or check out their website: www.startrekcharters.co.nz.

	This article is reproduced with permission of New Zealand Fishing News October 2008 - written by Mark Kitteridge RE-PUBLISHING ELSEWHERE IS PROHIBITED