An Interview with Captain Tony Carpenter

Kiwi deck crew and skippers are sought after in world-wide game fishing circles. They have a reputation for being hard-working, knowledgeable and possessing the ability to get a job done. One of the many who have gained such a ‘can-do’ reputation is Tony Carpenter, who shares some of his experiences with Alistair Arkell…

I managed to nail down Tony Carpenter in between fishing assignments. Although he is about as relaxed as they come, Tony always has a fishing trip on the go, and at the time of catching up with him, he had just landed back in New Zealand after his fifth season on the Great Barrier Reef. He was also preparing for his private work, which involved getting Big Red ready for a season of catching swords and marlin on the east coast.

Alistair Arkell (AA): Good morning Tony. I’ve been kicking around with you for a few years now, but let’s start by filling in everyone on how many seasons old you are?

Tony Carpenter (TC): Haha – 28 years young mate.

AA: The 90’s aye – the greatest decade of recorded game fishing NZ has ever seen. I first met you in a retail store in Pukekohe – Rusty Dog, and then DKM in Waiuku. Way back then you were a greenhorn coastal fisherman, catching massive snapper on soft-baits and kingfish with livebaits from your little inflatable.

TC: Yeah mate, it was all I wanted to do back then until I got introduced to something better and picked up a five-metre Stabicraft with a Yammy 100 four-stroke – then the blue water started calling.

AA: Yes, the 1000 metre line as well if I recall. At about that time, you picked up a gig with Carl Muir on Epic Adventures, at the time probably the busiest and most successful charter operator in the country. Is it fair to say you cut your commercial teeth under Carl?

TC: Carl was a super busy operator, and I was on the water just about every day, up at 5:00 am everyday catching livebaits and getting ready for a big day on the water catching kings. I had a few years as a deckie learning the trade and then finally the day came when I got my ticket and could take clients out myself. 15-25 knots was my life back then, which is the reality of fishing in NZ.

AA: Well, you learnt under one of the best and had some memorable personal trips, I’m sure. Any stand-out captures with Carl?

TC: A couple of cool ones. We got a massive big eye tuna back in the 2012 nationals. The fish went 106kg on 24kg gear and took two hours. Alongside that, my favourite was ‘puka fishing. We cracked it back then – catching hapuku up to 50kg in sub 200 metres of water on livebaits was amazing.

AA: Yeah, you guys were taking it to another level that’s for sure. Nobody was catching ‘puka the way you guys were back then. Even boats going to the Ranfurly or Kings would have struggled to match the size of the fish you and Carl were catching. After a few years in Tairua, you set sail for blue waters and calmer seas and blue marlin. Where did fishing take you?

TC: I’d heard about the crazy fishing on the pacific coast of Central America and picked up a job on the Carol Libby as a crewman, an epic private boat set up to catch blue marlin, and lots of them. Man, that boat was the best. We had two crew, a skipper, chef and stewardess fishing with the owner and his son. Great times.

AA: You guys did some amazing stuff on that boat and pretty much re-wrote the record books on catching numbers of blue marlin. Can you fill us in on what was so different?

TC: Mate, it was extreme, and we basically had an open cheque book to do it. We deployed 10 FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) all located below the surface at the cost of $15k a FAD, and we dropped them 150 nautical miles off the coast of Costa Rica. We set ourselves up to catch big numbers of blues and spent seven days 150 nautical miles off the coast fishing exclusively for blue marlin. It was mind-blowing stuff for a lad from Pukekohe. In 100 days fishing, we tagged 884 blues in a size range of 70-200kg, but most were similar in size to the striped marlin you see back in NZ (70-120kg). The most we got in a day was 34 fish. All my fishing dreams came to life on the Carol Libby in Costa Rica.

AA: WOW! That is a hectic 100 days, alright! Apart from the blue marlin, what else did you love about Central America?

TC: Well, the flat clam, five-knot seas every day. It’s hot every day, and the rum was all pretty good too. But seriously, it’s all about the fishing in Central America. Costa Rica has some of the best sailfish action in the world and further up the coast in Mexico is some outstanding yellowfin and striped marlin fishing. A great time in my life, with life-long friendships and memories I’ll never forget.

AA: Outstanding, you’re living a life most can only dream of. You managed to make it home each year for the game fishing season in NZ, and you spent some time on the world record chasing Hook ‘n’ Bull. Can you fill us in on your experiences there?

TC: Yeah, these boys can fish. John ‘JB’ Batterton has been around the world and fished all the hot spots and now focuses on chasing records with Guy Jacobsen. It was cool to be a part of this crew for a time. We caught a bunch of swords on light tackle, and even a world record mako on 1kg – we got lucky on that one. It was a short fight, and we secured the fish. JB is pretty good at going backwards, and the G&S is one heck of a boat.

AA: By this stage, you’d been spending every NZ spring in Cairns fishing for giant black marlin on Hell Raiser, and I think you’ve just finished your 5th season now? Can you share with us some of the big fish from the reef?

A 950lb black marlin barrels away from Hell Raiser.

TC: If you want to catch a big fish, and I mean 800-pounds plus, there is only one place on the globe that consistently produces big fish, and that’s Cairns. If you talk to the best in the business, they all talk about Cairns being the best place in the world to catch big marlin. There are other blue marlin hot spots that fire for five years with a run of big fish and then, for whatever reason, go quiet. Cairns has been rocking solid since the fishery was discovered. There’s been the odd quieter year, but for all purposes, the fishing in Cairns is as good as the day it was discovered.

Also, if you want a shot at a grander (a 1000lb marlin), Cairns is the only reliable place this could happen. No other place on the planet is there a congregation of fish this big in a relatively concentrated area. Long may this fishery continue for generations to come.

AA: Hit me with some numbers from the reef.

TC: Our best season was 75 fish, with 14 over 800 pounds plus. The biggest we weighed was 1098 pounds, but the bulk of the fish we released. Man, we saw some big fish in Cairns – they’re powerful beasts.

AA: Are you heading back for a 6th?

TC: I’m not sure… It’s crazy hot and 25 knots every day. I’ve travelled a lot in the last five years, and it might be time to spend more time in NZ. Never say never though, and it’s the greatest big fish fishery in the world.

AA: One thing about NZ is that you never know what it is going to throw at you fish-wise. We may not have the fish numbers that the rest of the world can produce, but we have big fish. Not many places can you catch striped marlin, blues, blacks and swords to the size we see in NZ, and we, of course, get massive bluefin of a couple of varieties and a bigeye fishery which, if it weren’t for the weather, would have been cracked open long ago.

Tony is both an accomplished skipper and deckhand - here, he hangs onto the end of a 1000lb black marlin at the Great Barrier Reef. 

Aside from your private guiding, the bulk of your trips have been trailer boat-based in NZ – especially your own boat Beer Pressure. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say not many if any, five-metre trailer boats have seen the action that thing has?

TC: I’ve sold her now, but yes, we did some miles in that little Stabicraft. It was a great boat. I had her all up and down the east coast and west coast of the North Island. The only place I didn’t take her was the Kings. You’re right about the game fishing in NZ. It can be red hot when the bite is on, but I can tell you nobody fishes as hard as NZ game fishermen for such few fish. Ten fish recreationally in a season is a spectacular season; in some of the billfish hot spots, you’d expect to do that on an average day. But as you said, here in NZ the fish are big – a small blue is 150kg, and a 300kg fish is always on the cards, and nowhere in the world has striped marlin the size that NZ does. Of course, our sword fishery is world-class. Once you get it nailed down, you would expect three to four bites a day on swords.

An estimated 200kg swordfish, prepared for release.

AA: In Costa Rica, your best day was 34 blues. What’s been your best day in NZ?

TC: On marlin, in a trailer boat, we got four striped marlin and one blue off Hokianga. That was cool and again all decent fish. My best day was getting a 344kg sword in my trailer boat Beer Pressure, a real fish of a lifetime and a first sword for the angler. It took a good few hours to land – big swords are intimidating animals that you must respect.

AA: That’s massive Tony – “Old Man and the Sea” sort of stuff. Considering you caught it out of a five-metre Stabi puts it pretty high on the list of fishing accomplishments.

TC: Thanks, mate, it was pretty cool, and we knew we had a special fish on the line.

AA: You’ve done some amazing stuff, Tony and I don’t think we have even covered off half your travels. Have you got any wise words for up and coming fishermen who want to make a career out of fishing?

TC: Go fishing is all I can say. Fish, fish and fish some more. Get a job on a boat to get your hours up and eventually reach your SRL (Skipper Restricted Limits) ticket. Be aware that fishing for a job means long hours and if you don’t 100% love it, you won’t enjoy it. If you can regularly catch billfish in NZ, you will smash it overseas, but you got to be prepared to learn, as overseas they are pretty switched on and, in a lot of ways, NZ can be quite old school with our fishing. Typically, overseas boats will lap up Kiwis. We have a great reputation and the money overseas can be excellent as well.

AA: You’ve fished the Azores, Canary Islands, Bermuda in the Atlantic – I understand you had an interesting situation at the Canaries?

TC: Yeah, we were fishing in the Canary Islands, and we started taking on water in a big way. We don’t know how or why, but in 10 minutes the boat was sunk. We managed to get the mayday out and onto a life raft, but in a very short space of time, the boat disappeared to the bottom in 350 metres, with basically all my stuff on board: camera, clothing, the works – man I lost some cool photos! Luckily, my passport was not onboard. It showed me how quickly things could happen. I understand the boat still lies where she sunk. Thankfully everyone got off safely, and nobody was hurt. We got picked up quickly, and I jumped on a plane and came home about a week later. Despite that, it’s a great place and would love to get back there sometime.

AA: Man, that must have been intense there for a while and glad to hear everyone made it off safely. It’s been great chatting with you Tony, and there is probably a bunch more tales we could chat about. What’s the best way for people to get in touch with you?

TC: Either through Facebook or Instagram. I’m pretty easy to find on social media. My main commitment is running the private vessel Big Red, but I still occasionally have time to do other smaller jobs.