Captain Rick Pollock: Part 1

The term ‘legend’ is clichéd and overused; it’s frequently used to label people who haven’t done enough to deserve this status. However, few people, if any, will begrudge Mark Kitteridge calling well-known charter skipper Rick Pollock one, as ‘legend’ he most certainly is...

I’m honoured to present Rick’s life and times to NZ Fishing News readers; I just hope I can do him justice, as there’s more than enough rich material to fill a book.

I first met Rick around 33 years ago and even then he was obviously going places in the Whakatane sport-fishing charter scene, providing a heady mixed catch of yellowtail kingfish, bass, bluenose and ‘puka year-round, along with plentiful yellowfin tuna and the odd marlin in the warmer months.

Fast forward to the present day, and my admiration for Rick’s achievements (with still more to come, no doubt) has reached unprecedented levels. Not only has he enjoyed a phenomenal amount of fishing success, but he’s also shown incredible tenacity, professionalism, resilience and durability over the many years he’s been in business. Indeed, I consider him to be the best all-round charter skipper in New Zealand. (Yes, there are some genuinely amazing specialist charter skippers around, but I’m talking about getting results across the whole sport and table-fish spectrum.)

So, let’s look at Rick’s life, as related by him to me, concentrating on the fishing mainly, because, as mentioned earlier, he has plenty of worthwhile things to share.

MK: When and where were you born?

RP: I was born in Los Angeles in 1948. My dad, Sterling, was a well-known doctor in Hollywood, and he had several famous actors and actresses as his patients. They included Valentino Liberace, Barbara Hershey and Michael Landon – but perhaps, most notably, it’s my dad’s signature on Clark Gable’s death certificate!

MK: What are your earliest fishing memories?

RP: My dad had a private pilot’s licence, so flying was a part of my life from an early age, and this enabled us to get to some wonderful locations. I have vague recollections of fishing with my dad as a three-year-old up in the High Sierras – 8000-10,000 feet above sea level – chasing trout. This mostly took the form of trolling ‘Flatfish’ lures for a mixed bag of rainbow, brown and brook trout.

Rick has recollections of fishing with his dad as a three-year-old up in the High Sierras - 8000-10,000 feet above seal level - chasing trout.

I was around eight or nine years old when I started getting into sea fishing. We used to visit my grandparents based in Santa Monica, who were just a mile from a pier. Every morning I would get dropped off so I could target smelt, perch and other small fish, before eventually ‘graduating’ and targeting bonito, halibut and barracuda, too. However, it was the capture of a rather modest-sized kingfish that really ignited my passion for saltwater fishing.

MK: What other fishing-related memories do you have over those early years?

RP: Most memorably, we went to Baja, California, for a month each year, and the fishing there was fantastic. I particularly remember staying at Rancho Buena Vista Lodge on the East Cape. Here, you had the choice of fishing out of the ‘pangas’ (narrow, open, modest-sized vessels powered by an outboard motor) targeting a spectacular fish called roosterfish or going aboard the larger, more open-sea-capable ‘cruisers’ to chase billfish, tuna and mahimahi.

Month long annual holidays to Baja, California where the family stayed at Rancho Buena Vista Lodge on the East Cape introduced Rick to a number of billfish species, a passion which has stayed with him over the decades.

We were lucky enough to be present when livebaits were used aboard one of the cruisers for the first time. It sounds strange now, because we take livebaiting for granted in our fishing arsenal, but back then (the early 1960s) the techniques involved dead baits or lures. The result was a phenomenal day of fishing, including around 20 roosterfish averaging about 18-20 kilos, with the largest being over 40 kilos!

Rick was enamoured with roosterfish during trips to Baja due to their spectacular performance.

There were plenty of billfish there, too. I hooked my first marlin when just 11 years old, and by age 19, I’d landed my 100th billfish – a mix of sailfish and striped marlin.

Perhaps my most memorable billfish capture occurred while fishing aboard a panga using a jigging rod, aged 14. Unfortunately, these boats are not the most stable in more open seas, and the stroppy fish succeeded in pulling me overboard. Despite treading water, with the rod and reel held up high and the fish still on, I ignored my dad’s pleas to pass him the rod – I wanted to land it all by myself!

We also regularly visited San Pedro for overnighter fishing charters – San Clemente and Catalina Island in particular – when I was around 14 to 18 years old. My dad would join me when possible, but more often I was dropped off for a couple of days, then picked up again. These ‘open’ charter boats, also known as ‘cattle boats’, were filled with a wide assortment of people from all walks of life, all bound by a shared love of fishing. My frequent visits resulted in an appreciation of what was involved with charter fishing and what it took to be a good deckhand. On the flip side, I became quite popular with the skippers and crew, because they realised I usually came by myself and that I was developing some very worthwhile skills. They also liked the fact I helped increase the catch tally, as successful overall catch reports resulted in bigger tips from the customers.

MK: So how did you get into the charter-fishing profession?

RP: Ironically, it started because I went to university – San Diego University – to get worthwhile qualifications for later life. My dad paid for my first year, but I decided to work part-time on the charter boats in the second year and pay my way for tuition. I was 18 at the time. This proved successful, enabling me to graduate with a psychology degree, and I’m pretty proud of that.

However, while working towards a Master’s Degree in Child Psychology, with just one paper left to go, I came to the momentous decision not to continue. I knew I was never going to be a psychologist.

Instead, I wanted a life at sea, and by 21, I had my skipper’s ticket. My dad, however, was pretty grumpy at this turn of events. It took him two years to finally realise I was happy, tanned and not getting in any trouble, and to accept I was living my dream.

While at university, Rick worked as crew on the charter boat fleet, not knowing then where this casual employment would lead later in life.

MK: What attracted you to New Zealand?

RP: Not much initially to be honest. I had heard about some of New Zealand’s fishing potential after meeting Loren Grey, the son of well-known game-fishing pioneer Zane Grey while working onboard the charter boats, but that was about it.

Then, in 1978, I was invited by Jack Montgomery – a talented and well-known skipper from San Diego – to visit New Zealand. His stories on the fantastic fishing available got me excited enough to join him.

MK: So, what happened then?

RP: Amongst other things, this trip led to the first kingfish caught on a jig and, some time afterwards, a job offer to be the skipper on board his charter boat, Toa Tai, one of two Salthouse Bros vessels being built in Greenhithe.

I initially declined, but when Sunshine, my wife then, heard about it, she encouraged me to take the job. So I called back, only to find the position had gone to someone else. Then, 40 minutes later, I got another phone call saying I’d got the job after all. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes there!

Upon arriving in New Zealand, my first job was to help get Toa Tai and Ariki Tai up to scratch so we could bring them down to Whakatane.

We worked really hard, but when noise complaints from the neighbours resulted in a police visit that shut us down, we decided to concentrate on just Toa Tai. It was still a nightmare, but we got it done. Just.

The agenda had become so tight that after travelling nonstop from Auckland to Whakatane, I had to take out a group of American anglers to White Island at 7:00 am the following morning. Not only had I never been to the area before, I hadn’t managed to get the notoriously difficult Kiwi skipper’s ticket yet either – I passed all the various aspects with flying colours, except Morse Code, as I could send the required ten words a minute, but couldn’t receive them. Ironically, they changed this part of the course to a radar-related one the following year, which I passed with ease! I, therefore, had to be accompanied by an old deckhand who had a ticket for the first season!

Adding to the pressure, as the operation was quite a big deal for Whakatane back then, we would have a TV ONE camera crew waiting for us back onshore at 5pm so that the item would be in time for the six o’clock news!

We started quite well, catching some skipjack and albacore on small lures while trolling out to the island. These would provide our fresh bait for the day (keeping in mind this was pre-livebait days).

Then, upon getting there, I thought the most promising potential looked to be between the Volkner Rocks. I didn’t get that part right. However, I finally tried Lazens Reef, an impressive structure that rockets up from 120 metres to just 14. This did the trick, with the rods bending over first drift and kingfish coming on board minutes later. The first one was a lovely specimen around 26kg, which was around 10 kilos heavier than the biggest I’d ever seen till then!

Later, when we got back to port, we found the television crew and newspaper reporters waiting at the weigh-station. Fortunately, once weigh-in was completed – with just 20 minutes to spare – several of the biggest kingfish turned out to weigh over 30kg; the celebratory box of champagne had been well earned.

One of the first to target kingfish with livebaits, Rick had plenty of success using this new technique on the White Island population.

Finally, after cleaning the boat and making sure everything was shipshape again, I headed home. Sunshine had made a beautiful meal for me, but I was so beat I fell asleep while eating it!