Captain Rick Pollock: Part 3

You can’t do justice to a charter-fishing legend like Rick Pollock in just one feature, so Mark Kitteridge decided to write four of them. We continue with the life and experiences of one of New Zealand’s greatest skippers and anglers...

MK: Rick, you’ve been instrumental in helping an amazing number of anglers catch all sorts of meritorious fish – including club, national and world records. Which three meant the most to you personally?

RP: Number one (but not necessarily in any particular order) was helping David Lugton catch the All Tackle World Record for yellowtail kingfish. We’d been chasing yellowfin tuna close to White Island with relatively small Zuker ZTW tuna lures, but instead we got a quadruple strike of rat kingfish, which we released. Then, upon commencing trolling again, we hooked up again on what we assumed was another ‘rat’ and David grabbed the rod.

Moments later, two huge kingfish of at least 40kg started chasing a flying fish around, so while David moved up the boat and out of the way, we raced to get some suitably large livebaits into the water to hopefully tempt a bite.

Unfortunately, this proved futile, and it was some time later, long after the big kings had disappeared, that we realised David was still locked in battle; obviously this fish was much larger than originally thought!

The stubborn fight continued, but finally the gaffs went into the biggest kingfish I’d ever seen. When eventually weighed 28 hours later, it equalled the world record, and I have no doubt that if done sooner, it would have had sole rights to the crown!

Number two was Walter (‘Wally’) Simpson’s black marlin. Walter had been fishing with me for 20 years but had never caught a marlin. When he finally did, he more than made up for lost time, hooking a monstrous black marlin on stand-up tackle!

The brutal battle raged over several hours and started to take its toll on Walter, who was wiry, but not especially big. At this point he was looking much the worse for wear, so we suggested passing the rod over to someone else – the only time we’ve ever done this. But, as many of Wally’s friends know, he could be a very stubborn bugger and refused to do so.

Finally, seven hours after hooking up, he was rewarded with 373kg of black marlin. While it took Walter months to fully recuperate, the big black turned out to be the biggest gamefish landed in New Zealand that season and earned him the Old Man and the Sea trophy (awarded annually to the angler who overcomes the greatest challenge to land an impressive fish).

It was therefore understandable that he dined out on this monumental catch for years afterwards, and pretty much wore out his ‘Old Man and the Sea’ jacket!  

Third place goes to a huge blue marlin we hooked on 24kg tackle in 1981. It was in the first hour of the Nationals and a 19-year-old American angler was on the rod; lucky he was tough, as the fight continued for 32 hours!

Adding to the challenge, the marlin became tail-wrapped, then continued northwards at two knots, forcing Pursuit to follow it for an incredible 70 nautical miles. Other issues included a couple of the guides’ rollers falling out and the crew experiencing the demoralising sight of the big fish feeding on squid at 3am!

The ongoing battle was being keenly followed back on land and ended up making the national news; at one stage a New Zealand Herald news crew headed out to find us in a helicopter, but this was pre-GPS days and they failed to locate us.

While the angler wasn’t successful ultimately, it was still a positive: we didn’t give up and the angler demonstrated amazing mental and physical toughness.

MK: In addition to being arguably New Zealand’s greatest skipper, you’re also an excellent angler who takes every opportunity to get amongst the action. You’ve travelled to some wonderful locations and caught many impressive fish. Which captures have meant the most to you?

RP: The most obvious achievement occurred while chasing bluefin tuna out of Prince Edward Island. Luck was really with me, as I hooked, landed and released some massive tuna on my stand-up gear this trip. These included three ‘granders’ (tuna over 1000lb) weighing 450 to perhaps 550kg. As far as I know, no one else has ever done this.

The second catch is in a very different league, as the circumstances made it special. I was in my favourite Pacific Island, Aitutaki, jigging for black trevally along the coral reef drop-off. These trevally can be quite wary, so I was fishing a Daiwa Sealine SL50SH reel loaded with 15kg nylon tied straight to the lure with no leader.

Then I hooked a big dogtooth tuna. These fish are scary: toothy, powerful, fast and they’re dirty fighters, too! During the course of the fight I was completely spooled three times, with just the elasticity of the nylon saving me.

It turned out to be just 1.5kg shy of the IGFA world record at the time.

This massive dogtooth tuna was caught by Rick on 15kg nylon tied straight to the jig with no trace! At the time it was only 1.5kg off being a world record!

MK: You’ve had some phenomenal deckhands over the years; who kept you on your toes the most?

RP: You’re right, Mark, there have been some excellent ones over the years!

One was Steve Haddock; he had impressive fishing skills and worked very hard. He went on to be an excellent charter skipper in his own right, then became a very successful commercial fisherman.

Steve Haddock, another man to make Rick's top three crewmen; here he helps Anna Schaumkel hoist a decent kingfish.

Paul Kingi was another. He’s a wonderful man, a natural fisherman, very resourceful and cannot be fazed – the perfect guy to have on board when lots of crazy things are going on. He also went on to make a name for himself as a professional skipper afterwards.

There have been several others I’d like to have mentioned, but third for me is probably Zane Flutey. He was popular with our clients, worked hard and had a great attitude; nothing was too much trouble. He did a stint in Cairns chasing big black marlin, but is now in Tauranga running his nautical business Zane Marine.

It was great to have some deckhands stay on for five years. This is usually the point when I encourage them to move on; I can’t teach them anymore, so they either need to learn more from another skipper or make their own way in life.

MK: Some bizarre things happen while out at sea; what is the craziest sight you’ve seen?

RP: Seeing a foreign submarine was one of them! It happened in the early 1980s while we were fishing for bluenose out from the Volkner Rocks in calm seas. The periscope came up less than 100 metres away as it started surfacing – but then it saw us, aborted and rapidly slid back under the surface again!

Another really weird experience took place while we were trolling for game fish. One of the guys said: “Hey, look at that! What is it?”

There was a strange looking object out in the distance. Initially, we could only guess it was a container ship seen at an unusual angle, but that didn’t really fit, so we decided to troll over towards it. As we got closer, we could see that it was a big, oval-shaped blob, hovering just above the water. However, upon reaching a distance of 3.75 miles away, it began to move, maintaining that same distance from us, regardless of how fast we went, fluctuating between 7 to 15 knots for around 40-50 minutes.

MK: Is there a Kiwi fishing opportunity that you failed to work out?

RP: Yes, definitely – the broadbill fishery in daylight!

It was always tough getting six to eight anglers to fish for broadbill at night, especially as this generally knocked the stuffing out of everyone the day after. So, I’ve really kicked myself for missing out on the obvious opportunity. We had so many fish come up slashed and crushed over the years while fishing in deep water. We even hooked and played the odd one while fishing this way, but none ended up being landed.

If only...!

MK: Who do you admire most in the current fishing scene?

RP: Bruce Smith! I’m so pleased he got the award for being one of the top five skippers in the world – he really deserved it!

And John Gregory, too. He really sorted so many things out in the sport-fishing scene, making the rest of us look like mere mortals. In fact, another well-known skipper commented: “He must have made a pact with the Devil” – he’s that good!

MK: What do you consider to be your greatest achievements?

RP: Raising my son, Kydd – the man he’s become is exactly what I hoped for and more! He never got in trouble, has a great attitude to life and continues to be a fantastic husband and father.

MK: I’m not surprised you’re so proud, Rick; Kydd impressed me from the first time I met him. He was just 10 or 11 then, and I watched him fight three yellowfin tuna with Guy Jacobsen’s stand-up game rod tucked under his arm, as he was too small to fit our harnesses!

The first two got cut off by other anglers after lengthy battles, but he persevered, even though he was crying from the pain near the end. A nice tuna was finally gaffed on board. Kydd said he was too tired to catch any more, but still had the energy to pole in a few dozen big skipjack tuna afterwards!

MK: How will you spend your days now, Rick? I can’t imagine you in a dressing gown and slippers watching the television!

RP: I’m glad you didn’t use the ‘R’ word, Mark; this is just a different phase in my life!

I now work at travel&co and plan to host travelling anglers who want to visit countries I’m familiar with, such as Canada’s Prince Edward Island and Cabo San Lucus in Mexico. I’d also love to share special places like Aitutaki – and Vanuatu and Costa Rica are possible options, too. One thing I won’t do: take people to destinations I’ve never been to before!

Aitutaki is one of Rick's favourite places and he hopes to show a few lucky people around this lovely island in the future. He caught this yellowlip emperor in knee-deep crystal clear water after a surprisingly tough battle!

However, I do want to tick off a few new places myself. I would love to go to Exmouth and the Wanganella Banks – and do a Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu sea voyage, visiting Minerva Reef on the way! Oh, and Atta Island as well; that place has got some phenomenal yellowfin and dogtooth fishing – 40 kilos and upwards!

In between these trips, I’m actually going to enjoy some of the simpler things such as gardening. I don’t have a boat now and, believe it or not, I actually kind of like just doing domestic chores around the house.

And, of course, I want to see my son Kydd and his family whenever I can!

MK: Anything else you’d like to add Rick?

RP: Yes, I’d love to take the opportunity to thank my wife Lyn for all the effort and support she’s provided over the years. Without her hard work and understanding, the business would not have been as well-run or successful. She was essential to the business and to me.

I’d also like to thank the lovely people of Whakatane. I really enjoyed and appreciated working out of the area; it was the ideal port and the fishing club was extremely supportive. When they made me a Life Member, it was an honour and an unexpected delight.

Finally, I’d just like to acknowledge the many amazing friendships that developed over my time out fishing. Good friends are very important to me and I value them so much.