Generally speaking, for a fish to be on my favourite sportfishing list, it will need to be a predator. If it also jumps, or is hard to catch, or if I have had only brief encounters - or many memorable encounters - with it, it will fit the bill nicely. But locations, mental images and the fish's behaviour are also important. Fighting ability is not critical to my assessment, although I must admit that jumping fish are a big turn-on!

To name my favourite fish is a hard call; all have given me some pleasure, and in fact I've yet to find a dud. Some stand out more than others though, of course - and if I were to take into account the world species as well, the list could run into phenomenal numbers.

For example, I like the sound of the following: Costa Rican tarpon and sails; Indian mahseer; European pike (and its North American cousin the muskellunge); Amazonian dorado and Arawana giant herring. Also milkfish, saratoga and giant hammers from the Australian tropics; longfin mako and oceanic whitetips from the Pacific depths; a multitude of different tropical whaler sharks...  These are but a few of the species that would drift through my mind in the space of an average week.

However, to simplify things I'll stick to New Zealand species. Although our country is often referred to as an 'angler's eldorado' (especially in regard to our world class trout, snapper, striped marlin, broadbill, mako shark, thresher shark and yellowtail kingfish fisheries) we have little else compared to other countries of a similar latitude.

Generally speaking, for a fish to be on my favourite sportfishing list, it will need to be a predator. If it also jumps, or is hard to catch, or if I have had only brief encounters - or many memorable encounters - with it, it will fit the bill nicely. But locations, mental images and the fish's behaviour are also important. Fighting ability is not critical to my assessment, although I must admit that jumping fish are a big turn-on!

Favourites change, of course, sometimes yearly. I've caught a lot of the inshore species now and many fish that would have been on my list three years ago I now find uninteresting. Who knows, three years from now some may make it back onto the list again - it all depends on my mood at the time.

A lot of the fish that currently interest me are the pelagic game fish - as always - except that at the moment I'm obsessed. These fish are generally beyond the limits of my 12-foot tinny, which makes it hard as I get the greatest amount of pleasure from finding and sussing out the fish on my own. From a personal viewpoint, this is what fishing is all about. Hiring a charter boat just does not cut it for me. On charters I'd rather forego the rod and grab the camera (getting that good shot can beat the capture). If I can't find and catch it myself, the capture means nothing to me. One thing is certain: I do need a bigger boat!

Here then, are my favourites.

Number 1:  Thresher sharks

Everything about these beasts impresses me. They jump high, look incredibly beautiful, have stacks of power and yet look kind of delicate. It is often said in fishing circles the more you want a fish, the harder it is to catch. This appears to be true and makes 'favourites' even more desirable - to the point that they become an obsession.

For me, threshers are the fish of the moment. Nothing swimming will equal that first capture. I have probably spent more hours in pursuit of longtails than any other fish, and whilst doing this it seem as if I've caught everything swimming except for the species I'm after. At the moment, threshers are the ultimate. Broadbill swordfish come close - very close - but threshers just pip them.

Number 2:  Broadbill Swordfish

Man! These things look great!  Cut off that bill and there's a mako!  Of all the bony fish, broadbill are my favourite:  a shark with a bill - brilliant!

I've only seen one of these animals, and 'animal' was definitely the word. I'll never forget it - it was humungous. Unfortunately it's most unlikely that I'll ever see a bigger fish in my life - certainly not a billfish anyway - unless I'm extremely lucky. When that huge dorsal popped up in my shark slick, moving extremely fast up to its source, my nephew and I were very worried men.

I can still remember Ginge yelling at me to 'get the hell out of there!' Of course, when it turned side-on we could see it wasn't the Shark from Hell, but boy, were we both shaken! Six years later, Ginge and I still talk about that fish and wonder just how big it was. I won't bore you with our guesses, but it was the sight of a lifetime, that's for sure.

Number 3:  Whaler sharks

Many of my fondest memories revolve around this top fish. When I first got my driver's licence and the freedom that goes with it, I spent hour upon hour, night after night by myself on various isolated rocky points waiting for an encounter.

At that time in my life, a land-based bronzie was the ultimate fish. I've had affection for the whaler clan since I was a very young buck, and a land-based bronzie far surpassed a land-based marlin as far as I was concerned. That first fish took a lot of money and a hell of a lot of time, effort and learning, but boy was it worth it in the end; shaking legs, an inability to speak in normal sentences, and an amazing sense of achievement hit me in a rush afterwards.

Nowadays, land-based marlin and threshers fill that spot as attainable dreams - but dreams they may remain, as I definitely haven't got the commitment I had then. Sleeping, eating and working took the back seat in those early days.

I've caught dozens of whalers since, but I'll tell you one thing: I can remember every single damn one! They are one of those fish that leave very lasting impressions. Bronzies might not have the flair of the billies, the wild jump of a mako or the speed of the tuna, but across a wide range of factors they have a little bit of everything and really are a fish that brings fond thoughts to the head.

In fact, I think I like them even more now - especially those pups with that wicked stripe down their side!

Number 4:  Whites, makos and porbeagles

I'll lump these together, as the form of all these hot fish is superb; they are really classy machines.

Of the three, I've only encountered makos - and boy, those jumps turn me into a blithering idiot! I just can't get enough of them - I love these sharks to bits. I've seen these hot fish do some amazing things and they just blow my mind. Mako sharks were fish I wanted to catch from the rocks and they superseded all other predators. For a long, long time my whole concentration was directed toward them and quite a few hours, a lot of thinking, and a lot of effort was involved in that first capture.

While encounters on the boat proved relatively easy, the dreaded Murphy wasn't on my side and I lost quite a number by sheer bad luck. But this just made the final capture even better. That day was a great day - one of the best - even though the fish didn't fight, it wasn't big and wouldn't have meant anything to anyone else. But for me, well, I was off the planet for days.

I dislike killing sharks immensely, but I couldn't let this one go - or the next two after it either; the bond was too strong and the captures meant too much. Guilt will make sure I never keep another mako, but they still give me a tremendous buzz every time I see them in their element.

Porbeagles are another fish I've just got to see. I've always liked their chunky build, which makes them look even more powerful than a mako. Of these three shark species, I reckon porbeagles look the best.

Whites. Great whites. What a fish - and the name really sums it up: great! I can't wait to cage dive with them, or have one come up my shark slick - that will be a day to remember.

Number 5: big Longfinned eels

Longfins bring back memories of rotten eggs, possum, swan, or duck carcasses bobbing around the pond and huge eels that would materialise out of the gloom and submerge these carcasses after a couple of mouth-testing bobs.

Then the tug-of-war as the hook bit home into the mouths of anacondas that were rounder than my ten-year-old thighs and often as long as I was tall. They were real live monsters to me, and a huge source of wonderment. Each new pool would be fished out with enthusiasm, but all the time I was hoping to nail that legendary 40-pounder.

With their bulbous heads and uncanny boldness, they have real character and I have always had a deep fascination in them. It is indeed a crying shame that so many of these big girls have been wiped out, both by amateur and by commercial fishers.

In the early days, up until I was 14 or 15, I unashamedly killed a lot of big females. Since then however, I haven't killed one - in fact, I have made pets out of many of the remaining eels and, like the blue shark, started a neat bond with them that didn't involve sinking hooks into them. I can gaff a kingie or a big snapper without a second thought, but there's no way I could ever kill another longfin eel.

Every year I still take animal carcasses and rotten eggs up remote streams, often walking several kilometres in an effort to find that long sought-after goal - a 40-pounder.

Number 6:  Marlin

My experience with billies is all too slight for my liking, but what I have seen of them has been impressive. They, like all the favourites, have the ability to get the pulse racing, and a lit-up stripie is something that the brain absorbs and never forgets.

Although I've had relatively few encounters, I've been connected to stripies, blacks and blues. Blacks, I would have to say, are my favourite: their short stubby beaks, the rigid pectorals and the girth of those big girls have always impressed me.

However, having just given the blacks the big thumbs-up, another thing I really want to see is more blues carving up the ocean: they are fish in a class of their own. (But remember: makos still eat them for breakfast - sometimes literally - jumping higher and looking even better!).

This article was written Paul Embling