The IGFA world records will show that, for the most part, New Zealand owns the yellowtail kingfish section. Despite a range for kingfish that also includes Argentina, Brazil, South Africa and Australia, nearly all world records are held here. Sam Mossman investigates the biggest of these captures.

Why does New Zealand have a monopoly on kingfish records? It helps that kingfish are the major large inshore sportfish in this country, so they get fished for a lot. We also have a huge continental shelf area that supports a wide range of baitfish, squid and other prey items to feed them well, and New Zealand is on the fringe of the kingfishes’ temperature tolerance range (bigger fish have more thermal mass and can cope with cooler water). Finally, when kingfish were put into the quota management system, the bulk of the ‘quota’ (about two thirds) for this species was allocated to recreational fishers who have nursed kingfish populations carefully, often adopting optional reduced bag limits, increasing size limits and carrying out research programs on the species to better understand them.

All of these factors have seen New Zealand develop a reputation as the world’s top kingfish fishery, drawing anglers from all over the globe.

A great many anglers have their own kingfish tales as these powerful fish are regularly encountered and have a repertoire of dirty-fighting tactics that can make for memorable battles – which the kingfish usually win if they’re hooked over foul ground they know well.

Here are the stories behind three of the biggest kingfish ever caught. Two of them are world record fish that have tied the International Game Fish Associations’ all-tackle class since the 1980s; the other is a more modern classification, the IGFA all-tackle record for length (so the fish can be measured and released), caught just a couple of years ago in 2018.

Mike's Monster

Well-known Tauranga physician Dr Mike Godfrey was contacted by his friends Hugh McDowell and Nigel Wood of Kelly’s (now Kilwell), who asked if he could take them and another friend Howard West, the then products manager of Scientific Anglers USA, out for some saltwater fly fishing.

It was February 5, 1984, and the group headed out in Godfrey’s 16ft Bonito Ikanui and soon found a school of trevally and kahawai on the Tauranga side of Motiti Island. The fish were extremely cooperative and didn’t seem unduly scared of the boat. Several kahawai were soon hooked on fly rods.

The action continued until about ten kahawai had been caught and released, then a hooked fish was swallowed by a kingfish. Howard West fought it for half an hour before the kingie got rid of the completely scaled kahawai.

A few minutes later another kahawai was demolished on the surface by three huge kingfish that threw themselves into the air chasing the fleeing baitfish. Inspired by this, Mike Godfrey put a live kahawai out on a 15kg game outfit. Five minutes later, as they drifted near the school, the bait was taken and after a thirty-minute fight, a 29kg yellowtail was boated.

Having seen several other big kingfish, they did the same thing again on the next drift. The bait was immediately taken. The late Nigel Wood took the helm and manoeuvred the boat away from the reef. Using the wind to drift into deeper water, they persuaded the kingfish to follow.

Three-quarters-of-an-hour of gentle persuasion followed until the fish was finally beaten. The crew needed to use two gaffs to lift the big kingfish over the side and it dwarfed the other fish on the deck. It weighed 52kg and still stands as a world all-tackle record and holds the 15kg men’s line class as well.

Mike Godfrey with his world all-tackle and men’s 15kg line-class record kingfish. 

Mike Godfrey's record kingfish turned the scales to 52kg.

Angler: Mike Godfrey

Fish weight: 52kg

Capture date: 5/2/1984

Technique: Drifting livebait

Fight time: 45 minutes

Rod: Kilwell 15kg game rod

Reel: Penn Senator 6/0 (114-H)

Line: Amilan-T 15kg
monofilament

Boat: Ikanui (16’ Bonito)

Skipper: Nigel Wood

It's A Tie!

Dave Lugton is a long-established real estate agent from Hamilton. Having been a keen angler for many years in the Bay of Islands, he had turned his attention to the Bay of Plenty.

Most of Dave’s trips were centred around White Island. In 1987 his crew boarded the charter boat Pursuit (the first one) for their second trip of the season on January 7, with now-retired skipper Rick Pollock at the helm. The plan was to chase yellowfin tuna, fishing wide of Te Kaha for the first day of the trip. The first day produced only two medium-sized yellowfin. During the capture of one, a 20kg specimen, it became apparent that the 6/0 Penn Senator used needed some work on the drag. That night, while some of the group caught live baits, the reel was stripped, and the drag fixed.

The next morning, their attention turned toward White Island and the spectacular kingfish action that can be encountered there. The boat got an early start to put in a couple of hours trolling before soaking some livebaits at the island. The first pass close to the island produced a double hook-up of small kingfish that were quickly brought to the boat and released.

As soon as Pursuit got underway again, a single rod trolling a Zuker lure was struck with much more authority. It was Dave Lugton’s turn in the strike rotation and the rod that was buckling under heavy pressure was carrying the Senator reel that had undergone surgery the night before.

White Island waters contain fabulous yellowtail fishing with good numbers of record class, but hard-to-beat, fish residing there. Fishermen had employed a wide range of game plans to defeat these monsters, ranging from super heavy gear that can only be handled by the most powerful anglers, down to long, drawn-out fights on light gear, but the same sad ending was the most common result.

Dave’s fish was constantly trying to get to nearby structure – jagged reefs it knew well. Luckily for the angler, the fish had been well away from its usual habitat when it hit the lure and twenty minutes later, it paid for its error.

The skipper and crew had seen few fish of that size and guesses of its weight ranged widely. That afternoon at the Whakatane weigh station, Dave got the surprise of his angling career when the weighmaster called out “fifty-two kilos”, tying Mike Godfrey’s all-tackle world record for the species (caught on 15kg line three years prior) and taking out the 24kg world line-class record as well.

Angler Dave Lugton (left), aided by a young Steve Haddock, hoist Dave's 52kg kingfish, which tied the world all-tackle record.

Angler: David Lugton

Fish weight: 52kg

Capture date: 9/1/1987

Caught at: White Island,
Bay of Plenty

Technique: Trolling skirted lure

Fight time: 20 minutes

Rod: Kilwell 24kg

Reel: Penn Senator 114HL

Line: Erskine 24kg

Boat: Pursuit (45’ Morgan)

Skipper: Rick Pollock

It's A Long Story

Not all kingfish record captures date back to the previous century. After the IGFA introduced a world record length category, allowing anglers to measure their fish and then release them alive, new opportunities were opened up.

In May 2018, prominent visiting Australian angler Stan Konstantaras, President of the NSW Branch of the Australian National Sportfishing Association, was on his second trip to the Three Kings Islands, having spent many years fishing the kingfish Valhalla’s of the Bay of Plenty and Ranfurly Banks. This was his tenth trip on the charter boat Cascade, with anglers from Australia joining a bunch of Kiwis for the trip.

That year, skipjack tuna were holding in close to the islands instead of out on the King and Middlesex Banks so the group did not have to travel far to find big kingfish. They could pick up plenty of skippies on their way to the Princes Group on bungie lines then drop them down as whole dead baits in 30m-50m of water. The art was letting the kings run with baits, which weighed up to 3kg, allowing enough time for the circle hook to get in position, then slowly easing the drag up and hanging on.

The day Stan caught his big fish, three of the group’s anglers also beat the previous world record for length, each time upping the size a bit more. A fourth fish was tied with Stan’s at 149cm, but it was caught after his, so he claimed the record.

In Stan’s words: “These fish in the shallows are brutes. We used 16/0 circle hooks, 130lb main line, 300lb shock trace, 200lb wind-on leaders, brutal jigging rods and powerful reels with near-locked drags. I am a pretty big bloke and in all my years have never really been dragged around by a fish, but the boys still comment on the sound my body made as I was slammed into the gunnels of Cascade when I hooked that fish. I still carry a dodgy knee, courtesy of that king!

“It was a great fish and I have even better memories of letting it go, but I did get a gyotaku-style digital print of it made in full size. It now sits on my wall at home while the fish was left to swim for another day.”

A kingfish of these dimensions, using the standard formula of: girth (cm) x girth (cm) x length (cm) divided by 29,000, ‘measures out’ at about 39kg, so considering the weights of the all-tackle records mentioned above, the all-tackle length record probably still has a way to go! 

Aussie angler Stan Konstantaras caught and released this beautiful 149-centimetre southern yellowtail on May 17, 2018 while fishing off the Three Kings.

Angler: Stan Konstantaras

Fish length: 149cm

Fish girth: 87cm

Capture date: 17/05/2018

Caught at: Three Kings Islands

Technique: Drifting whole
dead-bait

Fight time: 15 minutes

Rod: Jigging Master

Reel: Jigging Master

Line: Sunline 60kg