Livebaiting a koheru over a Northland offshore reef has seen Whangarei angler Karl Tucker land a fish of a lifetime – a 46.8kg, 168cm long kingfish.

In a scrap that lasted 45 minutes, during which time Karl was all but spooled twice and had a drag meltdown, the fish was finally subdued.

The fish exceeded the length of the measure mat he had on board, pulling the scales down to 46.8kgs when weighed after it had been bled out.

Karl had little idea as to the relative size of fish. It was only the fourth ever, his personal best up until this one being 30kg.

When he contacted the Export NZ Fishing Competition – a free-to-enter, measure-based fishing tournament that runs year round – he was surprised to learn his kingfish would have been the Hall of Fame species leader, beating Thomas Dunn’s 150.5cm effort from 2016, and a NZ Sport Fishing Council length record.

“We tried to contact the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club’s weighmaster via the club on the Sunday afternoon to get the fish officially recognised, but no one was picking up (the phone),” Karl says.

Whangarei angler Karl Tucker with his 168cm Northland-caught kingfish – an Export NZ Fishing Competition all-time Hall of Fame winner had he had an appropriate measure mat on board.

The reel was spooled with 30lb mono, and the fish was gut-hooked, which Karl believes took some of the fight out of it.

“If it had been lip-hooked, I don’t think I would have landed it as I am told the fight is mostly harder. The gear was pretty much maxed out.”

As well as the big kingfish, Karl and his crew aboard his Fyran Horizon 540 Tula had a good day, landing and releasing a 115.5cm kingfish and getting a good haul of snapper to 60cm. His family and friends ate well after that trip!

Karl says you never know how a fishing trip will pan out – he has purchased a 190cm measure mat just in case! 

For the record

Checking on the NZ Sport Fishing Council and Export NZ Fishing Competition records, the NZ kingfish all-tackle and world record mark is shared by M Godfrey who caught his 52kg fish out of Tauranga in February 1984 on 15kg tackle; and D. Lugton who produced his fish from Northland waters on 24kg tackle in January 1987.

The biggest kingfish speared in NZ waters (50.6kg) was shot by Nat Davey at the Three Kings.

Kingfish can grow to 170cm and over 50kg in weight. Females have been recorded living as long as 32 years, with males less at 26 years.

- NZ Fishing News