Top Catch!

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Popular fishing writer John Eichelsheim spills the beans on how and where to catch twelve of New Zealand’s best fish species.

Top Catch is both a practical guide and a celebration of our top fish species, John draws on his forty years of experience fishing around the country.

He shares personal stories of his own ‘top catches’ and provides biological and geographical information including best times and places to find each species as well as the nuts and bolts of tackle and technique and the best ways to eat them.

The author has chosen species with appeal for anglers throughout the country and has chosen those that are accessible to the average angler as well as some more ‘aspirational’ species that need to be caught with specialist gear: snapper, kahawai, blue cod, trout (brown and rainbow), kingfish, trevally, hapuku/groper, tuna (yellowfin and albacore), tarakihi, salmon, gurnard and marlin (striped, blue and black).

As well as providing practical tips for catching a wide range of popular species, John’s experiences and stories add a personal aspect to the book. “This book has been something of a journey for me. through its pages, I have re-lived many of my early fishing memories and dredged up names and faces from the distant past I thought I had long forgotten,” reports John.

John has been crazy about fishing ever since childhood. Fortunately his mother was sympathetic, helping him with transport and tackle. “Through childhood, my teenage years and into early adulthood, I haunted the wharves and foreshore of Wellington Harbour, as well as local streams and rivers, fishing rod in hand.” John is still passionate about piscatorial pursuits and is a regular contributor to NZ Fishing News, Boating NZ and other publications, and was the author of the successful Mad Keen Fisherman’s Road Trip (2007).

“I’ve been luckier than most: 20 years working as a fishing and boating writer and editor means I’ve enjoyed a range of fishing opportunities most people never experience in a lifetime. Despite years of exile in Auckland, I’ve travelled and fished around New Zealand on a regular basis, allowing me to reacquaint myself with old friends, both human and fish, on a regular basis.” Full of great yarns and useful information, Top Catch is perfect for both active and armchair anglers and available at all good bookstores.