Hi there guys,

I thought I would give you some insight as to how lucky you are to have a fishery like you do in NZ that is still productive and why it should be looked after.

Last Christmas, I went up to Oban, in Scotland (you may know Oban Single Malt Whiskey?? Same place). It was a general sight seeing trip, but part of my trip involved a fishing charter from Oban.

The target species for this charter was Skate (you may have seen these in NZ) This was primarily because there was little to no other wild fish in those waters to catch, because years of exploitation and overfishing had wiped them out.�

There used to be alot of Cod there to catch.

You may have heard about what is going on with the Atlantic Cod stocks being at a critical level, and the EU government wanting to ban all Cod and whitefish capture to save the decimated stocks from extinction?? Commercial fishermen are protesting because they will be out of jobs, but if they keep fishing there will be no fish left, ever.

So, my point is this, I would never want the NZ fishery to get to the state, where all you can go out and target is skate.� Enjoy what you have got there, and be responsible with your catch.� I also hope the NZ government takes a real hard look at what it considers a "sustainable catch".� I for one will be coming back to experience the fishing, and I would hope that my children (dont have any yet!) in time will be able to enjoy it also.

Anyhoo, enough of the schpiel.� More about the fishing.� We were fishing in a passage through the Isle of Skye, in 500 feet of water (Being British, everything was in Imperial).� For bait we were using whole squid tubes stuffed with mackeral, whole dogfish, and get this, medium sized fresh water Pike!

The fishing was slow, and very hard. Rough conditions, freezing cold wind, snow and sleet.

After 6 hours of this I finally got a hookup. In 500 feet of water it was a mission to bring in, and took around 50 - 60 mins to get to the surface.

The fish was 172 lbs, and yes, it was released. See photos below.

Pretty satisfying, but, I cannie wait to get back to NZ to proper fishing!

Trent ya want to take a look at north west Ireland where they have been having a run of giant Bluefin over the last 3/4 years - largest fish boated this year 868# last year 972#.  apparently they're seeing lots of fish but not so easy to get on the hook.  am thinking about doing some time up there myself next autumn. 

photo of a 700er : skipper John Brittain, boat 'Blue Water' out of Clifden, Co. Galway

cheers - dustin