Author: Matthew Foster

John’s Boat – Waipu Coast (opposite golf course)

Location: Out from Marsden Point, turn right… opposite the golf course.

6am early start on Johns boat, tried a couple of spots the fish werent really biting but John managed to land beuty 55cm Snapper and I caught my first ever Gurnard.

It was only ever was going to be a short fishing trip because we were leaving to go home that day. John owns one of my favourite fishing boats, a Surtees Game Fisher 6m. He gave me an exciting trip home by tapping it out at 30 knots.

John’s Boat – Whangarei Heads Crays & Scallops

Crayfish Location: Out of whangarei heads, turn left
Scollops Location: Inner Harbour

We went out for the day to hunt and gather.  Fish werent really biting,  fish wise I only caught one annoying Rock Cod. But as you can see Dad and John got us a good feed of Crayfish and Scollops.

4 Days Away On Lady Mer – Great Barrier and Cuvier Islands

Day 1

We left Auckland Harbour about 6am and bombed out to the south of Great Barrier Island, we were fishing in deep water around the Cuvier Islands. We all dropped our lines and when the sinker hit the bottom we didn’t have to wait long before we were catching fish, The first type of fish we were catching were good sized Snappers. We continued fishing and I caught a massive Trevally (on a Penn SQL50VSW Squall Lever Drag Reel) that we think was 20 lbs but sadly it tangled my line with another line and the hook pulled out, it swam back down to the depths leaving me very angry!!

Fish caught:

  • Trevally
  • Snapper
  • Pink Mao Mao
  • Barracuda
  • Grandaddy Hapuka
  • Golden Snapper
  • Mako shark

That night we tried out luck to catch a Broadbill Swordfish, the pictures below show Simon holding the Squid bait and me holding the giant 16/0 hooks.  I asked Don where he got the squid bait from, he said Pack N Save and it cracked me up that it was food for some family but Don had bought it for bait.

We waited for ages and watched the little Squids jump past the back of the boat attracted to the back light.  At about 2am a massive Mako Shark roared out of the water with the bait. A big splash and he threw the hook and that was our first nights fun over… ready for bed.

Day 2

We got up and Don cooked us a big breakfast, we motored from Tryphena around to the back of Great Barrier Island to Arid Island then we when we got there Simon and Dad jumped in the water and went diving in a hunt for Crayfish but they came up empty handed.

Then we moved around Arid Island a bit to another bay were Simon and Dad jumped in the water again but this time they  were spearfishing, a few Butter Fish were caught and a bright blue fish was also caught, later we found out that its name is actually “Blue Fish”!

We had lunch and then we did some more spearfishing around the mainland Simon caught a Spanish Lobster and I almost speared a massive Blue Mao Mao. Then after we finished spearfishing we went and did some more fishing but this time we were fishing at the top of the island were we caught 4 Grandaddy Hapuka’s and we caught a bunch more Snappers and I even had a double hook up on a Baby Snapper and a Baby Kingfish.  After that days fun, we motored to a bay and stayed the night.

Day 3

More fishing around the back of Great Barrier, we were having a hard time catching fish mainly because we kept getting bitten off by Sharks and Barracuda.

We moved out deeper and then started hooking up some good sized Snappers and also some more Grandaddy Hapukas.  I also caught my first ever Blue Cod.

We continued fishing and we went further out past Arid Island but the seas were really rough.  We saw a work up but it was too close to the rocks and the seas were rough which meant it was too risky to drop our lines there.

We headed to the shelter of Tryphena Harbour.

Day 4

Don cooked us another amazing breakfast, in fact he cooked the whole time we were out not a bad charter this one!

We started motoring back to Auckland, on the way back we first stopped off at Channel Island and we fished some more.  Unfortunately we were only catching baby Snappers so we carried on our journey. We stopped and did more fishing but this time we were fishing D’Urville Rocks, north of Waiheke Island to use the rest of the bait up, we caught two medium size kahawai. I caught around three or four Jack Mackerel’s.  It may seem strange but I love catching these little fish, they are such scrappy little fighters and on light gear, just a bunch of fun.

At this location we didn’t catch much except for Joseph who caught a fat Rat Kingfish.

The Crew, from left to right: Kevin, Simon and Captain Don.

Trout Fishing Taupo July 2015

We drove to Taupo and meet a trout fishing guide.  We then drove to a river where we were going to fish for the day.

We had to fill out a piece of paper that allowed us to go trout fishing, a licence for the day. When we finished that we hiked through a bush to get to the spot.

When we got to the spot he rig the lines with the flys and then I was up first to try fly fishing and he taught me how to do it. When he finished teaching my sister he took me up river were I was left to fish on my own for a while.  I caught my first Rainbow trout, it fought like a Kahawai.

It was really fun to try this different type of fishing.

Epic Adventures Hunting Kingfish

An epic birthday present from my dad to go on a fishing charter to catch a massive Kingfish, the cool thing was that on my bucket list was to catch a massive Kingfish and I definely concored that.

The day started off by catching bait fish at the wharf then motoring out to the Whitianga harbour (Mercury Bay) to get bigger live baits.  Captain Owen looked for a Shag in the water and when we found a shag we dropped our lines down near him and we picked up some bigger livies.

Then we motored out full speed for about an hour out to some underwater pinnacles. The first couple of drops we did sharks (Tax Collectors!) ran off with our baits and cut our lines.

Then we moved and dropped our lines again over a different pinnacle.  Then it was 6 straight hours of non stop kingfish action. Me and my dad caught about 15 kingfish each.  There fight is awesome and it surtainly ticked my bucket list off.

The biggest one I caught was 17kg and my dads biggest one was 24kg and for a by catch i caught a 45cm snapper.

John’s Boat – Fishing and Diving Leigh

  • Location 1: Leigh Outpost (Crays)
  • Location 2: Pakiri Beach (Kahawai and Leatherjacket)

Early start with John and Mike and Dad. It was a fun trip doing all sorts of different hunting and gathering. John and Mike dived for crays and Dad went spearfishing and I dropped the lines.

Two totally under rated fish Kahawai and Leather Jackets. Kahawai often are always smoked but i have found that kahawai taste good pan fried and Sashimi and Leather Jackets are great Sashimi.

Credit goes to John Ashley for the boat and photos below.  https://www.instagram.com/johnnya_nz/