Land of the Kings

[Ocean Active]

For a very long time I have heard from clients and friends about  the Kingfish of New Zealand. I think for me it has always been my goal to catch  Bluefin Tuna in the US, GT in tropical locations and Kings in New Zealand, that  seems to be the circuit that many of our clients follow at least once in a life  time. New Zealand has always been on my to do list for several reasons, the  main reason was to try and catch the mighty Kingfish that has a cult following,  but also to visit a country that has a rich rugby tradition playing South  Africa, scenery on postcards and magazines that simply blow the mind and to  visit family that have moved to New Zealand and speak so highly of this great  country. And WOW was everything true plus more!!
Over the years I had been speaking to Mark Armistead from  Extreme Sportsfishing Adventures and we had always planned one day for me to  fish in New Zealand and Mark to come out to Oman. But time seems to slip away  and one year runs into the next. But finally we managed to sort out some dates  and book the trip. I had also been speaking to good friend and client Tony  Orton that fishes with us in Oman and owns Offshore Adventures in New Zealand.  So between the three of us we came up with a game plan to try and catch a big  NZ King. I sent loads of emails, FB messages, texts etc asking questions and  sort in out logistics and both Mark and Tony helped get everything answered and  confirmed. They are two amazing guys and extremely knowledgeable on fishing for  kings and sports fishing in general. As the saying goes you cannot beat local  knowledge!!
This was going to be the first long distance family trip, so we  packed up half our house and filled a SUV to get to the airport. Traveling with  a 5 and 1 year old for 24 hours in a plane was not going to be fun and a couple  of times we thought we had bitten off more than we could handle. But I must say  as much as kids give us grief sometimes they really played ball and we  fantastic on the plane both ways. Also a lot of preparation by Mich to get the  kids ready and have loads of food, toys etc.

We boarded the Emirates A380 plane and headed for the Land of  Kings. After a 24 hour flight via Brisbane with a brief layover we finally  arrived in Auckland early afternoon and still had some day light to look around  and see a bit of Auckland. The first half of the trip we were going to go and  stay in Lake Ferry just out side of Wellington, a small little town on he coast  called Lake Ferry. The place is simply stunning with lakes, green rolling hills  and the beach. The first week went by with us taking trips along the coast  watching seals, climbing lighthouses, feeding lambs, eating great food and  doing our fair share of wine tasting!

My precious! New Zealand has a lot of the Lord of the Rings  happening, great fun for the kids and adults alike!

The family ready to roll in our hires car packed to the roof!

Our batch for the holiday, right on Lake Ferry

Michs sister and husband's family own and run the Lake Ferry Pub  and Hotel. An amazing place that was built in the 1850s as a ferry station.  Gourmet Pub food and a great place to socialize!

Mich and Zack with the seals!

Ava and I at the Cape Palliser Lighthouse

We had great fun driving around the wine farms of Martinborough  tasting wine and exploring.

Wine tasting with Mich

After a great week with the family it was time for me to head  off fishing. The family were staying in Wellington and I headed back to  Auckland to meet up with Tony. Tony was at the airport and we headed up to his  place in Mangawhai Heads about 1.5 hours from Auckland. The country side and  scenery is totally incredible and coming from a desert looking at all the  greenery and rivers is something I could not get enough of! We arrived in the  small town of Mangawhai and drove passed the beach and Tony explained the  fishing and all of the islands and fishing possibilities. Really great place.  We stayed at Tony's place and was great to meet Bea and 4 week old Sami!!


Tony's cruiser at the airport!

We were going to go and fish up north but the weather was not  looking so good so we decided to stay in Mangawhai and see if we could get out  on Tonys center console to target some snapper inshore. Early the next morning  we woke up and the conditions were looking alright and after a good breakfast  we headed down to the slip and launched. I must say I was not expecting to much  but Tony was confident of some good fish. We headed around a point to a  sheltered bay and started doing a few drifts targeting snapper on plastics. All  of a sudden Tony got excited and was saying it a bust up and gannets are going  crazy!! I think I have good eyes but I could not see what Tony was getting  excited about. We gunned the engine and headed for the back of the bay a few  kilometers away, finally I picked up masses of gannets diving a proper big bust  up. It reminded me of the sardine runs in South Africa, gannets diving all over  making big white bubble trails. We quickly got out the rods and started working  the plastics in and around the busting birds. Tony was quickly in to a fish  which turned out to be a kawaihai and then he got another and another. I  clearly did not have the local touch! Finally I managed to hook a small  Kawaihae and my got myself onto the board! This was also one of the species I  wanted to catch.


Tony's center console

We spent a bit of time drifting and catching Kawaihai and  enjoying watching the gannets till Tony hooked something that took off like a  rocket and pulled off some good line on the light gear. Tony had hooked  something bigger and right away he said snapper! After a great fight he landed  a nice NZ snapper. Really great fish to see after reading so much about them in  magazines. Plus amazing to catch these fish in 12m of water! Tony got another  snapper and then finally I had a good hit and set the hook. The fish pulled  some line and kept deep, I put on the pressure and got my first NZ snapper to  the boat. A great little fish that gave up a good fight for the size. A good  few pictures and we released the fish. A few minutes later we were fishing the  back end of the gannet bust up and I had a soft bite and as I set the hook the  fish took off! Clearly a much bigger fish. I had my light rig which I have  caught fish from tiger to tuna to small GTs, so I know I can put a good amount  of pressure, but still I could hardly bug the fish, another few good runs, I  started asking "can a snapper reef you??" Finally I got the fishes  head and got a great snapper to the boat! Very chuffed with a decent sized NZ  snapper. We released the fish and the fishing slowed down and by midday we  headed back to the slip after a great morning session that I had totally not  expected.


Diving Gannets

Amazing scene!

Tony with the first snapper of the day

Very happy with my first NZ snapper

Bending on my Aerocast and Stella 4000! Getting a great work  out!

A good sized NZ snapper in shallow water!

After a great dinner and meeting up with Nicky Sinden from the  fishing show Addicted to Fishing and Nick Berthoud from Shimano NZ we headed up  the coast to Kerikeri. Tony has his new Offshore Boat being built so he had  arranged for us to fish with Phil Barchet from Reel Life Charters. We headed up  and stayed at Phils Man Cave which was a great experience. We met up with the  last team member for the trip Mandy Kupenga from the Fishing show Get your Fish  on. Was really great to be fishing with some of NZ fishing celebs!! After a  good few beers and fishing talk we hit the hay!


Phils man cave!!

Our batch for the night

Some more spectacular country!

Early the next morning we were all up and on the move. Phil had  launched his boat and was ready when we arrived. We headed out of the estuary and  towards an island just offshore. The water was looking a bit dirty so we only  had a few casts with stickabits with not much activity except for a cuda coming  up and hitting my 120gr Gamma!! Think the bloody thing had a message from his  Oman cousins to take my Gamma!! I was told this was a first, then it happened  again!!

After a bit of time and only a few small fishing coming up Phil  said the best option would be to head offshore and jig for the kings. I had  ultimately wanted to catch a king on top water but I was just as eager to catch  my first king, and this decision turned out to be the right one!! Phil really  knows his waters and tactics and we had a fantastic day. From the first drop we  got into smaller fish almost all day on jig. I caught my first, second, third,  tenth king. Most of the fish were small and everyone was telling me what to  expect. Then finally I had a good hit and felt the head shake. I got a few  turns back onto the Stella 8000 PG when the fish came alive and started ripping  off line! The reel was singing and loads of shouts from the boat! I had hooked  into a proper king! The fish put on the heat and was really strong and gave me  a good fight. I gained line back only to loose and then gain again. Finally I  saw the number plate and still the fish was going bananas and trying to dive  and pulling line. The fish fought all the way to the boat and even once we  landed it. A really great chunky King. This was my first big NZ king that the  guys put at over 20kgs. With sore arms I had achieved my mission of catching a  good NZ king!!


Capt Phils boat, Reel Life

Bending on my first big king

Very happy with my king!

We carried on catching fish till later in the afternoon when the  bait started to stack up on the pinnacles and the fishing went wild. This is  some of the best jigging I have ever experienced. We had double, triples,  quadruple and quintuple hook ups. Everyone was hooking and landing fish. I  managed a couple more big fish with my biggest fish of the day being around  25kgs. Really great fishing and the kings are one very strong fish!! Finally  the sun started to set and we headed back to the harbor with very weary bodies  but happy as hell! We must have landed in the region on 60 kings and one big snapper  for the day!


Nicky bending

Tony bending on a new Shimano Prototype jigging rod

Tony with a decent king

Mandy putting on the heat

Mandy with a good king

Another big king

My biggest king for the day a chunky 25kg fish

Nick with a king

Mandy with a big snapper!

Finally the day came to an end and we cruised back at sunset to  the harbor.

The A Team. Great bunch and loved meeting and fishing with  everyone!



 
 

[Lenny]

OMWWWW super report , nice pics !


And some serious Geelstert !!!!

[Prego]

Great report Nick, looks a nice part of the world.

What lb braid were you using on your 8K for those Kings?

[SAfish]

  Awesome report and even more awesome catches!

[Lucky Hook]

Thanks for a fantastic Report with awesome pictures.

These are trips all fishermen dream about!!!

[L Hooker]

Awesome report thanks for sharing, congrats on some bus YT

[REEFMAN]

Another great report Nick! 

[Willie]

WOW!!!

[Ocean Active]

Thanks guys, was a really awesome trip and well worth the hours in the plane!


Hi Prego, I was using Sunline Jigger PE6. This is most probably slightly to heavy for the rod I was using but I wanted to be able to palm and hold the fish if I had too. I had listened to quite a few stories of guys getting smoked by big fish so I opted for a lighter rod to get a good action with heavier braid.


Cheers,
Nick

[Prego]

Thanks Nick, with the PE6 can you even get 200m on that spool?

[Ocean Active]

I've got a SOM 16K spool so most probably got 280m on the spool. I've jigged 230m but a bit of a chance if something bigger than a guppie comes along!

[Ocean Active]

After an amazing introduction to fishing for Kings and fishing  with some great people it was time to move again. Tony and I headed back to his  place in Mangawhai to sleep like the dead after a hard days fishing with the  kings putting all my body to the test! They are one strong customer! The next  day we repacked and it was Samis first road trip. We headed down to Tauranga to  meet up with Mark Armistead. Mark and I have been talking for years about me  fishing for Kings and him coming and fishing for GTs in Oman. So it was really  exciting to be heading down finally to fish out of Maunganui and Mayor Island.  Yet another amazing drive through the NZ country and little Sami being good as  gold we arrived at our batch in Maunganui.


Heading through the endless green hills

Marks King Machine!

We arrived at midday and Mark was ready to head out with some  nice calm weather. The team was Mark, Tony, Aaron Dillon and myself. Nothing  like a little afternoon session to get our blood pumping. Mark is truly a top  water expert and it was very interesting listening to the tactics and plans. As  much as I love jigging stick baits and top water is what I really enjoy and why  I travel to try find that next fix! We fished various areas and there was only  a few showings on the finder. Finally the sun started to dip behind the horizon  and we headed home. IT was great to be putting in long casts and working the  stick baits, I was almost expecting a GT to come up!!


Heading in from Mayor Island

We settled into our batch and had a good meal and early to bed.  It was a bit of a battle to sleep with all the excitement. I was really amped  to catch a king on top water and after the taste the afternoon before I felt  like it was going to be a big fish if it was going to come. The fishing was not  easy with not many showings but Marks stories and the conditions made for some  high expectations. Early the following morning we were up and headed back down  to the marina to meet up with Mark. Back on the boat and headed back out to  Mayor Island. We discussed a few plans but the general idea was to catch a king  on topwater and put in the casts and hours. We fished around the island with  little success putting in hundreds of casts. Mark was always moving looking for  signs and fish. A few excited moments when big fish showed on the finder but we  could not get them hooked up. Finally Aaron was fishing off the stern of the  boat and he had a fish come up and slam the lure, bang fish on!! After a good  little fight a Mark landed a small king for Aaron. It was not the monster we  were looking for but we were on the board!!


Aaron bending

Small king

We had some lunch around the side of the island, relaxed for a  while and then back to the casting. We fished shallow, deep. Then as the day  was starting to come to an end we started to see some good baitfish showings  and there was a feel of expectation in the air. The sun was starting to set,  the wind had dropped and the conditions were perfect. We were all fishing in  different directions when I put a cast off the stern towards the island. I was  working my 120gr Gamma slowly with long sweeps when all of a sudden out of the  depths the water erupted under the lure with white water flying everywhere,  tails in the air, screaming from me, Aaron shouting out "is it a  seal??" I set the hook and the fish took off like a rocket on the Stella  14000. I had the fish hooked up on the Endless Passion 85/36 and let the rod  take the pressure. We were in 60m of water so I was confident not to get  reefed, but after loosing about 30/40ms of line I had to start palming the  fish. This is why I had come to NZ. The fish sat deep and I started to get some  line back but then about half way up and fish took another blistering run.  Again I palmed the reel and got the fish under control. I got line back onto  the reel and finally saw his number plate. It was a big fish but it was by no  means over, the fish dived several times and did not give up. Finally after a  few attempts to get the fish onto the surface I managed to swim the fish to  Mark to land!! A huge relief and my first big king on top water!! Really  awesome moment and something I wanted to achieve for a long time!! We got a  good few pictures and released the fish to swim back to the depths!!


Thumbs up!!

Putting on the pressure!

Working the fish to the boat

Big King

Very happy with my first NZ king on top water. Fought like a  demon possessed!

It was the perfect ending to the day. We packed up the gear and  headed back in with another glorious sunset following us. The next day we  fished with Belinda Thomas from Totally Fly. We fished hard on the last day but  did not raise any fish, Belinda showed us how it was done with a good sized  king on jig. The day ended with lots of talk and future plans. I found New  Zealand very friendly everyone wanting to chat and everyone seemed to be  fishing made!! In all New Zealand is a great place, with incredible fishing,  food and people. I will definitely be back next year for round 2!! Big thank  you to Tony, Mark and everyone that made this trip amazing!!

Cheers,
Nick
 
 

[Seventenths]

   awesome trip Nick!