Skipjack Tuna - Katsuwonus pelamis Other Names: Arctic bonito, oceanic bonito, skippies, striped tuna, or victor fish. Aku (Hawaiian). Skipjack is a different species from bonito. Recognition Features: The upper back of the skipjack tuna is a dark blue/black colour. The flanks and underbelly are silver/white. There are four to six horizontal lines running along…
Yellowtail - King of Broken Water by Dick Marquand The yellowtail kingfish, or kingi as it is known in New Zealand game fishing circles, would rate as one of the hardest fighting species of game fish available to the light tackle angler. The yellowtail kingfish, or kingi as it is known in New Zealand game…
Marlin Hunting - The Quest for a Beakie By Dick Marquand I read with great interest Chappie Chapman's excellent article "Marlin Magic, Mania or Madness?" It brought back to me, memories of the endless planning, the exhilarating experiences, the great camaraderie, the frustrations, as well as the spending of thousands of dollars on travel and…
We Boated Past the Graveyard of over 125 Shipwrecks By Warwick Judkins You wanna catch a marlin? I first heard these words when I was going to Auckland for my mum's 80th birthday at Christmas and my brother suggested going to Paihia for five days after the event and maybe doing some fishing. On the…
How to Catch Salmon - 12 Tips to get you started by Allan Burgess How to catch salmon comes down to knowledge and persistence. No matter how knowledgeable you are in the ways of the salmon it still takes time and sustained effort to catch them. If you have never caught a salmon before I suggest…
Rasmus Gabrielsson talks with Malcolm Bell from The Complete Angler about the Canterbury Salmon Fishery by Allan Burgess Malcolm Bell, from The Complete Angler fishing tackle store in Christchurch, recently broadcast a question and answer session with Rasmus Gabrielsson about the poor state of the Canterbury salmon fishery. Rasmus Gabrielsson is a fisheries scientist with…
Thin Water Snapper Fishing - Snapper from the Shore by Johnny Groome Have you ever asked yourself that age-old question "What is the meaning of life?" Well, it's simple really. Keep yourself warm and find yourself enough to eat in order to be able to collect as many of the best memories you can. Always…
French Pass, D'Urville Island - Top Yellowtail Kingfish Spot Plus French Pass Kingfish by Maurice Scoble (scroll down). by Roy Jones French Pass is a most beautiful and rewarding location. It is a top spot for yellowtail kingfish. For those of you fishing it for the first time, it can be quite daunting. That's…
Catch and Release - Exquisite Moment at Larry's Creek - also known as the Awarau River, Near Reefton by Graeme Smith It happens in that one exquisite moment, that moment we wait for, are watching for, yet usually miss. One instant it's there, the next instant it's not. Catch and Release. Like watching a magician,…
Surfcasting Birdlings Flat and Kaitorete Spit In my younger days I spent many an afternoon and evening surfcasting at Birdlings Flat - also called Baileys Beach. I remember the rich red sunsets in particular very well. The best fishing here is usually later in the day. So the setting sun generally heralds the start of…
By Monty Wright Being on holiday Colleen and I woke at a respectable hour. We had stayed overnight at Makarora House which is a farm stay facility in the Makarora Valley. From our bedroom, we could look right up the Wilkin River Valley - a beautiful sight for anyone to behold first thing in the…
by Peter Lemin - Harling Lake Dunstan Part 1 The main angling methods in Lake Dunstan have been trolling as well as fly fishing and thread-lining from the shore. During January, the fishing slowed down considerably, no doubt partly due to the angling pressure the lake received over the Christmas holiday period. I felt sure…
By Monty Wright The habits of various kinds of trout differ considerably. Even though transplanted to new surroundings they still maintain their individual ways. The majority fish which we angle for in the South Island are now in their own individual right a wild strain. These fish were introduced originally by the old Acclimatisation Societies…
From Coarse Fishing Corner by the Canterbury Coarse Fishing Club There is scarcely a freshwater species of fish that at some time or other will not readily accept small lively worms. Perch, tench, rudd, and or course eels are particularly attracted to the redworm, which comes from compost heaps. These worms can be fished on…
Surfcasting for Sharks at Birdlings Flat, Kaitorete Spit by Allan Burgess The author and his sevengill shark at Birdlings Flat. It had taken a small frozen mullet cut bait intended for red cod. The trace was 80 lb monofilament and the shock leader 50 lb mono. Luckily the sevengill shark didn't…
From Coarse Fishing Corner by the Canterbury Coarse Fishing Club There is scarcely a freshwater species of fish that at some time or other will not readily accept small lively worms. Perch, tench, rudd, and or course eels are particularly attracted to the redworm, which comes from compost heaps. These worms can be fished on…
Assembling a Basic Float Fishing Kit for Coarse Fishing Setting up a basic set of tackle for float fishing. One or two items are specifically for Coarse Fishing and are available through a club, the rest you should be able to get through your local tackle shop.…
The Tench - Tinca tinca Considering the extensive liberations that are known to have taken place in the 1860s and the subsequent world class fishing available to South Islander's as a result, the tench is still a little-known species. In fact,…
"A good game fish is too valuable to be caught only once." Lee Wulff Advice on Catch and Release to give your big trout the best chance of survival The coolness of the approaching evening signalled the end of another glorious day in paradise. I had covered many kilometres of the Caples River, a blue…
Stillwater Brownies - Six Favourite Flies by Dick Marquand Generally speaking, brown trout inhabiting Stillwaters like lakes, ponds and backwaters, present more of an angling challenge than those found in creeks, streams and rivers. In moving water, a trout takes up a "feeding station" in a suitable position and only moves from that station to…
By Monty Wright Nature's creation of rivers was originally developed by excessive rain falling on the land creating its own channels and flooding much of the deltas. Some floods are slow and steady while other ones have immense energy through the amount of rain that falls. Although the river systems were originally created by this…