A memory that will last a lifetime

[The Reibz]

I was out spearfishing in the Mokohinaus yesterday with a mate,

We were working a steady school of Koheru and Blue MauMau trying to bring up a large kingfish from below. There were thousands of fish in the water, which isn't uncommon for this spot but there was a distinct lack of large predators apart from ourselves. All of a sudden the fish all turned in one direction and quickly darted away, we had reports of large makos in the area so I instantly turned my body in the direction to which the fish were fleeing. Pretty much expecting a shark. What I saw blew me away...

http://iforce.co.nz/i/3nt0p04o.0gx.jpg (http://www.iforce.co.nz/View.aspx?i=3nt0p04o.0gx.jpg)

A big stripped marlin came tearing into view, stopped, then slowly made its way over to me. My instinct told me to take him, but I was so amazed to see one so close to land and in only 30m of water that I just sat there and looked at him. Been getting alot of flack for not taking the fish, marlin spearing is a relatively new sport here and not alot have been landed outside of the west coast. I'm glad I let the fish live, the brief 10 second encounter I had with it will be something I will never forget. I never thought I would ever get this close to one without paying lots of money for a overseas trip

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3vDC7_rXmO4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The gopro 1 seems to be shit when it comes to blue water focus, unfortunately I dont have a hero 3 black...

[R650R]

Cool stuff

[EJK]

Good thing you didn't shoot the marlin. Looks like it just wanted to say "hi" to you.

[The Reibz]

Good thing you didn't shoot the marlin. Looks like it just wanted to say "hi" to you.

That's exactly how I see it. Shooting it would have been a waste of a beautiful thing.
I don't know enough about the species to shoot one, the gun I had on me breaks kingi spines like twigs and would have easily stoned this fish if I hit it on the off button. Apparently they run horizontal and close to the surface so my float probably would have been ok but I would have been dragged for hours over many KM's before the fish died.

Still an unforgetable experience to witness one of the seas top predators up close

[Crasherfromwayback]

The gopro 1 seems to be shit when it comes to blue water focus, unfortunately I dont have a hero 3 black...

Good on ya for not spearing it mate!

[skippa1]

Glad you left it. Better to see it swimming than dead

[ellipsis]

...wow, how cool is that...not taking it was a big decision, but very understandable...after years of chasing them and so much wanting one for my fishing trophy dreams, when I finally hooked up on one and it was tearing me to pieces, it took only five minutes of pain to make me realise I could not kill the one thing that drove me to spend a fortune in coin and time...I have a small plastic fish and a tagging certificate, but the thought of that moment of release makes the plastic thing seem like reward enough...

[george formby]

That's exactly how I see it. Shooting it would have been a waste of a beautiful thing.
I don't know enough about the species to shoot one, the gun I had on me breaks kingi spines like twigs and would have easily stoned this fish if I hit it on the off button. Apparently they run horizontal and close to the surface so my float probably would have been ok but I would have been dragged for hours over many KM's before the fish died.

Still an unforgetable experience to witness one of the seas top predators up close

On ya for keeping your finger off the trigger. A few years ago I decided not to shoot anything too big for the BBQ.
Been lucky enough to be buzzed by a Stripie during a deco stop on the Matai Pinnacle. A school of Mackerel balled up around me for cover which was amazing enough, me in the middle of a swirling silver barrel, then the reason for it came hammering through a few feet away, marlin all lit up like a Christmas tree. Incredible.
Same week we dived into a huge school of Yellowfin Tuna, bloody scary. Big & very fast!

The longer I've spear fished the less I shoot. Was lucky enough to have a Manta Ray rolling around our boat a few weeks ago doing backward somersaults in the water. Probably trying to get rid of parasites.

The ocean is amazing!

Oh, see if you can dredge up the account of the NZ record Stripie speared at the 3 Kings a few years ago. Sobering reading. Same deal, out for a Kingie & hello!

[Blackbird]

I was out spearfishing in the Mokohinaus yesterday with a mate,

Ah....... one of my riding partners mentioned that great fishing experience yesterday - you must be the mate Andy L was talking about!! Nice going :2thumbsup

[Katman]

Good on ya for not spearing it mate!

One could even say good on him for sparing it.

[BuzzardNZ]

You probably should have taken a shot at it as it's more than likely in the chiller of some Japanese fishing trawler by now.

Rather you have it than them!

[The Reibz]

Ah....... one of my riding partners mentioned that great fishing experience yesterday - you must be the mate Andy L was talking about!! Nice going :2thumbsup

Yeah Andy was a good guy, I got told he was a novice and new to spearing but he did bloody well considering the slow day we had.
He got talking to me about bikes on the way back, choice bloke.



The ocean is amazing!


Damn right it is, we might have a distinct lack of interesting animals on the mainland but the sea is full of interesting life. Was getting Kina one time and the rock behind it moved and a eyeball appeared. Hello massive scorpion fish.
Been buzzed by sharks, dolphins and now a Marlin. Doesn't get any better

[Banditbandit]

Cool .. that would be an awesome experience

[HenryDorsetCase]

You know those fishing shows and big game fishing and stuff? Do the people who catch those big fish eat them? Or give them to other people to eat?

Or are they just sickos thrill-killing something for its own sake?

One I approve of, and one I do not. I have never understood fishing in any of its forms though. I do like to eat fish. nom nom.

[george formby]

You know those fishing shows and big game fishing and stuff? Do the people who catch those big fish eat them? Or give them to other people to eat?

Or are they just sickos thrill-killing something for its own sake?

One I approve of, and one I do not. I have never understood fishing in any of its forms though. I do like to eat fish. nom nom.


Well fishing with a hook is like hunting blind. Spearfishing is proper hunting with the added bonus that in the ocean we're not at the top of the food chain. Exciting stuff.

Unless a fish is going to be mounted as a trophy on somebody's wall most of it gets eaten or released round here. Game fish like Marlin are usually smoked, vac packed & handed out amongst mates, family & neighbours. You get a shit load of fish! More & more I'm seeing catch & release which I have mixed feelings about. Snapper, Terakihi, Puka & the like is normally shared out fresh.
Still a few fuckwits around who will carry on catching fish well past what they need & can share.

Spearfishing is very discriminate. If you don't want it, you don't shoot. No by catch, no under or oversize fish, no fish swimming around dragging line & hooks. Level playing field, too. If you can't hold your breath you ain't gonna get much.

[Swoop]

Still a few fuckwits around who will carry on catching fish well past what they need & can share.
I'm still concerned about the retarded fuckwits I see sitting in their tinnie, reeling in SERIOUS amounts of undersize fish and only reluctantly putting a few back in the sea {when they know they are being watched}.

I really need a .50 mount on the boat.

[george formby]

I'm still concerned about the retarded fuckwits I see sitting in their tinnie, reeling in SERIOUS amounts of undersize fish and only reluctantly putting a few back in the sea {when they know they are being watched}.

I really need a .50 mount on the boat.

A high pressure deck hose carries less of a prison sentence. Heh, heh. I found out that some commercial fishermen really give a shit about fish stocks & have a great way of getting there message across.

[Swoop]

A high pressure deck hose carries less of a prison sentence. Heh, heh. I found out that some commercial fishermen really give a shit about fish stocks & have a great way of getting there message across.
Makes a change.
It wouldn't take much water to affect the freeboard on some heavily laden dinghies in the Auckland harbour.

[DMNTD]

Onya man for allowing it to live

[The Reibz]

I'm with you on undersized fish, I seem to catch nothing but undersized snaps every time I go line fishing. Pretty much gave it up years ago and took up freediving fulltime as my means of gathering.
I mainly shoot kingis, a 20kg fish feeds ALOT of people. It also takes a long time to clean, prepare and cook. The last one took me nearly 2 days to smoke (some cunt needs to fab up a bigger smoker I think...)
I have a mate the chases marlin and hes taken about 5 of the from the sea in the last 2 years, it costs around 600 - 800 to get one smoked and bagged if you fillet and steak it yourself (Requires a machete)

I have seen a boat come back to a ramp once and get checked by NIWA which had 60 kahawai onboard between 4 anglers. Highly stupid, it would take atleast 5 hours to clean all those fish and thats way more than anyone needs. I just dropped off 4kg ok Kahawai fillets to the old lady for her smoked fish pie, and that was only 6 fillets (these things were fucking monstrous). Snapper aint the only fish in the sea but its the easiest to catch on a line, worlds hardest fish to spear though. Don't get into spearing if your expecting to get loads of snapper because you simply wont.

Heres our catch from sunday though, all this fish went to a good use and was consumed either by humans or animals (my dogs a hungry little cunt when I get back from trips)

http://iforce.co.nz/i/xymxlkmu.wdj.jpg (http://www.iforce.co.nz/View.aspx?i=xymxlkmu.wdj.jpg)

[george formby]

Nice mixed bag. Another thing I enjoy about spearfishing, variety of catch. Dory, Butterfish, Black Snapper, Crays, Mussels, Paua, Scollys and the usual suspects. Great way to get a feed.

I use an oil drum (Elf) for a smoker. Cut length ways & hinged. Big hole at the bottom, little hole at the top. I can get Ti tree burning slowly at one end on a bottom rack & two racks the size of the barrel above. Will do 8 - 10 split fish at a time. 1 to 3 or more hour smoke. Started using oak from wine barrels for a change. Will do 25kg plus Kingies with room to spare & temperature is low enough to keep in all the juices. Old galvanised steel pipe with a threaded u bend makes an excellent chimney. Screws straight into the wee hole but needs a brace to stop it flopping about.

I love living here!! Nom, nom, nom.
Oh, a sploosh of maple syrup in the brine. Gawd!!

[The Reibz]

I really really want to build a cold smoker. Got plans made up its just a matter of forking out for the materials and putting it together.
I use a small warehouse job which tends to last about a year before it needs replacing. Cost 40 bucks and I welded a small BBq burner into it instead of using the meths tray.

http://iforce.co.nz/i/zurmib5d.vlf.jpg (http://www.iforce.co.nz/View.aspx?i=zurmib5d.vlf.jpg)

http://iforce.co.nz/i/qi1ganqa.nzm.jpg (http://www.iforce.co.nz/View.aspx?i=qi1ganqa.nzm.jpg)

http://iforce.co.nz/i/jw4yhrjr.yd0.jpg (http://www.iforce.co.nz/View.aspx?i=jw4yhrjr.yd0.jpg)

[Banditbandit]

I really really want to build a cold smoker.

Just to make you feel jealous .. I have one of those ...

[george formby]

I'm thinking of making a cold smoker out of a wine barrel. Remote fire box, flued into a coiled copper cooling pipe which goes into the base of the barrel. Cheap round bbq racks to hang the fish off. Top of the barrel will either have a tall flue to create enough draw or I might go 21st century & put a small fan in the lid to extract the smoke through. With a speed control, one o'them dimmer light switches prolly.
I've just wired up two old computer fans to draw air into my wood burner from the chimney rather than through the gaps round the windows. They run off an old bike battery. That's what I was thinking of doing for a smoker.
Oh, to use as a hot smoker I would just put a bit of pipe straight in so the smoke does not cool.
Very keen to cure & smoke my own hams. Mmmmmmm.

[The Reibz]

Smoking meats other than fish would be awesome. Probably why I should build one. It all seems realitive, the more buck you spend the better result your going to get. I got a mate whos dead keen on getting me into deer stalking this year, do people smoke venison?

[george formby]

Smoking meats other than fish would be awesome. Probably why I should build one. It all seems realitive, the more buck you spend the better result your going to get. I got a mate whos dead keen on getting me into deer stalking this year, do people smoke venison?

Oh yes! In Scotland we used to get hind quarters cold smoked for 2 or 3 days then hung for 3 months or so to air dry. That's it, just slice a bit off & eat. Smoked venison Carpaccio.
Only problem here is it's too warm. In Scotland the game huts are up in the hills & it's bloody freezing for months! You would need to ask your friendly local butcher if you could hang it in his walk in chiller.

[HenryDorsetCase]

NOW you bastards are making me hungry.

I do like to consume all of the above. I'm just saying.

Any of you guys ever made any jerky? I was given some venison jerky once it was great. very chewy but delish.

[Blackbird]

NOW you bastards are making me hungry.

I do like to consume all of the above. I'm just saying.

Any of you guys ever made any jerky? I was given some venison jerky once it was great. very chewy but delish.

Yeah, got a good recipe. I don't air dry it though as we have a dehydrator...... cheating I suppose but comes out really well.