Current Lines December 2018

– by Paul Batten Editor Current Lines

Wednesday 12th December 2018

CURRENT LINES – DECEMBER 2018

New beginnings; why does it always rain on me? Thunderbolts and lightening very, very frightening indeed, must be close to Christmas and the start of gamefishing season.

Recent happenings; Reminder Tag card reporting – please include the entire alpha-numeric sequence to aid recording, e.g. H12345.

Good snapper fishing has been found all around both coasts, east and west. With the magical weight of 20 pound being beaten with ease.  The story has it that a local from Mangawhai lite a smoke, walked down the beach, stopped when his smoke ended cast his line there and caught his personal best 22 pounder.  A good fishing story.

After early highs, two good yellow fin tuna, weighed over Labour weekend, and a significant increase in the numbers of slender tuna, a Yellowfin was caught on 21 October 18 by angler Hadley Greenhalgh weighing 78.10 kg, in the general area “Nine Pin Trench” for the Bay of Islands Swordfish club. This fish is both the first and heaviest for the season so far.

Check out the new gift packs from the good people at LegaSea. https://shop.legasea.co.nz/ 

The award winning Whitehaven winery have released a series of wines in support of LegaSea with the name Kōparepare. Kōparepare(pronounced – Kaw-pardy-pardy) – meaning, Gift, Present, or Contribution delivers Whitehaven’s promise that “Each bottle of Kōparepare enjoyed helps fund LegaSea and their commitment to have our inshore fisheries restored to abundance. It’s our gift to future generations”. And then there is LegaSea Larger from Moa breweries.

Check out our new websitewww.nzsportfishing.co.nz this is an ongoing project to brighten up our digital footprint.

The Kai Ika food project has won a Commendation at the 2018 NZI Sustainable Business Network Awards in the ‘Transforming Food’ category.

The initiative sees fish heads and frames from Central Auckland’s Outboard Boating Club (OBC) recreational fishermen being contributed to the Papatuanuku Kokiri Marae Healthy Food Programme in Mangere. The Kai Ika project is a partnership between the OBC, LegaSea and Papatuanuku Kokiri Marae in Mangere.

Since its introduction in 2016, the club’s specially constructed fish filleting facility has provided 21,000kg of fish heads (regarded as Rangatira Kai ‘chiefly food’ by Maori) along with fish frames and offal to the marae for its healthy food programme. Having been run so successfully as a pilot at the OBC, the Kai Ika Project continues to grow and LegaSea, which represents the NZ Sports Fishing Council, plans to expand the Kai Ika project in Auckland through the support of Westhaven Marina and in Wellington through the Mana Cruising Club and local Iwi.

NEWS FROM HOUHORA

Love it or hate it – the gate is up and it is already proving an asset for those Boaties launching and retrieving at the club jetty.

For those heading up this way for the holidays, you will need GOLD coins. Notes not accepted.  Cost $5 per launch & $5 per retrieval, No eftpos available! Or you can join the club as a senior member for $70 and tag bond of $20.

The barrier arm has been installed so the club can maintain the boat ramp, jetty and erosion protection area for all users. Fully paid senior members of the Club who need to access the boat ramp or jetty have an option of entry through the barrier arm using a car windscreen tag label. The “tag” will activate the barrier arm to open automatically when in proximity of the barrier arm scanner. Tags have been designed for members who launch trailer boats or require the use of the jetty to load or unload other marine craft, launches, yachts.

Conditions for Tag Users: · Only one tag per fully paid senior membership per boat.  
· To pick up tag please contact the club, 09 4097 7755 or email: fish.houhora@xtra.co.nz


Casual users: Will need to insert $5 of coins to open the barrier arm, no change is given. (Gold coins only) There is no charge to exit the ramp and wharf area, the arm will open automatically when leaving these areas. BE AWARE SECURITY CAMERAS ARE IN OPERATION AT ALL TIMES.

A southern bluefin tuna released by Ryan Blakers off South Australia was recaptured by a longliner off Jervis Bay two years and five months later. It had travelled a straight-line distance of 854 nautical miles.
Read the full details in Issue 135 of BlueWater magazine.

AMAZING GROWTH RATE FOR PACIFIC BLUEFIN TUNA

Pacific bluefin tuna have a phenomenal rate of growth, with juveniles doubling their body weight every three to four days! Over a lifetime of perhaps 20 years, they can reach weights of up to 500kg. Read the full article by Dr Ben Diggles in issue 134 of BlueWater magazine.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS

The Fisheries division of the Ministry for Primary Industries has changed its name and moved to a new address at the MPI campus on Maurice Wilson Avenue, near Auckland Airport. Please note the new postal address for all tag cards and recapture information: Gamefish Tagging, Fisheries New Zealand, PO Box 53030 Auckland 2150

Mail to the old Auckland postal address will be redirected, but only for a limited time.

Please remember with these sudden fickle weather forecasts we are living through we would rather you be safe than becoming a statistic, no fish is worth that much, let’s be careful out there! Have a great summer.