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Fishing for sea monsters! (NZ)


Houseplant
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As we move in to spring, the weather is improving allowing us to go offshore for some more adventurous fishing. The style of fishing we employed is called “deep drop”. It’s essentially fishing big baits down deep, anywhere from 200 to 600 metres. Electric reels are used. It may seem unsporting, but after you winch a big fish up from 300 metres, their utility becomes obvious!

Early start and we motored off towards the sun.

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After a couple of hours motoring, we got to our spot, 60 km offshore and over 200 metres deep. No land in sight in any direction. There's a shark fin in the middle of the second picture! 

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Electric reel doing the hard work.

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Bites were forthcoming straight away. The most exciting part of deep drop fishing is watching your catch come to the surface. First fish was a type of wreckfish called bass locally. This one was small, but they are highly favoured for their eating qualities. Catch and release is not an option at these depths due barotrauma.

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Sharks are nearly always a problem and can be quite difficult to handle. Luckily, they release nicely as they don't have a swim bladder and are therefore unaffected by depth changes. We didn't hook any monsters, just many tope to around 20lb.

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Many other species followed including cusk eels which are erroneously called ling locally. Ugly, but good eating; another type of wreckfish called hapuka; gemfish, an aggressive deepwater predator with huge teeth and kingfish which were unexpected surprise. Kingfish are similar to tuna from a culinary point of view and great for sashimi. 

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The fishing was so good, we hedged our bets and stayed out longer than we should have done. This meant a bumpy ride back, but it was worth it!

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Safely back in the harbour with well over 100 pounds of high quality eating fish on ice.

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Edited by Houseplant
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Great pictures and description!
As a point of interest for you, when deep drop fishing, a form of catch and release can be practiced using a deep water release device. It sounds like all you caught was tasty, but they’re incredibly inexpensive and survival rates are good for fish returned to the depths. Something to consider perhaps!

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19 hours ago, Chezney said:

Great pictures and description!
As a point of interest for you, when deep drop fishing, a form of catch and release can be practiced using a deep water release device. It sounds like all you caught was tasty, but they’re incredibly inexpensive and survival rates are good for fish returned to the depths. Something to consider perhaps!

It's an interesting topic. Some fish release better than others and I know that deepwater release devices are used a lot in Australia. The wreckfish we caught had ruptured bowels, stomachs and swim bladders, and eyes popping out their heads. The are literally dead by the time they hit the surface. In this instance, sending them back down would just be feeding the sharks.

I do see a role for deepwater release devices in our inshore fishery, particularly with snapper (Pagrus auratus) as some people are determined to practice catch and release despite the species being very susceptible to barotrauma. Personally, I have settled on catching what I need and then stopping fishing. I don't get a lot of enjoyment from sticking hooks in fish these days just to release them. It doesn't sit right with me, but definitely not judging anyone else. I was a catch and release coarse fisherman for 30+ years! 

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It’s a good topic to discuss, clearly you’re very aware of it, perhaps then more of interest to those thinking of doing it. Ruptured anything clearly is game over, interestingly eyes popping out in fish is actually reversible. I’m very much the same thinking as you, I eat what I catch and stop when I’ve got enough. I’ve learned the technique from areas in the world where it’s mandatory (Alaska with Yelloweye for example), farcical when the fish is dead, but nonetheless mandatory!! 
Looks great, and I very much look forward to getting over to NZ

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 16/10/2021 at 08:34, marsh man said:

A superb thread and photos to match , a lot of members would like to go  to N Z to sample the country and it's fishing , so would Houseplant like to come to the UK for our salt and fresh water fishing ?

I have sampled UK fishing 😉

Coarse fishing was a time and place for me. I don't think I could go back to it now for various reasons. Sea fishing, yeah/nah. I wasn't very successful to be honest. Knowing what I know now about lure fishing, I dare say those bass would be in trouble!  

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On 15/10/2021 at 20:34, marsh man said:

A superb thread and photos to match , a lot of members would like to go  to N Z to sample the country and it's fishing , so would Houseplant like to come to the UK for our salt and fresh water fishing ?

I seem to remember Houseplant being lucky enough to quit this sceptered isle?

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1 hour ago, Houseplant said:

I wasn't unhappy in the UK, enjoyed my trout and kayak fishing and living in Devon. Just went on an adventure and didn't come back. NZ certainly suits those with an interest in outdoor activities. 

I wanted to become lost forever in Skippers Canyon, Fiordland or Otago.                            Stuck for choice?

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