Big bronzes hooked by teens at Kauri Point Wharf

130 kg of bronze whaler – What would you do with it if you DID land it off the wharf?

Teenagers got their thrills last weekend after hooking into some bronze whalers while out fishing off Kauri Point Wharf. As the Bay Fisher team arrived the story was all about the ‘one that got away’ but we soon sighted this beast and their tale was not just another fisho’s wishful thinking. These babies were BIG!

Over the weekend some enterprising young fisherman headed out on the Kauri Point wharf in Tauranga Harbour chasing some bronzies. The Bay Fisher crew was returning from the Pohutakawa Festival and decided to stop at some of our favourite land-based haunts on the journey back to Tauranga. First stop was ‘Lead Point’ at the Bowentown entrance where we caught up with Kati Kati locals Robert and Stuart Cullen. Robert had caught a nice John Dory on a livie intended for a Kingie. After having a yarn with them Clare and I headed for Kauri Point wharf to check out how much sea lettuce was about, as I am planning a dawn raid trip mid-week. Quite a crowd was on the Kauri Point wharf when we arrived and the throng on the wharf said “Hey guys - you should have been here with that camera five minutes ago!” A large Bronze whaler shark had just won a spectacular battle with a couple of enterprising teenagers. A large stingray had been caught earlier and was being used as bait and burley. Clare and I were informed that the same young fisherman was hooked up on Saturday to another bronzy estimated to be around the 130kg mark. The fish had been hooked up for 25 minutes and had taken 200metres of line. It was lost when a boat drove between the wharf and the shark and the line was cut by the propeller. We hung around with camera in hand; two bronzeys did turn up but had obviously been spooked a bit by the previous encounter earlier and showed little interest in the offerings 2nd time around. We continued to hang around a little longer hoping for a shot to post with this news item. When the kingfish turned up it was our cue to leave signalling the sharks had moved on. Better luck next time guys!