Story by Dianne Reihana
For as long as I can remember, even as a kid, I have had a fascination with the sea. My favourite programme while growing up was that doco Our World. It had that fella with the trademark voice - David Attenborough. I was mainly intrigued with it because I was so curious about the world around me, and I liked the fact that on the telly I could watch fish underwater without having to physically get wet! Even though I didn’t have much opportunity to experience fishing growing up, I knew that one day I would probably get a chance to throw a few baits around - from a wharf, a beach, or maybe from a boat. It wasn’t until I met my partner (now of 15 years) Matt that I would get to do some real fishing.
We started with a 12-foot wooden dinghy, rowing out into Pilot Bay and tying on to the Number 5 marker; we would catch some snapper – and occasionally a few blue sharks and barracouta that were quickly released again. That was basically where my love of fishing all began The weather was mint, the water like oil, and after a quick look-over in the engine bay the boat was ready. Yee-haa! The boat, myself and the crew were all ready for the Nauti Gals 2010 tournament in Whangamata. We steamed out of the harbour aboard our alloy cat the Bonnie Celeste 2, with my hubby as the trusty skipper. Mayor Island was in our sights, and we were itching to reach our destination – and our secret “Spot X”. These are the times I start to rub my hands together and wonder what the day will bring. Arriving at our spot we were all pretty keen; and kingfish were the target. We had a nice tank of livies that we had caught while the rest of the crew warmed themselves over a couple of rums after the briefing the night before. The skipper wasn’t going to let us off lightly though: he wanted to make us earn our catch and jig for our fish, saving the livies as a last resort if our jigging didn’t cut the mustard. I hadn’t caught many kingfish previously - and it just so happened I was 7½ months pregnant! With a wink from Matt, a lucky jig and a good luck rub of my puku we three girls dropped our lines down to the depths below. Now - jigging ain’t easy – we learnt that right away! However the girls and I were all giving it our damnedest and to my surprise we were all hooked up on our first drift, and struggling to get our fish to the boat. My first was around 13kg, and I was over the moon! Little did I know I that was just the start. So down goes my line again. Once I hit the bottom I got into the rhythm and started to jig. It was a fair way down when jig, jig, jig, jig, jig - BANG! I swear it felt like I had Moby Dick on the end of my line; man, it was weighty! “Gimbal!” I yelled in panic. In an instant I was harnessed up and ready for the war to begin; I was gonna give it all to this fella. I didn’t gain any ground for a while; the reel just kept peeling out. I must admit I had concerns about running out of nylon at this stage. It was hard to believe I would eventually land this and enjoy smoked fish pies for the next few months! I couldn’t help but snap at my partner for being concerned about how baby was, and how I was ... he felt the need to assist me, but I tersely made it clear I was landing this fish myself! I would say that the pregnancy hormones were playing their full part. After about 20 minutes I saw colour, and when you see colour that far down, you know you’ve got a keeper. I kept winding the kingie in – finally it was at the top. “Yusssssssssss! Whoo-hoo!” I screamed in excitement. “Boy, was that a fight and a half! I never knew my arms had muscles until I met that fish in all its glory!” I gasped. We weighed it back in at the wharf and it came in just short of 17kg. My kingie won me the prize for the biggest kingfish that year. I was very stoked. So another year comes round, and time for Nauti Gals 2011. Same scenario, same beautiful weather- you get the gist. The same Mayor Island, another Spot X, and this time without a belly in tow. Four girls made our team this year: same skipper, same deckie, and same lucky boat. We were all feeling a little sluggish on the morning; I think we all got a tad thirsty at the briefing the night before, but hey! that goes with the programme. There’s one thing I have learnt about these soldiers of the sea. They certainly give you a run for your money; I tend to compare them with kahawai, but just slightly overgrown. They dash and dart just the same way and believe me you’ll know all about it when you catch one. So here we are again - jigging away and a couple of us had caught a few nice kings to start when St-rrrikkke! I clicked my drag on so the hook was firmly lodged - and the fight began. This fish didn’t take as long to pull in as my last year’s battler, and I must’ve had it at least halfway to the boat when right in front of me - “SNAP”! My rod broke clean in half. Disbelieving, gutted and upset I was just about to give up and cut my line because I thought: how the heck do I wind up a king this heavy on a rod that has just snapped clean in half (it was a short stock rod too!) and had only 3 eyelets still remaining on it! Then my girlfriend Katrina yelled: “You can still do it! You can push out a baby - this is nothing!” and with that huge new-found uplift of encouragement my frown turned to a smile and I went for gold! By the time I could see the silver and yellow breaking through the depths, I could see it was a decent size. I don’t think I’ve ever jumped so high in my life before. What a bloody buzz that was! Everyone was yahooing as loud and as proud as they could. The neighbouring contenders must have thought we’d caught the big one. As I wound my last few rotations of line in, it broke the surface. It was buggered; that made two of us. It still amazes me it didn’t get off when I had all my troubles with the rod. It was a respectable 16.5kg kingie. Yeeehar! Maybe this would give me a chance of winning 3rd prize this year and of course I would’ve been happy-as with that! But my kingie won first prize for the comp - for the 2nd year in a row! And not only that: I won the 2nd kingfish prize - so I was more than a little overwhelmed and under-prepared for the wagon of gear I’d just won! Katrina (from our Nauti Gal team) won for the 3rd biggest snapper – 6.4kg - whilst drifting a livebait for kingfish in a hundred metres of water. Our team - “getting jiggy with it” were elated of course, which just made our night all the more merrier. I take my hat off to the sponsors, organisers, volunteers and the Whangamata Ocean Sports Club who make this event possible for all the keen ladies who take part. Ladies travel from around the country and even some from abroad too, and it’s awesome to see the event attracting larger numbers each year. I now know that fishing is embedded in me, and always will be. There’s just something about being that little dot on the ocean, feeling the salty air blowing through your hair. It’s that “box of chocolates” feeling - you just never know what you’re going to get - that really excites me about fishing. Our daughter is now a year old and has already been out on the boat with us. I can’t wait to show her what our vast waters have to offer and to teach her to help preserve our fisheries so that not only her children – but their children too - can enjoy catching a feed, for generations to come.
