Kiss my bass

Just part of a great trip, the full story will appear in a future issue.

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Fishing

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When Kim Pickard decided to head out for a ‘puka-fishing session northeast of the Mokes in mid October, he got more than he bargained for.

Accompanied by fellow anglers Paul Senior, Mark Kitteridge and Greg Upham, he left from Westhaven marina aboard his famously fast Femme Fatale, a 40’ rigid-hull inflatable Rayglass powered by three 300hp Mercury Verados.

It took two hours travelling at 40-plus knots to reach ‘Spot P’ (for ‘puka), a small area of foul that’s produced well in the past.

Things looked promising when a small bass was hooked first drift, but the next half dozen only produced gemfish and spiny dogfish, so they decided to give it one last go.

Lucky they did, because no sooner did Kim’s rig reach the bottom than it registered a solid hit, the powerful rod buckling well over and line coming off in unstoppable bursts. The unseen opponent was obviously so big that it instantly got everyone’s attention, and all were relieved to see the first devastating run survived. Kim then settled into the slow but steady process of lifting the beast up from 200 metres down.

Finally, the line began to very rapidly rise, and the hopes on board did likewise, as this indicated an embolising bass rather than a big shark (the latter tends to stay down and keep struggling all the way). In fact, so severe was the embolising process that all were amazed and exhilarated to see a massive fish burst well out of the water 40 metres away, propelled by its own over-inflated swim bladder – and that it was accompanied by a second smaller hapuku!

It was then a matter of slowly winding the hefty bulk across the surface, and once brought boatside, it was gaffed aboard by the deliriously happy crew.

A quick detour on the way home saw a set of 100kg scales picked up from Brett Rathe aboard the charter boat Assassin, and an unofficial weigh-in take place soon after. Glassy calm conditions meant a pretty good reading of the weight was achieved, but as the huge fish’s tail could not be lifted clear of the floor, they had to settle for 75kg.

When filleted later on, the fillets weighed over 15kg each, so big flying pans will be required.

- © Fairfax NZ News