Saltwater Technique

Thank goodness for kahawai

A graphic illustration of the kahawai’s great power and acrobatic abilities.

Carry a range of lures in different sizes and colours so you can ‘match the hatch’.

Using smaller soft-plastic lures with lighter heads is deadly when kahawai are feeding on small baitfish.

The kahawai deserves its reputation as a great sportfish.

The little black-headed tern is also known as the ‘kahawai bird’.

Cecil Alexander with a prime kahawai, a great fighter on light tackle.

When under pressure from hungry kahawai, schools of bait will cluster around drifting boat hulls for some protection.

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For a long time I wished for more variety in the inshore sportfish species available in New Zealand waters.

But the only way this was ever going to happen was if a school of striped bass or mulloway somehow got totally lost and ended up residing in New Zealand. That’s because there was no way that Ministry of Fisheries,

Department of Conservation, or any other regulatory agency would let these species be introduced by man – and rightly so.

For me the best solution to this dilemma has been to travel overseas and experience fishing for other species in their natural habitat. And doing so taught me one thing: we don’t know how lucky we are to have a fantastic fish like the kahawai in our waters.

Kahawai would have to rate as one of the ultimate species to target as an inshore sportfish – and here’s why: kahawai have a vast geographic spread in New Zealand, being present in most places. You can find kahawai in just about every environment, from harbours and estuaries to river mouths and surf beaches, and they respond to just about every fishing technique. To top this off, they normally bite freely, actively surface-feed in big schools, and fight really hard with jumps and great bursts of speed when hooked.

Most kahawai action occurs as a result of bycatch or a chance encounter with a working school. But for those anglers who take the time targeting kahawai on the right tackle, they offer exceptional sport and fun. The Maori word ‘kahawai’ roughly translated means ‘strong in the water’ and is very fitting.

To target kahawai, anglers need to develop a set of skills that differ from other fishing techniques. The most important of these is the ability to find the fish. One of the key indicators of feeding kahawai is the bird activity. The best bird to watch is the little black-headed tern often referred to as the ‘kahawai bird’. Follow the terns and they will normally show you where the fish are going to surface. This means very active fishing, because you must constantly move as the birds, fish and conditions change.

Consequently it pays to watch how the birds are flying, as this indicates what the fish are doing. For example, if a large group of terns is hovering in one spot, it’s likely that the kahawai are balling up baitfish and driving them to the surface. Obviously, once the birds start diving it means the kahawai are feeding near the surface.

If the birds suddenly move off in another direction, chances are that the school has dispersed and may reappear somewhere else.

Other birds will be present when kahawai are feeding, but staying with the terns is always the best bet.

Preferred sportfishing tackle for kahawai fishing is a medium to light spin set suitable for around 4kg line.

Soft-plastic tackle is ideal. The two-metre-plus rod should be capable of casting small lures from 7-40 grams, and be matched with a reel holding about 300m of 4kg braid or mono. For trolling and jigging, a 6kg overhead outfit fits the bill nicely. And of course a trout-size fly rod opens up a whole new world of sport when used on kahawai.

One of the best tactics for targeting kahawai, once a school has been located, is to get upwind of the fish, or on the side of the work-up, and cast small metal lures into the school, retrieving the lure quickly just below the surface. It is important not to drive right into the school, as this can cause them to sound and stop feeding.

If your casts do not draw a strike, try one of two things: let your lure sink a few metres more and try a more erratic retrieve lower in the water column, or change the size/colour of your lure. When the birds disperse it is often worth letting your lure flutter down to the bottom and either jigging it with a yo-yo action, or else retrieving it to the surface at high speed, because the kahawai may still be feeding deeper down.

Soft-plastic lures can also work very well on kahawai. However, as your bottom feeders strategies will be much less effective on this species, it pays to experiment with lure size and speed of retrieval. Try your smaller soft-plastic tails first, ideally in clear-silver, lumo, blue or brown, and around 3-8cm in length, as these should represent the whitebait or anchovies they’re feeding on pretty effectively. Place these on smaller and lighter jig heads – say 7 to 12 grams (¼ to ½-ounce) in weight – with 2/0-3/0 size hooks. In addition to accurately imitating the common baitfish, such a rig will also hang in the water like a wounded baitfish, whereas the heavier heads will plummet straight to the bottom. Getting a soft-plastic lure to hang in mid-water is deadly, and will get strikes without even moving the rod tip.

No go? Try a completely different tack using heavier heads, casting them out, and preferably past the feeding fish, and then cranking them quickly back just a foot or two below the surface, with just the very occasional jerk and twitch imparted with the rod.

Another reason for naming kahawai as the ultimate inshore sportfish is the fact they’re as easy for shore-based anglers to target as they are for boaties. In fact, in many situations the shore-based angler has the advantage, as kahawai often hang about in the wash zones around rocks, just behind breakers on surf beaches, and at river mouths. Again, spinning is a very productive way to catch kahawai from the shore when they’re actively feeding, and the techniques for this are much the same as those described for fishing from the boat. The only difference is perhaps the use of a slightly longer rod for improved casting distance.

When they’re not actively feeding, you can catch kahawai from the rocks or a structure – such as wharves or bridges – by attracting them to you with berley. This involves deploying a steady berley trail of pilchard pieces or suspending a couple of skipjack frames in an onion sack at the water line. Using this technique, even in unlikely spots, can have kahawai buzzing around in front of you, and in good spots it can attract an entire school of kahawai, which may bite freely for hours.

Proven tactics for targeting kahawai in a berley trail, when there’s plenty of fish present, is to pin a pilchard tail on an unweighted 4/0 hook, cast it out and fish it well off the bottom. Strike quickly when a fish takes your bait to avoid deep hooking or the bait being rejected.

When the fishing is a little slower, try fishing a bait set about a metre below a small polystyrene or plastic-bubble float.

Kahawai are without doubt one of the hero fish in New Zealand waters. They can grow in excess of 8kg – these supersized models are known as Kermadec kahawai and are actually a subspecies – although any standard kahawai over 2.7kg (6lb) is considered a prime specimen.

Kahawai also have many uses once caught. Whole they are excellent as baits for kingfish and marlin, while large fillets make superb big snapper baits. Smaller cut baits are well suited as sturdy baits for longlines and kites.

For a long time bleeding kahawai destined for the table has been a common practice. The reasoning is that this reduces the amount of red meat in the fish. However, this theory is questionable and often very messy.

The red meat is actually red muscle, which gives kahawai its strength and durability, and has little to do with the blood supply. By all means though, if you feel it’s worthwhile to bleed them, do so. The best results, as with all fish, will be if your catch is dispatched quickly and humanely without the fish bashing itself to a pulp in a fish bin. It should then be rapidly chilled in a saltwater ice and seawater slurry prior to preparation and cooking.

In days gone by kahawai were not highly rated as a table fish. This could have been due to the treatment they were routinely subjected to when caught or the limited culinary methods used, but these days they are recognised as a prime candidate for sashimi – and my kids never turn their noses up at a kahawai fresh out of the smoker. 

- © Fairfax NZ News