A prime snapper of 9kg or more would be among the most prized catches in sportfishing in New Zealand, and one of the best places to find such fish is around the Mercury Islands in the Bay of Plenty.
For the travelling angler, a visit to new fishing grounds is always a lottery, unless you can find a local expert willing to show you around.
When the opportunity arose this week to visit "the Mercs," as snapper hunters fondly call this group of islands 8km off the Coromandel coast, the rods and tackle were packed in anticipation several days before the 14m charter boat Boss Hogg left the dock at Westhaven.
Owner Butch Glover, a successful businessman, entered the competitive fishing charter business three years ago with a view to retiring and spending more time on the water.
He has actually spent a lot of time on the water, starting as a youngster fishing the creeks and wharves around Whitianga, and managing to boat "more than 500 snapper of over 20lb (9kg)" in the past 50 years.
Big snapper are a passion for Glover, who is still looking to break the magic 30lb barrier (about 14kg).
"The biggest I have caught went 29.5lb, but I have seen bigger. I had an Australian visitor out a couple of years ago and he hooked a real monster. It had a mouth like a bucket. I don't know what it weighed, but it could have been 35lb or more.
"He had been giving us a hard time about the rugby and everything else, so when he got it up to the boat and said he was going to take this snapper back home and have it mounted, I said, 'No you're not,' and reached over with a knife and cut the line," said Glover.
Skipper Craig Byrne runs the boat for Glover during the charter season, which kicks off after Christmas, but they are looking to do more snapper trips during the off-season from June until the end of the year.
"We can take people out to the Barrier or to the Mercs for a weekend, get a bunch of crayfish and catch snapper. They have a great time," said Glover, as the anchor chain rattled over the bow on one of his secret spots between two of the islands.
He expertly threaded a whole baby squid onto his two-hook rig and dropped it over.
"I like a long trace here. It's 37 metres deep and there is a good current flowing through. It allows the bait to move around - snapper love a bait that is moving."
The 20kg mono trace was about 6m long, and with a 160g ball sinker above the swivel joining the trace to the 10kg main line, the rig was complete.
"The best fishing is in the late afternoon and evening," said Glover, but he was not happy with the angle at which the boat was lying in the current, as our lines were pulling away to one side of the stern. All line fishing is more effective when the wind and current are running in the same direction, so that four people can fish comfortably across the back of the cockpit without lines becoming tangled.
The first fish aboard was a fat tarakihi.
"First time I have caught a tarakihi in this spot," declared Glover. "We can usually expect to catch three or four small hapuku, and then the snapper start."
The tarakihi was followed by a ray and a barracouta, both unusual catches for the area and not a good sign for the snapper we were targeting. Then some pan-sized snapper started coming up, and although well over the minimum legal size, they were carefully returned to the water with the instruction, "Send your father next time, please."
After some more tarakihi and a few "keepers" - eating-size snapper of about 2kg - came aboard it was time for the divers to do their stuff. Byrne and his mate found a likely looking section of rocky seabed dropping away to 20m, and soon they were climbing onto the duckboard with a catchbag stuffed with their six-crayfish limit.
"They usually seem to come up with something," said Glover with a twinkle in his eye.
The collecting of seafood seems to be a well-rehearsed, effortless business on Boss Hogg, and it carries through to the catching of marlin off North Cape and the Three Kings Islands during summer and autumn.
With dinner taken care of, the only remaining item on the agenda for the two-day trip was a respectable snapper, and the next day conditions had changed, allowing a better combination of wind and tide to present the baits on the bottom in the same spot.
Again, several fish were released and a few kept for the table when Glover's rod was pulled over in a serious curve and he smiled.
"This is a good one," he said. "It's taking line."
"How big do you reckon?"
"It's not a 20-pounder, about 10 to 12 pounds."
When the huge orange and silver flanks gleamed in the water and the big head slid into the landing net, it certainly looked impressive.
And when Byrne slipped the scales hook under the jaw and asked, "What do you reckon it is?" Glover amended his initial estimate: "Fourteen."
"Fourteen and a half," was the official result.
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