Twenty-five minutes later when the coastguard arrived, the three youths were still rowing - but now they were a further kilometre-and-a-half out.
That day was a good one for Mr Lee - and a lucky one for those lads - but then every day at sea is a good one for him. "It's my passion. At home I have a T-shirt that reads, 'I'm a social drinker, I have a fishing problem'."
On a typical charter trip into the waters off the Wanganui coastline he might catch eight snapper and 10 gurnard. On his best day, he caught 21 dogfish.
His boat is a six-metre Fryan alloy with a Honda four-stroke outboard motor and he has a long line cast off a six-foot, 8-12kg rod bearing 25 hooks.
His secret speciality bait are pilchards and "Blue Pacific salmon" - kahawai to us.
The variety of species in the waters off Wanganui is surprisingly varied - bounteous even, if you listen to Mr Lee who has been fishing them since the age of 6 and knows the area like the back of his hand.
Gurnard, snapper, john dory, dogfish, blue cod, spiny dogs (a shark species) tarakihi, pearlfish and the occasional tuna are just some of the fish he might pick up on a line - four can be cast from his boat at one time.
"I love the way the blue fin sharks congregate and circle the boat in some spots."
He has learned to seek out schools of young snapper, and mooching snapper - which are older and slower.
While it sounds like an oceanic garden of Eden, Mr Lee isn't just working on luck. His knowledge of local waters and understanding of the seafaring conditions is uncanny.
Tides, currents, water temperature and weather all have an effect on where the fish can be found and in what numbers, he says. Even winds directly affect the day's catch.
Local lore implies a west wind is the best wind - "a wind from south, and they close their mouth".
Many reckon an incoming tide is definitely better, followed by a good bit of current.
On the water is pretty much how he spends his time most months of the year - unsurprising, given a typical day boat fishing is probably a good 10- or 11-hour stretch if you include the boat prep - making sure the rods, lifejackets, flares, VHF radio, E-Purb distress radio signal transmitter, bait, lunches and fresh water are on board.
Follow that with the dress down once the boat is moored, and that's another day at sea chalked up on the captain's board.