Old and cunning beats young and keen

Jack Rogers with the kingfish he landed just south of Motupia. Picture / Sarah Jackson-Rogers

Jack Rogers isn't shy about admitting that he wasn't the first of his party to hit the water at 90 Mile Beach in the wee small hours of Saturday morning.

Some, younger, less experienced and possibly keener, had had their hooks in the water for some time while he was still going through the rigmarole of getting his gear on, but if he was a little slow out of the blocks he still went home with the catch of the day.

Daylight was beginning to break when he hooked what he thought was a shark, but turned out to be an 11.8kg kingfish. Jack, and he was not alone in this, thought it might have been a little heavier than that.

"I thought it was around 15kg," he said, "but I don't suppose digital scales lie."

Keenly aware of his responsibilities under Covid-19 level 3 lockdown rules he had moved his entire bubble up the beach to a spot south of Motupia, where he had had considerable success over the years.

"It's my go-to spot," he said.

"If nothing's happening there I go back to Ngataki, but I generally try up towards Motupia first."

He played the fish for a good 25 minutes before getting it out of the water, having "really laid into it" when he thought it was nothing more meritorious than a shark. And it had fallen for a pilchard.

The last time he caught a kingfish off 90 Mile had been about five years ago, he added. That one was 11.9kg, "so they're getting smaller."

He also travelled back down the beach to home in Kaitaia with four snapper, "all very good fish," and a couple of broken rods.

"They both snapped at the butt while they were in my rod holder," he said.

"They were ferocious fish. They have to be to do that."

Plenty of people had been on the beach fishing, he added, and those who were successful would have been well rewarded.

"They were all in really good condition. No one could possibly complain about catching fish like we were bringing in."

The kingfish, incidentally, and a number of kahawai, ended up in son Craig's smokehouse, from where they were distributed to a number of grateful recipients, without the need for anyone to burst their bubble.