Fatal fishing trip on 'the most beautiful day'

Two fishermen have died off the Kaikoura coast.

The wife of a man who died while checking his crayfish pots on Tuesday says her husband loved nothing more than his garden and fishing.

The body of Auguste Robin Reinke, 79, was recovered in Whaler's Bay shortly before 11am yesterday, not far from where his companion Ronald Clarence Monk, 75, was found on Tuesday morning.

The pair set off in an almost 5-metre boat about 7am on Tuesday to check crayfish pots. At about 8.15am another boat found their semi-submerged vessel in Whaler's Bay, near Kaikoura, police said.

Mr Reinke's wife Val Reinke said her husband was a "gentleman and working man of the community".

After working as a builder for many years, Mr Reinke took a change of direction and set up a commercial fishing business with another Kaikoura man, she said.

"He was just a jovial sort of person. He got on with everybody."

Mrs Reinke said she never worried about her husband fishing. "If he couldn't get anybody to go with him, I would go."

"He's got about an acre and a half of garden out here which he was attending, and fishing was the first job in the morning at 6am or 6.30am. He'd be in for breakfast at about 8am, then spend the rest of the day in the garden, usually."

He would usually bring home four to six crayfish from each trip, which would be shared amongst the family, she said.

Tuesday's fateful trip out to check the pots was on "the most beautiful day", Mrs Reinke said.

"The sea was flat, the sun shone all day and there was no wind." No one had any idea what went wrong, she said.

Mr Reinke is survived by their two daughters and a son, she said.

"He was a very sociable person and loved nothing better than anybody to come out here. He'd say 'come and have a beer' and I made home brew - they always enjoyed it.

"He just loved his garden and going fishing."

He always said he was against a funeral so the plan was to have him cremated following his autopsy and then scatter his ashes at sea, Mrs Reinke said.

"I was very proud of my husband."

Mr Reinke's boat was towed to shore on Tuesday afternoon and would be examined by police investigators and Maritime New Zealand.

The matter has been referred to the Coroner.