Fishing: Bluff adventure a rewarding and tasty encounter

By Geoff Thomas

Gone fishing

North Islanders could be forgiven for believing that Bluff oysters grow in little plastic pottles.

But when the dredge unloaded a huge pile of rusty looking shells onto the deck of Allan Skerrett's alloy cat somewhere in the middle of Foveaux Strait last Saturday, it was hard to visualise the shimmering grey and cream delicacies hiding inside.

The secret was soon to be unlocked. Well, unhinged, as the short, stubby oyster knives were wielded by expert hands to reveal the most exquisite of all shellfish - the Bluff oyster.

As operations manager of the Bluff Oyster Management Company, Skerrett surveys oyster stocks regularly as part of the management of the resource.

It's a slick operation. His crew set up ropes and balance the heavy dredge on the gunwale of the alloy cat, waiting for the nod from Skerrett at the helm.

The dredge has a rectangular iron mouth about 2m long and 0.5m wide, with heavy duty mesh hanging from it. It is lowered to the sea floor about 30m below and the boat drifts with the wind and waves, with the twin engines idling forward to maintain steerage. After about 10 minutes the dredge is winched back in smoothly and quickly.

"There are oysters all over the strait, but we will head for the island to find some shelter," Skerrett explained as the 10m cat plunged into the heaving sea after leaving the harbour at Bluff.

After an hour of steaming, the grey bulk of Stewart Island offered sufficient shelter from the howling wind to work the dredge.

The oyster season does not open until mid-May, but Skerrett had a special permit allowing him to take 60 dozen oysters for guests and sponsors at the annual Bluff fishing tournament on Sunday.

The pile of shells contained strange looking starfish, huge shells where red hermit crabs lurked, long cucumber-like creatures and myriads of empty shells.

But there were also about 200 fat oysters in each drop of the dredge - reddish brown with wrinkled, dull shells.

As a preview of the season to come, the experience enjoyed by visiting Auckland anglers will be savoured for a long time.

There were hundreds of local anglers lined up along the huge wharves at Bluff, dangling tiny baited hooks for herrings and spotties, or patiently waiting for pieces of herring hanging under a plastic float, or an empty beer bottle, to attract a passing salmon.

The creation of a whole, new salmon fishery in the area is a tribute to the dedication of a small group of anglers who raise funds to buy baby salmon which are released into the harbour.

"We have released 130,000 salmon in the past five years," said Russell Smith, a genial, slow-talker with the distinctive rolling burr of a true southerner.

"They cost a dollar each, so we are always trying to raise more funds."
The fledgling sport fishery is modelled on the successful salmon runs in Port Chalmers which follow similar release of smolts by Otago salmon-fishers.

"We are getting salmon up to 10kg, but next year they will be even bigger," said Smith.

Low rivers and a summer-long drought have kept the salmon out at sea and few are running into the harbour, but rain will trigger runs up local rivers like the Oreti and Waiau, and as salmon make their spawning runs, the local anglers hope a self-sustaining fishery will become established.

Meanwhile salmon are being caught from wharves, from beaches, from rocky shoreline and by trolling at sea with flashing silver lures taken down by paravanes or downriggers.

The area is also famous for its blue cod, and the plastic bags and fish boxes lined up at the weigh station on Sunday afternoon bulged with fish seldom seen in northern waters.

Dark green butterfish or greenbone, blue cod, red cod, more blue cod, barracouta, groper or hapuku, eels, sharks, dogfish, flounders, blue moki, wrasses and parrotfish - they all qualified for a ticket in the lucky draw for a boat.

When the winning ticket was produced, a smiling 13-year-old local climbed proudly into his new boat while a thousand envious anglers looked on.