Helen Horrocks caught this record-breaking 279.3kg broadbill swordfish on January 31 off the coast of Hokianga.
A Northland angler has landed a 279kg broadbill swordfish and a pending New Zealand woman’s record after a gruelling seven-hour battle.
Helen Horrocks, 43, of Paihia, and partner Karl Daniel made history on Saturday while competing in the Cater Marine Opua small boats tournament.
After failing to hook a marlin off the Hokianga coast, the couple switched their focus to swordfish – and hooked one immediately.
At first, Horrocks thought the fish was small.
“I called it for a pup because I was like, ’It hasn’t taken any line’, and I just about got all the line back on the spool and it was just about at the surface.”
Horrocks thought they would end up tagging and releasing the swordfish quickly.
“I jinxed it.”
Horrocks spent seven exhausting hours clasped to her rod trying to land the record catch.
“Imagine doing a wall squat holding one of those 20kg weight bags ... on your lap for six or seven hours, with a moving floor and somebody trying to yank you forward all the time.”
Unlike most swordfish, this one never jumped, leaving the couple unsure of its size – until after about five hours when they finally got it near the boat.
“ ... It was about four metres long and we went, ‘Oh, sh**. This is going to be a tough one’.”
As daylight faded, Horrocks worried about the fish on the trace being handled by Daniel.
“They will do all sorts of crazy things around the boat when you get them on the trace,” she said.
Fortunately, the swordfish was “reasonably docile” as Daniel traced it and Horrocks gaffed it.
The couple secured the swordfish alongside the boat, where it tried one last hurrah by throwing its bill back and giving a “huge slash” - a powerful, quick swipe - that slammed Horrocks’ hand into the boat.
“I honestly didn’t think I’d get through it,” Horrocks said.
“Swordfish are just - they are the pinnacle of game fishing, and I feel personally that they’re the pinnacle of fishing because they just are grunt machines, you know ... when you think you’ve got them beaten and you’re thinking, ‘Okay, this pain is finally going to be over’, that’s when they just take off again and they strip all of that hard-won line off your spool, and they just leave you totally demoralised, depressed, in despair.”
The swordfish eventually lost the battle, leaving the couple to figure out how to get their mighty catch on board.
An exhausted Horrocks manned the pulley system while Daniel lifted with “all his might” to slowly inch the swordfish up and over the back of the boat.
“It took us probably close to another hour to get it actually in the boat,” Horrocks said.
The swordfish weighed the boat down, leaving them to crawl for three hours back to the Hokianga bar at around 11km/h.
Unable to safely cross the bar in the dark, they anchored overnight before weighing in at 6.30am the next day.
The swordfish tipped the scales at 279.3kg, surpassing the standing women’s 37kg line class record of 263.8kg, caught by L. Stone in 1997. The world record for that line class is 350.17kg.
Horrocks, who fishes for the Ahipara Game Fish Club, was “stoked” to break the record with her first winning fish ever.
When contacted, she was busy submitting her application to make the pending record official – and recovering.
With the adrenaline gone, every body movement hurts. Even opening the fridge.
“I’ve actually got really bad bruises and blisters,” Horrocks said.
Her love of fishing began in Scotland as a child. She discovered game fishing about 15 years ago after moving to New Zealand.
“I just was instantly hooked on it.”
Horrocks loved the endless learning opportunities the sport provided, and had teamed up with some “legendary” skippers over the years to soak in every bit of knowledge she could.
“There’s always something new to strive for ... it’s a life-long passion.”
That passion propelled her to buy her boat and start her business, She’s Got Game, which provides coaching for women wanting to become or improve as skippers.
Horrocks acknowledged the criticism sometimes aimed at game fishing. She and Daniel tag and release “90% or more” of their catch.
“And when we do take a fish, it is a fish worth taking,” she said.
Horrocks explained the swordfish in this case was meaningful as it was caught during a tournament and a New Zealand record.
She said it was processed immediately and nothing was wasted.