Geoff Thomas: Ranfurly will really rock your socks off

Sol Vallis has hapuku like this for breakfast. Photo / Supplied

Sol Vallis is a one-man outdoor machine. When not jumping out of aeroplanes or base jumping, he is guiding clients hunting stags or boar, spearing kingfish underwater or racing up the Mokau River in his jet boat.

He could also be filming Red Bull commercials while skydiving or catching a wave in front of his home on the Taranaki coast at Cape Egmont.

He's 46 but looks like somebody knocking on 30.

So when Solly called and asked if we wanted to catch some hapuku at Ranfurly Banks, it didn't need much contemplation. He had put us on to fearsome wild bulls in the backblocks of Taranaki and surfaced with kingfish on his spear and a crayfish in his hand at Cape Maria van Diemen.

So a 'puka expedition off East Cape should be pretty straightforward. It is, when the weather is kind. Offshore fishing is all about the weather and the Ranfurly are 18 nautical miles out to sea.

It is the sort of sea that gets your attention, for ocean currents sweep down the Bay of Plenty and meet currents coming up the coast from Poverty Bay. The result must be treated with respect. Then there is the wind, which never seems to stop blowing.

Most people fish the Ranfurly in large charter vessels that steam down the coast from Whakatane with parties of eight or 10 fishers, the excursions taking three or four days. They usually overnight in Hicks Bay and head out daily to fish. But it is a long haul, taking a full day or night to reach the fishing grounds.

Solly's mate, Coastal Fishing Charters' skipper Aaron Masters, was driving a new boat that can reach the Ranfurly in an hour. It is an 8.8m Senator aluminium vessel with twin 200-horsepower outboards on the back and is just on the size limit for towing on the roads.

When conditions allow, they launch off the beach at Hicks Bay and spend the day fishing.

Conditions were good last weekend so the plans came together. The fishing crew from Auckland included two Ranfurly "virgins" in Kent Baigent and Trevor Hughes.

The Ranfurly covers a large area, stretching 32km across the seabed. It has reefs rising to 14m and canyons plunging to immense depths.

Everything here is big - kingfish, giant bass, hapuku, king tarakihi and trumpeter are the most sought-after species. Great whites are among the many sharks that frequent these waters and, in the summer, game fish such as marlin and tuna cruise the currents.

Baits are strips of fillet or whole mackerel rigged on heavy traces with large recurve hooks so they hang down like a live fish and Aaron has spots all over the banks for different species.

"We can catch seven different species but we'll start with 'puka," he said, manoeuvring the boat over the first spot.

At only 67m, it was shallow for hapuku but that is what fishing here is like and, as Trevor and Kent dropped with baits on Aaron's signal, the heavy weights pulled them quickly to the bottom.

"Hang on," said Solly as the rods immediately jerked. "Let them take the bait. Right, start winding."

It is as simple as that. The skipper puts the boat over the spot and the key is to be efficient, dropping the gear quickly and being ready. As it hits the bottom, you wind up a turn of the handle so you don't snag the rocks then, as the boat drifts along, you let out a little more line to keep the baits in the zone.

Both rods bent and, after a few minutes of heavy work on the rod, two silver shapes materialised. "Double," said Solly as he lifted the fish over the side. Kent was on the board. Trevor followed with a single, and so it went.

When enough 'puka were lying in the ice bin to provide fillets for the whole team, Aaron asked: "How about some king tarakihi?"

Many agree that tarakihi heads the culinary list, often followed closely by gurnard or blue cod or snapper. It is a pretty subjective affair, but the tarakihi here deserve the label king as they yield thick fillets.

While we motored 6km to the tarakihi spot, Solly changed the gear to lighter traces and sinkers, with small, square long-line hooks fitted with chunks of skipjack tuna.

"They are fussy dudes and will ignore most baits," he said. But they loved the skippy pieces and, after feeling one fish hook up, you only have to wait for a minute to make it a double. When you are winding up 100m of line you want to make it worthwhile.

"Ranfurly rocks," shouts Aaron as another pair of tarakihi slide over the gunwale and join the 'puka on the salt ice, the first stage of their journey to Auckland.