2020 in review: Catching up with Whangārei whale catcher

Steven King with the 16-20kg short bill spear fish he hooked while out game fishing over the weekend.

Last year was one to remember - or should that be to forget - with a number of challenges facing Northland and New Zealand.

As part of our look back on 2020 the Northern Advocate is catching up with some of those who made the news last year.

Catching an 8-10m whale aboard his 5.4m tinny was one of the year's highlights for Whangārei man Steven King. Not so much the media-hype that followed, which he found "absolutely terrifying".

In September, the father of two was having a quiet evening fish alone in the Bay of Islands. Within five minutes , he had a "Whale of a tale", as he described it on the video he captured.

"I had anchored up and had a couple of fishing lines out and was just cruising catching a few decent-sized snapper when I heard something off in the distance," he said.

"I thought s***, that sounds like a whale breathing out and I turned around and it surfaced and I thought, if it comes over here, I'll have my phone ready. The video pretty much speaks for itself really."

The footage King shared on his Facebook page shows a whale in the near distance swimming closer to King's boat anchored at a spot around Cape Brett. What followed was some frantic splashes along with "epic" video footage, punctuated with a volley of expletives from a hyped-up King as he commentated the scene unfolding.

"It's bloody coming right at me – oh no, that's right where my lines are!" shouts King.

"What?! Oh no, I've caught a whale, I have actually caught a f****** whale! … What do I do now?"

After some deliberation with himself, interspersed with excited expletives, King decided to break the line. However, the whale managed to untangle itself.

Whangārei man Steven King accidentally hooked a whale while out fishing at Cape Brett in September. Photo / supplied from video

"It was just cruising along and it turned. I think it was just being inquisitive. It swam through the line and I think the line wrapped over it. But it managed to untangle itself and it swam off. I ended up getting the hook and everything back so I was pretty happy," he said.

King wasn't able to identify the type of whale and estimated it to be 8-10m long.

"Well, it was way bigger than my boat and wider than my boat too."

And even more impressive was that he "caught" the whale, weighing several tonnes, on an 8kg line.

While he reckoned the ordeal might have given the whale a 'bit of a rev-up' because it performed a couple of leaps, King was left running on adrenaline for some time after the incident. "It took a while for the nerves to calm down."

It took a while for the aftermath to calm down too following an article – in both print and online, which included the video – in The Northern Advocate, then an interview on The Rock radio station and a television interview with Seven Sharp.

"That was actually terrifying," laughed King, of his TV debut filmed at the Parua Bay boat ramp.

His video clocked up thousands of views, gathering comments describing it as "epic" and one calling him the next David Attenborough (minus the swearing).

He was also contacted by overseas media but King just wanted to get back to his fishing.

Since the experience, King has had a rare encounter with a great white shark swimming around his boat while fishing with his family between Whangārei Harbour and the Hen and Chicks. He also hooked a 16-20kg short bill spearfish while out game fishing off Cape Brett last month.

"They're one of the best and make beautiful sashimi."

Rather than luck, skill or fishing gear, he puts his experiences down to "time on the water" and gets out for a fish a couple of evenings a week after work and most weekends.

King's summer holiday plans include game fishing and hanging out at the family bach at Te Ngaere Bay. He said his ultimate catch would be a 1000Ib-plus black marlin or the keen spear fisherman would like to shoot a 50kg-plus kingfish.

Steven King with (from left): son Boyd King, friend Jack Jeeves and son Darcy King.

When it comes to fishing buddies, his wife and two young sons are his first call, although this entails keeping his colourful language in check.

Upon his return home following the whale encounter and relaying the video footage, he was given a stern telling off from his mother for his "foul language".

"They had to put their ear muffs on and, to keep things PC for the kids, the volume was on mute," laughed King.

King concluded the video by exclaiming: "I've just won f****** lotto. Thank you, Mother Nature, that is amazing."

He later explained: "Those things just never come along, it's one of those freaky incidents and, to be fair, I'd rather see that than win lotto anyway."