Heart of the country: Networking with a master

By BRIDGET CARTER

Between days spent fishing the waters of the tranquil Whangaroa Harbour and the Pacific Ocean beyond its entrance, you will find Johnny Blake streaming out complicated lines of nylon across his backyard in Northland.

The veteran seaman makes and fixes fishing nets.

The precise and delicate art has been forgotten by many of today's fishermen, he says.

It is also something he enjoys.

"What else would I be doing - sitting in the pub?

"It just keeps me active."

In his shed, 61-year-old Johnny stores large bundles of the fine nylon mesh used to make his mullet and flounder set-nets.

He pulls the bundles out and hangs them along ropes that sweep the length of his lawn.

About four hours later his work is done: a set-net 60m long, complete with floats, is ready for fishing.

Because of his decades working as a commercial longline snapper fisherman, he is known as "Johnny Longline" by the people living round the shores of Whangaroa Harbour.

He began spending more of his time slinging up the nets - mainly for friends and local residents - after health problems forced him off the water commercially six years ago.

During more than 21 years living in Totara North and around the Whangaroa with his wife, Rita, Johnny has developed a reputation not just as a master set-net maker, but also as an expert seaman.

He has spent much of his working life at sea, including a stint in the merchant navy, fishing on trawlers and catching crayfish around the South Island.

On days when he gets the chance, he takes his former Canadian lighthouse tender Delightful out about 5am and sometimes fishes until as late as 10.30pm.

"I have always loved fishing.

"To just get out there and catch a gamefish is absolutely magic."

He also has a knack for rescuing people. Last year he towed 14 into the harbour after they struck problems at sea.

"I was nicknamed Little Toot."

In the 1950s, when nets were made from cotton, most fishermen working on trawlers knew how to make or fix a net, Johnny says.

"You'd never get a job on a trawler unless you could mend a net."

When nylon nets were introduced most of the mending work was done ashore.

There is a certain knack to it, says the wiry, husky-voiced mariner.

His reputation has grown and he now receives requests for his nets from as far south as Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty.