Fishing: Whopper snapper sets world record

By Geoff Thomas

Gone Fishing


A mega-sized snapper caught at the Hen and Chicken Islands, off Northland, is the largest reported for several years.

As with many big fish captures, the stories spread quickly and the size varies.

The monster was caught by Whangarei charter skipper Pete Emerson, who hooked it in 17m of water while fishing with a dropper rig and a piece of bait on 15kg tackle.

The snapper was first reported to be 17kg and later reports put it at 16.2kg. However, when officially weighed two days later at Tutukaka, it had lost nearly 2kg. But even at 14.4kg the snapper easily beats the world record for men of 13.4kg caught on 15kg line.

The world record snapper for women on 15kg line is a 16.35kg fish caught by Dawn Irvine, at Slipper Island, on April 11, 1998.

Most of the big catches have been in New Zealand, but snapper up to 15.2kg have been landed in Australia.

Large-sized snapper are keenly sought by anglers, but few see a fish that exceeds 14kg. These are usually solitary fish living around reefs where there is an abundance of kelp close to deep water.

Anglers targeting these big fish go to a lot of trouble, creating strong trail of berley and fishing with special baits, like a whole fresh blue mackerel or a whole fillet of fresh kahawai or mullet.

A lot of big fish are hooked, but many break off as the rocky terrain where they live makes it hard for the angler to keep a powerful fish clear of the rocks and kelp.

Game fishing is reported to be slow over most of the North Island, with Waihau Bay still producing some of the best fishing, in a patch 12 miles off the Raukokere River mouth.

Anglers predict that fishing could take off at any time off the Northland coast.

"There are masses of bait-fish all along the coast, and skippies everywhere," said Hilton Polkinghorne, manager of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers' Club at Tutukaka.

"The marlin are there, but there is so much feed it is just a question of being there when they come up."

The west coast has been disappointing for most of the summer, but at New Plymouth some huge striped marlin have been weighed, including specimens of 179kg and 168kg.

With the America's Cup over, Aucklanders will be heading for the Rangitoto Channel to check the snapper fishing. The Motuihe Channel and Crusoe Rock have fished well and there are reported to be some good-sized snapper at Rakino, with kingfish hooked around the Noises.