Seafood delights at city's front doorstep

Sam Kereopa takes only enough seafood for dinner, like these crayfish from a spot near Waiheke Island. Photo / Geoff Thomas

Crayfish, paua, kina ... dive expert finds them all near Auckland.

Sometimes you don't have to go far from Queen St to find the sort of fish and seafood that normally involves extensive travel around the country.

Crayfish and striped marlin both turned up this week. The crays were the target when a group of keen anglers left Westhaven on Monday morning and headed for Waiheke Island. And a striped marlin surprised two rock fishermen when it surfaced in front of them at Whangaparaoa Peninsula on Saturday.

"We were fishing at Swan Cove, near Stanmore Bay," said Kevin Morris, "when my mate Pete (Peter Reynolds) said, 'What's that?' This fish came up in the berley trail and it was definitely a billfish. The water was clear and it was a fine day. It looked like a stripey of about 60kg. It swam around and Pete cast a bait at it, but it went down again."

He has seen marlin before while rock fishing at Waiheke Island but during summer, not in the middle of winter.

The crayfish Sam Kereopa surfaced with in his dive bag also came from the waters around Waiheke.

A former commercial fisherman who made a living diving for crayfish and other seafood such as kinas around Auckland, Kereopa is at home in the water. From boyhood activities like diving for pennies thrown by tourists at the hot pools in Whakarewarewa, Rotorua, to collecting mussels and kina at Maketu "to feed the family", he is still making a living in the water.

But now he spends six weeks every three months diving on oil rigs in the Red Sea, and still spends his spare time diving for kai moana to feed friends and family.

"You can find everything around Auckland. There are crays and kinas at Rangitoto and Motuihe, mussels at the Ahaahas, and even paua if you know where to look," he said.

One of his favourite haunts for crayfish is the Manukau Harbour, where "you have to bat the big ones out of the way to get at the smaller ones".

As with all fishing, local knowledge is the key, but Kereopa says the most important thing is what to look for. "Holes and cracks in the rocks, weed and current are important."

And he lives by the strict mantra that "you never take more than 20 per cent. You just pick some off around the edges, and leave plenty for the future - and for others".

He has no time for divers or fishers who take as much seafood as they can, and then wonder why there is nothing there when they return.

And he wonders why people now prefer to find their mussels at the supermarket.

"There is nothing like the fat kutae [mussels] at Waiheke, or Maketu. But it is sad that the young people are not taking up the old ways and harvesting the kai from the sea."

The team returned to Westhaven from Monday's trip with crayfish, kinas, mussels and sea turbans - a large whelk or sea snail. And the huge chilly bin was also loaded with a healthy haul of snapper, from the pinnacles in the middle of the Firth of Thames where the best fishing is at the moment.

Fresh Water

Some of the best action on the lakes can be found by wading the edge of a shelf, or anchoring the boat and fishing out over the drop-off, either fly fishing or with glo-bugs.

While this is traditionally done at dawn and dusk, some anglers are doing well at night with luminous flies.

Bite times

Bite times are 9.10am and 9.35pm tomorrow, and 10am and 10.30pm on Sunday.

Tip of the week

Drown crayfish in fresh water before cooking them in boiling seawater. Then other seafood like mussels and sea turbans can be cooked in the crayfish pot when the crays are done. Average-sized crays need only 8-10 minutes of boiling. Like any food they can be overcooked.

• More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 6.30am Saturday, TV3, and at GTTackle.co.nz.