Just thought that I would let you keen anglers know that happened to me this morning. I was owned.

From October until the end of May each year, I spend my time wading the Tauranga Harbour flats hunting yellowtail kingfish. I do this nearly every day in all sorts of weather conditions, from dead calm sunny days to stormy 25 knot conditions. This is sight fishing at its very best. One of the tactics that works well for me and others is slowly wading in knee to waist deep water, keeping a lookout for short tail stingrays. These rays can grow to over six feet across the disc and may weigh over 400 pounds. Most of the short tails we see are between three and four feet across the disc. These short tails often have yellowtail kingfish riding them and we call these kings "riders." So when we find a short tail, the pressure comes on and a baitfish is cast to the short tail, the rod goes under the arm and the fly is retrieved hand over hand. If you see riders on the ray, they will generally chase the fly and if you are lucky, you get an "eat." You strip strike, manage your loose line and when the line is on the reel, you deal to the king and the king deals to you, and if all works out, the fish is landed and released. The Tauranga Harbour kingfish fishery is very delicate and is only 20% of what it was 5 years ago. The understanding is that all kings go back and if someone dares kill one, they are outcast.

This morning I headed out onto the flats to catch the last two hours of the outgoing and the first two hours of the incoming. I was using one of my favourite rods, a Fenwick Feralite (H) FF85, labelled as a #7, a 1990s Fin Nor #2 DD, an unknown brand and weight intermediate line and a home tied baitfish pattern. This combination is a delight to cast and in my opinion a beautifully balanced outfit. It was slack water when I saw a short tail stingray about 20 yards out, so I fired the fly out and started the retrieve. A big rider came off the ray, chased the fly and ate. I strip struck hard and hooked up. I tried to manage the loose line, but a tangle ripped up, into the guides tearing out the snake on the female ferrule and the first three snakes below the tip-top before the leader popped. My awesome FF85 and I were dealt to in what may have been two seconds.

While the Fenwick will no longer be original, I am looking forward to undertaking the repair job as soon as possible and getting it back out on the water for another round.

Cheers

I agree jhuskey. I look at things differently to most fly fishers. I don't believe that I own rods, I believe that my rods own me and I become part of their history, not the other way round. The FF85 will rise again and do battle with the Tauranga Harbour flats kings. And the new bindings and guides also become part of the rod's history. Cheers

At least it's a relatively easy fix -- a far better outcome than breaking the blank.

Go Mudfish. If I ever run in to that fish, I will let him have it. He doesn't want to be coming around the northern hemisphere with those kind of moves.

When I fished quite a bit in our Florida Keys, the usual species following very closely behind rays were Redfish, Bonefish and Mutton Snapper, picking up any stirred up goodies. Very cool just to watch also.

Sounds like a fun time. Would love to see some pictures.

When I fish at the beach, it does not matter whether I catch anything or not, and I always come away with a sense of awe at the power and beauty of the ocean, and its creatures.

The first time I fished the salt, it was an eye opener! Damn near was strangled the way the extra line shot into the air, though the guides, and around my neck when that bonefish took off. Whole different ball game from trout, panfish, bass, and pike!

A Tauranga Harbour short tail with two riding yellowtail kingfish.

BlackHackle - You are most welcome to contact me if you ever visit Tauranga and I'll show the ropes. I teach swf anglers about fishing for kings. My only condition is that any kings caught are released. The resource is very delicate and the flats kings are around 20% of what they were 5 years ago due to commercial and recreational fishing pressure as well as environmental factors. Cheers

Very interesting jhuskey. The yellowtail kingfish certainly is not endangered as a species, however it appears that the kings that frequent the flats in Tauranga Harbour are like a sub population that spend the year in the harbour, frequenting the flats from October to the end of May, and the rest of the year around the shipping wharves and marinas. There have been several hundred kings tagged and these are sometimes recaptured a year later only a few kilometres from their initial tagging location. There are far less kings seen on the flats than five years ago and the numbers seen riding short tail stingrays coincides with this. A lot of short tails have no riders and those that do have far less than than we used to see five years ago and beyond. There are two commercial fishing licences operating in the Tauranga Harbour. One targets trevally by dragging a beach seine net using ropes many hundreds of metres in length. The trevally are kept as they are the target species and any kingfish are kept as a bycatch for the market. The commercial size limit for kings is 65cm, and the recreational size limit is 75cm. My understanding is that they don't spawn until their centimetre length is in the 80s. In the past (I am not sure about the present), this operation has not reported tagged kings. Several years ago, a friend who was helping hand haul the beach seine net managed to retrieve the tag from one of four tagged fish, the other three were not recorded. This is a shame as a lot of time and effort goes into the tagging programme. The other commercial operation targets the piper (similar to ballyhoo) and grey mullet which are both important prey species for kings. There are other factors that are involved too, the increasing enrichment of our harbour waters by nitrates and phosphates, and the resulting algal blooms. Sedimentation is another problem. The Zostera sea grass (similar to the Florida turtle grass) is affected by water enrichment, sedimentation and overgrazing by black swan and Canada geese. The Zostera is vital for the harbour ecosystem and also provides a nursery for larval fish, some species of which are important to New Zealand's inshore fishery. The drop of harbour kingfish has been noticed by other recreational anglers to such an extent that most choose to release any kings they catch. Outside the harbour, in the open sea, there are plenty of kings, sub surface schools that contain thousands of individuals of around 50cm to 60cm. Using a natural thought process, one would think that there would be a constant replacement of harbour and flats kings from the open ocean, but this doesn't appear to be the case. More kingfish tagging and tag returns may give us a better picture of the dynamics of our Tauranga Harbour kings. My friend operates a business catering for saltwater fly fishers pursuing kings and he is very good at it, and the kings that are caught are tagged and returned to be recaptured at a later date. One thing is for sure, a kingfish released is more important to the resource than a kingfish being turned into a dead slab of meat. And like I say, my observations and capture statistics put the Tauranga Harbour kings at about 20% of what they were 5 years ago and beyond. Cheers

Great thread; good to hear about the kingfish and the worthy efforts of anglers to conserve them. The photo certainly shows a powerfully-built fish; just looking at them makes me want to hop a plane to NZ and test myself against them. Oh wait, can't do that...

Thanks for a good report, and sorry about the rod. I'm sure you'll have it ready for more kingfish soon.

Mudfish sent me some photos from his phone - here are a few of them.
Sorry for the delay in sharing them Richard.
Richard and Kingfish on Epic 686

Richard with a couple Kahawai (looks to me maybe also in Amberjack family)


Richard's mate Lucas with Kingfish

Another of Richard's mates and big Kingfish

Some terrific fish there. Great stories, and photos.