A report from my last day of my week long Taupiri Bay holiday, and the perfect way to end it.

We’d been pretty successful fishing all week, rising at 6am and rowing out into Taupiri bay to catch the early morning sun, and our fair share of fish. On this morning, I had caught a reasonable snapper, straight away. then an hour or so of nothing. No bites, or small fry being brought up, which had usually been th case. We were close to calling it a day.

But then, something hit – a big one. It took my line, and ran. I could not wind against it – the reel was set on a loose drag, but even as I tightened it, I could not hold it. The fish fought for 20 minutes, I slowly made some headway, and got it close to the boat… We saw its form as it circled under the dinghy, gradually getting bigger in size… until we got it close to the boat, and were both able to lug it on board, catching its head in a net then scooping the rest of it over. A beautiful, 18lb Kingfish.

I had a small taste of what Maui experienced, when he (allegedly) fished up the North Island of New Zealand. The Maori name for the North Island is ‘Te Ika a Maui’ ‘The fish of Maui,’ it even looks like a fish, when you turn it on its side.