White Island Trip  By David Gribben


A few months before Xmas Adine asked me what I would like for a present and I replied: I want to go out and see if I can catch one of those big fish I keep seeing in the fishing magazines.

After some research I found a vacancy on a 24 hour charter on the “Cova Rose” out of Whakatane on the 1st & 2nd of January available so sent off my deposit and booked it, and arranged a couple nights accommodation in Tauranga for Adine.

After spending a quiet New Years Eve with friends, News Years Day dawned fine and sunny and we made our way over to Tauranga, booked into the motel and then drove down to Whakatane to drop me off at 4:30 pm to leave at 5 pm.

The other 7 anglers were all early as well so we were able to get under way 15 minutes early. With the weather fine and no wind the sea was flat calm and we headed out towards White Island (about a 3 hour trip) trolling lures for tuna. Unfortunately the tuna have been late in arriving this season with the first catch being on New Years Eve so we didn’t hook up on anything. After a couple of hours or so we came to spot X and we rigged up for Pukas in 150 metres of water where we could see fish activity on the bottom with the sounder.

While Lance (the skipper) put us into position we baited up our rigs which consisted of a 32 oz sinker on the bottom and 2 circle hooks spaced about 600 mm apart, the top being a 12/0 and the bottom a 14/0, for bait we used a whole squid on the bottom hook with about half a squid on the top. Once we were in position Lance blew the horn and we lowered our rigs, and slowly drifted over the spot.

On the first drift a couple of guys hooked up bringing in a nice puka and a gemfish, then it was wind up your lines so we could go round and drift back over the spot again. When you are winding up a 32oz sinker from 150 meters it takes quite a while. We drifted back over the spot again with another couple of fish being landed, then on the third drift my line went very heavy and felt as though it was snagged but I was getting line back so it looked like I had a fish on.
At these depths you can’t feel any bites, all you can feel is the line getting heavy like it is snagged. After about 15 minutes of reeling in, up to the surface came my first puka, a nice fat fish of around 8 kg.

By this time it was nearly dark so we headed off to White Island to anchor up overnight. By the time we arrived it was pitch black, so while Lance and Ken (the deckie) cooked up some steaks and boiled the spuds for dinner, the rest of us were concentrating on catching mackerel for live baits. We had a spot light positioned over the stern attracting flying fish, which we were netting to use as dead baits for kingies the next day. After a great meal we continued catching baits until around midnight when we turned in.

The next morning we were awoken by the sound of the anchor being pulled up at 4.30 am. As we stumbled out of our bunks and onto the deck, to what promised to be another perfect day, we were told we were heading off to another puka hot spot. It took several cups of coffee, slices of toast and a couple of hours to reach the spot, but by the time we got there everyone was wide awake and rearing to go. Looking at the sounder there appeared to be plenty of fish activity, so we baited up, waited for Lance to sound the horn to drop our rigs. This time it took even longer to reach bottom as here it was 240 metres deep.

Using the same techniques as before, we drifted over the spot waiting for our lines to get heavy. On the second drift I felt my line get heavy, so it was fish on. This time it seemed a lot heavier so I guessed I was into a big fish. So after around 20 minutes, up to the surface popped not one but 2
fish a double header, a nice puka and a bluenose, both around 6-8 kg.

We continued drifting over the spot with every one catching fish, mainly puka’s but with some bass, bluenose and gemfish thrown in, all varying in size from around 5-12 kg. Then one of the guys hooked into something really big and after around 25 minutes of being told to “hurry up or we will cut your line”, pulled up a fish of around 18-20 kg.

On the next drift my line went really heavy and it was either snagged or a really big fish. I managed to get in a little line and then no more for a while, then a few more winds and it pulled up heavy again. This continued for around half an hour, amid threats to “get on with it or we will cut your line”, till the fish finally popped to the surface about 100 metres away. It looked enormous but the battle wasn’t over yet as it takes quite a while to pull a fish of this size up to the boat, all the time hoping no sharks will appear. I finally got it safely to the side and with two gaffs it was pulled on board. Wow!!, this was the biggest fish I had ever caught. Amid the celebrations and congratulations out came the cameras to record the event. We didn't have scales on board able to weigh the fish, but Lance estimated it was a minimum of 25 kg.

While I had a celebratory beer, we did another drift landing another couple of good fish. By then we had more than enough fish on board, so headed back to the Volkner Rocks to try for some kingies, while Ken cooked up a great breakfast. It was around 11 am by the time we arrived and already another couple of boats were there, but with no luck. There was plenty of surface activity
around with lots of Blue Mao Mao, sharks and a sunfish. The sounder showed there were plenty of kingies around, so we baited up with livies and dead-baits to try our luck.

After a couple of hours, and not a touch, we decided to go in and have a closer look at the remains of the old workings on White Island and a look at the steam rising from the volcano. By this time it was around 1.30 pm, and with a 3 hour trip ahead of us, set off back to Whakatane. On the trip back we had a great lunch whilst Lance and Ken filleted our catch.

It was a fabulous trip, perfect weather, excellent fishing and a very friendly and helpful crew, on a spacious and comfortable boat. I will be back again to catch one of those Kingies.

David Gribben