April 2025 - 235 The Fishing Paper and Hunting News by The Fishing Paper

THE FISHING PAPER

hooked in the Sounds pg 3

• Reform or Scam - Opinion Piece from the Retired Fisherman- pg 8

• New Swarovski Products- pg 9

• Inner Hauraki Gulf closed to rock lobster fishing - pg 14

Paradise Duck Hunt pg 4

If I was a gorgeous young chick, I’d have necessarily developed a coping strategy and foolproof technique for seeing o overzealous males. I’ve never been gorgeous, never.

I have been young; however, my misspent youth is but a distant memory.

Shooing away overzealous males doesn’t come naturally then. Now, bailed on the doorstep by a handsome and enthusiastic bloke, I don’t know how to politely tell him to ‘take a hike.’ Oh, he’s not made any advances, and he never will, he just wants to talk about work. Work.

Mate, it’s the weekend!

It’s the weekend. It’s the roarand the rut. Only yesterday I’d heard the ﬁrst croak of the ﬁrst fallow buck of the season.

Today, right now, I want to be leaving home with my boots on and a riﬂe over my shoulder. I do not want to be standing on the doorstep making small talk with a ‘betesticled’ stranger. How do I make him vanish – wave a wand and turn him into a toad perhaps. Finally, the verbose workaholic exits my life, and none too soon. The gut feeling I have, ‘go right now,’ is so strong I swear there’s a loop of intestine in the shape of a lasso around my neck.

‘Go right now’ mode leads me to a secluded gully where I park my ute well short of Buck Croak Glade. Here I ready myself for the adventure ahead with all the essentials required to harvest an animal of the antlered variety.

I take no more than three steps when another noise captures my attention. An echo rumbles and bounces, a red stag is roaring, his location a mu ed mystery.

A second stag replies to the ﬁrst and this time my ears tell me a little more about this backcountry

East beats West

singalong. The anticipated buck hunt is foregone and forgotten, dualling red songsters now have my whole undivided attention.

I assess the geography, the wind direction, the roundabout location of the stags and make a quickﬁre plan. I’ve been out of my ute just ﬁve minutes and it’s all on. My gut feeling has proven 100 percent correct – right place, right time –right here, right now.

As I skedaddle up a narrow creek bed, slip-sliding on the algae slathered boulders and hyperventilating with excitement, the stags sing with increasing gusto. Down here the breeze ﬂows north, directly midway between one stag to the east and the other to the west. Perfect.

I can barely contain myself as I settle under an old-man-pine tree and become a compass-

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like centrepiece. The natural amphitheatre all about me is layered with ﬁerce roars and thundering echoes. The tinkling creek provides backing music, along with numerous blowﬂies and cicadas. Inside my head, I hear the rhythm of my own heartbeat as loud as the beating of an internal bass drum.

The stag to my east is stationary, holed up on a low ridge surrounded by an impenetrable acreage of recently thinned pine trees. His song tells a story of strategy and defence.

The stag to my west has just started to move and boy, he’s moving fast. Am I in the right place? Should I move to intercept him as he tracks on the contour, or should I wait and watch?West rapidly progresses from contouring to stampeding downhill. I can hear him smashing vegetation as he comes and the bass drum in my head ups its tempo.

Adrenalin proliferating in my bloodstream enables me to process information at an accelerated rate. Barely visible on the forested face is a vertical line, I guess it’s a derelict fence and West has turned to follow it downhill. This proves to be so, I see a glimpse of antler, a ﬂash of red hide. Here he comes and yes, I

am positioned perfectly. So fast. It’s all happening so fast.

I sit on my bum, elbows to knees, riﬂe loaded, ready. The noisesome drum in my head cannot compete with the sound of stampeding stag. I cannot see antler for long enough to assess quality and quantity. There is no viable shot yet but the distance between the stag and me is diminishing by the second.

Suddenly West appears in all his glory. He skids to a halt in the long rank grass and roars with all his might. The only e ective shot available is full frontal and into the base of his neck. At the crack of my riﬂe the big fella rears up into the air and topples backward – but then, unbelievably, he gets to his feet, roars again and charges on.

Oh shit. I lose my focus, attempt a running shot and clean miss. Undeterred, West keeps coming.

A small tree is my saviour. West pauses to roar deﬁantly and to beat the tree with his antlers. He smashes it, wrenching his head back and forth, bright red blood trickling from his neck. His eyes are bulging, nostrils ﬂared. He twists sideways to get better leverage and exposes his ribcage and the heart within.

My rifle adds to the din, its projectile flies true but West does not hear it nor feel pain. He charges on from the tree, directly towards me, and I wonder if I’d hit him at all. He pauses where the fence turns at right angles and does a wee wobble. He is dead on his feet but is too defiant to register his own demise.

The big stag bounces o the fence twice, trying to push through, and then he falls dead just 30 metres away.

I sit in the dirt, drained and unable to gather my scattered wits. From bombardment with surround-sound and sensory overload to silence and success – and all just seconds apart – right here, right now.

Then, as the creek tinkles and the insects hum, the stag to my east lets out a long lusty roar. He remains King, winning the impending ﬁght by default, never taking nor landing a single blow.

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Kim Swan

Twice hooked stonker in the Sounds

Karl Puklowski

Once all the Christmas family lunch festivities and present unwrapping were out of the way, we headed home to pack the boat up for our Annual Sounds Fishing Trip.

The night started as usual, with our mate Brad tying up to us for a few drinks while catching some fresh bait.

As last light rolled in, Brad parted ways to anchor up nearby, maximising our chances at landing a decent snapper. The ﬁshing remained slow for most of the evening with only a few sharks being caught and the rain now setting in. We decided to get some sleep, setting our alarms for the early hours of the morning so no to miss the change of light - as this proves to be the best time for ﬁshing.

It’s now 4am and drizzling as the first alarm goes o . I get up to set the rods, Terri takes advantage and continues sleeping. Things start pretty quietly , not long before first light, one rod starts to peel line. I grab it and start to fight the fish. Not long into the fight, I realise it’s a pretty good fish. i attempt to wake

Terri to provide assitance with the net. After she surfaces from the cabin, the ﬁsh was now in sight and is captured and goes into the net. The ﬁsh is landed, we get a quick couple of photos, get it measured and weighed, coming in at 26lb and 86.5cm.

We then attempt to release this old ﬁsh. Unfortunately, after about ﬁve minutes it failed to release and we realise he is going to be coming home with us.

After resetting the rods, not much time had passed and the reel begins to run again. This time, Terri's turn. She ﬁghts the ﬁsh to the boat, only to have it come o the hook right on the surface.

At least we got to see it, potentially a 20+lb fish. As the day continued, only a few Gurnard are caught so we decided to gut the fish before heading back in. While gutting the Snapper, we were surprised to find a whole bait with hooks rigged up from a stray line still inside - and in one piece. We discover when catching up with Brad later that this was his bait. He had lost this fish no more than 20 minutes before we landed it! He leaves empty handed this trip.

There’s plenty of inside storage and lock-up hatches outside for all that ﬁshing and hunting gear,outdoor seats and tables etc. The fridge/freezer is a good size

Old Boys Summer - Paradise Duck Hunting

It started with an early morning wake-up, but getting my dog Ace awake, he knew what was going on, and his excitement helped get me in the mood. With the car mostly packed the night before, it wasn’t too long before Ace and I were heading into the cool late summer morning darkness to meet up with the old boys, including my Dad and friends who had come down from Auckland for a week of summer duck hunting with my Father-In-Law.

After waiting in a big box store car park for them to arrive I spotted them heading past and had to quickly get out and start following them to the farm we were going to

the perfect spot. With our heads just about the ground level in front and an overgrown paddock behind us, we were well hidden. The decoys were put out just in front of us with the furthest out at about 20 metres as they like to land outside the spread.

hunt. A quick call was made to make sure I was following my father-in-law. It would have been embarrassing to end up at the wrong place.

It was a short trip to the farm, while opening gates I got told that we would be driving around looking for where the ducks were sitting. We got through a couple of paddocks to ﬁnd a couple of dozen in one spot on some green feed, which I thought good. We kept driving around the farm and in a few more paddocks over there were about 100 paradise ducks. This is where we decided to set up.

Setting up our hides on the southern side of the paddock where an empty drain ran and with the slight south-easterly breeze creating

The ducks started to trickle in as did the weather with drizzle turning to rain and then back into drizzle.

The shooting was good, this was the ﬁrst time picking up my gun after recently having eye surgery but it was good to look down the gun and see the targets properly. We had a couple of wounded ducks which I sent Ace after. He was properly excited and it took a few goes to get him to go past the dead ducks in front of us and hunt down the wounded birds but we got there. Over his hunting career, there haven’t been many times when we have left dead birds in the spread. By the end, he was working better and listening. This shows that we all need to spend more time with our

Gareth Faulkner

dogs in the o -season.

While out picking up birds and bringing them in more turned up so I was crouched just outside the decoys with my head down. I heard some birds get shot and was about to move when I left the wind and a dead duck passed just behind my back. I am sure that my dad was aiming for me.

Highlight of the ducks I shot was a single bird coming in left to right just outside the decoys about a metre above the ground and just

mounting the gun perfectly swinging through it and hitting it cleanly in the head, stopping it dead in its tracks.

The ducks entertained us as they arrived in small ﬂocks of two to ﬁve, allowing us to pick o a few from each group. I had a fantastic morning with my Dad, enjoying our time together while hunting ducks, running the dog, and sharing plenty of banter. In total, we collected 50 paradise ducks and assisted a farmer by driving some away from his crops.

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There’s nothing quite like the thrill of hooking into a kingﬁsh. The way they hit, the way they run—it’s pure chaos in the best way possible. And on this particular day, chaos was exactly what I got.

I was fishing o shore at Mana in Wellington, working a slow-pitch jig in about 50 meters of water. The conditions were perfect— just enough drift to keep things interesting, and the fish finder was lighting up like a Christmas tree. A few smaller fish had taken my jig, but nothing worth writing home about. Then, the hit came!

At first, it felt like a snag—until the snag started ripping line o my reel. The Penn Battle II was screaming, and I knew I had a kingfish on the other end. I leaned in, let the rod do the work, and settled in for the fight. It ran deep, then shot sideways, shaking its head violently. Classic kingfish behaviour.

After a solid five minutes of backand-forth, I finally got colour—bright yellow tail flashing in the blue. It wasn’t a monster, but a decent fish, maybe 100cm. Just as I reached for the leader, the water beneath the kingie went dark.

Before I could react, a massive bronze whaler exploded from below, jaws wide. In a split second, the kingﬁsh went from prize catch to half-eaten casualty. The shark barely hesitated—just one powerful bite and it was over. What came up was a head, still twitching, the body cleanly severed.

I just stood there, rod in hand, heart pounding. One minute, I was celebrating a solid kingﬁsh, the next, I was left with nothing but a brutal reminder of who really runs the show out here!

Damn Taxman!

Johnny Tightlines

Seven in a row for New Zealand over Australia

In the annual Trans-Tasman coarse ﬁshing championship, ﬁshed this year in Christchurch, the home team made it seven wins on the bounce over their Australian rivals.

The popular event, now in its 35th year, is hosted alternately between the two countries and is traditionally di cult to win away from home. However, the Kiwis have not only continued their perfect record at home but have defeated the Aussies on their own patch in the last three trips away.

In Christchurch, the teams which comprised a mix of seasoned international anglers and some new up-and-coming talent, fished a threeday rotation over three lakes, with tench and perch the target species. At the start of each day, the anglers draw for a fishing position or “peg” on their lake, and have six hours to catch as many fish as they can. The fish are retained safely in a keepnet and weighed at the end of the match before being returned

unharmed to the water.

The angler with the top weight wins the lake and scores one point, second place scores two points, and so on. The team scores are totalled and divided by the number of anglers to give an average section point score, and this determines the winner.

On the first day, the Aussies were quick out of the blocks and took the Kiwis by surprise, winning the first match with an average section point score of 4.44 to 4.53. But local knowledge helped the home team fight back, and the Kiwis won the next two days and successfully retained the Trans-Tasman trophy with a final score of 4.36 to 4.74.

Individually, Nelson-based angler Dave Dixon (pictured) won his lake on all three days for a perfect 3-point score and also returned the top overall weight of 211lb 2oz. Second was teammate Nathan Morley with 8 points (120lb 15oz) and third Australian Steve Smith also on 8 points (72lb 15oz).

Johnny Tightlines

Coastlines

Ivan Wilson

Messing about in small boats seems to’ve been a family thing for us Wilsons.

My father lived in Worser Bay Wellington for a time when he was a lad and used to describe going over the road to catch a butterﬁsh o the rocks for breakfast before school. Wonder if that is still a possibility these days? He was always a fan of clinker built boats for their seaworthiness and possibly the craftmanship that went into building them. He and his young mates used to row across the harbour to a beach devoid of houses or people and there apparently they’d skinny dip, then dry o in the sun. One evening they started o back home when suddenly the interisland ferry loomed up and nearly put paid to their cross-harbour shennanigans. Dad said it was a near miss with death.

Another waterway and incident when I was young and went with a young mate to sail across Akaroa harbour in the yacht he and his dad had built. It was a Merlin Rocket of 14 foot (4.3 m) which came out of England after the merging of 2 designs around 1951. Matey and I set o but the thing wouldn’t lift and sail to it’s capacity, due to a hairline crack in the forward section which let in water. However it moved, albeit a little sluggishly in comparison to the way it was supposed to, but was enough to keep us more or less happy. We made it to a bay across the other side, which I think was called Tikao for those of you familiar with the harbour. While congratulating ourselves on our sailing skills my friend suddenly went pale and said “we’re becalmed behind the headland and drifting onto those rocks, Dad’ll kill me if I sink it!” We both found something to paddle with and went at it like mad things and ﬁnally began to edge away from the rocks and far enough out to catch some air. Camping in The Sounds was a highlight of my very young years and on one trip things could’ve gone very pear shaped indeed. We’d hiked to a site in the outer sounds and had grabbed a rowboat to try and catch ﬁsh for tea. There were four of us in the small boat and in spite of no bites, we persisted long after the light of day had faded and began the row back in what we thought was the right direction. Our

dodgy circumstances included the darkness, too many in the small craft and not a lifejacket between us. Nuts ! Fortunately those on shore lit a ﬁre and we had a beacon to aim for, but in retrospect the “what ifs” perhaps

Ianthe with the former owner of my newly purchased wee tinny gave us both a fright. He was a dry ﬂy man but I suggested a wet ﬂy up a little creek and the take was instant, with the battle bringing a very nice brownie to the boat. I o ered to

had sprung up and while we did make it back to the ramp safely, much longer out there would’ve certainly made a nasty di erence to the outcome, proving yet again its important to watch for changes in the conditions.

needed some thought…..20 20 hindsight again!

A certain interest in not having to rely on oar power in later years led to the purchase of a Parkercraft. Now these wee beasts are very useful in that they are easily handled and good for chugging around in ﬂat water, providing everyone on board remains central and seated throughout the entire performance! If not they can be, er, a little unstable and a trip to Lake

land it for him and as I gingerly extended the net, my mate slid across to take a look, tipping the gunwales under and water rushed in neccessitating a quick move back over the other way to right the thing. It was close!

On another occasion I went with a senior member of our angling club to Lake Poerua and during our enjoyable day he suddnely said “we need to get o the lake right away.” The wind and whitecaps

Then came the moment when I put the seal of disapproval on my tinny for good and all. I’d been up a sheltered backwater on Brunner and eventually came out to find the afternoon wind, which starts up around 1.15pm in the summer, had begun to turn the lake into a sea of whitecaps. This gave me two options, the first and correct one being to go quietly around the edges back to the ramp, but of course it would have taken much longer. I chose to charge straight across the lake with the waves on my beam, until without warning one rose right by the boat and over it went, cracking my ribs on the gunwale and water flooded in. A quick leap back to the centre of the seat righted the thing and bailing as I went, plus turning into the larger swells as they appeared, meant that while I made it back to the ramp unscathed I was considerably chastened. I sold the tinny to a family of four and my hope remains there are still four of em! Seems our son in Inglewood, Taranaki, is carrying on the family tradition as he has a classic style motorboat (image) plus a jetski which he and his family enjoy blatting about on when they get time away from their hospo biz at Funk Fish. He has all the safety gear and their girls go to swimming lessons so there’ll be plenty of fun in the sun without the mishaps of his forebears. Meanwhile if nothing else, the tinny taught some valuable lessons – watch the weather, note any changes in conditions, always wear a PFD., don’t be impatient, make good choices, make your intentions known and get the motor serviced regularly. What could possibly go wrong? Almost anything or everything, so as a good scout would say, “be prepared.”

The Argonaut Queen LP Hansen Book Review

Intrigue, mythology, marine discovery and sheer beauty: The Argonaut Queen

She’s the maker of a million babies, the creator of her own delicate home, she explores the ocean by riding on stinging jellyﬁsh and has been accused of deep-sea theft! Yes, she’s the Argonaut Queen and children’s author, L.P. Hansen, has woven a wonderful story of intrigue and discovery around this tiny, mysterious, pink-spotted oceanicliving octopus. And all of it true.

An argonaut shell, sometimes called a paper nautilus, is indeed a mysterious and delicate thing. To ﬁnd one intact is rare, to ﬁnd one washed up on New Zealand’s shore is quite extraordinary. When she was young, Hansen found such a shell on the shoreline of Tūhua, Mayor Island. She still has it.

In her new book, Hansen shares not just the remarkable story of the oceanic creature who makes this shell. She also introduces pioneering marine biologist, Frenchwoman Jeanne VillepreuxPower, who was the first to discover that no, the argonaut does NOT steal her magnificent, intricately-woven spiral shell, as had been suggested. In the 1830s, Villepreux-Power studied argonauts in specially-designed undersea cages (in fact, the world’s first aquariums), on the coast of Sicily. Her research received international recognition.

There are six species of argonauts, or Argonauta to quote the scientiﬁc name. This comes from Greek mythology that involves the story of Jason the explorer, his ship Argo, his Argonauts (soldiers) and their happy meeting with Queen

Hypsipyle on the island of Lemnos. Indeed, there is a lot to pack into this book. Hansen achieves this, wending together disparate themes, drama and scientiﬁc detail and it’s all written in clear, easy to read yet picturesque prose: She travels the seas, carrying her shell like a Greek goddess’s helmet. And: The father argonaut is an octopus the size of a peanut.

Marlo Garnsworthy, whose illustrations adorn The Argonaut Queen, is also passionate about oceanic science. It shows. If Hansen portrays imaginative prose, the colours and depictions by Garnsworthy transform this book with bursts of colour that ﬁre the imagination, and detail that depicts the scientiﬁc intricacies of argonauts along with the work of VillepreuxPower.

My six and seven year old grandchildren pored over this book. Like many children their age, they are budding naturalists and marine biologists. They soak up details of the underwater world, and they LOVE stories of colourful, adventurous creatures like the

Trevally

Tuna

Kathy Ombler

argonauts. We had fun reading it together, and we learned so much, Grandma too!

The Argonaut Queen is available in New Zealand bookshops . Linda has a limited supply of hardcover copies. See her website www.lphansen.com for further information.

The Argonaut Queen Written by LP Hansen, Illustrated by Marlo Garnsworthy, Published by Starﬁsh Bay Children’s Books. RR $20.

The Bait Box with Retired Fisherman Norm Hawler Reform or Scam?

Down in the Bay the changes in the seasons are now very evident. The days are shorter, the mornings are getting chilly, the sand has moved further down the beach and covered the boulders on the eastern shoreline. Fishing has been pretty good when we have been able to get out but the crays have been going o as the females go through their moult before breeding. Having done the business with the freshened up ladies the males are now wandering o to feed-up prior to their next moult at the end of winter.

There have been a few fishing competitions in our region over the past month or so – both boat fishing and beach fishing, and the numbers of participants have been up on previous years. That was due in part to some excellent weather and sea conditions and increased interest in chasing the tuna species now ranging well south of their expected range. The buzz at the local fishing club is that there have been marlin landed from the top of Cook Strait and some sizeable yellowfin taken o Castlepoint.

Talking about the recreational fishing situation I see in the media that LegaSea has accelerated its transformation to a fully-fledged environmental protection agency. In several recent media reports it describes itself as a nonprofit organisation dedicated to supporting and restoring the marine environment. So much for their original self-declared mandate to represent the recreational fishing industry. The organisation has again ramped up attacks on the

New Zealand Quota Management System (QMS) whilst putting its own spin on the proposed ﬁsheries reforms recently announced by Minister Shane Jones.

The government proposed the changes, saying they want to streamline regulations, improve data collection, and enhance sustainability while protecting ﬁshers’ privacy. The LegaSea response is to loudly proclaim “It’s a scam - literally deﬁned as a “fraudulent or deceptive act or operation”.

In summary, LegaSea is alleging that if the proposed changes go ahead, they’ll strip away public consultation from important future fisheries decisions, limit camera visibility on boats (or let fishers turn them o altogether), and hand our coastal fisheries over to private commercial interests.

So I did some reading of the reform proposals as released by Minister Jones, and I concluded that the critics are misrepresenting the scale and intent of the changes outlined. I know enough about commercial fishing and the historical fisheries management regimes to be able to confirm the reform proposals as addressing operational issues. There is nothing that will materially change sustainability thresholds or undermine the quality of information used in decision making.

Quite the opposite. For example, the reforms will help MPI to respond faster when they see ﬁsh stock levels going up or down by being allowed to draw on a wider range of data. And there is no undermining of anyone else’s rights. Environment or

lobby groups don’t need to worry about the impact on the planet or their ability to continue to ﬁsh recreationally. The public will still have an opportunity to have their say on ﬁsheries decisions.

As noted in a recent industry newsletter and confirmed by Minister Jones, cameras were always supposed to be about verification NOT vilification. The sad fact is, if footage of men and women at work is made available, there is a small group of people who will misuse it. Fishers need to have their privacy protected as part of having their safety protected.

The proposal to exempt on-board camera footage from the O cial Information Act won’t stop the public having access to the data gathered by the cameras exactly as they do now. The regulator will still be able to view all the footage captured, record what is being caught and then publish that information.

Carefully read the reform proposals and draw your own conclusions – I concluded that the scam is coming from the loudest critics. My grandfather had a few good sayings – one appropriate to the critics of the reforms was that “empty vessels make the most noise”.

West Coast Pumping

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Nelson Marine Centre Celebrates their 1st Anniversary

Nelson Marine Centre is proud to celebrate one year in business, marking a milestone of growth, dedication and commitment to the Nelson/Tasman marine community. Since opening our doors in April 2024, we have built a strong reputation for quality marine sales, expert servicing and premium Yamaha products, all while staying true to our mission of helping customers make the most of their

Eight years on

I have been writing articles for The Fishing Paper and Hunting News for eight years.

It all started after Crimpy ( who started this paper ) and I had known each other for a while, and he had a stand at an Auckland gun show, which I was working at for Pistol NZ. I had gone for a walk and was at his stand when he arrived back and said some not so nice things about me, which I couldn’t say much about as I had just used the exact same words to describe him!

After we had ﬁnished our mutual appreciation spiel, we had a talk in the lounge at the airport and he kindly o ered me a spot in his magazine so I could promote pistol shooting.

This was too good an opportunity

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time on the water.

“This ﬁrst year has been an incredible journey,” says Pete Walters, Managing Director & Owner. “We’ve grown as a business, built an amazing team and connected with so many passionate boaties. None of this would have been possible without the support of our loyal customers, suppliers and the wider community. We can’t thank them enough.”

to pass up, I sure wasn’t going to point out how badly I did in English at school, that was for him to learn on another day. I never would have thought I would still be going this long and can’t say how thankful to both him and Nicola for allowing me to carry on.

While it was hard to get positive

To celebrate, we’re inviting everyone to join us at Nelson Marine Centre on Saturday 5 April 2025, as we mark our 1st birthday. Plus we’re giving back to our customers with a special birthday o er… we’ll be covering the GST on all purchases for the entire week (5–11 April) (excludes WaveRunners & outboards above 20hp). Throughout April, we’re running an exciting Yamaha Grab Bay giveaway, with one lucky winner every Monday

coverage of shooting back then it has been so much harder since the Christchurch shooting.

This has led me to do more than just promote the pistol side of shooting as the ﬁght to keep our rights to gun ownership is very real. It is not often we see anything positive about sporting shooters or hunting now and most of the media are against us, the last Government sure as hell weren’t our friends.

The truth hasn’t changed we have never been a problem; we have just picked on a sport others have been told we shouldn’t be a part of.

Personally, I don’t like cricket, it is boring at best and just an excuse to drink beer, or beer is what makes cricket worth watching, the di erence is I have never tried to have it banned or set up a huge

receiving a prize pack worth over $500. It’s our way of showing appreciation for the support we’ve received and looking forward to many more years ahead. Nelson Marine Centre remains committed to providing the best marine solutions, expert advice and exceptional service to keep our customers on the water and fuelling their adventure.

organisation to tell them how to play so it’s safe. That’s just what has happened to us. I have had lots of coverage to both sing our own praises and to attack some of the ‘BS.’

So many legislative changes haven’t done jack about making it safer. This is going to take lots of work to get the parties to understand our side and to give us all an Arms Act that works and is based on knowledge and evidence.

I have just returned from a holiday in Rarotonga with some fellow shooters and we tried our hand at ﬁshing for marlin. All I can say is I can hit the targets better than get those damn ﬁsh onto lines.Not even a single bite , still we all had fun.

PISTOL SHOOTING

Brian Bishop

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Fishers taking too much or undersize pāua, oysters, cockles, mussels, pipi and prohibited toheroa have received thousands of dollars in ﬁnes.

“Fishers who ignore the ﬁshing rules need to know there will be consequences and it will hurt their wallet. Our job is to protect ﬁshing resources so that everyone can enjoy the opportunity to put fresh kaimoana on the dinner the table,” says Fisheries New Zealand Director of Fisheries Compliance, Steve Ham.

Two Auckland men, aged 58 and 51 were ﬁned a total of $3,500 in the Waitakere District Court for taking 101 pāua from Manukau Harbour. The daily limit per person in the area is 10 with a minimum size of 125mm. The men were stopped and had their catch inspected by Fishery O cers in February last year. 88 of the pāua were shucked and in an unmeasurable state.

A 48-year-old Hastings man was ﬁned $750 in the Hastings District Court for taking 17 pāua from Mangakuri beach. The man had his catch inspected in May last year. The daily limit per gatherer is 5 pāua with a minimum size of 125mm.

A group of Aucklanders have each been ﬁned $500 in the Manukau District Court for their part in taking a total of 920 oysters from Te Pene Beach in September last year. The trio, aged 43, 41 and 34 were stopped by Fishery O cers who were patrolling the Maraetai area. The daily limit per person in the Auckland Coromandel area for

Fisheries o ences will be subject to a broader range of penalties to ensure the punishment ﬁts the crime under regulatory changes that come into e ect on April 10, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says.

“Until now, the only option to deal with some fisheries o ences by recreational and commercial fishers has been prosecution, which can take a lot of time and resources and doesn’t always fairly reflect the level of o ending.

“The new infringement o ences mean Fishery O cers will be able to issue ﬁnes that are more proportionate to the level of o ending, removing unnecessary

taking oysters is 100.

In the Kaikohe District Court, two men from the Far North District, aged 50 and 40 were slapped with ﬁnes of $900 each for their part in taking 497 green lipped mussels from the northern end of Ripiro Beach at Maunganui Blu . The men were stopped by Fishery O cers in September last year, the daily per person for green lipped mussels in the area is 50. The excess mussels were returned to the sea.

A 27-year-old Hamilton man was ﬁned $1500.00 in the Thames District Court for taking 242 green lipped mussels. The man had his catch inspected by Fisheries New Zealand Fishery O cers in July last year who were patrolling the Matingarahi area doing sea inspections. The daily limit for taking green lipped mussels in the Auckland and Coromandel area is 25 per person.

A 26-year-old Napier man was fined $2750 in the Hastings District Court for being in possession of 11 times the daily for taking pāua. The man was gathering shellfish in October 2023 at Pourerere Beach and had his catch inspected by Fisheries New Zealand Fishery O cers who found 55 pāua and that 47 were undersize. The daily limit per gatherer is five pāua with a legal minimum size of 125mm.

A 42-year-old Hastings man was ﬁned $2750 in the Hastings District Court for taking 75 pāua of which 72 were undersize.

In December 2023, the man was at Mangakuri Beach gathering seafood and a member of the public saw

cost and burden on the court system.”

The new infringement fees range from $200 to $500 depending on the o ence.

“By ﬁtting the punishment to the crime, we can free up the system to better deal with more serious o ending. Make no mistake, ﬁshers who break the rules will face the consequences and prosecution remains on the table where appropriate.”

New infringement o ences will also apply for breaches of by-laws made under customary ﬁshing regulations with fees ranging from $250 to $500.

Summary of the changes to o ences and penalties: New infringement o ences

• A fee of $400 for most breaches of record keeping requirements (under the Fisheries (Record keeping) Regulations 1990).

• A fee of $200 for failing to

him hide a black backpack under seaweed which contained the pāua. Fisheries New Zealand was contacted, who stopped the man when he was leaving in his vehicle, and he admitted that the backpack was his. The daily legal limit per person for pāua in this area is ﬁve at a minimum size of 125mm.

A 33-year-old Whangarei man was ordered to do eight weeks community detention when he was sentenced in the Whangarei District Court for taking 100 cockles and 100 pipi from a closed area.

The man was stopped by an Honorary Fishery O cer in 2023 at the Ngunguru Estuary where he was gathering shellﬁsh. The area was closed indeﬁnitely in 2016 to taking cockles and pipi.

A 29-year-old Whangarei man was ﬁned $2,000 in the Dargaville District Court for taking 211 green lipped mussels from Ripiro Beach in Northland in August last year. The man had his catch inspected by an Honorary Fishery O cer. The daily limit per person for green lipped mussels in this area is 50.

A 22-year-old Whangarei man was ﬁned $2,500 in the Dargaville District Court for being in possession of 82 pāua of which 81 were undersize. The man was gathering pāua in January this year at Kawerua. He was stopped by ﬁshery o cers who inspected his vehicle and found the pāua. The daily limit per person in this area is 10 with a minimum size of 125mm.

A 58-year-old Dargaville man has been ordered to do 70 hours community work and a 30-year-old

respond to notifications (issued pursuant to regulation 44 of the Fisheries (Reporting) Regulations 2017). This is when Fisheries New Zealand asks a fisher to confirm or correct information that has been provided for the purpose of ensuring quality and accuracy of data received from commercial fishers.

• Two infringements for failure to use or apply seabird mitigation: a fee of $500 for o ences relating to failure to use or apply a seabird mitigation measure, and a fee of $250 for breaches of technical speciﬁcations.

Breaches of by-laws that are made under three sets of customary ﬁshing regulations will become infringement o ences. Two di erent fees will apply:

• $250 for o ences that involve taking or possessing more than the daily limit of a species to

man, also from Dargaville, was fined $3000 in the Dargaville District Court for taking toheroa at Ripiro Beach in August last year. The men were approached by a fishery o cer and repeatedly told to stop what they were doing, but they refused and threw the toheroa back into the sea, preventing the fishery o cer from doing their work. Toheroa are a protected shellfish species and taking them is prohibited. And a 46-year-old Te Kuiti man was fined $1500 for failing to stop for a fishery o cer at a checkpoint. Fishery o cers were patrolling Kiritehere Beach in October last year. A checkpoint was set up at the eastern end of Soundy Road. When the man arrived at the checkpoint and was told they were carrying out fisheries catch inspections, he reversed his vehicle and appeared to go back to the beach, despite repeatedly being told to stop, only to return to the checkpoint 10 minutes later.

“If you’re unsure of the fishing rules in the area you plan to fish – get the most up to date fishing rules by downloading the free NZ Fishing Rules mobile app. It will also work if you’re fishing in an area with limited mobile coverage,” says Fisheries New Zealand Director of Fisheries Compliance Steve Ham.

Fisheries New Zealand encourages people to report any suspected illegal ﬁshing activity through the Ministry for Primary Industries’ 0800 4 POACHER line (0800 47 62 24).

which a bylaw applies, but not more than two times that daily limit; and

• $500 for all other o ences.

Specific o ence and penalty provisions for failure to comply with conditions on a fish receiver’s licence with a fine not exceeding $20,000.

• An o ence provision for failure to comply with administrative requirements (under Regulation 7(4) of the Fisheries (SouthEast Area Commercial Fishing) Regulations 1986). This regulation sets out tagging requirements for commercially caught rock lobster in the Otago ﬁshery and sets a new o ence provision of a ﬁne not exceeding $20,000 for failure to meet tagging and labelling requirements.

Further information about the changes can be found on MPI’s website.

Pulsar Oryx LRF XG35

First impressions of Pulsar’s new compact thermal imager.

The new Pulsar Oryx LRF XG35 was launched earlier this year at the IWA in Europe. It replaces the highly popular Axion 2 LRF XG35, which was Pulsar’s premium compact laser rangeﬁnder thermal monocular. The Oryx, therefore, has large boots to ﬁll.

Shape and ergonomics

The Oryx is slimmer than the Axion 2 LRF, with the laser rangeﬁnder now built into the front of the device. Its hand strap can be ﬁtted on either side for ambidextrous use.

The control layout is as follows:

• Focus is now controlled by a very smooth and precise wheel that is in front of the eyepiece.

• The Menu button is situated at the back of the three-button control panel. It has small buttons on each side for selecting features and changing values. The left button also controls image ampliﬁcation and swaps image polarity. The right button controls magniﬁcation and enables Picture-in-Picture.

• The middle button controls the laser ranger ﬁnder.

• The front button controls video and stills recording.

• The On/O button is in front of the control panel.

All buttons are set below the top proﬁle of the Oryx to prevent accidental activation.

1500m Laser rangeﬁnder

The laser rangeﬁnder ranges to 1500 metres. My initial test on a warm, sunny day ranged a bush at 719m. Later, under cloudy conditions, I ranged a hedgerow at 1496m. Though these long distances may not always be needed, this rangeﬁnder will perform better in adverse conditions.

New features

These features were not available on the Axion 2 LRF:

• Image stabilization. This feature is currently only available on the high-end Pulsar Merger LRF XT50 and is a very welcome addition. It works extremely well, especially on higher magniﬁcations.

• Internal back-up battery. Powered by a high-capacity quick-change APS-5 European made Li-ion battery that is very easy to remove and replace. The device remains on while changing battery and provides an operation time of up to 12 hours.

• Proximity sensor. Activates sleep mode when removed

from the eye and starts-up immediately when returned to the viewing position, extending battery life and prevents light spill from the eyepiece at night.

• Belt clip. I am not sure how well this works yet, but it is easy to remove. I prefer a neck strap.

• Precision ground F35mm f1.0 lens. A well proven lens that delivers excellent image quality.

• Magnesium alloy body. Very strong and solid with outstanding internal heat sinking.

Pulsar Oryx LRF and Axion

The Pulsar Oryx LRF XG35 and the Axion 2 LRF XG35 are similar in size, though the Oryx is considerably slimmer, easier to hold and operate, especially for left-handed users.

Pulsar Oryx LRF XG35 laser rangeﬁnder

A new powerful and accurate 1500m laser range ﬁnder is an advantage. I was able to range a hedgerow at 1496m in cloudy conditions.

Existing features

• Lynred ATTO640-02 sensor. Ultra-reliable and proven 640x480 / 12 µm / 50Hz, producing a system NETD <20mK and manufactured in France by Lynred.

• Magnetic lens cap holder. The lens cap ﬁxes to the hand-strap with an inbuilt magnet.

• IP67 waterproof. Same as IPX7 waterproof rating (when battery is installed) and common on all Pulsar devices.

• All other operational features and imaging functions. The Oryx LRF has the same operational features as other Pulsar thermals.

I may have missed few things because I didn’t have a manual available at the time of writing. Looking through the device, the image is bright, clear and highly detailed, typical for a Pulsar thermal. The new Pulsar Oryx LRF XG35 retails for NZ$4,599, which is exactly $1000 less than the Pulsar Axion 2 LRF XG35 and yet, the Oryx simply blows its predecessor out of the water for features and functionality.

Pulsar product prices have fallen since the establishment of a second factory in Latvia, due to increased manufacturing capacity, while maintaining high quality standards. The Oryx LRF is manufactured in Vilnius.

What it is good for

It has a very good ﬁeld-of-view (21.9m @ 100m) due to its 35mm lens and 640x480 sensor, lending itself to optimum performance at short to medium distances. The Oryx LRF has a human detection range of 1800m and good spatial resolution. It is ideal for general hunting and stalking in reasonably good conditions and has a powerful, accurate laser rangeﬁnder. What it is not good for Long distance viewing requires a longer focus lens, 50mm for example. If you are scanning hillsides in wide open country, the Oryx would not be the best choice. If weather conditions are poor, or animals are obscured by long grass or foliage, all 12µm sensors will not have su cient penetration. In these conditions, a Pulsar Merger LRF XP35 with its 640x480 / 17µm sensor is far superior.

Finally

Despite the Oryx’s fine looks and finish, this European made thermal is built like a tank and will provide many years of decent service. I still have Pulsar thermals that are 10 years old that still work fine. In our throw-away society, it is good to know that your investment is a good one.

I am taking this Pulsar Oryx LRF out for the roar and will hopefully bag a deer, a pig, or knowing my luck, nowt! But I’ll give it my best shot anyway. Watch out for future articles in The Fishing Paper and Hunting News.

HUNT LIKE A PRO

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Our great range starts at $2599, representing great value for high quality, proven, European made thermal optics with advanced Lynred sensors.

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The inner Hauraki Gulf will be closed for three years to commercial and recreational spiny rock lobster ﬁshing to help rebuild the population, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says.

“Locals have raised serious concerns about the decline of spiny rock lobster in the inner Hauraki Gulf, and this has been backed up by ﬁshery-independent research. I share these concerns and to help the lobster population recover I’ve decided to stop spiny rock lobster ﬁshing in the inner Gulf,” Mr Jones says.

The closure, from 1 April 2025, and other changes are part of Fisheries New Zealand’s biannual sustainability reviews which look at catch limits and management settings for ﬁsheries around Aotearoa.

“Restoring this ﬁshery will also help to address an issue I have prioritised – kina barrens. Rock lobster eat kina, which helps keep kina numbers down so they don’t destroy important marine habitat and cause bare areas known as kina barrens.”

The closure extends south from the Cape Rodney-Okakari Point Marine Reserve to Port Jackson Bay on the Coromandel Peninsula.

“I have decided not to increase catch limits for the rest of the Hauraki Gulf rock lobster ﬁshery.

Under the current settings the stock is expected to increase, and this will further support the recovery of rock lobster throughout the ﬁshery,” Mr Jones says.

“I have also adjusted catch settings for Otago rock lobster, taking a cautious approach to ensure long-term sustainability of this ﬁshery.”

Earlier this month, Minister Jones also made changes to catch limits for Paciﬁc blueﬁn tuna in New Zealand waters.

“Pacific bluefin tuna, as a migratory species, is managed internationally throughout the Pacific Ocean by the Western Central Pacific Commission (WCPFC), of which New Zealand is a member.

“These tuna are doing well throughout the Pacific, and we’re seeing more of these fish in our waters. The WCPFC has agreed to increase New Zealand’s catch allocation, and I have changed catch settings to reflect this.”

“I have increased the total catch limit by 84 tonnes for the remainder of this fishing year to reflect the health of the stock and address concerns from commercial fishers who have been seeing increasing amounts of bycatch of Pacific bluefin tuna when targeting other fish.

“For the next ﬁshing year, starting 1 October 2025, the total catch limit will be increased a further 6.5 tonnes, which includes increases for customary and recreational allowances.

“I want to acknowledge everyone who provided feedback on the proposals. The many submissions we received from tangata whenua, recreational and commercial ﬁshers, environmental groups, and the public played an important part in the advice I received from o cials, and the decisions I made,” Mr Jones says.

Map showing closure to parts of the Hauraki Gulf for spiny rock lobster

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