Big Game Hunting New Zealand Sep/Oct 2015 | Page 38

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s a tradesman the highlight of
the year at work is the end of
year do, many go out for dinner,
have a bbq and a few beers or a big
night out with the boys at ya local. But
for us it’s a little different. We jump on
a 50ft boat and head south to D’Urville
Island for our 3day annual fishing trip.
We had a bit of a change this year as
we had left the booking a little late, so
the normal pre-Christmas trip become
the post-Christmas trip, late January.
But I wasn’t complaining, the hunter
in me took over and I immediately
thought of stripping stags. Late Jan
was perfect.
“Beep beep beep” the hiace horn
was sounding as a grabbed my kit
and out the door to find the street
lights still on and the van already
half full of jokers. We took to the
road from Upper Hutt to Mana picking
up others along the way. This year the
crew was made up of 12 guys from
work, suppliers we use and a few
mates. The chilly bins were choker
and the venison defrosting as Big
John our skipper gave us a safety
briefing before firing up the boat and
we were off in the direction of the
South Island. The weather couldn’t
of been better and the term ‘glass’
springs to mind.
The plan was to fish our way across
the Cook Strait to our dig’s for the
night, Furneaux Lodge. After an hour
or so we hit the first spot targeting
Tarakihi and as per usual they were
thick in the water and coming on fast.
As the day went on we had a ball
catching Groper, Blue cod, Tarakihi
plus we pulled up a few Scollops for
dinner later that night. We eventually
arrived at the lodge where we settled
in for the night enjoying a few cold
beers around the bar.

Summer
ADVENTURE
Hunting and Fishing

Day 2 dawned a cracker yet again
and the plan today was to fish our
way around to D’Urville Island
where we were to be staying for the

STORY BY - BEN TUMATA

38 BGHNZ Issue 8 Sep/Oct 2015

www.bghnz.co.nz

www.bghnz.co.nz

39 BGHNZ Issue 8 Sep/Oct 2015