At 16 years of age my fishing in the Eastbourne area was about to come to a halt. Although as a family we had talked about going to Australia, I never expected it to happen. Having been told there was no coarse fishing in Australia, I sold all of my gear. Nobody in Australia seemed to know anything about freshwater fishing for carp or roach etc, so I gave up asking.
A few years later I married and moved to New Zealand. Again I asked about coarse fishing and received the same blank stare. My fishing consisted of a couple of trips trout fishing where the size of the fish, the ease of catching, and the numbers available surprised me. Unlike the UK, in NZyou can fish any river or lake FREE!!
It is illegal to charge for fishing. You buy your licence each year and it covers most of New Zealand, costing about 20 pounds.
My sons, at about 8 years old, would go eeling in local streams and said they had found a pond with fish with red fins. I went with them one day and found that they were catching rudd and perch. An adult angler at the pond said there was a coarse fishing club and invited me to join.
I’ve been fishing for 23 years now in NZ and although I miss some of the species you have in the UK, the good climate and the excellent fishing helps to make up for it.
Bait has to be home produced, e.g. maggot breeding, and a wormery is a must. Groundbait has to be home-made and most of us are continuously working on new mixes.
If you’re a big fish hunter, the NZ eels take a lot of beating. Koi have been reported by net fishermen up to 60lb, but mid 20’s is the norm. If you are a match fisherman, each club (three in Auckland) holds onecompetition a month. Once a year we fish against the Australians (turns out they did have coarse fish there) and positions in the team are keenly sought. New Zealand cannot afford to send a team to the World Championships but we are working on it.
When not coarse fishing, there’s always trout all year round, salmon in the South Island for three months of the year, and gamefish – tuna, marlin, shark for 6 months of the year. For an avid angler there’s not much more!
If anyone is heading this way, bring your gear – THERE IS FISHING DOWN UNDER!!!
Barry Gausden
President
West Auckland Coarse Fishing Club
