A Whakatāne man has taken to social media to share a “tall” fishing yarn that has come out of lock down.
Muti-sport legend Neil Jones posted on the NZ Surfcasting and Rockfishing Facebook page about an epic fish caught from the Whakatāne Wharf – a wharf Jones said is usually good for catching herrings and the off Kahawai.
So today my wife is out for a bike ride, Jones writes. She goes along the main Whakatāne wharf and sees this kid’s small rod bent over.
“The boy is holding the rod hard but Dad {he later finds out Koro] needs to take over.”
After 15 minutes – plus a mean fight (luckily the fish has mainly swam away from wharf) they actually have the fish near surface and semi tired.
“The grandson and Koro, my wife and a few others now see this is a real nice Kingi,” Jones wrote.
“The Dad knows there is no way they can try to get fish up on to wharf as the line will snap so he gives the rod back to young one with instructions. Hold on to this and try to keep the fish away from the pillars.”
The wharf is high and the water below deep but off jumps Koro. He swims and grabs line in front of fish and maneuvers past pillars and finally gets fish to shore.
“What a massive effort. My wife couldn’t believe they pulled this off,” Jones posted. “Surely a great memory during lockdown 2020.”
The post has gathered hundreds of comments, most congratulating the pair for catching the Kingi.