Marine Parade ‘monster’ hooked
A Napier surf-caster has made a catch of a lifetime, hauling in a whopping 8.1kg (17lb) snapper — and he puts it all down to good luck and a new reel.
Part-time chef Jason Williams thought he had hooked a “decentsized” kahawai — initially unaware of the Marine Pde “monster” on the end of his line.
Williams was out for a Monday morning fish when something grabbed his pilchard bait.
“I was just surfcasting off Marine Pde down by the pump track.
‘‘I was a bit surprised because it didn’t put up much of a fight, so I thought okay, it’s just a decent-sized kahawai . . . and then I saw just a glimpse of it jumping and I thought okay, it’s a good-sized kahawai.
“I just kept my eyes on the rod tip and just kept dragging it back in and then I looked down.
‘‘All I saw was its fin come up, and I just thought, ‘ oh my God, I’ve just caught a monster’.
‘‘So I had to run down there and drag it up, just to make sure it was a good size, and it was phenomenal.”
Williams used an 11.3kg (25lb) main line and an 18kg (40lb) leader.
“I’ve usually got a smaller set-up but I had a new reel and I hadn’t changed the line over to my usual 15-pound (6.8kg) line.
‘‘I just hadn’t had time to do it, so I thought I would just take it down and try it out, and she damn well worked.”
He had not been expecting to catch a snapper of such size, especially in winter: “It was fat. It had been chewing on crabs and sand biscuits.
‘‘Maybe it just had a feeling to eat crab, so it came in close, and I was there at just the right time at just the right place on the right day and caught it.
“That is the biggest fish I’ve ever caught, that’s for sure. When it came
It was fat. It had been chewing on crabs and sand biscuits. Maybe it just had a feeling to eat crab. Jason Williams
up, that’s just the highlight.”
Being a chef, Williams cut the fish into fillets, rolled them in oil, butter, flour and seasoning and pan-fried them, then ate them with fresh bread and home-made tartare sauce. “They went down a treat.” He saved the skull of the fish and intended to preserve it for posterity. He plans to have it mounted on his wall.