Dave cracks the over 40lb or 19 plus kgs Snapper

By Bill Hohepa NZ's fishing lengend.

Congratulations Dave on a magnificent feat of fishing. I've been chasing such a fish for over 40 years and haven't cracked it yet. Here it is folks with a slightly smaller one caught by Dave's mate.

Here's an article I wrote recently on big snapper:

I would say the it’s every new snapper fisherperson’s dream to catch a snapper over 9kg or a 20 pounder as they’re commonly referred to by most fisho’s.  Probably because the number sounds better when the story is told.  Then once the 20 pounder is caught and the story has worn itself out, its time to go to the next stage, a 14.5kg snapper, that’s 30 pound in the old measurement.  30 sounds much better than 14.5l.  Snapper these sizes are reasonably common these days.  Almost unheard of between 1970 and 1986.  There would have been a reasonable amount of them around prior to about 1965 and back into history.  So why the 1970 to 1986 gap?  That’s the time of the uncontrolled commercial fishing.  Anyone could get a fishing licence and go netting, long lining, seining, trawling what ever, which no limits on catch.  So as you can imagine a fair amount of fish got taken. Near the end it was very hard to catch a fish by an amateur.  Then the quota system came in 1985 and since that happened the fish has recovered.  I fish in the Hauraki Gulf most of the time and the snapper fishery there is as healthy as it ever was.  Mind you in the 70’s amateur boat fishing weren’t as sophisticated as it is to day, and because it was hard to catch a fish, not many people actually did it.  I was rockhopping back then and the rocks did produce some fish.   They also produced a few 20 pounders as well but they were from way up north.  So in my opinion the commercial quota system has worked.  Over recent times I have seen, heard of and read about snapper 30 pounds (14.5kg) and over reasonably regularly so they are out there.  Now when the angler has captured the 30 pounders it’s not too impossible to set his or her sights on an 18kg or 40pound snapper.  Year right I hear you say.  Well although very rarely caught they have been all the same.  So they are out there.  To land a 40-pound or 18kg snapper is my personal goal.  The last one I heard of was down Napier way.  A ma and his son were surfcasting off a local beach and hooked a snapper 18kg or 40-pound.  They weighed it, took a photo, which went to Fishing News, then took it home and had it for dinner.  It would have taken a few dinners to consume it all, unless all the Whanau came to help them.  What would a fish that size be like to eat?  We they’re a bit course really.  The fillet is very big, a bit like half a sheep really.  The best way to prepare it for coking is to slice the fillet in half horizontally.  The fillet is about 8 to 12cms thick, so slicing it half will reduce cooking time and it won’t be as tough.  Snapper over 30-pound are for the wall really, the biggy, the talking piece when visitors come.  So more about snapper over 40-pounds or 18kg.  As you might know from my TV shows on Cue TV I’ve spent a few fishing seasons at Norfolk Island, about 500 miles north west of New Zealand.  I’d heard over the years that big snapper resided there.  When I first went there I was introduced to a keen young charter operator called Dave Bigg.  My first question to him was had he heard of any snapper well over the 18kg mark caught there over the years?  He hadn’t personally, but would ask around.  He came back and said there was plenty of snapper caught between 14.5 and 18kgs but hadn’t actually heard of one over 18kgs.  A little later he took Captain Asparagus and I fishing for snapper.  That was a memorable experience.  We caught 5 snapper the heaviest was 27-pound or around the 12.2kg mark, and the smallest was 16-pound or around the 7.2kg mark.  However once the sharks arrive, its time to move away from there.  On Norfolk there seems to be only one area that produces these XOS snapper and Dave has it on his GPS.  Having been out with Dave a few times over the past 3 years and talking about hearing the 18kg snapper plus stories that filtered down to New Zealand, I think I must have got him thinking.  A few weeks ago I got a call from Dave who very excitedly told me he had caught 3 snapper enormous snapper.  The heaviest was a whopping 19.2kg or 42.2-pounds, one at 18.3kgs or 40.2-pounds and a third snapper of 17.5 kgs or 38.5-pounds.  Three enormous snapper.  So even though Dave hadn’t heard of snapper of 40-pounds ever being caught, he has succeeded in creating the legend, and he himself will become a local fishing legend with snapper like that under his belt.  Congratulations Dave you’re a legend in my book.  I’m actually taking a fishing tour to Norfolk at the end of November of 7 days fishing.  That information is on my web site www.fishinghohepa.co.nz.  So the secret to catching a huge snapper like that is big baits, and I mean big baits.  Something like half a mullet should do it.  Having said that though, I did catch a 12kg snapper on a small pillie head once, so I guess it all comes down to this.  If a fish wants what you’re offering, it will have it, simple as that really.  Just so you can get a handle on the size of the snapper Dave and his mate are holding up in the photographs, Dave is 6 feet tall.  Big fish!

regards

Bill.