Longlines have always fascinated me since I was younger, walking along the beach and watching someone set a kontiki was always exciting. You never know what could pop up when they bring it in. Beach activities were had and then once the winch began to reel in the line, I remember rushing over to get a glimpse of what was on the end of the line. In the present day, I am lucky enough to make use of my uncle’s (Marty Cooke) manual long-line and have been learning how to set and pull it in through the use of a kayak. There is no luxury of electric winches or kontiki to get it out there but in some ways, this makes the fish feel much more earned when you do have a good set. But the aching arms from winding the crank and paddling does make me think twice.
A typical set starts with preparing a range of tough baits like salted tuna, slimy mackerel and kahawai. These are all favourites due to their tough skin which helps to hold onto the hook on the trip through the surf. On recent occasions I have combined this with a crab flavoured fish bite for an extra shellfish attractant to cover other species like blue moki and spotted dogfish.
Once all of the circle hooks are baited, I attach the clip to the rear of the kayak along with a sinker and begin the mission through the surf. Usually, I try to set when the weather is relatively calm to avoid being caught up in the line if I get bowled over by a large wave. As the line goes out, one of the team on shore begin to clip the hooks to each section through the use of shark clips. It’s important to spread these out to avoid tangles and also to cover more water.
At the midpoint of the set after 12 hooks are attached, we place a sinker and finally once all 25 of the hooks are attached another sinker is placed to anchor the rest of the line to the bottom where the fish are likely to be feeding.
Back out at sea I do my best to paddle the heavy line out to around 1 kilometre offshore before disconnecting and dropping the front sinker. I return to shore and relax for around 40 minutes before the retrieval begins.
In calm weather fish that can be expected are gurnard, kahawai, snapper, blue moki, spotted dogfish and many others who like to feed just outside the surf break.
The fence reel is usually shared between a few people as winding in a kilometre of line is not the easiest task on one pair of arms. As the first sinker reaches the beach, its excitement levels to 100 percent as usually the first catch is not far behind.
There’s a gurnard! And another! On this day the fish just didn’t seem to end with a line full of seven gurnard and a few large kahawai mixed in. Not bad for a few hours sat on the beach!
