THE CHATHAMS

New Zealand has some incredible untouched locations that don’t really get the limelight they probably deserve, and the Chatham Islands is one of them. Milan Radonich, from The Lateral Line, reports.

For some the Chathams make the perfect holiday destination. There’s only one hotel, one restaurant, a couple of fast food joints (that open once a week,) a general store for shopping, and a liquor store with the most enjoyable of publicans who makes your shopping experience one that you probably won’t forget in a hurry. Then there are some of the most windswept landscapes that show the scars of a hard existence, with plants and animals only found in this part of the world, and an array of ocean beaches and rocky coastlines that get left alone to do what they do.

This was to be our second trip to the islands, and with time, the place really starts to show its true potential to those who enjoy want hunting and gathering. With time on this location you get to meet the people who reside in such a wild environment, and with that comes trust to let you in and show you around their incredible playground.

We have been concentrating on the fishing and the seafood along the shorelines. Every time we go, we have a plan that never comes to fruition, as the weather is always the deciding factor. You can get swell and wind from all directions, meaning you have to work with the hand you’re dealt. Our plan for this trip was concentrating on catching kings in the massive lagoon and hapuku off the rocks, but huge swell and wind ever y day made both options not achievable. New plans were hatched, and we decided to spend time on one of the beaches where the lagoon opens out into the South Pacific Ocean.

That’s fair lump of kingfish from the beach!

The kahawai (Aussie salmon) were thumpers too

Mobility on the long beach was helpful

There’s nothing quite like cruising down a beach without a footprint or tyre track in sight. We were to be the only visitors on the beach for the week and who knows, maybe the month. The beach was alive with an array of sea birds, and paddle crabs were all along the shoreline. With massive tuatua beds just in the wash, every kilometre of coastline you found something different; either a dead pilot whale or a spring pumping fresh water out onto the beach. It was an untouched supermarket that was fully loaded. You just needed you to remove your shoes and start gathering a feast fit for a king and queen.

The fishing was incredible. Every cast resulted in giant kahawai (Aussie salmon for non-kiwis) eating your offerings until you just couldn’t catch another, and with all that bait around, our target, the mighty kingfish, shouldn’t be too far behind. Kingfish in the Chathams is only a recent thing. The locals don’t recall them being there forever, but over the last 10 years they have been showing up in the warmer months in big numbers. It’s a pretty untapped fishery, and one that required some time to try and work out, but the more you fish, the more you see the potential.

One story of massive schools of kingfish hunting the lagoon for garfish over the warmer months is what got me to the island. Catching big kings in very shallow water is something I really enjoy doing, and one day the weather gods will align and we will get the time to hunt the lagoon, but for this trip we decided to start stick baiting the beaches.

With crystal clear water we began scanning the beach with the drone, and we soon realised that the kahawai schools weren’t just on the river mouth, but pretty much the whole beach. With the drone we could cover a huge amount of beach in a short time and have a really good look around the schools of bait. It didn’t take long to start finding kings around the bait and then lures were deployed. These kings hadn’t seen lures before, and they mowed down everything we threw at them. Catching kings off golden sand and crystal clear water around massive schools of bait was something special, and it’s not every day you get to have this type of fishing.

The author with a typical Chathams kahawai

We spent two days on the beach before the weather turned for the worse and we had to retreat from the beach. This gave us time to get into the water and harvest some paua (abalone) for food and guts for bait for the coming days, as the wharf fishing for Moki is pretty outstanding on the island. Moki is another fish not caught that much on the mainland; well, not that I have experienced anyway. The Chathams have some giant moki, and while the weather was blowing and raining, we used our time well to catch some crazy big moki around the island and explore this amazing place.

The more we visit the Chathams, the more they show you their true selves. We have only scratched the surface of what this place has to offer. Our next trip, which we are planning now, Moki are sensational table fish involves hunting the island for pigs, wild sheep and cattle and game birds. This place has it all if you don’t mind crazy weather and incredible hunting and fishing.

All smiles over a lovely surfline kingfish

Thanks to all on the Chathams who allow us to come and enjoy their home. If you want to see the shows we filmed while on location, go to Youtube and search “The Lateral Line”.