Offsite issue 6

ISSUE 6 APRIL/MAY 2018

WORK HARD, PLAY HARD!

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OF A PAIR AKLASSES ON U S G 9

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TRADIE PROFILE:

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HOT STUFF BBQ MAGIC PG 4

CARL GETS INVENTIVE V

INSIDE

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T

PREPARING FOR THE ROAR

hese days, one of the favourite ways for Kiwis to share good times is at a BBQ and what better way to enjoy Nature’s bounty than over the BBQ with a few beers?

In this issue BBQ aficionado Smokey Hunter takes an in-depth look at BBQs and BBQ cooking.

So which BBQ is best for you – gas, charcoal or a combination smoker-grill?

As autumn approaches, many readers will be looking forward to May 5, game bird shooting Opening Day. In this issue Scott Taylor offers some pre-season advice and useful duck shooting tips.

With the roar just around the corner, deer hunters will be feeling restless too. Securing the right hunting block and making the effort to do a proper reconnaissance can really boost hunting success, reckons Barry Sharplin.

Auckland builder Carl Scott is the subject of this issue’s Tradie Profile. Carl loves fishing, diving and hunting – in fact anything outdoors. He’s also an inventor and author who enjoys a project and is always looking for better ways to do things.

Whatever you like to do off the tools, we’d like to share your projects and passions through these pages.

If you or one of your mates has a story to tell, contact : johneichelsheim@gmail.co.nz

CARL SCOTT - AN INVENTIVE MIND

JOHN EICHELSHEIM, EDITOR

CONTENTS 04 10

BBQ ENTERTAINING AT HOME CHESTERS PLUMBING ANNUAL FISHING COMPETITION

12 16 20

GET READY FOR OPENING WEEKEND

Off-Site is published bi-monthly by NZ Fishing Media Ltd. Offices are located at 177B Marua Road, Ellerslie, Auckland, Ph (09) 579 4060.

MANAGING DIRECTOR Grant Blair MANAGING EDITOR Grant Dixon OFF-SITE EDITOR John Eichelsheim DESIGNER Debra Tunnicliffe OPERATIONS MANAGER Sarah Ng EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES John Eichelsheim 021 775 789 johneichelsheim@gmail.com ADVERTISING MANAGER & ENQUIRIES Scott Taylor 021 862 579 sales@nzfishingnews.co.nz Advertising within this publication is subject to NZ Fishing Media Ltd’s standard advertising terms and conditions, a copy of which is available online at www.fishing.net.nz or by calling (09) 579 4060 Cover photo: Mike Hunter

VɈZP[LUa 3

Off-Site Feature B a rb e cue s

By Smokey Hunter

Hot The hard working tradie or stressed office worker deserves a satisfying food experience at the end of the working day.

W

hat better way to accomplish this than by firing up your own barbecue? It satisfies the fire cravings, titillates the taste buds and is a great way to entertain friends and family.

GAS OR CHARCOAL? For the time-poor, gas-fired barbecues are the go-to. They come in a variety of sizes and makes, but the smaller, less expensive models are the popular ones today.

The Weber Q series has taken the outdoor gastronomy world by storm and all its many clones also produce good food.

Gas is good, but for the bloke or blokess who wants to cook

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a really great feed, there is a more troublesome and fiddly, but ultimately more satisfying, method using charcoal.

Charcoal is not an easy alternative: it’s fiddly because charcoal barbecues aren’t always ‘set and forget’ and cleaning up afterwards is time consuming. But the satisfaction is in the end result: a smoky, woody flavour and a taste that satisfies the palate.

The good news is the flavours of charcoal can be replicated on a gas or electric barbecue. By adding wood chips, either in designated smoker box, or by making a simple pouch out of aluminium foil, filling it with wood chips and then placing it on the grill grate above a burner, you’ll get a nice smoky result, whether cooking pizza, a rotisserie chook, or a roast of lamb.

EVERYDAY COOKING On week nights the barbecue can supply the evening meal, especially during the warm summer months when the weather and plenty of daylight encourages outdoor living. If your deck or patio is sheltered and undercover, the barbecue can be used to cook and entertain year round.

For those who want to use gas, Weber Q barbecues come in three sizes, all suitable for the home. Other options include Beefeater Bugg, Zigler and Brown and the Gasmate copies, all of which work well, plus a plethora of other brands.

The smallest Weber, the BabyQ, can be taken camping or down to the beach to the cook an evening meal; bigger barbecues can be utilised as pizza ovens, as the family roaster, for cooking kebabs at the end of the day, or rustling up a

feed of chops and snags.With a little more effort, charcoal barbecues can do the same.

WEBER KETTLE The leader of the pack has to be the ageless Weber Kettle, which has been around for ever and was used by generations of barbecue cooks to roast the family turkey at Xmas, and on weekends to prepare “the best pork roast I have ever made.”

Steaks ‘reverse-seared’ on the Kettle take the steak lover to a special place and lamb chops cooked over charcoal have a flavour all of their own, especially when basted with rosemary branches dipped in olive oil.

Among the writer’s favourites are a leg of lamb, or a chook, rotisserie-cooked on the Kettle over charcoal or

VɈZP[LUa 5

LEFT Sausage, lamb chops and courgettes get the Kettle treatment.

RIGHT Lamb leg rotisserie going on.

FAR RIGHT A selection of Webers at Smokey's place.

BELOW Prawn and bacon kebabs on the Family Q.

ON WEEK NIGHTS THE BARBECUE CAN SUPPLY THE EVENING MEAL, ESPECIALLY DURING THE WARM SUMMER MONTHS...

‘heatbeads’. Popular heatbeads can be as hot as charcoal and are longer lasting.

Barbecues often lead their owners into the land of sharing and caring, encouraging them to put on a feed at home for mates. Either gas or charcoal is fine for this, and while gas barbecues and charcoal kettles can also happily work alongside each other, there comes a time when a smoker comes into the reckoning.

SMOKERS The smoker comes in electric, gas, charcoal or wood options. The most popular seem to be offset smokers, running charcoal or wood as fuel, plus a flavour source.

Bullet smokers like the Fornetto, ProQ and Weber Smokey Mountain are an ideal place to start the smoking journey, which can be very rewarding.

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Two briskets cooked over a water bath can be slow-smoked simultaneously in a bullet smoker, but if you have the local rugby team coming round you want to be running an offset smoker.

The writer has a bullet smoker, a Weber Smokey Mountain, and it is the most used charcoal burner he owns. While writing this article he was overseeing a slow, nine-hour smoke-cook of a 4.7kg pork picnic shoulder to feed his family and a few others with pulled pork and slaw buns. Yum! For a team of mates, Hunter recently cooked a lamb shoulder and a small brisket point end, both in the smoker, two chooks on the rotisserie in the Kettle, and sausages and steaks on the Family Q. And for the still hungry, he seared up a few lamb chops on the Kettle once the chicken was finished. It was a big night with very little left over!

COMBO COOKER-SMOKERS Another type of smoker is the ceramic cooker/ smoker, like the Big Green Egg or the range of Kamados. These ceramic cookers do a fantastic job. They are capable of a hot and fast cook/ grill, or a long, low and slow cook at a very steady temperature.

The low and slow style of cooking is possible with any sort of barbecue, but owners of ceramic cookers, bullet smokers, and offset smokers make an art form out of it, turning cheap (and previously unwanted) cuts of meat into juicy, delicious meals.

Top of the pops for beef would be brisket, followed by chuck, oyster blade, ribs and beef cheek.

All of these love being cooked for a long time – around 9 to 12 hours – at a very low 112-125°C.

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ABOVE Holiday crayfish on the barbecue.

FAR LEFT Roasting veges on the Weber Q. LEFT Chicken drums anyone?

The process turns the previously tough dog tucker into a deliciously gelatinous, melt-in-your-mouth feed you will want to eat again and again.

Lamb shoulder loves being cooked this way, too, the meat either sliced or pulled. Pork is a specialty area, where ribs, pork belly, pork shoulder or the whole hog can be turned into delicious meals. Chicken can be smoked, fried, roasted or grilled.

SATISFACTION-PLUS Barbecuing is a very satisfying pastime and might even lead to career changing moments – like taking up competition barbecue cooking.

The writer is taking a judging course where he hopes to learn how to present food attractively, but within the competition guidelines of the Australasian and New Zealand Barbecue Alliance.

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The food he will be judging includes pork ribs, beef (including brisket and beef ribs), chicken, lamb, seafood, chef’s choice and more. He reckons it should be a great day – but he’ll probably come home and bash out some pork ribs in the smoker afterwards. Heck, they only take four hours!

SMOKEY HUNTER

The writer occasionally works for Weber, demonstrating their products at a Weber specialty store and sometimes selling them too.

At home, he actively cooks on five Weber BBQs. He has five Weber BBQs at home that he actively cooks on. With that sort of hands-on experience, Hunter has a good idea of what is happening in the marketplace and what people like to barbecue.

The writer has an Instagram site – Smokey Hunter – and is very active on various Facebook barbecuing sites.

h t i w WIN

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THE REEL DEAL You can’t beat a whopper weekend catch, served with a side of philanthropy.

This year’s Chesters ‘Fanatical Fishos’ Annual Fishing Competition, running February 16 and 17, was the biggest yet, raising a stunning $6,000 for the Titirangi Volunteer Coastguard and another $6,000 for LegaSea. Even the sun shone its support as the event kicked off for the 28th year running. There were clear skies and little wind as a record 243 entrants headed off to their favourite fishing spots for the two-day event to reel in a possible winner.

The unique event, organised by Chesters Plumbing & Bathroom Centre, and supported by Rheem, is unlike any other fishing competition in New Zealand.

There are no restrictions on where entrants can fish, as long as they make it back to Chesters New Lynn in time for the weigh-in on day two.

That saw competitors pack off to fishing spots as farflung as Northland, Coromandel and Tauranga, as well as all around the Hauraki Gulf.

The event is open to Chesters’ accountholders, including plumbers, gasfitters, builders and renovators, but with its reputation only growing each year, outside fishermen are also eager to take part.

With eight categories up for grabs, this year’s winners hauled in an outstanding catch, including a 148kg blue marlin, caught in Whangaroa in Northland. Among the other winners were a kingfish that tipped the scales at 17kg, a hapuka weighing 21kg, and 7.9kg snapper.

But it’s not just about the size of the fish. Competitors hand over their haul, which is filleted and auctioned back to those taking part, with proceeds going to the Titirangi Volunteer Coastguard.

Chesters also made a generous donation to LegaSea, to support recreational fishing and conservation.

The final day was one for mates and family to join in the fun, with face-painting to keep kids entertained while the grown-ups capped off a weekend of friendly rivalry with a few relaxing drinks and a spot of competitive bidding on the best of the catch.

Paul Watson, commercial manager at Rheem, says this year’s event was a stellar one.

“It’s always a pleasure to support it, and to take Chesters and their customers out for a great couple of days fishing.”

D E

A

C

B A - Entrants at the weigh in at Chesters New Lynn at the end of the competition (Saturday).

B - Best weather they’ve had in years for the comp C - 148kg blue marlin caught by Paul Bunbury. Pictured from left are Paul’s father in law Bruce Martin, Paul Bunbury, Nick Chester and his son Boston, and Richard Skilton.

D - Matt Williams from Mirage Plumbing holding a snapper. Luke Dean from Accurate Plumbing looks on with envy.

E - Scott McIndoe of LegaSea receiving a cheque for $5,000 from Chesters. Chesters added another $1,000 to this for a total of $6,000 donated to LegaSea.

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Off-site Feature Duck shooting

By Scott Taylor

Saturday May 5 heralds the start of the 2018 game bird season and thousands of hunters like myself will be raring to go.

I

was out at our wetland recently preparing the pond by spraying weeds, planting shrubs and clearing weed while standing up to my armpits in luke-warm mud. I thought to myself, I couldn’t get paid enough to do this for a job, yet I relish it, especially when the dividends could be a bag limit of ducks on opening morning!

The same could be said about those stormy evenings with driving rain, with me wrapped in a raincoat and camo netting waiting for an evening flight of plump mallards to come in off the mud flats. For me, and I expect a lot of others, it’s a passion, and just like golf or tennis, it helps us relax and unwind after a stressful week at work.

INVOLVE THE FAMILY I’m lucky enough to have a gorgeous wife and son who enjoy gamebird hunting, so it’s a family activity. That makes getting away for a weekend hunt a lot easier than it may be for some.

I recommend taking your wife, partner and/or kids out on brief hunt one mild morning or evening to get a feel for it. You never know, they may end up enjoying it as much as you do.

Make sure the first occasion is a brief one, though, as there’s no better way to put off a would-be hunter than taking them out on an all-day hunt where they get bored to tears!

GEAR UP FOR SUCCESS I’ve have upgraded a lot of my game bird hunting gear in recent years, which has undoubtedly increased my harvest. Modern decoys such as Avian X have exceptional paint work with incredible detail. I make sure these deeks are in prominent places around my pond where incoming birds can see them clearly.

Motorised 'deeks' are a must! These have been a game changer and really help create movement within your decoy spread. I generally use two types, with a spinning wing down one end of the pond and a water disturber such as a paddle wing down at the other end.

A good duck call is another essential bit of kit, but using it to good effect requires some, if not a lot, of practice. I take mine out of storage in February and just leave it in my car. That way I can look and sound like a complete twat while stuck in traffic, banging out ducky tunes on the caller!

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LEFT Scott Taylor with his bag.

Get ready for

OPENING WEEKEND VɈZP[LUa 13

TO ENOUGH IFE Y K C U L I’M GEOUS W R O G A E V Y HA HAT ENJO SO T N O S D AN HUNTING N...

D R I B E M GA CCASIO O Y L I M A IT’S A F

SHOOT IT, EAT IT Once you’ve been out hunting the fun starts with preparing your game and making sure you utilise the food you’ve harvested. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a huge fan of roasted wild duck, but because I shoot it, I eat it.

Luckily there are a lot of other ways to cook duck. I’m a great fan of duck/pork sausages and duck salamis! They are superb.

I fill the freezer during the season and send a parcel of duck meat to the butcher when I have a minimum of 10kg.

But seriously, I practice a lot in my car, and if you decide to do the same, be prepared to wear ear plugs or muffs as it can be really loud.

Another tactic I’ve used in recent years is a combination of hand caller and electronic calling. This helps when the ducks are getting in close as you can turn on the electronic and get ready to shoot.

Camouflage should never be taken lightly, whether it is for yourself or for your maimai. Make sure you’re well concealed because ducks have exceptional eyesight and can detect movement extremely well. Your face is an important part to cover – conceal it either with a face net or camo paint.

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ABOVE TOP TO BOTTOM For Scott, game bird hunting is a family affair.

O-site Feature Deer hunting

G N I R A P E PR ROAR FOR THE

With the annual roar fast approaching, Barry Sharplin offers good advice on securing a hunting block and maximising its potential.

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I

t feels like the ink from my last roar article is still wet!

What happened to the year?

It’s not long now until the roar gets underway and hopefully you will be out there safely enjoying it. The following tips should make hunting the roar more successful for you.

TALK TO FARMERS A great idea is to undertake a reconnaissance mission before the roar starts – and don’t neglect your back doorstep.

It’s amazing how many people drive past trophy stags on the way to distant hunting blocks.

I recommend door-knocking and talking to farmers.

Spend some time on Google maps looking for blocks with a bit of bush, or areas close to large bush blocks that back onto DOC land you can get a permit to hunt.

Pick a weekend to go asking, or call in around lunchtime when there is a good chance a farmer might be home. The number-one rule is to always respect their answer – permission to hunt is a gift not a right – but don’t let a few refusals get you down.

I am sure if you dress tidily and only go around to ask permission with no plans to hunt that day, someone will say yes. It only takes one ‘yes’ to make a day of being told ‘no’ worthwhile.

It pays to look after the farmers. Ask the farmer what he drinks and get him a box or two and maybe a bottle of wine for the wife.

One big no-no is turning up for a hunt with a heap of mates. Go on your own for the first few visits to the property, until the farmer gets to know you and realises you are responsible.

When he says yes to you hunting on his farm the farmer accepts a lot of risk because, if you have an accident, he could be liable. So make sure you don’t blow it and take the time and effort to earn his trust.

BE DISCIPLINED Another important rule is to hunt only what you say you are going to hunt. So when you say you are going to hunt deer, HUNT DEER! Don’t shoot the pig that runs past, or that stray-looking cat by the old hay barn. The farmer might have been feeding it for five years to keep the mice away!

If there are pigs on the property, ask him if he minds if you shoot one should you cross paths, and how does he feel about stray cats? You might hate them but there is chance his wife loves them.

Be always mindful that one farmer’s pet should not be another man’s target. That’s a quick way to never be allowed back on a property again.

Find out if the farmer minds if you shoot a hind for meat.

If he thought you were only looking for a stag, it’s hard to release a hind back into the wild with a bullet between its eyes.

If the farmer gets the idea you’re not sensible or respectful, he can just as easily say no to you next time.

LEFT If you are deer hunting, shoot deer. Don't get distracted.

BELOW Proper preparation and reconnaissance prior to the roar can pay dividends.

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USE A CAMERA If you secure a place to hunt, try and set up a game camera on a trail or over a wallow. This is a great way to get the big boy because if he is hanging around you are bound to get a shot of him on your camera if it’s in the right spot. The bonus of a camera is that it’s a bit like a set of eyes hunting 24 hours, seven days a week. It leaves minimal scent and is pretty darned quiet!

When you get a picture of that big guy, check the camera footage thoroughly. Look for what

SEEING A GLIMPSE OF A STAG ON THE GAME CAMERA CAN KEEP YOU KEEN AND MAKING MORE TRIPS THAN NORMAL AND I WARN YOU NOW: IT IS ADDICTIVE.

THIS PAGE Game cameras can reveal a lot of animals you would otherwise not know were there.

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times he is on the camera. Is he doing most of his travel at night, early in the morning or on dusk?

If he’s like clockwork on the game camera, then get near there early and put your back up to a tree and wait. Not for five minutes – sit down for a good hour or two. That extra minute or five you spend waiting could make the difference between looking at a set of antlers or a bald patch on the wallpaper for another year.

Seeing a glimpse of a stag on the game camera can keep you keen and making more trips than normal and I warn you now: it is addictive.

Game cameras can be good in DOC areas also. Find a good wallow or trail, set up the camera and leave if for two or three days, then go back and check it.

You never know what’s there until you see it for yourself. I’ve heard stories of six-pointers turning into 12-pointers overnight, but the game camera can be more reliable than your mate’s eyes.

TAKE YOUR TIME It’s important to find out where the deer are holding on a new property and which way the breeze blows up and down gullies in the predominant wind. It’s handy to know these things, as such knowledge can make or break a stalk.

Observe from a distance if you are hunting open farmland.

Spend an evening with binoculars looking at a few gullies to see if anything decent comes out, but be sure not to give up hope. Just because you don’t see him doesn’t mean he’s not there.

REMEMBER THE PLB Another good point I would like to make is check your Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). The batteries have a shelf life, so if you brought your PLB five years ago, its batteries may need replacement. This may be the case even if it has never been activated. It would be a bit of a bugger if the one time in your life you needed it, your batteries were well overdue and it didn’t work.

Many people forget to take their PLB with them when they’re hunting. A lot of people leave it in the hut, but I can tell you now it would be no fun dragging yourself back to the hut with a broken leg or two so you can activate the PLB in the bottom of your pack, just because you didn’t want the extra weight in your day-pack.

ARD! D,YPLA HYAHRD! RK HARA

ISSUE 5ARCH 2018 FEB/M

O D, PL WR WORK HA

WAIKN LEY

F IR O A PA S O GLASSE SUN G 7

WE WANT YOU!

T R I P LEEAT TR

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THE AIM OF RHEEM OFF-SITE IS TO FEATURE SOME OF THE INTERESTING OUTDOOR STORIES TRADIES HAVE TO TELL. YOUR STORIES!

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Send us your best hunting, fishing, diving and outdoors images as well - we have a pair of top quaility Oakley sunglasses to be given away each month for the best image.

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Tradies, Rheem off-site is YOUR magazine. Please share your experiences and adventures with us. You don't have to be a puiltzer prize-winning writer - that is our job!

Look forward to hearing from you.

JOHN EICHELSHEIM

EDITOR RHEEM OFF-SITE

TALK TO US SO WE CAN SHARE YOUR STORIES WITH OTHERS.

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Tradie profile Carl Scott

Carl Scott

VENTIVE AN INVENTIVE MIND

Grant Dixon meets Auckland builder Carl Scott, a keen fisher, diver, surfer and hunter who is also an author and inventor.

T

he garage beneath Carl Scott’s house in Birkenhead on Aucland’s North Shore has produced a number of great fishing-related products.

When I arrived to interview Carl, he had taken on a job to build a plinth to transport and support a statue destined for Italy – it is the sort of problem solving task that Carl relishes.

A keen hunter and angler, Carl was introduced to the outdoors at a very young age. He grew up in Timaru where he fished for eels, followed by salmon and trout in the Opihi and Pareora rivers.

Much of the catch was bottled and preserved so the family had fish year-round.

Carl often went on kahawai missions to the nearby river mouth, where you had to fish up-current to avoid the offal and fat that was discharged by the local freezing works. Get it wrong and you spent a long time cleaning up your gear!

Carl’s family lived in the local Pest Destruction Board house and he helped clean the rabbiters’ traps in the off-season, using the traps to supplement the family’s diet.

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ABOVE Vivace before her make-over and the addition of a new Honda 100hp V-TEC outboard.

LEFT Carl has always enjoyed spearfishing.

He is pictured here with two nice snapper.

ABOVE RIGHT One of Carl’s creations was the ‘float boat’, perfect for spear-fishers working from the shore.

RIGHT Carl and son Connor (pictured) enjoyed many adventures together in the 13ft Pelin dinghy Carl built at home.

Moving to Auckland as a 20-year-old, Carl undertook a building apprenticeship, a trade that remains with him today.

He was amazed at the abundance of the fishery as his doorstep.

“I had heard about kingfish, but had never caught one, and the light gear I had wasn’t up to the job anyway,” Carl says.

Some better tackle was purchased, and Carl enjoyed some success fishing off the land at places like Takatu Point and other North Shore and Hibiscus Coast hot-spots.

It was not long before Carl realised there were even better options if you had a boat, so he set about building a small eight-foot (2.44m) dinghy. The need to go further afield subsequently resulted in the construction of a nine-foot (2.74m) and then a 13ft (3.96m) Pelin dinghy, which proved to be a great fishing boat.

Carl has stayed with the Pelin design: his current boat is a 17ft (5.2m) glass-over-ply Nomad named Vivace. He has put his building skills to good use, giving the boat, which he purchased second-hand, a complete make-over.

“The hull has been glassed inside and out and

two more frames and a bulkhead have been added to strengthen it. The glass windows have been removed and replaced with ply to add rigidity to the topsides.”

“I was prompted to thicken up the hull when I suggested to a mate we go out for a broadbill fish. He was worried an angry sword might be quite capable of piecing the hull with its bill. It started me thinking, so one recent Christmas I turned the boat over on the front lawn and re-glassed it inside and out.”

It was good move given Carl’s love of fishing offshore, heading to the likes of Great Barrier and the Mokohinau Islands.

“Last season I repowered her with a Honda 100hp V-TEC outboard which has proven a reliable and economical choice. I can get to the Barrier on less than 20 litres of fuel.”

One of Carl’s most memorable trips in Vivace was with son Connor, launching from Mangawhai for a little bit of gamefishing behind the Hen and Chicks in the summer of 2007.

“We had never game-fished before but found some birds and bait near a current line and thought that would be a good place to start looking for a marlin.”

VɈZP[LUa 21

I WAS PROMPTED TO THICKEN UP THE HULL WHEN I SUGGESTED TO A MATE WE GO OUT FOR A BROADBILL FISH.

TOP Welcome to the Thirty Pound Club – Carl with his 14kg snapper caught on Boxing Day. ABOVE Hunting is another of Carl’s outdoor interests.

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It proved a good call and it was not long before they were hooked into a stripie.

Eleven-year-old Connor took the helm while Carl fought the fish and they soon had it alongside the boat.

With no gaffs on board, Carl took out his trusty speargun and one well-placed shot saw the 70kg fish subdued and brought on board.

Another memorable catch was this Boxing Day when Carl and family members headed out to Motutapu “for a feed”.

Straylining with two 8/0 hooks set into a whole fillet of kahawai, Carl found himself attached to his personal best snapper which tipped the scales at 14kg – welcome to the elite Thirty Pound Club!

Kingfish have always held a special appeal for Carl, right from the early days when the late Ian Hunt at Hunt’s Sports beefed up a Penn 4/0 reel for him to give it some extra drag to take on these tough fighters.

Connor, who is in the tackle trade, laughs at Carl’s ‘old’ Penns, but they have stood the test of time and he says they still perform well.

As well as fishing, Carl is a keen free-diver and while he tends to target scallops and crayfish for the table these days, he was once a mad-keen spearo where big snapper and kingfish out from Tairua and the offshore Hauraki Gulf islands were his targets. A photo album brimming with great catches is testament to his skill as an underwater hunter.

In his early days in Auckland, if he wasn’t fishing or surfing, he was hunting.

His first excursions were to the Woodhill region where fallow deer were the target species. His first animal was a fallow deer, claimed with a solid shotgun round. Today he and Connor enjoy hunting red and sika deer together.

I first met Carl when he was promoting a smoker he had designed and built. It was a thing of great beauty, finished in cedar and fired by a gas ring on which a pan loaded with woodchips was placed to create the smoke.

He sold a few smokers and sets of plans, but they never took off in the way he had hoped. He also authored a particularly informative book on smoking.

In more recent times Carl designed a free-diver’s rotationally moulded ‘boat float’, meant to be pulled along behind a diver and used to put the catch in.

They proved popular but the cost of producing them, along with retail margins and having to share any profits with a partner, made the project uneconomic.

Carl is one of those people who is always thinking of ways to make his sport easier and more enjoyable, so you can be sure the smoker and the boat float will not be the last projects to the come off the drawing board in his inventive mind. Watch this space!