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Sports correspondent & historian with |
As I have mentioned in several previous pieces, one of the joys of being an amateur sports historian is discovering and confirming new information about the distant past.
Looking for a new story angle, I recently searched Papers Past online for what was happening in Tauranga sports a century ago.
I anticipated coverage of rugby and cricket in 1924 but was surprised to find many articles about deep-sea fishing, now known as sport fishing.
Zane Grey, the noted American author, visited our country for big game fishing in the 1920s and later published ‘Tales of the Angler’s Eldorado, New Zealand’.
The book includes descriptions of the author’s pursuit of huge swordfish off the coast of our country.
A daily newspaper article dated 27 February 1924 provided an example of the many big fish that abounded on the Tauranga coast.
“Swordfishing parties around Mayor Island continue to enjoy excellent sport,” one fisherman said.
“The swordfish are plentiful.”
He estimates that in one day alone, he sighted about 20 swordfish and considers the sport the best in New Zealand.
A NZ Herald story confirmed the awakening of worldwide interest on October 24, 1924.
” A meeting convened by the Tauranga Tourist Traffic League was held last evening to discuss matters concerning the sport of deep sea fishing.”
“The President, Mr AJ Mirrielees, stated that enquiries were received about the fishing, but there was no organisation in authority. He stressed the need to arrange launches and fishing gear, the certification of the weights of fish, the provision of camping areas, etc. He urged that a responsible body was needed to cater to the sportsmen's requirements.”
“The league might take over the responsibility by means of a fishing club associated with it, or an independent organisation might be established”.
A motion was approved to establish the Tauranga Deep Sea Fishing Club to promote fishing sports in the Bay of Plenty.
“Various matters concerning the weighing of marlin, sharks and kingfish, etc., caught off Mayor Island, were discussed, the erection of a derrick at the island and the hiring of gear to sportsmen”.
This was the organisation’s beginning, and it evolved into today’s Tauranga Sport Fishing Club, with 3500 members, headquartered at Sulphur Point.
Conservation was an unknown word in earlier decades, but fish were plentiful around Mayor Island in the first five years after World War Two.
Records show that around six charter boats caught 749 marlin in the 1948 and 1949 seasons.
Sadly, many fish were dumped at sea after being photographed on the gantry at Mayor Island.
In the 1970s and 1980s, anglers became worried about decreasing game fish catches. By the 1990s, advocacy led to strict regulations on commercial fishing for these species.
Today, the fishing community has become much more aware of conservation. Many of the game fish caught are carefully handled, tagged, and released, which allows information to be updated for future generations of big fish anglers.