Species: Blue Cod (Parapercis colias) Location: Kuaotunu Coastline, Coromandel, New Zealand Date: February 24, 2014 Sometimes you luck into a wide variety of species early and catch lucky breaks with every cast. This is not one such tale. *** David Clarke and I had been plying the coastal waters of New Zealand for weeks before…
Species: Common Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) Location: Lake Pupuke, Auckland, New Zealand Date: February 19, 2014 There aren’t many native freshwater fish in New Zealand. There aren’t many non-native ones, either. Along with European Perch and Brown Trout, the Common Rudd is one of several species European settlers brought with them to the tiny island nation,…
Species: European Perch (Perca fluviatilis) Location: Lake Pupuke, Auckland, New Zealand Date: February 19, 2014 New Zealand is famous for its trout fishing. It’s also well-known for its freshwater eels. What it is not renowned for is perch. So when I caught a perch in the small, urban lake at the heart of Auckland, I…
Species: Jack Mackerel (Trachurus symmetricus) Location: Russell Municipal Wharf, Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand Date: February 19, 2014 New Zealand’s Bay of Islands was undoubtedly the coolest place I’d visited at the time — it remains one of the coolest to this day. After a solid first day of sea kayaking and getting the…
Species: Australasian Snapper (Pagrus auratus) Location: Paihia, Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand Date: February 14, 2014 Love was in the air. It was Valentine’s Day, and I was joined for the romantic holiday with the love of my life: fishing. To make the holiday even more romantic, I was living out a lifelong fantasy:…
Species: Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Location: Puget Sound, Seattle, WA Date: July 23, 2013 Washington has some tremendous fisheries. For that reason, it’s strange that I spent so long without fishing this state. In fact, when I left on this trip in my newly-purchased 2002 Honda CR-V with my friends Ben Blanchard and his then-girlfriend…
Species: Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) Location: San Pablo Bay, San Francisco, CA Date: March 25, 2012 This is the fifth and final story in succession and ties in with the other species I caught on the same day, and you’re best reading them in order: First and Second and Third and Fourth. The California Delta is famous…
Species: Leopard Shark (Triakis semifasciata) Location: San Pablo Bay, San Francisco, CA Date: March 25, 2012 This is the fourth story in succession and ties in with the other species I caught on the same day, and you’re best reading them in order: First and Second and Third. *** It was so long ago; the memory…
Species: Striped Seaperch (Embiotoca lateralis) Location: Chetco River North Jetty, Brookings-Harbor, OR Date: September 14, 2011 I first saw Striped Seaperch as a kid. The beautiful, coppery iridescence paired with stunning cerulean lines made the cooler full of these beautiful fish stand out in stark contrast to the muted colors of the rockfish, salmon, lingcod…
Species: Spiny Dogfish (Squalus acanthias) Location: San Pablo Bay, San Francisco, CA Date: March 25, 2012 This is the third story in succession and ties in with the other species I caught on the same day, and you’re best reading them in order: First and Second. In the United States, Atlantic Cod is the fish…
