‘Sporting To Let Fish Go’

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31596, 6 February 1968, Page 1

‘Sporting To Let Fish Go’

(N Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Feb. 5. If New Zealand deep-sea anglers were true sportsmen they would return big-game fish to the water after bringing them alongside the boat, said an American fisherman in Auckland today. Mr J. S. Hagestad, an oil drilling contractor of California, who is with a party of 33 fishermed on a

marlin and tuna fishing tour of the South Pacific, urged New Zealand anglers to use artificial lures so that fish could be returned unhurt to the sea. Marlin do not lisually swallow lures. New Zealand fishermen Use mostly kahawai as bait which means that the hook is embedded in a fish’s stomach by the time it is brought to the boat. Mr Hagestad said: “Unless we’re fishing competitively we usually return 90 per cent of the marlin we catch off the California coast We let them go so someone else can catch them and in turn let them go again. It's only good sportsmanship.” Mr Hagestad said Cali-

fornian deep-sea anglers often tagged marlin before setting them free. One tagged fish was later caught off Japan. The vice-president of the Whangaroa Swordfish Club, Mr F. J. Webber, who met the Americans today, doubted whether there would be much support for Mr Hagestad’s idea in New Zealand. “They use lures because they can’t get fish bait,” he said. "We use kahawai because we can’t get so many lures. “Anyway we ■ eatch more fish on bait than they do on lures.”

Mr Webber said that although there were too few marlin landed to be canned commercially they tasted very good when smoked.