DEEP SEA FISHING.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 373, 15 March 1932, Page 9

DEEP SEA FISHING.

Mrs Eastham Guild Gives Her Impressions. HOLDER OF RECORD. “ The facilities for deep-sea fishing in NeAv Zealand are unrivalled, and we have been so pleased with our visit that we are coming here again next season,” said Mrs Eastham Guild, of Tahiti, who, with Mr Eastham Guild, has returned to Auckland after several weeks’ deep-sea fishing at the Bay of Islands. Fishing off Cape Brett, Mrs Eastham Guild caught a black marlin swordfish weighing 823 -pounds, the fourth heaviest sporting fish captured on rod and reel and the largest fish caught by a woman. Mrs Eastham Guild had presented to the Bay of Islands Swordfish and Mako Shark 7 Club a trophy, to be knoAvn as the Carrie-Fin Cup, for competition among women. Mrs Eastham Guild writes under the pen-name of “ Carrie-Fin.” It will be won annually by the woman catching the heaviest game fish, and a miniature of the cup will be given to the successful angler. “ When we came to New Zealand we tried to visualise a quiet, bushfringed bay, off the beaten track of travellers, as the base for our fishing operations,” said Mrs Eastham Guild. “It was a dream of mine which I hardly thought would come true, yet precisely such a place exists at Deep Water Cove. Everything, including boat and tackle, is provided for the visitor, the boatmen are kind, courteous, and eager to help, and the place is a quiet, secluded retreat, comfortable and fascinatingly beautiful. In Tahiti, the fishing is carried on entirely privately; we have no camps and the sport has in no way been developed.” Fishing at Tahiti. One of the attractions of sea fishing in New Zealand, she added, was the battle with the elements, the difficult seas and tides along a rugged coast. In Tahiti the sport was lazy and luxurious on account of the smooth tropical seas. The New Zealand fish, while splendid fighters, were not so savage as the Tahitian specimens, which were inclined to rush the bait with great ferocity and sometimes attack the boat. This was largely due to the scarcity of food, compared with New Zealand waters. “It is "the abundance of food that impresses me most in New Zealand,” said Mrs Eastham Guild. “ Here we start our fishing at 6 a.m. and it is sometimes noon before we get a bite, and then one sometimes has to run twenty miles out to sea to get them. The immense schools of small fish off Cape Brett fascinated me.” Mr and Mrs Eastham Guild are taking their Auckland-made launch, the Carrie-Fin, back to Tahiti. “It is a splendid piece of Avorkmanship,” said Mrs Eastham Guild.