Fishing on the Wellington shore (from left) James Moreland, Theodore Hamm and Maynard Rono. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
More fish are being caught in the seas around Wellington., and the La Nina weather pattern could be partly responsible.
One fishing expert said it had been a great fishing season which has seen some surprises, including fish that have never been caught before in the region.
Nestled on a wharf in Scorching Bay, a group of uni lads are part of the growing trend of people fishing around the capital.
Rain or shine, they usually hang out in this spot for about five hours.
Nineteen-year-old James Moreland took up the sport six months ago after being inspired by different Youtube videos of a group of friends fishing across the North Island.
"It's why I forced these guys to come fish with me. It's just a good time to, just to relax and not really worry about anything - you just chuck your bait in and you just wait and get to sit and chat and make jokes and listen to music and it's just no stress," Moreland said.
His friend Theodore Hamm loves the nostalgic childhood feeling of fishing, because it reminds him of the times he would go out with his dad at 7-years-old.
He taught James all the basics after getting back into the sport.
"It was a lot of fun when we all started out in Ngawi and we were all kind of learning, kind of at the same time but I kind of knew a tiny bit so I was teaching them how to do knots and teaching them how to cast. It was a lot of fun. He was using my dad's rod at the time, I was using my rod. Yeah, it was nice," Hamm said.
Fishing on the Wellington shore. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
Maynard Rono also tags along with his dad's old rod, and was also hooked into fishing by James.
He was waiting in anticipation for his first catch.
"I mean, I haven't caught anything in the past six months so hopefully I can catch something bigger than my hand, so yeah that's my goal," Rono said.
Fishing expert Peter Lamb has been training people in how to fish for the past 30 years.
He has noticed interest has kept growing in Wellington since the pandemic.
He said the La Nina weather pattern was making the water warmer.
"We're getting a lot more warmer water species like the snapper, kingfish, tuna and marlin getting caught around Wellington coastlines. It's incredible, in the last couple of weeks we've had about eight marlin caught off the back of Kāpiti in the Kāpiti area when there's been no marlin caught ever in Wellington's history," Lamb said.
Fishing on the Wellington shore. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
He had noticed more people out surf casting and actually having luck at reeling more fish in.
He said the rise of social media has also contributed to an increase of fisherman out and about.
"They go online in particular on Facebook and post catches and stuff then everyone thinks 'oh sheesh', there's fish there and they all go and if you post up a decent catch and say where you were, you know there might be 20 or 30 people fishing there the next day and consequently there is fish caught, there's more fish caught because there's more people having a crack and it sort of grows," Lamb said.
Lamb said another reason for the increase in fish could come down to a net ban along the West Coast of Wellington to Taranaki which has helped protect different species.
And after 50 years of fishing in Wellington, this season he says surf casters are catching more kingfish and snapper than ever.
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