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Kahawai Good at Jumping and Head Shaking
"Pound for pound a kahawai would tow any trout backwards through the water." They really are tremendous fighters and exciting to catch on rod and line. They repeatedly jump clear of the water when hooked and often escape to fight another day. I say kahawai are New Zealand's greatest fighting fishI They always give a good account of themselves and never let you down. If you really want to have some fun try casting into a school of big kahawai on light spinning gear, or try taking them on with fly fishing gear you normally use for trout. Huge schools of kahawai can "hang around" a rivermouth for weeks on end providing exciting sport, and a fish or two for the smoker. Kahawai almost always jump when hooked. They are amazingly strong runners and powerful fighters for their size! Sometimes you can hook and loose several kahawai all on the same cast! In past years I have witnessed large schools of kahawai at the mouth of the Waimakariri River that have "camped" there for weeks at a time. In recent years there haven't been these vast schools with their attendant screaming seabirds. However kahawai are still there. You best option is to cast out and see what happens. Often you think they aren't there because you can't see them.
When the big kahawai schools were at the mouth of the Waimakariri, and other rivers, you could often see their backs as dark shapes in the breakers. Kahawai aren't afraid to come right into very shallow water when chasing baitfish like silveries. At the mouth of the Rakaia River I have often seen kahawai chase the silveries right up onto the stones. With a big school of fish "sitting" in the rivermouth kahawai spinning can get very exciting indeed. To make really long casts at rivermouths when fishing for kahawai I use a 13 foot salmon rod matched with an Abu 7000 or Abu 7500C baitcaster reel. The best fishing method is to cast out across the surf as far as you can. Point your rod down towards your lure as you wind. Every now and again your ticer should pop out of the water and skim across the top just like a fleeing bait fish!
IGFA World Record Kahawai
The current IGFA All Tackle World Record for kahawai stands at 19 lbs. 4 ounces ( 8.74 kgs) . That fish was caught by Stephen Muller at Currarong, Australia, on 9 April 1994 . The heaviest kahawai I have seen caught in the South Island would have been no more than 6 or 7 pounds at the most so a kahawai weighing 19 lb 4 oz is an incredibly big specimen. Amazingly kahawai grow to least 3 ft (1 m) and 33 lb (15 kg).
Australian Salmon
In Australia kahawai are known as “Australian salmon” which is quite wrong as this species is in no way related to the true salmon or their relatives. These species are found around New Zealand, Tasmania , and the southern coast of Australia. They are found in waters of the continental shelf, estuaries, bays and inlets. Kahawai school in shallow, open coastal waters or form large surface aggregations in deeper water.
Kahawai Not As Plentiful Today
Kahawai are not as plentiful around New Zealand today as they were prior to the 1970s. Though there are still plenty of kahawai around the vast schools that would once “sit” for months at a time, over summer, off river mouths are now sadly a thing of the past. Kahawai are tremendous fighters when hooked on rod and line. The best way to find large concentrations of kahawai is to look for feeding birds. These often indicate the presence of kahawai, which chase and herd smelt, sprats and anchovies go into tightly packed schools.
Kahawai Tackle
Kahawai will take baited hooks but are much easier to catch on spinning lures. Kahawai are used to chasing bait fish so chasing a silver ticer would be quite a natural reaction for a kahawai. These fish are very strong and will often bend your treble hooks. I have found the best hooks to use on kahawai lures are 1/0 VMCs. Kahawai will jump clear of the water as they attempt to dislodge the hook. Whilst airborne they also shake their heads from side to side. This often results in lost fish. Shorter lures are harder for the fish to dislodge. Ideally you want the lure to slide down the line to give the hooked fish less leverage - in the manner of a Tassie Devil. Mind you loosing a few kahawai as they jump out of the water is all part of the fun of catching them.
I have always found bright silver ticers to work the best on kahawai. These are about the same size as a silvery which the kahawai schools chase at river mouths. However I am sure that when they are in feeding mode they will hit just about anything that is moving.
The most exciting way to catch kahawai is on fast moving lures: ticers and small jigs are ideal to cast near the edge of a feeding school. Kahawai are powerful light tackle fighters. A kahawai hooked on 6 lb monofilament is a real handful; and quite a challenge when hooked from shore. As kahawai often come right in close to the beach they make ideal targets for those anglers up to the challenge of landing a kahawai on saltwater fly fishing tackle. I suggest you pack plenty of backing on to your fly reel! The rods I prefer are either Kilwell Enticers or my English Harrison. These make it possible to cast out over 100 metres. Much depend on how far out the kahawai school is. Sometimes they are very close right in the breakers. At the mouth of the Rakaia River this makes them easy to get to. But at the mouth of the Waimakariri River, where it is shallower, greater casting distance is a big advantage.
You also might like to see Canterbury Winter Kahawai.
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