"Good day, wasn't it?” – “Yeah ... an excellent day. Really good.” The deck was hosed down, the filet’s packed in the ice box and the fish carcasses had been collected into a bin to leave on the wharf for Peter Ganley’s crayfish pots. For a first taster, Wayne “Gibbo” Gibson had already passed around sushi with wasabi and soy sauce. And tonight there would surely be a few more fish recipes tried out before going down for a drink. As the Mary Rose was following the ferry into Tryphena harbour, the anchor lights of a dozen or so vessels showed where up and down the coast other fishermen were settling in for the night. It was the autumn Black Jug Fishing Haggle and over 85 fishermen and women had put their names down.

The ingredients for a good fishing trip are simple. It takes someone to kick it off by saying: “Let’s go fishing.” The ‘punters’ on the Golden Rose explained that was how Greg had got a mate or two keen to go along. Then somebody else heard about it, said they’d be on and also knew someone who would want to come. When they came back with stories from Great Barrier Island, it wasn’t hard to round up ten people for another trip after the summer, finding a house with enough spare mattresses and going out with Fred Simpson again - this time skippering Mark Storey’s boat, the Golden Rose.  For the rest, a good fishing trip is about making it out there, getting wet, cold, stiff, and knocked about. That is to say, just having a good laugh.

“Let’s go fishing – it’s Friday afternoon and the fish are biting. I’ll wager you 10 bucks that you won’t catch a bigger Snapper than I will.” For Peter Harris and Wayne Bloor that’s all it took for them to sharpen the hooks and get the launch ready. “That sounds like a haggle to me. You must have something suitable for them put their money in.” Jill Bloor said to Margery who got a Black Jug from behind the bar. With Doug Buhler and Archie Allinson also putting their money in the pot, during that summer in the mid 90s locals regularly saw the two boats heading out from Tryphena Bay on Friday afternoons. 

“What’s going on there?” Pete and friends soon were challenged. A bottle of rum was proposed, a wager of 50 dollars demanded in return. “Let’s see about that,” and Scallop passed a hat around the Social Club. “Ok, you’re on. There’s ten of us that are in.” But when after the weekend Doug pocketed the haggle, as he had done the first time the money was put in the pot, he did not imagine that within a few years he would have over 200 fishermen line up against him.

It was the 20^th Black Jug fishing competition this year, and an anniversary that also coincided with 20 years since the restaurant and accommodation was first opened Easter 1988. “Before that, Tipi used to run a guest house up here, after they moved to the island.” Pete recounted. “I remember before that coming here in the summer holidays with mum and step-dad. We would build ourselves a hut from Nikau branches, cook on open fire and go fishing.” Forty years on and the fish are still biting.

When the Black Jug had raised the stakes and more locals put the money in, it became a regular event, twice times a year. Of course it didn’t take long before visitors also got to hear of it. One of the first was Donald Mackintosh who wanted to bring his crew of contractors for a fishing outing. When they learned that they could go fishing and get to have a party afterwards as well, of course they were on and the money was put up. For the island people that was welcome and by 1999 the weekends were so organised that they would work out for everyone, even if tradition insisted that it had to start on a Friday afternoon.

Donald plays the affable Scotsman well. With stories from around the world that see him drilling oil in some places of Africa where you certainly wouldn’t want to organise a fishing trip, he has become a regular on the island. By now he has nearly 20 fishing trips under his belt. The twice annual company outings provide welcome relief and stories for his crew of tunnelling contractors. “We’ll talk about our trips all summer,” said Pat who hadn’t missed a single trip yet.

When Bruce Pratley announced that he was moving off the island and taking the Mokum with him, Margery quickly took action and made a phone call. Of course, for Donald the loss of the boat not only threatened the companies’ fishing trips but for him also chipped the image of the island as he knew it. “So I bought it and asked Wayne Anderson to skipper it. I figured we gotta keep the fishing charters alive so that people will continue to come here and enjoy something that is getting to be very precious: coming out here and enjoying fishing together.” It’s just not the same, chartering a comfortable boat in town and never setting foot on land without meeting anybody.  

Talk like that has brought out other colleagues form the construction industry as well, boosting numbers until last year’s fishing competition in November had 215 sign up. Pete estimates that for every local that takes part, perhaps three more come across from Auckland and that over half of those are somehow connected to the construction business.

And it’s all about the biggest Snapper, although there is also prize cup sponsored by Barrier Earthmovers for the largest Kingfish.  Even if only one fisher gets to take the prize home, there is plenty of food and stories to go round and make it worthwhile for everyone. Pete and Marge normally prepare a hangi with plates overflowing with meat and veg, there is a band and the bar is open until late.

This time however, the chase for ‘New Zealand’s best eating fish’ had also attracted television. Two restaurateurs from Wellington, featured in this latest instalment of “Hunger for the Wild”, had been collecting ingredients and stories from the Maybey and the Medland homesteads, before they also brought the snapper to the competition. The show runs back to back with Country Calendar on TV1, and should be screened in September. While filming on the water front, Craig McKinnon had casually pulled out a fish big enough to win a prize if it had been a day later. As the fishing stories were passing around, in the background the cooks were busy explaining to the camera their recipes and the stories that go with them. But people congregated when the dishes started circulating – still with camera in tow.

Fancy cooking aside, in the end it is about getting the big one, and not the one that got away. For some the haggle could actually become quite competitive and over the years they would arrive well prepared. But fishing takes more than some fancy equipment. So the newcomers would compare notes with the locals, try a rock here or a channel there. Still, by the deadline for weigh-in approached at 5 o’clock on Satruday, tension would rise. Especially after the time that winning photos were already being taken when John Lennon wandered up and with a dead-pan face pulled out the winning fish at 5 to 5.

For Fred Simpson it wasn’t about the type of hook or the line used to tie it off with. “You just gotta be there when the fish are biting.” The fisher of the prize winning 8.82kg Snapper couldn’t agree more. Teiko is a Tongan welder who came out on the trip organised by his boss, Ron Barry, a local property owner. “The guys showed me how to tie the knots, so I gave it a go.” But when the big one was ready to bite at 2 AM, he hadn’t given up yet, rod in hand under the anchor light outside Tryphena Harbour - a long time since the sun had gone down and others had returned to shore after a good day out on the water.