Episode 8: Breaking Boundaries: Wahine Leading the Way in NZ Fishing

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New Zealand's maritime landscape is changing as women step into leadership roles on the water, bringing fresh perspectives and challenging outdated assumptions about who belongs at the helm.

• Lisa Noble shares her journey from hairdressing to commercial cray fishing, and charter operating while emphasising how determination matters more than gender
• Sarah Psilas discusses her 10-year Coastguard career and passion for teaching water safety to children across New Zealand
• Wild Chix founder Isabell Zitzelsberger and Shanel Honore explain how they created workshops to teach women boating and fishing skills they'd otherwise never learn
• The Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club team highlights the success of their Girls in the Bay competition and growing female participation
• Hear how women in clubs play a vital role in communities, creating opportunities for learning, mentorship, and giving back
• The importance of wearing life jackets and carrying safety equipment can't be overstated - "Wearing a life jacket has never given anybody a bad day ever"


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the NZSFC Pot and Reel podcast.
I'm Mike Plant from the NewZealand Sportfishing Council,
and today we're handing thereins to the women at the helm.
These Kiwi chicks aren't justalong for the ride, they're
leading the way, fishing forrecords, saving lives at sea,
teaching new skills and showingthe boys how it's done.

(00:21):
Today's episode features apowerhouse line-up with Lisa
Noble from Ahipara Sport FishingClub she's a charter operator,
commercial fisher in Far NorthLocal.
Sarah Silas, skipper and CoastGuard educator.
Chanel and Izzy from WildChicks, a new venture running
camps and workshops to upskilland empower women in hunting and

(00:42):
fishing.
And the crew from the MercuryBay Game Fishing Club, the woman
behind the successful Girls inthe Bay fishing competition
Between them.
These wahine bring decades ofexperience at sea.
In this episode we dive intohow they've navigated a world
that's traditionallymale-dominated, what's changing
and what's still challenging,and the simple but vital goal

(01:04):
they all share making sureeveryone comes home safe.
So let's meet our first guest.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
My name's Lisa and I grew up in Macra, which is a
really small town in Wellingtonon the rugged coast on the west
side.
Growing up fishing was prettysimple, I guess like the Kiwi
kid, you know, like Ealing inthe River and Kauai.
But as I got older my dad wouldtake me on charters out to
White Island with Rick Pollockon pursuit, and so I guess the

(01:30):
more I did and the bigger thefish got, the more my hunger
grew too, you know, yeah.
So it was always a dream ofmine to work on the water, but
my dad said I had to get a tradefirst.
So that's what I did.
I don't like to really likespeculate around like oh, it's
hard as a female, this and that,because at the end of the day I
feel like if you're determinedand it's your passion, then

(01:50):
you're going to make it happen,whatever the challenges are.
So I kind of hate that like, oh, poor me, it's harder because
this or harder because that.
You know, like, I think ifyou're driven and show you're
keen, you'll get the opportunity.
Like it doesn't matter if youare male or female.
Like, if you've got that workethic and that drive, you'll get
in there, you know.
So my first job it was funny,actually, like I knew I wanted

(02:11):
to work on the water but Ididn't really know how to get
into it.
So the trade I did washairdressing and we went up to
Auckland for all these awards,for the salon, et cetera.
Anyway, the boat show was onthe same weekend and I thought,
bugger it, I'm not going to goshopping with the girls, I'm
going to go to the boat show.
And they all thought I wascrazy.
But yeah, went around there,talked to a few people and one
of the people I talked to isSteve Campbell from Blue Marlin

(02:34):
Magic.
I think he's the new boat nowI'm not sure what that's called,
but yeah, kind of had a yarnwith him and said, like how do I
get into the industry?
Like is there, is there anytips?
And he said, oh, mate, well,why don't you come up to Tonga
for a month?
So that's exactly what I did.
Yeah, so that was my first gig.
I was really lucky, my, my nineto five.
My hairdressing job gave me amonth off work and went up there

(02:54):
.
And I went up to Tonga not evenknowing what an outrigger was.
Like you know, done fishing,but no game fishing really,
apart from trolling from a to bwhen we're at white island.
But yeah, so that was my firstintroduction and I was so
nervous I was definitely a fishout of water, but take my hat
off to steve like he taught meso much.
He was really patient, reallygood with all the customers too,

(03:16):
and you know, when you're on acharter it's just a cool work
environment.
Everyone's there for a goodtime, like he still had his main
decky.
So you know this new greenhornwasn't going to screw up their
dream blue marlin.
But yeah, yeah.
So that was my firstintroduction.
Pressure was huge, to be honest,almost a blessing, because my
knowledge wasn't big.
Then I didn't quite understand,like all the ins and outs of

(03:39):
the job, you know so, like whenI was in Tonga it was a non-paid
gig but yeah, more there forthe experience, so I wasn't
doing a hell of a lot.
But you know so, like when Iwas in Tonga it was a non-paid
gig but, yeah, more there forthe experience.
So I wasn't doing a hell of alot, but you know, like
preparing lunches or helpingclear the gear or very minimal
in Tonga.
But it gave me a really goodeye-opener.
And then I was quite lucky.
One of the groups that went upthere was actually a bunch of my
dad's mates and they caughtlike a little I don't know what

(04:02):
I mean 60 kilos was tiny littleblue marlin, and Steve actually
let me leader it for the firsttime and, honestly, looking back
on the footage now, I was justlike, oh my god, what was I
doing?
I had like the leader up my arm, just looked like a total clown
.
But yeah, I guess that's one ofthe things too, like if you are
going to be, you know, morehands-on leader and fish and

(04:25):
stuff awesome.
But really learn how to do itproperly first.
Like I was so lucky on thatfish.
You know, like little fish ispsycho, but it was little so my
little guns could handle it.
But yeah, really important toknow how to take wraps properly
and, even more important,knowing how to let go.
I think you've got to be keen,but you've also also got to be
careful.
Like I always did my researchso I'd never jump on a boat that

(04:46):
I didn't know or didn't know of, and the fishing world is
pretty small, right, so thatlike you can use that to your
advantage.
Like you know what the goodboats are.
You know what boats you knowmaybe don't fit with your vibe
type thing, like if they're likecoming from the professional
side, you know if they drink alot or they go out in super
rough conditions or that kind ofthing.
Like, don't get me wrong, I'mhere for a good time and love a

(05:09):
beer.
But from a working point ofview, like you've got to be
careful which boats you jump onand which boats you don't.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
We'll hear more from Lisa shortly.
Now it's time to meet oursecond guest, Sarah Silas from
Coast Guard.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
I'm Sarah Silas.
I've been in Coast Guard nowfor 10 years I think it is this
year so I look after all thechildren's programme and all the
kids' safe boating which wefacilitate around the country.
My job is amazing because Imanage to go to all around the
country providing trainings toswimming instructors to teach
the children how to stay safe ina boat.
So it allows me then to connectwith the units and then go

(05:41):
around the country and try andmeet like-minded people like
myself.
I have the best job everbecause I just get to go
everywhere and talk to everybody, which I do a lot of.
But boats were always a bigpart of my family.
Grandma managed to get the goldaward off the Queen for
fundraising for the RNLI, so shewas a bit of an inspiration to
me.
My mum used to do it and dragme around with the fundraising.
I came to New Zealand 12 and ahalf years ago and I got

(06:03):
involved with my local, my kids'school, my primary school.
They wanted some instructors tobe a water-wise instructor,
which is all about water safety.
They needed parents to step upto be instructor to help the
kids.
They do it every week,especially during the summer,
and I thought, oh, this isreally good fun, I can do this,
got myself qualified andabsolutely loved it.
Loved it so much that then mydaughter went to the high school

(06:26):
they did it.
So I used to go there.
So I used to do probably threedays a week of teaching all the
kids water safety, sailing,kayaking, all that sort of thing
.
And then I decided that Ireally wanted to do a little bit
more.
So I looked into doing CoastGuard.
Took me a while to try and getthrough the hoops because it was
a bit harder at the time.
I just literally sent an emailone day and went hey, you're
looking for volunteers toAuckland Coast Guard.

(06:47):
And that's where my journeystarted.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Next up is Tanya and Lisa Nkaro from Mercury Bay Game
Fishing Club.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
I'm Anne.
I'm the vice president, Gotinvolved in the club about three
years ago when we moved hereLove fishing.
I've always done that, evenback in South Africa.
Yeah, just kind of got involved, became a waymaster and then,
yeah, got onto the committee.

Speaker 5 (07:08):
I'm Carolyn.
I've been part of the clubprobably for the last nine years
.
I started as a committee member, volunteer and worked while I
entered the office.
My husband's a mad king fisherand I just enjoy being around,
the atmosphere and the vibe ofit all and totally love my job.
Yeah, it's all good.

Speaker 6 (07:28):
I'm Tanya and I've been in the club for about five
and a half, six years now andwe've moved to Whitianga
recently, got into fishing andstarted volunteering really a
bit of a lull time where nobodyreally was keen to get.
Move on the ladies to fishingcomp, so have volunteered to be

(07:49):
a part of that and, yep, onething leads to another and you
get involved with a lot of otherthings lisa here moved to
fitting about six years ago.

Speaker 7 (07:57):
Brother's a member here so he dragged me along to
join up.
Sort of got to know a fewpeople.

Speaker 5 (08:04):
The last couple of years been helped volunteering
with the girls in the bay andyeah, fishing is my passion so
when I first started here, I didthe ladies uh comp it wasn't
called girls in the bay at thetime.
Um, I also did it previouslybefore moving here.
Um, what what I found was itwas always a really good vibe

(08:25):
and we had a really good namefor our ladies' comps.
So the participation was reallyreally good, the prizes were
great, the atmosphere, thefishing all the girls just loved
going out having a great time.
Over the years, the convenersmoved on and Tanya and Anne and
Lisa took it to another level,changed a little bit of the

(08:46):
format, got some really goodsponsors.
Yeah, today it's justabsolutely successful and we've
had nothing but positive reports.
So, yeah, they've changed thename to Girls in the Bay, which
is really fitting because it'sexactly what it is.
They've done an amazing job.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
And finally, izzy and Chanel from Wild Chicks, a new
venture running camps andworkshops to upskill and empower
women in hunting and fishing.

Speaker 8 (09:10):
We spent a lot of time offshore game fishing and I
studied marine science in theBay of Plenty and the ocean was
always like my love and I lovedit.
But being able to access it wasreally hard without my partner.
And then when we got, when Igot pregnant and I started

(09:30):
adding more children to ourfamily, it got quite scary
because I just didn't knowanything.
Like I.
We would be out there for days,weeks at sea and if anything
ever happened to him I wouldhave been stuck there.
So I actually approached him afew years ago and said, well,
well it was several years agonow and said that I wanted to do
my skipper's ticket because Ihad already done my boat masters

(09:53):
through my degree, but I wantedto know more.
It was more.
You know what happens if theengine, when you're miles and
miles offshore and there's noone around and you've got a baby
on the boat, you just it was asafety thing for me, so that's
why I went in, I got myskipper's ticket and then I had

(10:13):
a relationship breakdown, um,which was partly in part because
I went and got my skipper'sticket.
But you know, it was just andit gave me that confidence to be
like I actually know thesethings and I knew more than what
I thought I did.
It's been yeah, it's been areal big journey to get there
and to fight my way through that, because obviously it's an

(10:35):
incredibly male dominated space.
So it was terrifying for mewalking into my course every day
and it was packed full of likefishermen and I was just like,
I'm just this girl, like, andthe judgment was yeah, it's
something that we combat a lotand you get that.
That judgment of instantlybeing like you're a girl, what
are you doing here?

Speaker 1 (10:55):
so, yeah, just wanting to be safe on the water
was how I ended up being askipper and you mentioned, and
what's still a pretty maledominated space like what were
those battles like for you?

Speaker 8 (11:08):
I honestly, I didn't think about it when I was doing
it.
I just did it because I knewit's what I wanted to be doing.
Now, with Wild Chicks, it'sactually been really highlighted
for me just how hard it was todo it without the support and

(11:30):
without a network of peoplebacking me to do it.
And it was hard now that I lookback at it.
And there was a blog post thatwas written by one of the
beautiful women that we taught.
She came to every one of ourcourses boating basics, the

(11:52):
intermediate doctor destinationand the boot camp that we ran
and she wrote this beautifulblog post about how empowering
it was for her.
So she didn't own a boat andafter all of those three courses
she's gone and bought a boat.
She can back it in at the ramp.
She was taking her kids andthen she's even said now that
she has the confidence to plan atrip out to Motiti Island.
And it literally brought me totears because it realized.

(12:13):
It just was this realizationmoment for me how I didn't have
that network or that support andI had to do it myself and I
didn't realize how hard it wasuntil I had this woman who we
were able to help in that waythat I didn't know I needed it.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
Isabel, your story is not too dissimilar because
you're selling boats and you hadquite often a similar challenge
where guys would ask you hey,where's the dude who's selling
the boat that I can speak to?
That kind of thing, right.

Speaker 9 (12:47):
Yes, and it was even sometimes when you go to sea
trials and you ask them if theyare capable of driving the boat
and they go yeah, yeah, sure do.
And you're hanging on for dearlife almost because they're not
able to trim properly and don'tget the boat on the plane, and
then standing there and goinglike excuse me, can you stop the
boat and can we talk about howto drive a boat?
It's pretty, yeah, notintimidating, but you don't feel

(13:11):
like they take you for full ina way, because they have been
obviously boating and learningfrom their dads and their uncles
, who had figured it outthemselves, and guys don't like
to be told that they are notdoing things right, especially
around that area.
When you're going from insidethe mount and take it over the
washing machine outside theharbour entrance, that is where
you really found out if they'reskilled or not, if they're

(13:33):
actually taking the throttleback or if they just go full
speed over those waves and youalmost bang your head.
Worse was when they alreadyfailed in the harbour and you
just go.
Oh my God, I didn't know thatwas possible.
And the crazy thing for me isthat they said fully hearted
that they are absolutely capablethat they were not brave enough
to say hey, isabel, I havenever driven a boat, I don't

(13:55):
know what I'm doing, I need yourhelp, or I need your advice.
I think that's a really hardthing to say.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
Because I guess a boat's a big purchase, right,
and no one really buys a boatwithout giving it a go.
It's on the rarer side thatsomeone would buy a boat unseen
or untried.

Speaker 9 (14:11):
I have to disagree with what you just said, because
there were so many momentswhere it blew my mind that
people do not take a boat for asea trip, that they they come to
go.
They go to the boat show, theysee a nice boat they like and
they buy it.
And then when you do a handoverand you forget to tell them to
put the bungs in, they ring youlater because their boat is full

(14:33):
of water, like it is.
Really to that extent that youhave sometimes the feeling
you're putting I don't want tosay people at risk.
But it's quite a big thing thatin New Zealand you do not have
to have a license at all to takea boat out.
And it always blew my mind thatpeople can purchase, or are
purchasing something for$100,000, $150,000, $200,000 and

(14:56):
then figure out afterwards howto use it.
You would never do this with acar.
You would not buy a car withouta driver license and go well,
okay, now I'll go out in thattraffic and practice you would
not.
And also the amount of timeswhere people ticked all the
boxes on the sheets to build theboat and the section of the
safety equipment most of thetime stayed empty, because this
is something you can figure outlater, where you can save the

(15:18):
cost and tell the wife it's just130,000, rather than adding
four life jackets for everyoneand an EPIRB for 500 and making
sure everything is there rightfrom the get-go.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's quite crazy to hear.
If we go to the showroom floor,are these guys walking in by
themselves, or have they gottheir partners with them, or
what's it like?

Speaker 9 (15:39):
I had a huge percentage, just the guys by
themselves, and I often haven'teven seen the wives.
Some of them come in togetherand she makes often decisions on
the color on the toilet, on theamount they're going to spend,
but it's not.
They don't ask the technicalquestions.
Or once I try to explain tosomeone who didn't have the

(15:59):
budget for what they wanted tobuy, what they could downgrade
or maybe take out in retrofit,and she just said to me clearly,
isabel, I don't understand whatyou were talking about.
And that's one of the momentswhere I was like we need to
change this.
This is ridiculous.
We need to know more about whatis on the boats, how to use it.

(16:20):
I guess a lot of ladies wouldn'teven able to turn an autopilot
off when the husband falls overthe side, for example.
Right, so, yeah, all thosethings.
So it was mainly really guys.
And then at the end they saidoh yeah, now I need to talk to
the wife.
She will transfer the funds.
So she is the finance managerwho signs it off if everyone's
happy.
But he was the one coming inmost of the time making the

(16:42):
decisions.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
So through these experiences I guess this is what
started Wild Chicks was younotice these female partners, or
that you weren't having toomany girls come in by themselves
to buy a boat?

Speaker 9 (16:54):
Chanel, chanel, I did that.
She was the one and only lady Ihad, just by herself.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
And there are still barriers for women entering the
boating and fishing world.
Sarah opens up about jugglingCoast Guard training with family
life.

Speaker 3 (17:08):
It was quite a hard decision for me to take because
at the time what I wanted to dowas do it in the week and have
the weekends free so I could bewith the kids and my husband,
because obviously they were atschool and working.
So it took me a little bit ofthis time to decide, probably
about six months to work out canI do this?
And it is weekends, and Ididn't think it'd be that much.

(17:29):
I thought it'd be once or twice, maybe a month and we'd do
training and stuff like thatWith my husband's support and
the kids as well, because theywere quite excited to see me go
off and do it.
So I dragged a friend along aswell.
So Michelle, she's still therenow.
She taught me water-wise.
So we've been on this journeyfor a long time and I gave it a
go.
It wasn't quite once a month, itwas more like twice a week in

(17:49):
the evenings, other weekends itwas all the time.
But the kids didn't mind at allbecause they'd go out with dad
on our boat sometimes and see usout there.
But my oldest was right behindme At 15, she was like I want to
go to this mum and she couldn'tuntil she was 16 I mean at 16
she came out with us.
She had to be with me, but shewas right behind me every step

(18:09):
of the way, loved it, and now isworking in coast guard.
Volunteers in coast guard, uhyeah, gets as much enjoyment out
a bit as I do.
Are you seeing a bit of?

Speaker 1 (18:18):
a change like with female skippers being at the
helm and what's still a prettymale dominated space, but are
you seeing a bit of a changingof the guard where females are
finding a bit of space to get atthe helm and actually do this?

Speaker 3 (18:32):
Yeah, I've seen a difference probably in 10 years
Now our unit is.
I've only ever known one femaleskipper in our unit who's not
in our unit anymore because shemoved up north, but she's still
in Coast Guard.
But for me there were no femaleskippers, so that was a little
bit difficult.
I got some really good malementors as well, but my problem
was confidence.
I didn't think I was goodenough to do it.

(18:53):
I didn't think I didn't believeI had the ability to do it.
I didn't want theresponsibility, and so it's.
I think having Emma watch me gothrough a few things it kind of
spurred me on.
You know, because we've alwaystaught our girls I've got two
girls you can do anything, youcan achieve anything.
Don't ever let anyone tell youyou can't do it, and especially
because you're female, you provethem wrong every time.
And so just watching themaritime side of it is very male

(19:17):
dominated area.
It's frightening, it's scary,but it's also empowering at the
same time.
Because if you do break into itand you do hold that space, it
is rewarding and if you can getand I've known some people have
got really good male colleaguesthat are just fully supportive.
And then I've heard horrendousstories on the other side where
people, because they're female,they just don't even get looked

(19:39):
at and they don't get on thehelm.
So there's still an old guardthere and a very old mentality
around the maritime, but it'sdefinitely definitely seen a
shift.
I've seen a shift in 10 years.
Um, and I just um, I want tomake sure that you know more
girls come through and I'm very,very keen and it's the reason
why I'm doing this women in SARtraining in 10 days time in

(20:02):
marlborough because to empowerthem, empower the women.
I've done a few courses which Iwas really lucky to go on.
One was with Coast Guard NewZealand in Auckland and the
other was I got sent to Finlandlast year for the International
Maritime Rescue Federationtraining women in SAR.
So that was amazing.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Izzy saw these same struggles and thought there's
got to be a better way.
That's where Wild Chicks wasborn.

Speaker 9 (20:30):
I think it built over years where, first and foremost
, when people come in and don'texpect a woman to talk to them,
then it's like, oh, that's,that's a bit weird, but it's
fine, like I made friends withmost of my customers, I would
say.
But then the next thing wasnever seeing the wives and then
realizing that they don't know alot of those things.
And then even things when theguy said, oh, my wife is the
best fishing person on the boatand I'm like is she?
Does she know which rod she'susing, what tackle she's using

(20:53):
what line she's using what baitto choose, or is she literally
just like reeling in the lineand then hands the fish over?
Yes, and the guy's icky at dothe fish care afterwards
filleting it.
But then when it became evidentwhen Chanel also came in when
women are getting a divorce orgetting widowed, that that

(21:14):
ability of taking a boat outgoing on the water catching a
fish is all taken off us becausewe rely on the guys so much and
it's like even sometimes notjust the boat.
I met a lady and she said afterthe divorce she wanted to take
her boys because we rely on theguys so much and it's like even
sometimes not just the boat.
I met a lady and she said afterthe divorce she wanted to take

(21:35):
her boys surf casting but shedidn't know what rod to have,
how to do it, where to go andall those questions.
And that's when it all becameevident that there was no space
for us to learn this and toactually learn how to fish and
how to back a trailer and how todock a boat, and how to learn
about safety or even reading aweather map.
We hear our husbands usuallysaying oh, it's good weather,
tomorrow we'll go out fishing,but we don't know how to

(21:57):
interpret a weather map, toactually make a call.
If we need to take sea legs, ifwe feel safe, if we're happy to
take the kids, what does itmean when there is a one metre,
well, every eight seconds?
Is that good, is that bad?
Do I want to stay home in thatcircumstance?
So we don't know those thingsand that's why Wild Trick was
born and we're out there tellingthe girls and teaching the

(22:18):
girls to feel more confident.

Speaker 8 (22:19):
It's really intimidating.
Still.
We've just literally gonethrough all of this because
we're talking about taking girlsfishing for a weekend and
tackle and boats and servicinglike that.
We're just sharing thatinformation, you know, and
that's what it is.
And then if the girls havequestions they can ask more
things about it.

(22:40):
But you know, you can walk intoone of our seminars and there's
an entire slide and we talk forwhat?
Like half an hour about thesafety.
Like you know, it's a two-hourseminar.
It's a very safety orientatedcomponent is massive in it.
But we don't expect all thelike women to then walk out and
go and buy all the life jacketsand the epurbs and all the

(23:00):
things.
It's just about the educationaround it.
Like I've actually just talkedto my teenage friend.
I met him through the fishingclub.
He's 18 and he is coming to theboat show and he's been saving
his money.
He wants to buy four game reelsand his boat's only four and a
half meters and I said to him Iwas like where's your EPOOB or
have you got a PLB?

(23:20):
And he was like no.
And I was like you are not, not, like we're gonna be at the
boat show.
And I've literally said to himI was like you're not walking
out of there.
You can buy two gang reels and aPLB and I'm sorry like that's.
Like you know it's the safety,you know it's.
Guys want to spend money andgirls I mean don't get me wrong
Like I would way rather spend$500 on a new fishing reel than

(23:44):
I would a PLB.
But I know that that's what'sgoing to keep me safe, it's
going to what's going to keepIsabel safe, it's what's going
to keep my kids safe and as askipper, that is your
responsibility to look after allof the people that are on your
boat you know, and it's even inthose seminars.

Speaker 9 (24:00):
It's sometimes quite shocking, when we talk about
those things, how often theladies go.
My husband never has done atrip report.
I've never heard anyone doing atrip report.
We don't have a PLB.
He doesn't use straps to liketake, like strap the boat down
onto the trailer.

Speaker 8 (24:22):
Yeah, the straps, like that was a crazy one.
Like there was a lady and shecame and she was like my dad.
I've been boating with himforever and he uses ratchet
straps on everything, like evento put a mattress down.
He puts like 50 of them up, butI've never seen him put one on
his trailer boat and I was likeyou're joking, right, and she's
like nope, so you know it's,it's education.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Lisa Noble agrees seminars like theirs are vital
to building confidence andcapability.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Talk to your mates, join clubs, like if there's any
seminars on.
You know, like if someone likeBonds or I don't know any of
those kind of fishing icons havea seminar, go to those, like,
you'll meet like-minded people.
You know even the boat show,that kind of thing.
After Tonga I, yeah, spent mymonth up there.
Then I went back to Wellingtonand I said to the salon sorry

(25:04):
guys, I'm out of here and movedup to Paihia because obviously
there's not much marlin fishingin Wellington, although this
season is different.
But yeah, so I was really lucky.
Bonds is quite good friendswith Rick Pollock's son and my
dad's quite good friends withRick Pollock.
So that all came about justword of mouth, kind of family
friends.
And yeah, I was really lucky.
So I just helped Bonds in theworkshop for I think it was two

(25:26):
or three months just over thislike summer period, the busy
period.
But yeah, it was, like you know, putting like the stickers on
the inserts and just little bitsand pieces, helping out.
But again, I was very greenhornthen, like he.
Actually he got me to make adredge once and I did all the
squids but I forgot to put thebloody swivel on.
So, bless Bonds, he had a lotof patience.

(25:49):
But again, that was a reallycool like network to meet people
, you know, because all thecharter skippers would come in
or the like random fishermenwould come in and you get to
meet people.
Like that it's word of mouth,you know.
Yeah, so I've worked on thecharters for I don't know three
or four years, like use pie hereas a home base.
Anyway, when our season wascoming to an end on gladiator,

(26:10):
one of my girlfriends, nikki,invited me to go on a girl's
trip with her and one of myother good friends, helen, um,
and they were doing the ahi paraladies con, so came up here and
fished that with them, had aball, didn't catch anything, we
got a bite but yeah, it waspretty slow con.
But we actually stayed at mynow partner's parents house and

(26:31):
they obviously run thecommercial cray fishing business
and um.
So I met them all, got on likea house on fire and stuff, and
then they rung me about twoweeks later and said, hey, look,
we've got a job on the crayboat.
What do you think?
And I was like, oh well, I'venever cray fished before in my
life, but why not?
Perfect timing.
You know our charters werecoming to an end.
So, yeah, jumped on andcommercial cray fish for about

(26:54):
two and a half years and theywere really good.
So Ken would actually always getme to do the safety briefing to
earn like the respect, I guess,of the punters on the boat.
Yeah, and we had lots of likelots of safety measures in place
too, like you know, when we'dhave our toolbox meetings,
because obviously for a femalelike, for instance, I've got
long hair right.
So if I'm ever in the engineroom or even sitting like in the

(27:17):
anchor, well, spreading theanchor chain and my hair's next
to that winch, you know, likethings like that.
So that are just a little bitdifferent if you're a male.
So I'd actually always wearlike a beanie or like a hat when
I was doing those sorts ofthings.
No way I've got the strength ofa male.
I feel a lot of, say, leaderingfor instance.
A lot of that is like finesserather than brute strength.

(27:39):
You know, if you think about it, when you're fighting a fish at
I don't know, 10 to 12 kilos ofdrag for your fight on your
reel and then you get to theleadering side and if you're
bloody, pulling as hard as youcan.
You're going from that amountof drag to however much you're
putting on it yourself.
That's when the hook.
So on gladiator, they fish alittle bit differently.
So we kind of like tag andstuff off the rod tip so he can

(28:02):
use these kevlar wind-ons thatNathan Adams actually uses.
They're really good in thatinstance because they're really
heavy duty and you know if theychafe on the boat you're not
going to break easy.
So sometimes a little bitboring for the deckie because
you just want to get in thereand lead of the fish.
But in those instances, youknow he was a strong believer of

(28:22):
keep that same amount of dragon the fish the entire time in
the hope that you're going to upyour catch rate or, you know,
land rate, whatever it is.
Yeah, so in that instance thatwas quite good.
But yeah, there's definitelysome things I struggled with.
But we ran two crews, so therewas myself and always a guy crew
as well.
So if there's anything that Iwasn't comfortable I didn't have

(28:42):
the strength for, that's whenthey would chip in, you know,
and we'd just bounce off eachother, which was really cool.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
And Sarah.
She's seen firsthand how thevibe on board shifts when women
and girls are at the helm.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
They do bring a different dynamics.
They really bring a differentdynamics.
We think differently.
We don't just barge in there,we think things through.
In fact, the problem withfemales is I know I am not every
female, but we're overthinkers.
We actually overthinkeverything.
We have to know everything.
That was my problem about beinga skipper.
I didn't feel I knew everythingto be a skipper.
Therefore I couldn't be askipper because I didn't know

(29:13):
everything.
And my husband always said youknow, some men just do blag it
quite a lot.
And as I started to gain moreknowledge I started to see kind
of what he was referring to.
The women just thinkdifferently.
They bring a different calmnessbecause they I'm very risk
averse, which is good because Idon't want to put my crew in any
danger on my boat but they very.

(29:33):
They just methodically thinkthings through a little bit from
a different angle.
And if you get females on yourcrew with males, the dynamic
then is really good because it'snot all about testosterone and
off we go, let's go and let'sput our red cape on and let's
fly in.
It's more calmer and controlledthat way.
I've done a few Coast Guard doesa Suddenly In Charge seminar.

(29:56):
They haven't done it for awhile because of lots of changes
.
But Izzy has come online withwildicks and I've had many, many
conversations with her becauseshe's very empowering and she's
recognised that she was the same, I was the same as her.
We didn't feel confident enough, and so it's all about making
sure that these ladies juststart doing a little bit more

(30:16):
and come out of the shadow ofthe husband, because I meet so
many ladies that can't drive theboat.
Or when you're backing them,trailer down, the men's always
doing it.
Or I used to say when the kidswere smaller, when we had our
boat, my husband would, we'ddrive it between us, but then
I'd drop them off at the fueldock in Bayswater and then he'd
walk to go and get the trailer,the boat on the trailer and
reverse it down the ramp and Iwould just hold off and I would

(30:38):
drive it straight on.
But you didn't see that veryoften with ladies there was many
of them would sit on the dockside at the fuel dock with the
boat, waiting for the husbandthen to take the car down with
the trailer, walk back roundagain, get in the boat, then
drive round, try and put it onthe trailer, then hop out and
try and drag it in as well.
Yeah, it was just many times,so it's definitely.
I definitely encourage ladiesjust to pick up the radios, you

(31:02):
know.
Make sure that they can talk onthe radio, do a radio course.
Go and do a day skipper course,do some basics and start trying
to have a go.
And I very much want toencourage any ladies that can do
it.
I have females coming throughall the time now in the unit and
I will take them out.
No problem at all.
Coast guards have got a fewcourses.
Let them start there.
You've got beginning boating.
That's the basic basic Ifyou've just bought a boat and

(31:23):
you don't know anything.
But if you've already got aboat and you're going out, go
and do a day skipper course,because that's really good.
You know, you get some voyage.
You get to learn which way togo, who goes, where the sound
signals, things like that, andstart learning it.
And then, when and when you goout there on the boat, start
observing, start looking atwhich oh, that's a port marker,
that's a lateral marker, that'swhat and start trying to absorb

(31:45):
it that way.
Also, try and connect withother females.
That's what I would try and do.
I've encouraged people to giveme a call and anyone's got a
nice boat, I'll come out withthem, no problem at all, you
know, and to do it that way.
If you've got time, go and joinCoast Guard, if you can.
If you've got a love for thewater, like I have, and I have a
love for the boats and helpingpeople, then that's how I got my
knowledge.
I thought I had quite a lot ofknowledge when I came to New

(32:07):
Zealand because I've done my RYAcourses, my powerboat level one
and two.
We'd always done courses whenwe got boats, we got jet skis.
I'd grown up with a bit ofknowledge.
But when I started on CoastGuard I realised actually my
knowledge was very, very limited.
I had got some, but I didn'tknow as much as I thought I did.
And then my journey reallystarted and I've learned so much
in 10 years.
So much.

(32:27):
But it's because I've gone outthere and done it and I've been
around and I haven't even beenaround many females, to be
honest.
It's just that I had the lovefor it.
People like Izzy are awesomebecause she's actually taking
people practically.
You can go and do a boatexercise with her so you can go
out on the boat, you can backthe trailer down on the ramp.
She's doing that sort of thing.
She's recognizing that thereare people that need that little

(32:50):
bit of extra help andencouragement.
I would encourage for ladiesthat if you're on a boat with
your husband, to make sure thatyou throw a buoy out over the
water and you recover ityourself, because if your
husband falls out that boat, youwant to be able to do this.
I did it with my children whenthey were probably teenagers.
We always made sure that theycould drive and helm that boat

(33:11):
and if anything happened to oneof us, they could either go back
for us or they could take itback to the wharf if they needed
to.
And they were only 14, 15, 16,that age, even younger.
They learned that quite quickly.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
And speaking of the children, you know you've got
Kids Safe Boating.
What's the whole program forkids and why are you focusing on
kids to start with with a lotof your work?

Speaker 3 (33:34):
Well, the main job was between 8 and 12-year-olds.
We would focus on them.
They would just do some verybasic boat safety.
We teach a word to kids.
It's the word WET.
It's an acronym.
It means three things.
It means check your weatherbefore you go out, check your
equipment before you go out andtell somebody where you're going
.
And if every adult did this,then perhaps we wouldn't have
some of the rescues that we haveto go out for, you know,

(33:55):
because some people go out withnot enough fuel, no oars, no
anchor, no communication,nothing.
So we teach the children andwe've been doing this for quite
a few years.
Last year that program putthrough 85,000 children through
the program nationally or aroundthe country.
So it's a really good basic.
They learn to fit a life jacket, they learn to feel what it's
like out in the water.

(34:15):
They learn to feel what it'slike in the water.
They roll out of a boat, theygo under the air pocket of a
boat, they turn the boat over inthe pool and they learn what it
feels like to be underneath itand things like that.
So it's really.
They have a lot of fun doing it.
But this year I've justlaunching in fact I'm launching
it I have just launched it is alittle skippers program which is
a preschool program.
So what we're doing now iswe're putting three to six year

(34:36):
olds in life jackets and it'sall about for them the feel of a
life jacket and making surethat that feeling is a happy
feeling for them, so when theygo and float in the water they
know that they can look at mumand dad and they go oh, I'm safe
because I'm in a life jacketand with mum and dad.
So we're starting them early.
And then what the next plan isto do the older teenager ones
and to do more for teenagers,because if we can shift the

(34:57):
attitude of just wearing a lifejacket, we can make a massive,
massive impact.
And it already has worked,because I think it was 15 to
24-year-old males were a highdrowning rate and that number
has significantly declined.
So now we're concentrating on45 to 65-year-old males.
I think we've done agenerational change because
we've been doing it for so long.

(35:18):
It's not just us, we knowthere's Surf LifeSafe doing it,
water Safety's doing it, there'sDrowning Prevention Auckland
doing it.
There's lots of organisationsand we're all trying to work
collectively to try and makesure that we reduce the drowning
and the education.
It's just education, education,education all the time for
these kids and for adults.
So if you go on towwwsafeboatingorgnz, that gives

(35:40):
you the whole program that I'vecreated, we've been doing, and
the new one I've created, and itgives you a list of all the
pools around the country andthere's more coming online.
I've got to add a few more inas I bring them more online.
Contact the pool, just contactthem and say, hey, look, if I'm
a school, how can I get part ofthis I'd love to see is to get
some more kit into communitiesbecause we've got school pools,

(36:01):
so I'd love to be able to getmore kit that the pools, the
schools, can share kit betweenthem in an area.
Somebody takes you know,somebody looks after it, but
they share it so they all get touse it.
And the life jackets is the mostimportant thing.
Wearing a life jacket has nevergiven anybody a bad day ever.
Just been to Queenstown now andI've just I think we've had 300
children come through, clued UpKids in Queenstown and I went

(36:23):
with the Queenstown unit and wewere with I think it was five.
I think it was five of thepeople.
There was Civil Defence,landsar, red Cross.
There was five of us and it wasamazing and the kids went from
10 minutes from one to the nextand every group I had came in
front of me and I asked them allhave they been in the pool and
put life jackets on, like theones I was just about to get

(36:45):
them to put on again?
And I think probably 95% ofthem said yes, they had.
And I asked them about it andthey all said I asked what
they'd learned.
I didn't have long, but theysaid they'd learned how to fit a
life jacket and it really cameacross that I didn't realize how
well they're doing down there,because they all loved it,
enjoyed it, did it, understoodit and done it a few times and

(37:07):
wanted to do it again.
I'm going to see if I can gethold of the people up here to
see how they can do this and doit more regularly for the kids
and get the schools through it,because the kids were learning
all sorts.
They really were, and it wasn'tjust about water safety, it was
about the landslide there.
There was civil defence,earthquake stuff and stuff like
that.
It was an emergency planningday and it was just awesome.
But yeah, everybody needs.

(37:28):
I feel that every child has theright to learn to swim and to
learn how to survive, which isnot just about swimming.
It's about survival in thewater and what you can do to
survive, because swimmingsometimes isn't always the right
thing to do, but if you'rewearing a life jacket, you will
survive.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
With more women and kids learning the ropes.
Clubs are adapting MercuryBay's Girls in the Bay
competition and now the YouthNationals event.
Both offer a $10,000 prize poolfor just entering the
competition.
Tanya admits getting sponsorson board wasn't easy at first,
but they kept pushing.

Speaker 6 (38:06):
I think it really comes down to being locals at
the club, being regular clubgoers and building up those
relationships and it's constantnetworking really.
And all of us have tapped intoall of our friends and you know,
people we know and our networksand asked those guys to come on
board.
And you know we've had suchgreat response and such great

(38:28):
support from all the people weknow, but also from the previous
years as well, people who havealways been part of it and
always been proud of sponsoringthe girls and the bay or the
ladies previously.
They've all said hey, hey, look, we really love it.
It's a great event, so we wantto keep keep it a great event.
So let us know how we can makea contribution.
We also heavily rely on thegirls actually entering.

(38:51):
So, um, you know it all comestogether as a package, as you
said.
You know it's like chicken andegg as well.
Without the participants, youdon't really have have the
volumes and that also will be adifficult one, you know, to pull
off you guys I know are fishingladies events so you're
supporting other clubs, but itgoes both ways.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Uh, at your event there were girls from counties
that attended and other clubs aswell.
From what I've seen, kind of abit of a new movement in ladies
fishing anyway, of clubssupporting other clubs and
growing that way.

Speaker 6 (39:25):
Yes, and on our social media we've been asking
other clubs to share as well,and we share their events too,
and we have started hashtaggingclubs, supporting clubs.
You know, we've got heaps offriends from the likes of
counties that always come andholiday here, so they'll be dual
members as well, so they'll befishing here but also love to
fish on the West Coast.

(39:45):
So in the end you can't reallyavoid that crossover.
And that's what makes it sogreat, because that also gets
the word out and gets moreparticipation from other areas.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
You also have brand new entrants each year.
It may be their first time evenfishing fishing, let alone
going for the game species.
How is that feedback comingthrough back to you guys?
Because I know at the end ofeach competition you actually
follow it up with a survey to toget feedback, constructive
criticism as well and try andimprove on that feedback yeah,

(40:16):
we always try and you know, dobetter on the previous year.

Speaker 4 (40:19):
That's just a kind of a norm on the fishing side.
It's great um.
I manned the the way station umthis year and it was so great
to see how much fish came in andhow stoked the ladies was at
actually getting them.
Yeah, really cool to see thatthey enjoying the day out on the
water as well as the actualcompetition and the prize giving

(40:41):
.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
So, Anne, you're vice president as well as a
waymaster here at the club.
You're really leading the wayin that space.
How is it being at the gantrywhen it's all happening?

Speaker 4 (40:53):
I don't know I've never felt intimidated or that
the boys you know wouldn't kindof agree with a decision that I
make.
You know wouldn't kind of agreewith a decision that I make.
But yeah, I can see that youknow it could potentially make
some ladies feel a little bitinsecure or anything like that.
But the boys have been great,you know they're accepting of it

(41:13):
.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Lisa Noble has watched the change unfold over
the years and her advice keepshowing up, keep backing
yourself.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
That generation too, are also kind of like a female
can't work on the boat or thisand that, and I'm not meaning
that in a mean way, but I thinkit's the drive that you really
need not so much luck.
Yeah, like I remember there wasanother skipper that I talked
to in the very early days when Iwas still living in Wellington,
and I rung him up.
There was an article that I'veseen in the New Zealand Fishing

(41:43):
News magazine and it was JB andhis crew on the hook and bull.
And yeah, I rung him up and Isaid, mate, like, how do I get
into the industry?
And he pretty much laughed atme on the phone, right like he
thought, oh my god, this chickwho only knows how to catch
snapper and earling, like, andback then I'm young, I couldn't
cook a bloody meal, you know,like two minute noodles back
then.
So of course that's a big in onthose charter boats is knowing

(42:06):
how to prepare beautiful food,whether you're a male, female,
not trying to like stereotypehere but it is a big role of the
job anyway.
Years went by and I remembercatching up with JB later on,
like four or five years later,and he said to me I'm so shocked
, said I can't believe youstarted there and now you're
literally crewing on boats and Iactually got to do two trips

(42:27):
with them on the hockey and thatjust blew my mind incredible,
like next level fishing.
It was pretty cool, yeah.
So it's that drive and thatpassion that you really need.
Like definitely not luck, likeyou'll get a hundred knockbacks,
but if you get one, like what'sthe word?
One opportunity out of allthose knockbacks, take that as a
win.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
Like you've got to be thick-skinned and just really
want it and, to wrap it up, wehear from the Mercury Bay girls
on what it's really like at thegrassroots level volunteering,
helping at your local club,giving something back, because
that's what it all comes back toclubs just being a huge part of
the community.

Speaker 4 (43:03):
Yeah, we love it Absolutely.
It's a passion.
And then we come back for prizegiving and have an amazing
party.

Speaker 6 (43:13):
It's becoming a passion for a lot of women.
You know spending time withtheir partners as well, and
learning.
And you know a lot of couplesmyself and Anne and also Caro.
You know we're all guys that goout as couples on our boats,
and so you know it's often timethat you spend alone, so that's
quite nice, but you also takethat time to learn and become.
You know it's your thing thatyou do together, which also

(43:36):
actually includes a lot of kids,but they're always testing
their boundaries as well.
That's what it's all about.
After all, it's a competition.
That's what it's all about.

Speaker 5 (43:44):
Yeah, we have a lot of very competitive men in our
club and families, and familiesyeah, kids, a lot of kids as
well, yeah.
Some really good juniorchildren coming through the
Nicholson boys, levi and Hunterthey're really good fisher
juniors for our club.

Speaker 6 (44:03):
And we've got the likes of Kane Bodman with his
boy Lewis.
He's got a world record.
They count his and his as well.
You know Another family that isreally.
They also love fishing as afamily.
So mom Amelia, and all of thoseguys also.
She's often part of the, thefishing comp for the girls as
well.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
I've always thought of clubs as being like a kind of
communal hub in a community,that that brings communities
together, obviously based onvolunteer actions.
If I I think of Girls in theBay, it was a raging night, late
into the night, but earlymorning the next day 20-odd
volunteers turned up to pack itall down, clean it all up.

(44:45):
I know a few, with somehangovers going on as well, but
they turned up the next day todo it.
It's that kind of volunteerparticipation that makes a
strong club and makes a strongcommunity as well.

Speaker 5 (44:58):
Yeah, we actually have a really good group of
volunteers that will come downmost of the year to help out,
especially with tournaments, butnot just only that, with other
volunteer things like thecourtesy van, we've got Scott
and Debbie.
Scott and Debbie, they lookafter all our recycling and
things like the courtesy van.
And, um, we've got scott anddebbie scott, debbie, they look
after all our you know recyclingand things like that.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
So you know, as a club we're very lucky to have,
um, a really good group ofvolunteers it's quite a unique
club in the fact that yourlocation here in fitianga, which
is a tourist destination, meansyou get all sorts of people
through the doors, from peoplewho've just arrived in the
country and somehow ended up inWhitianga wondering what's going
on and can I have a meal, orcan I look at the fish on the

(45:41):
wall and this kind of stuff todyed in the wall.
Seasoned fishermen, commercialas well as recreational, um
fishers that that are part ofyour membership base.
So you really draw quite adiverse range of the community
and international tourists tothis, the hub, the mercury bay
game fishing club yeah, we do.

Speaker 5 (45:59):
What's really quite cool is, um, you'll get a lot of
families that haven't been towoody anger for a while and
their parents have been downhere fishing, especially the
older generation, and a lot oftheir um photos are on our board
of their catches and things.
And you know, I sit in theoffice and quite often I hear
ladies going oh my God, that'smy granddad, that's my great

(46:21):
uncle, and that's really cool.
So we do get a real diversegroup of people come through all
the time.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
How do you guys find the balance between honouring
the past and the history butstill being relevant today for
people to come into the club andhave a good time and not feel
like it's gone, stagnant andit's a kind of time capsule of
the past and it's not relevanttoday?
How do you juggle that kind ofbalance?

Speaker 4 (46:46):
Yeah, that's a hard one and it does actually require
active work to make that happen, especially to get the younger
generation active in the cluband making sure that they are
going to take over and runningthe club and being involved.
Yeah, it just actually takeswork.
You just need to work at it andthe committee is definitely

(47:09):
committed to actually make thathappen.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
You talked about technology earlier as well, so
now you're using Facebook,messenger and Instagram and
these tools to reach, I guess, ayounger generation and they can
share their experiences on thewater with you and then you can
kind of push it out to a wideraudience of club members and
those who may be wanting to knowmore.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
Yeah, absolutely so.
We work very hard atcommunication.
So whenever a fish gets weighed, for instance by a weighmaster,
immediately it goes onto amessenger chat group and it goes
onto our Facebook.
We try and make it as easy andseamless as possible and just
make it as quick as possible aswell, because a lot of the times

(47:51):
people are stoked to get thatfish weighed so they want it out
there for everybody to see.
You know, we see less and less,especially bigger fish getting
weighed.
Most of them are, you know, tagand release.
There's a lot of the ladiesespecially who is just keen to
tag and release.
I'm one for myself.

(48:13):
It'll be few and far betweenthat.
I'll actually land a fishnowadays and I think it's just
with.
It comes with education kind ofsending that message of when is
a fish actually?
Um, you know, at the point, ifyou do tag it to make that call
in terms of is it going to liveor not, then you land it or not.

(48:33):
But but, first and foremost, Ithink, is to tag it.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
You implied some new rules I guess around the girls
in the bay as far as what fishyou would accept to go across
the weigh station.
So this is minimum weights andminimum length of fish.
So this is you doing a bit ofyour part.
Encourage anglers to only weighfish of merit and going across
the bridge like that.

Speaker 4 (48:57):
Yeah, we definitely changed that from last year even
to this year's rules to makejust the fish sizes a little bit
more sustainable.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
Yeah, so from the top of my head, I think it was 90
kilos for a billfish and 90centimetres for a kingfish.
So keeping those other fish inthe water where possible.

Speaker 6 (49:17):
I think it's also important that we're keeping it
quite consistent with othercomps too.
So there's a lot ofsimilarities between the girls
and some of the other ones,especially also the junior comp.
Just setting those expectationsthat there's no different rules
for different people as well,and we're all trying to work
towards that same sustainabilitymodel.

(49:38):
Consistency is always good.
When it comes to that, there'sno questions need to be asked.
You know.
You know.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
It's either right or it's wrong I think the biggest
misunderstanding in the generalcommunity towards fishing clubs
are that we're just there tokill fish, and there's so, so
much we've talked about it tostart with of ways that we
aren't killing fish and we'reactually trying to keep more
fish in the water for futuregenerations.
That seems to be the drivinggoal for all anglers.

(50:03):
Now Don't get me wrong gettinga feed for the family.
Everyone has a right, as a Kiwi, to be able to do that.
Sadly, the state of ourfisheries, through different
reasons, have been somewhatdepleted.
So as a competition organisingcommittee, you can kind of hang
your hat on some of theseprinciples that you are doing

(50:23):
the best thing you can to keepmore fish in the water.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
Yeah, absolutely and going forward.
We're working on some newsoftware in the club that'll be
able to actually update catchrecords as we actually weigh
them at the weigh station.
So if we think about acompetition that runs over a few
days, or one of ourcompetitions runs for a month,

(50:49):
as soon as a big fish does goover the weigh station,
everybody kind of knows that andimmediately you won't bring in
a fish that's smaller than thatbecause you know what you're up
against.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Because we have new technologies and ways of
communication, we can actuallyget that out almost instantly to
our members.
Yep, that's right, and you justgot me thinking.
You're a committee member.
You've got a lot ofresponsibilities in the club
here.
You also work a nine-, nine tofive job on the side.
Clubs are built by volunteers.
How do you juggle all of thisand and also find time to go

(51:23):
fishing yourself and I'm puttingthat to the wider group as well
?
You guys are so involved in theclub, but how do you find a bit
of personal time, like you'renot fishing girls in the bay,
for instance?

Speaker 4 (51:33):
you're here, you're not doing the comp yeah, so it's
a little bit of um.
I think the five knot rule isfirst and foremost, so its first
priority is fishing if theweather's good, um, and then you
just make time for the rest ofit.
And yes, it means that someweekends I'm working because I
might take a day off goingfishing.

Speaker 7 (51:52):
But you know that that's just life, that's's what
we do and we love it and it'sall about having like a great
boss and great family behind you.
Maybe the weather's not goingto be great today, but it's
going to be great tomorrow, somy boss is more than willing to
give me a day off and mum's athome looking after my dogs, so

(52:13):
it's okay, see you later.
Land, I'm off for a couple ofhours.
It's having that support whereyou can do that sort of thing,
and the lifestyle up here isjust that.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
What would you say to someone listening who's not a
member of a club, a femalelistener who wants to kind of
get involved?
What does Mercury Bay do tomentor these kind of people if
they've just walked in the doorand they're saying, hey, maybe
I'm retired, maybe I'm workingpart-time, I've got some spare
hours, I want to get involved inthe community.

(52:43):
What can I do?
What are your suggestions tosomeone coming in like that?

Speaker 6 (52:48):
I mean, we don't say no to anyone who wants to help,
and I think that's the importantthing is, you know, if somebody
is keen to get involved andsomebody does ask, it's never
saying no and always just sayingabsolutely, we'll take whatever
you're willing to give.
You know, one thing we'vereally learned with us is we all
come from different walks oflife and we all have different

(53:08):
perspectives.
You know, when we do run into abit of a brick wall, there's
always somebody with a different, different way of getting out
of it or a different solution.
So that's really great.
So, from a volunteeringperspective, um, you know,
mercury bay is really big onvolunteers in all forms of life.
You know, coming fromenvironmental perspectives in
town and to the fishing club.

(53:30):
You know, there's also a lot ofpeople who have done
volunteering work all theirlives and they just want to
relax and we kind of get that.
But those who have come here tosettle down and just want to
give something back, they don'thave any responsibilities other
than trying to stay busy, makesome new friends, just hang out,
have a bit of social contact,by all means.

(53:51):
You know, just, there's so manyprojects around.
All you have to do is ask.
I say you know our townwouldn't run without volunteers.
People just not aware of howmuch volunteering is going on.

Speaker 1 (54:03):
Yeah, and that's just at the fishing club yeah, it
goes back to that kind of ideaof being part of the community
and being embedded and comingand thinking to give something
back.
So there's been studies thathave come out that said
volunteering actually makes yourlife richer in ways that are
not measurable by money and youlive longer as well.

(54:23):
So there's a lot of and mentalhealth benefits as well as
coming in saying what can I do,and I know for myself.
When I took this role, I thinkI came from a place of.
I've taken a lot from the ocean.
I have something inside me thatmakes me feel like I have to
give something back, and whenthe job opportunity came up to

(54:45):
be involved with clubs like this, I felt scratching that itch,
that I've had to give somethingback, taken a lot out of our
ocean historically and I want tofeel like I'm giving something
back.
Is that kind of a feeling youguys get, as well as very
competitive anglers that arepart of it.
It's a part of giving back tothe community.

Speaker 6 (55:04):
I think Anne's probably the most volunteered
person around the table so Ithink she should answer that.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Or yours, Anne.

Speaker 4 (55:12):
A volunteer queen?
I think I'm just a volunteerbecause I can't say no.
But yeah, I agree.
I mean talking to people whoretire and they just want to.
They just want to be involved.
And you're not going to getinvolved or you're not going to
be accepted by the community ifyou don't actually get involved.

(55:34):
If you just walk the streets ofWhitianga, you're going to be
accepted by the community if youdon't actually get involved.
If you just walk the streets ofWhitianga, you're going to be
just, you know, some person whojust pitches up to the New World
or the Countdown or somethinglike that.
But as soon as you walk intoany of our clubs or get involved
in any of the communityprojects around, you know,

(55:55):
suddenly doors open and you getaccepted.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
It's just reminded me of the auction as part of Girls
in the Bay, which was a charityauction for Project Mammogram.
So there's another instance ofthe club giving back to the
wider community.

Speaker 6 (56:13):
Being the Girls in the Bay, we really wanted
support um, a charity that isclose to our hearts.
I mean all the, all the peoplewe deal with to get all of the
information.
They're all guys, so won'tcomment on that.
But no, I just got a messagefrom mike from from the lions
this morning saying, um, he'spicked up our collection buckets

(56:34):
and he's just blown away.
There was over $500 in thecollection buckets.
So for me, you know, I'm justabsolutely gobsmacked at the
support we received this year.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
I guess part and parcel of having more females
involved with the club is youactually get more children or
kids involved with the club aswell.
What are these kind of changesthe club's looking at to, I
guess, service the kids and showthem that they are also part of
the club.
They're not just being draggedin by mum and dad and sat down
having a raspberry and coke.

Speaker 6 (57:07):
The Nicholson boys, their family's really driven.
You know so many people likethe Nicholsons also have put up
their hands to help with all ofthat.
So again, one of thosesituations where not one person
is driving it but it needs avillage in order to drive it
forward.
Just giving them theopportunity is really the big
thing.
You know there's the juniornationals, which you're also a

(57:29):
big part of and you know thatwill also help with driving that
.

Speaker 5 (57:39):
Well, that's it, and we need to look after our
juniors because really they arethe next generation of our club
going forward, you know, notjust for fishing but also for
the running of the club, thecommittee, the volunteering part
of it, you know.
So we have to look after them.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
Look, I'm going to flip it on its head a bit here.
The biggest game fishingcompetition, not not only for
this club but in the country andsome would say the Southern
Hemisphere, is Tom Maxwell'sKubota, which has just grown
year on year.
The big money competition.
Are some of the ladies going totake out the top prize this
year?

Speaker 6 (58:08):
Well, I knew it was one of the ones Been there, done
that.
No, I'm just joking.
Last.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
No, I'm just joking.
Last year you did all right,didn't you Tony?

Speaker 6 (58:18):
We did okay.
We did okay.
I managed to get my one and,yes, we'll be fishing again this
year.
I will be, and Anne will be aswell.
Lisa's on board for the firsttime Popping the cherry for the
commode.
We have started a bit of abackground conversation about
potentially getting a ladies'boat together.

(58:38):
There's a couple of us who areable to take a trailer boat out
and we have big dreams of takinga full ladies' boat with
ladies' skipper and full ladies'crew out and smashing it.
But we're working on that oneand full ladies grew out and
smashing it.

Speaker 4 (58:55):
But we're working on that one, I think the last three
years in a row up until prettymuch about middle of January.
Our leaderboard 10 highestscoring anglers would be five
ladies Wow.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
You can go and count.
Yeah, I will fat-chip theleaderboard after the podcast.

Speaker 6 (59:18):
Just on the back of that, the likes of Penny Murray
started the Ladies Blue.
And how many years ago was thatCara?

Speaker 5 (59:25):
Definitely in the nine years I've been here.

Speaker 6 (59:28):
So you know, there's some of the ladies who have been
running or really driving thatwe see a lot of them now
retiring and saying, look, someof the ladies who have been
running or really driving thatwe see a lot of them now
retiring and saying, look, we'rekeen to be volunteers, we're
keen to help with game-basedradio and all of that, and so,
as a result, we have startedlooking at taking that on and

(59:48):
driving that with the newgenerations coming through.

Speaker 4 (59:51):
So it's a long-running competition.
It runs from 1st of December tothe end of April, end of April,
and it's basically around gamefish, so basically bullfish, and
then there's a team prize forthe most points or a trophy for

(01:00:12):
the most points, and there's thetag draw and then the biggest
tuna.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
So yeah, so it really covers all the species, and the
ladies are out there doing it.

Speaker 6 (01:00:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
And having that over a coupleof months, it gives you that
opportunity to really get outthere and you know, if the
weather's not that great or youknow some of you have a
full-time work or that kind ofrestrictions on your life, you
still have an opportunity to getout there and get some fish.
We've just recently we'vechanged the tagging.

(01:00:49):
It used to be the most tag fish.
We just found that, you know,some of us just don't get out
there.
We love it as much.
But to give everyone a fair bethe most tag fish, uh, we just
found that, you know, some of usjust don't get out there.
We love it as much.
But to give everyone a fairchance and also to keep the
competition live until the end,we've changed it to a tag and
release draw.
So even if you only get outthere three or four times and
you're not able to you know, tag10 fish, but only three you

(01:01:10):
could still have a chance ofactually getting a prize.
And, um, yeah, so, hopefully,so hopefully this year that will
keep everyone motivated tillthe end.
So, yeah, just small changeswe're making.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
Coming up next week.
We're back with theseremarkable women talking safety,
leadership and what it takes torun a tight ship and bring the
crew home.
The NZSFC Pod and Reel podcastis brought to you by the New
Zealand Sport Fishing Councilwith support from Maritime New
Zealand and the Safer BoatingForum.
Thank you you.