Catfish Cull 2023 results

Spearfishing New Zealand Inc. ran the 14 th annual Rosemergy Memorial Catfish Cull at Motuoapa,Lake Taupo, on 11 February 2023.

This event had been invented by veteran spearo Bob Rosemergy in 2010 to encourage spearfishing in a fun event, whilst also doing some good by removing some of the Brown Bullhead Catfish that are now a widespread pest fish in the Lake.
187 divers (including 43 juniors) participated in this year’s event. The rules were fairly straight forward: people swim in pairs or groups of three and freedive with pole spears, chasing the elusive brown bullhead catfish. Catfish inhabit a range of depth from the shallows to more than 20 metres, although most are speared in depths between 5 and 15 metres. Divers also see a lot of koura and the odd trout, both of which are strictly off-limits to our divers. Visibility was reduced this year after a summer of heavy rain, to about 5 to 8 metres. Most divers just swim out from shore, so it is easy to participate without having a flash boat. We also put large dive flags on safety buoys around the area to warn boaties who may be unfamiliar with seeing divers in Taupo.

This year we tried a new prize category – all competitors were asked to collect some trash, and prizes were awarded for: largest trash - a car tyre hauled up by Jon and Hugh Rosemergy, most valuable trash: a pole spear and fishing net for David Shand, and best trash: a vintage Lion Brown can found by Aaron Dowman. Other items included a water pump, a paddleboard paddle, half a dozen golf balls, and bottles and cans. However, this event was not nearly as productive as had been hoped – there is not much rubbish in the lake at all! What a great problem to have – congratulations Tuwharetoa and the local community for looking after this precious lake.

A weigh-in was held at the Motuoapa Fishing and Boating Club, with a sausage sizzle and a prizegiving hosted by local scouts as a fundraiser for them, and more food and drinks served by the fishing club which also contributes money to that club. Prizes included a range of great outdoor apparel from New Zealand company Lonely Track, the primary sponsors of the event. This ranged from beanies and singlets to full-on bush shirts and hunting jackets that competitors were very keen to win. The Department of Conservation also generously assisted with T shirt printing costs and donated some great catfish travel mugs so everyone got a prize. We pushed the ‘Check Clean Dry’ message to all competitors to try and educate people about the spread of didymo and other fresh water pests.

When all was done, there had been 889 catfish recorded. The winning score was 90 fish for Darren Shields and Ian Warnock, with Chris Marshall & Rowan Verbickas weighing in 89. Jay Anderson & Harlan Wildey won the junior pairs (24 fish), followed closely by Oscar & Victor Perkins (20 fish), and the top all-women’s pair was Fiona Wilson & Emma Brooks with 23 fish.
One hotly contested prize is for smallest and largest catfish. This year was an outstanding result for both. Julian Vanderput weighed in a catfish weighing just one gram, which was dwarfed by Jacob Foxley’s 624 gram monster, just shy of the all-time record in NZ of 632 grams.

Nga mihi nui to Tuwharetoa Trust Board for their generous approval of the event, DOC, Lonely Track, Motuoapa Fishing and Boating Club, and Taupo Scouts.

Reid Quinlan, Secretary, Spearfishing NZ Inc.
Contact 021 909 558 secretray@spearfishingnz.co.nz