A Charter line with Chris Brittain and Tagit

I have thoroughly enjoyed fishing with Chris Brittain in the past and jumped at the chance to fish with him again. This trip was aboard the new and luxuriously appointed Tagit, a 13.2 metre Alan Warwick design based in Paihia, the Bay of Islands. Accompanying me on the trip was Brenda Knight, NZ Fisherman's new Classifieds and Directory sales representative, and super-keen fisho. She was really looking forward to being out on the water again - particularly on a boat as beautiful as Tagit.

As was the case last time, Chris welcomed our trying for the off-beat and hard to achieve - a brave call for someone who was having his expertise and service appraised, written about, and then read by the fishing masses!
This type of trip is prone to a high incidence of failure, but as Chris has been responsible for catching a heap of spectacular fish for his customers in the past, he's only too aware that it's a case of 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'.
For instance, on our 24-hour trip the agenda went something like this: try to troll up a marlin (nothing too special about this - except that this was the middle of July!); park up for a broadbill drift (hard enough in the best of conditions, but he went through with the plan despite 15-20 knot winds); try to catch a kingfish the following morning, preferably on 1-4-kg line or saltwater fly gear or maybe try for a shark on fly tackle if conditions allow. In the end, despite being most enjoyable and educational, the trip provided more of the spadework that these missions usually require. Real achievements don't come easy! However, while bobbing around in the sloppy seas (surprisingly comfortable despite 15-20 knot winds) and waiting for a broadbill to bite, I managed to boat some truly mammoth squid. Unfortunately, I didn't catch one that appeared to be nearly a metre in length! The next day, we fought our way through hordes of big hungry kahawai to catch a dozen koheru, and then grew to love the sight of barracouta eating them all. The cold snap had unfortunately served to sew up the mouths of our yellow-tailed friends.
Around midday, I weakened somewhat and asked if we could do a little snapper fishing. It turned out that this was probably what we should have been doing all day. Although we only ended up with seven or eight fish to 2.5-kg, the catch excluded a couple of real monsters. These big fish raced away with my whole koheru baits, tantalisingly ripped off line from a hard-set drag, and then left me with only the crushed and mangled remains of my bait - and dreams. The trip was a superb illustration of why I like fishing with Chris. The middle of winter and he was happy to do the crazy things that Brenda and I wanted, with no regrets at the end. We had all done our best.
Chris never backs down from a challenge (unless you want him to) and will try for all types of sport fish on any class of tackle. This is a refreshing change from game skippers totally focused on only catching fish with beaks on their faces and encouraging the use of 24 and 37kg tackle (not that there's anything wrong with doing that!).
He's also severely underrated. Chris needs a publicist because he's not the type of bloke to tell everyone how good he is and what he's done. So I'm going to do that for him - as his partner, Leonie Kai Patterson, has also been doing. There is no doubt in my mind that Chris is amongst the top five natural fishermen in the Bay of Islands charter fleet, and now that he has a boat to match his talents, l predict that we will be hearing a lot more about this man. Even now, Chris has achieved the kind of success that most good skippers will not see in their lifetime. The 'Contest Wins' and 'Record Fish' sections on my 'Charterline' sheet were not spacious enough for all the relevant information, so Chris just gave me a few examples. Here are a few of them: Woman's World Record Blue Marlin, 326 kg on 24-kg tackle (current); Men's World Record Striped Marlin, 165 kg on 15-kg (by a 15-year old!); Pending Woman's World Record Shortbilled Spearfish, 33.4 kg on 24-kg; Woman's World Record Yellowtail Kingfish, 26 kg on 8-kg (disallowed because the line under-tested at less than 6-kg!).
Contest wins include winning the Bay of Islands Light Tackle Tournament four times in five years, winning the Houhora One Base in 1997 and coming second in 1999 - the list goes on. The quality of fishing gear on board will help in the future, too. It's a healthy mix of Penn and Shimano, from big and medium lever drag game reels down to the smaller, utility-type Jigmasters and Baitrunners. These, along with any 'pets' that you might wish to bring along, are kept secure and available in Tagit's 20 rod holders.
A quick check of lockers, cupboards and the hold, showed me that all necessary gaffs, landing/bait nets and useful accessories were all present and accounted for (a good thing as they're often needed).
Californian angler Art Lange certainly found this out earlier this year, having originally chartered Chris and Tagit on a kingfish and yellowfin expedition. Almost immediately he boated an 18-kg kingfish and was already a well-satisfied man - but that was far from the end. Chris then took them out wide to try for a tuna, but unfortunately only marlin liked the lures - first, a stripie of 85 kg, and later a blue of 190 kg. Both were tagged and released. The next day they went out again and tagged another stripie. Fortunately, despite not catching a yellowfin, Art is booked to return next year! About now, Chris will probably be wishing that I would get on to the rest of the operation. Probably, the owner of Tagit, Graham Penwarden, is too. Tagit is a lovely boat and it's obvious that no expense has been spared in her construction, or in the quality of the equipment on board. As a result, she is surveyed to fish all the way out to the Three Kings Islands - a quick and easy feat when you're powered by twin Iveco 300-hp Fiats, enabling her to comfortably cruise at 18 knots.
What I particularly liked was that the charter price includes towels and linen requirements (great to jump into a freshly made bed at the end of the day), as well as all the food and refreshments - apart from alcoholic beverages, obviously!
Although Tagit carries the usual electronics, for navigation and communication, I was interested and pleased to see that she also had a Kiwitech plotter. The unit incorporates a computer that interfaces with weather fax and tidal information, and has the capabilities to connect up to E-mail and the Internet in the future.
Her saloon is comfortable and spacious, and very well set up for socialising, with enough seating for eight or nine people. There's a wine rack housed in the table support, and the choice of either listening to music on the CD/tape stereo, or watching a video or TV. A four-burner stove sorts out the majority of cooking requirements; a microwave oven sorts out the rest. No excuses for not eating well!
As for sleeping arrangements, Tagit has four single-berths aft, a spacious double in the mid-section, another single up the side of the saloon and two more singles up above. Fresh water showers can be found both in the bathroom and out on the deck. As you might have gathered by now, Chris and Tagit are an excellent combination. They deserve each other and there are going to be a lot of happy punters in the future as a result. Chris is easy-going, knowledgeable, versatile and committed to whatever the charter wants, while Tagit is spacious, comfortable, stable, fast and very, very well equipped. They are going to do well.