A Tale of Two Fishies

On a rainy day I came across this little gem - Chris, his sister Jacqui and late dad Eddie, on holiday in Karitane near Dunedin, tucked up with a copy of the New Zealand Sea Anglers’ Guide, 1960. We have a third edition (1964) in our library and I now understand why Chris has such an attachment to it.

Page 224 is dedicated to our namesake - the Hapuku. Growing up in the South Island we would refer to this regal fish as Groper, while our North Island neighbours largely used (and still do) Hapuka. The book quite rightly points out that this is a “corruption of hapuku”. Nicely said.

When we first moved to Kaikōura, we were told the time to go fishing for Hapuku was when the first snow settles on the mountain tops and the fat on the fish is at its best. I’m not sure if local fishers still abide by this but I agree that a fillet of Hapuku, skin on with a generous layer of fat, crisped in a pan is a thing of beauty.