b'35th King of the Kaipara BY MATHEW HEWETSONEditor Matt Hewetsontrolling lures or deploying live baits. rarely needs to travel far from the I had organised to fish with a goodboat ramp.returned to his homemate from my Dargy days, DamianWebs was keen to see how I used waters to fish in the 35thWebs Styles in his Senator 540,softbaits in the faster 5-6 knot who now lives in Mangawhai andcurrent at the graveyard and his son T he mighty Kaiparawas keen to experience softbaitingJordan was also going to join us on King of the Kaipara contest.at the graveyard.Webs has fishedthe day.I crashed the night with the Kaipara often in recent years,them in Mangawhai on the Friday has a soft spot inbut with such good fishing innight and we woke to a stunning day my heart, it is thethe shallows of the harbour hewith little wind.harbour closest to my hometown of Dargaville where IJordan scored his PB snapper grew up and wherewhile softbaiting on the day of the King of the Kaipara.I still return to fish often to this day.It is a rugged place out on the west side and as the largest harbour in the Southern Hemisphere, it offers top fishing for most inshore species right on Aucklands doorstep.The King of the Kaipara has been going for 35 years now and was set up and is still run by Mike Nola, the local Dargaville tackle store owner.The one-day contest offers prizes for the top three weighed trevally, kahawai, gurnard, snapper and of course kingfish.I caught my first kingie here as a teenager on my uncles boat by trolling a Rapala along the edge of the huge sand banks that are exposed at low tide.Kingfish round up mullet gathering in the shallow warm water along the sand banks and is one of the prime spots to target kings by/FISHINGINGODZONE11'