Māori Fishing - Oakura Bay, New Zealand - New Years Day 2002

While visiting with friends and family in New Zealand, I had the opportunity to video a family using a blend of modern and traditional fishing methods. I hitch-hiked from Wellington to near the top of the North Island to stay a few days with good friends.

Traditional fishing was both a practical and a spiritual activity. There were many ingenious methods and tools, but on this day we used a cast gaff on a line. The technique uses three barbed hooks on a heavy lead weight cast over a school of fish. Before the hooks reach the water, the line is pulled taught to angle the hooks in a way that impales the fish from the side.

Then, there's the cleaning of the fish.