Q & A with Naomi Wisby aka Wizza

Store: Margate

How long you have been fishing?

Well, how far back do we start… I was only 6weeks old when I went on my first ever saltwater adventure. My passion for the ocean comes from my father, a retired commercial fisherman. I’ve been surrounded by water and boats all my life and like him, salt runs through the veins – it’s where I feel most at home and a weekend without fishing feels a week too long.

I grew up in the little fishing town of St.Helens and when my father wasn’t running the commercial boat, we would head away sailing up/down the East Coast and a handline was never far from my grip. It was a great childhood.

When we would come back into ‘civilisation’ for supplies I would wander up to the shops from the marina or jetty, find a local service station or bait store, and spend my dollar savings on lollies and squid jigs.

Your favourite fish to catch why?

My passion for fishing only grew more of an obsession from my mid-late 20’s after landing my first true “big fish”, a 130kg Mako Shark caught in Storm Bay. Prior to that a 20kg Tuna was the biggest fish I’d reeled in. From there, I guess you could say I was ‘hooked’ and the addiction for game fish began.

You could say I have an obsession with Swordfish, I wouldn’t disagree, but when I’m not on the shelf in pursuit of the elusive broadbill, my sights are set on Blue-eye Trevalla. When dropping into 350-550m depth of water, life is easier with help of an electric. I run a 5-hook snood rig and big long strips of calamari for bait. Blue-eye can sit anywhere from hard on the bottom to 150m off the bottom and sometime require a bit of searching for.

Pan fried crispy skin Blue-eye with garlic butter is my favourite way to enjoy this beautiful A-grade table fish.

Favourite combo?

Can I have two? Tiagra80w/Shimano Hyper Sword Rod for Sword fishing and Shimano Forcemaster/Revolution Deep Drop Bent Butt for chasing Blue-eye Trevalla and Striped Trumpeter.