Wildside - Zane Grey in New Zealand

Mystique and misbehaviour of Zane Grey

© Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, Mystique and misbehaviour of Zane Grey, Nelson Mail, 7 November 2009

An American fishing legend, and his trip to New Zealand left a great legacy, including my name.



Namesake: Zane Mirfin with Zane Grey's Tales of the Angler's Eldorado, New Zealand 1926

Ever since I began fishing, I've known about the legend of American Zane Grey and his 1920s fishing exploits in New Zealand. It wasn't until last Labour Weekend, while on a family holiday at Lake Rotoiti, that I finally got around to reading his epic1926 Kiwi fishing book -Tales of the Angler's Eldorado, New Zealand.

It reads like one of his paperback Western novels and leaves no doubt that Grey was the pioneer of modern fishing in New Zealand.

He documented saltwater and freshwater fishing, caught plenty of big fish and was the first fishing writer to incorporate the character of New Zealand with dialogue on local Maori, native birds, geography and natural history.

Most of Grey's book deals with billfish and shark fishing, but his depiction of the Tongariro and his beloved Dread-nought Pool, to which he was led by Maori guide Hoka Down, and where he was photographed by personal photographer Morton, stand out in my mind.

Grey promoted the Tongariro as the greatest trout stream in the world, and 83 years on, volcanic Lake Taupo and the inflowing tributaries are still one of the great freshwater fish factories of the world.

However, he was not popular with everyone. New Zealand angling historian Bryn Hammond has said his reputation was contrived and everywhere he went he outstayed his welcome, argued and fell out with the locals. In the end he had to pay people to go fishing with him because he was so unpleasant to be around.

Grey had what we in the trade call a Mexican complex, where he saw New Zealanders as "inferior, docile human beings to be used and abused". In spite of this Grey became besotted with young Kiwi actress Nola Luxford, who was able to rebuff his advances yet still use Grey's influence twitch the Hollywood movie studios.

Grey was asked by the New Zealand government in 1925 to visit and promote the tourist fishery to the world. After a 26-day steamer ship journey, he arrived in 1926 with his travelling companion, Captain Mitchell, and their entourage.

He was given star treatment and got to dine with the prime minister, MPs and many other important people of the day.

While freeloading off the New Zealand taxpayer, Grey managed to light an angling fire that still burns brightly to this day. He has probably repaid his debt many times over in the volumes of overseas anglers who have visited our shores since.

Fishing tourism existed well before the time of grey, particularly for the British, but Grey was frustrated by pompous bureaucrats and petty officials who got in the way of access and fishing during his first visit.

Hammond described Grey as "all padding and Fluff", but noted that an internet search showed all number of people and businesses today trying to cash in and gain material advantage from the Zane Grey name. "There are even fishing guides named after him" Hammond said.

I guess this is where the influence of my father, Stuart, comes into play. Dad was an avid reader of Zane Grey paperback westerns in his boyhood - hence my name.

Grey never fished in the South Island, but I have been fortunate to have fished in the footprints of Grey on the Tongariro and in Oregon in the United States. I had a week swinging streamer flies through prime steelhead runs, in classic bedrock pools unchanged since the time of Grey. Later, I learned that he used to hire bouncers to guard prime pools and physically intimidate other anglers into moving on.

It is a little known fact that Grey almost succeeded in his attempts to buy the entire Tongariro River in New Zealand for his own purposes.

He wrote many articles for international sporting magazines highlighting New Zealand fishing, principally in the Bay of Islands, producing heavy tackle world records for the major billfish - striped marlin, black marlin, blue marlin and broadbill.

He held numerous world records during his time, included a 111lb (50.3kg) kingfish, and was a key developer of the teaser, a hookless bait trolled behind a boat that is still used today to attach large game fish.

It is unfortunate that he had so much acrimony with local anglers at the time, but Grey had the last laugh - the game fish techniques and strategies he promulgated in his book are how New Zealanders fish today.

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