🎣 Get the Net – Tight Lines, Loose Lips! 🎙️

Mark Phillips grew up in Whitianga casting hand lines with Mum and Dad before discovering soft baiting and slowly working his way into competition fishing. Jason van Esch, a builder and tiler from Auckland, found his way back to fishing through camping trips, trailer boat comps, and a burning desire to be the guy walking away with the reels. A bromance forged on a building site and sealed somewhere out past Cuvier.

Part 1 is a front-to-back masterclass in what it takes to compete at the Kubota level — from the early trailer boat days chasing snapper prizes, to the first Kubota entry in 2021 where a tagged stripy and a stranger calling them "little bitches" at prize-giving lit a fire that's been burning ever since.

The stories you won't forget: Mark's first blue marlin on a broken rod at 500 metres. Jason's first blue, lost after an hour with no gimbal. Kylie's five-and-a-half-hour sword battle. Thirteen winds from a monster they never got. Part 1 ends with three swords tagged, $70,000 in the pocket, and a chip on their shoulder the size of a black marlin.

🎧 Watch on YouTube — Search Get The Net
📱 @getthenet_nz on Instagram, TikTok & Facebook

🎵 Music: Proctor (Topher Mohr & Alex Elena) | Satellites (Swello) | Momentum (Zplit) | Source — YouTube Audio Library

🎥 Shot on Sony A7iii + Sennheiser Mics | Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro | Shot, Edited & Produced by Nick Hoyle

Matt Shuker built a business tracking the ocean so Marine Intel members never fish blind. Marine Intel started with a marlin trip to Westport and a mates group chat. Now he’s directing triple marlin strikes from a garden centre car parkMarine Intel delivers custom daily ocean reports to game fishermen across the country, decoding satellite data, sea surface temperatures, subsurface thermoclines, and chlorophyll blooms into plain English: here's where the fish should be, here's why.

Eighteen months in, it's his full-time life — and it all started because a trip to Westport didn't go the way it was supposed to.

In this episode Nick and Matt go deep on the science of finding fish. What does a game fisherman actually need to look at on a chart? Why do bluefin behave like long-haul truckers — pulling off at the same productive stops year after year? How does the green-to-blue edge rule work, and when does the biggest fish of the year completely ignore it?

Matt breaks down both winter and summer oceanography, the South Island bluefin migration window, and why checking the wind map isn't enough — you need to know what the water was doing before the window opened.

There's a full breakdown of the tools and software he uses, plus the story of directing a client onto a triple Marlin strike from a garden centre, just by pulling up charts on his phone.

There's also a safety conversation that every NZ game fisherman needs to hear. Matt was 18 miles away when a father and son's trailer boat was caught in a factory trawler's rope off Greymouth — in the middle of the night, in cold South Island water, with no coastguard and no helicopter within range. Their Mayday call was two words.

The boat sank. They survived — rescued by Valhalla, who were cooking a roast when the call came in. This episode is bluefin season listening.

Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts | Watch on YouTube — Search Get The Net
Matt Shucker @marinaintel_nz
Marine Intel marinaintel.co.nz

GET THE NET
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getthenet_nz
Instagram: @getthenet_nz
TikTok: @getthenet_nz
Facebook: @getthenet_nz

MUSIC
Proctor — Topher Mohr and Alex Elena
Satellites — Swello
Momentum — Zplit
Source: YouTube Audio Library

Shot, Edited and Produced by Nick Hoyle

Chad Prentice is a four-time New Zealand Surfcasting Champion and Shimano representative who has spent his life finding the most inaccessible stretches of coastline in the country and figuring out how to fish them. From skipping school in Wairoa to hitch a ride to the beach with cat's meat for bait, to swimming rivers in the dark at 3am with a full pack to win national titles, Chad's approach to land-based fishing is as hard out as it gets.

In this episode, Nick and Chad break down the full art of reading a surf beach — water colour, wave period, sand ridges, tide, moon phase, and why where you plant your rod stand is the single most important decision you'll make. Chad also gets into slide baiting for kingfish in the surf, why going as light as possible creates the most opportunities, and how the same principles that apply to boat fishing apply just as much when your feet are planted on the sand.

The stories are something else. Two national title campaigns that involved 3am river crossings, pterodactyl-sized mozzies on 90 Mile Beach, and carrying a full load of competition fish out on foot across some of the most rugged coastline in New Zealand. Then there's the time at Cape Maria van Diemen where a collapsing volcanic rock sent Chad fifteen metres onto his back, broke his neck and spine in three places, and put a knife through his bag into his back — and he still looked at the conditions and thought they were good.

A roosterfish in Puerto Rico is still on the bucket list. Everything else, he's pretty much done.

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts | Watch on YouTube — Search Get The Net

✅ Chad Prentice: https://www.facebook.com/hardcoreoutdoorsnz

⏱️ Chapters:
0:00 Meet Chad
15:00 Winning the Nationals
30:00 Reading a Surf Beach
45:00 The Fall at Cape Maria
1:00:00 Slide Baiting & Kingfish in the Surf
1:15:00 Gear, Line Diameter & Going Light

🔗 Links & Socials:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getthenet_nz
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1824558692

✅ Follow Us:
Instagram: @getthenet_nz | TikTok: @getthenet_nz | Facebook: @getthenet_nz

🎵 Music: Proctor - Topher Mohr & Alex Elena | Satellites - Swello | Momentum - Zplit | Source: YouTube Audio Library

Roy Pulvers is one of Auckland's most recognised charter skippers — more than a decade on the Hauraki Gulf, running Fish 'N Dips Charters and now Triton Charters, and one of the first operators in New Zealand to run lure-only charters. Originally from overseas and self-taught through sheer time on the water, Roy has built a reputation for simply finding fish. If you see his boat heading somewhere with purpose, you follow it.
In this episode, Nick and Roy cover the full picture of what it takes to fish the Gulf at the highest level — reading workups, understanding bird behaviour, using technology such as BirdRadar to cut search time and maximise action, and why slowing down sometimes means finding more. Roy breaks down his approach to lure selection, kingfish behaviour, why barometric pressure matters more than most people realise, and the art of teaching complete beginners to catch fish on lures from day one.
There are some brilliant stories along the way — a striped marlin fixated on a snapper caught inside the Gulf while jigging with 400mm jigs, wrapping itself around its bill and fins three times in a row; a 2nd kingfish of a lifetime, finally caught after years of chasing it in the same place; and a yellowfin session with clients between Rakino and the Noises that produced 21 fish in a single day. Roy also discusses the state of the Gulf, why he thinks there's more of everything out there right now, and why pelagics pushing inside the harbour is something he hasn't seen in 23 years until recently.
His worst day on the water? Any day he's stuck on land.
Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts | Watch on YouTube — Search Get The Net
Roy Pulvers @Triton_Charters (IG)
Roy Pulvers @Fishndipscharters (IG)
https://www.facebook.com/FishnDipsCharters
https://www.facebook.com/TritonChartersNZ
www.youtube.com/@fishndipschartersltd3358
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Roy
00:15 The State of the Hauraki Gulf
00:30 Finding the Fish
00:45 Kingfish — The Smart Fish
01:00 Marlin in the Gulf & The 40kg King
01:15 Gear, Lures & Teaching Beginners
Links & Socials:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getthenet_nz
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/get-the-net/id1824558692
Instagram: @getthenet_nz
TikTok: @getthenet_nz
Facebook: @getthenet_nz
Music Used:
Proctor, Topher Mohr & Alex Elena
Satellites, Swello
Momentum, Zplit
Source (YouTube Audio Library)
Production Notes:
Shot on: Sony A7iii + Sennheiser Mics
Edited in: Adobe Premiere Pro
Shot, Edited & Produced by Nick Hoyle

Connor Scott is a career skipper out of West Haven,Auckland, and when it comes to stray lining for trophy snapper, he's built a system that's as dialled as it gets. Growing up fishing with his dad from the rocks at a spot they called Broken Ankle Point, Connor has spent his whole lifechasing snapper — and after years on the water professionally, he's broken down exactly what separates the people who consistently find big fish from the oneswho don't.

In this episode, Nick and Connor go deep on the art of straylining — reading current, presenting bait naturally, understanding how snapper relate to structure, and why most people are fishing the wrong spots for the wrong reasons.

Connor talks through his entire system, from finding the mark to keeping fish coming once you're on them, and why the small details that most anglers overlook are actually the difference between a feed and a trophy.

There's plenty of texture along the way — Connor'sbackground running charter boats and ferries, what fatigue management looks like as a professional skipper, and some cracking yarns about big sessions and the ones that nearly got away.

But the real gold in this episode is in thedetail — the kind of hard-won knowledge that only comes from putting in serious time on the water with clients who are paying to catch fish.

Bait over lures. Pan-fried snapper. No fuss. Connor's a manwho knows what works.

🎧 Listen on Spotify &Apple Podcasts | Watch on YouTube — Search Get The Net

✅ Connor Scott @new_zealand_outdoors
✅ www.youtube.com
 
⏱️ Chapters /Segments
📝 SHOW NOTES / CHAPTERBREAKDOWN
(00:00) Meet Connor Career skipper out of West Haven, grewup fishing with his dad from the rocks at a place they called Broken AnklePoint.
(07:00)The Professional Edge What years of putting clientson fish teaches you that recreational fishing never will.
(00:15) Reading Current & Finding the Mark How Connorlocates trophy snapper and why most people are fishing the wrong spots.
(00:30) The Straylining System Burley patience, big baits,and the details that separate a feed from a trophy.
(00:45) Staying On the Fish Why sitting on a quiet markfor hours is one of the most underrated skills in fishing.
(00:60) Bait vs Lures & The Equation Connor's take on thegreat debate — and the formula that equals big snapper every time.
 
🌟 Links & Socials
- YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@getthenet_nz]
- Apple Podcasts: [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/🎣-get-the-net-–-tight-lines-loose-lips🎙️/id1824558692]
 
✅ Follow Us
- Instagram: @getthenet_nz
- TikTok:@getthenet_nz
- Facebook @getthenet_nz
 
🎵 Music Used
✅ Proctor, Topher Mohr & Alex Elena
✅ Satellites, Swello
✅ Momentum, Zplit
✅ Source (YouTube Audio Library)
 
🎥 Production Notes
✅ Shot on: Sony A7iii + Sennheiser Mics
✅ Edited in: Adobe Premiere Pro
✅ Shot, Edited & Produced by Nick Hoyle