R
eceiving an invitation to
fish in the 13th Annual
Surtees Boats Fishing
Competition at the
beautiful Kiwi hot spot
of W hakatane was thrill enough,
but to then be offered a spot on the
Surtees/Okuma 750 Gamefisher
Hard Top, had me buzzing like
an excited schoolboy. The boat’s
name is Okuma Matata referencing
the “problem-free philosophy” of
a couple of my favorite cartoon
characters, The Lion King’s loveable
rogues Timone and Pumba. My
daughter (and I) loved these
characters and the name had me
reminiscing fond memories of
singing their song together when
she was merely a pup, it seems
only yesterday! “Hakuna Matata–it
means no worries for the rest of your
days” Hence a fitting name for this
wonderful craft.
The boat and its crew had me
comfortable from the beginning. Not
only do I have total confidence in
Surtees Boats, but to go to sea with
a pair of 150HP Honda 4-strokes islike being driven by a team of trusted
friends. Speaking of such friends,
not only was the boat skippered
by the closest thing to the Surtees
family himself, Sales Manager Cliff
Schick (renamed Capt Cluffurd),
but joining our intrepid team were
Tassie identities Hadley Deegan
(Surtees Dealer, Ulverstone) and
Team Penn/Simrad, and larger than
life fisho, Adrian “Mozza” Morrisby.
Also joining the fray was the winner
of the Surtees photo competition,
Sydney’s Adam Kelly, a mad keen
fisho who regularly takes his ripper
little Surtees 495 all the way to the
Port Stephens “Car Park” some 40
kilometres offshore, to do battle with
large pelagics — solo!
I must admit that I was originally
a little concerned about having
enough elbow space for five keen
anglers in any trailer boat, especially
when three of us are X X XOS heifers
engaging Ahab the Tent Maker as our
tailor. Oh how wrong I can be! We all
fished easily together, at times with
multiple lines each, and often with
live baits for the region’s XXXXOSsnapper and kingfish (Kungies!). But
I’m getting ahead of myself.LETHAL WEAPON
The Surtees 750 Gamefisher HT is a
total weapon. For those of you that
believe aluminium boats can never
enjoy soft-riding characteristics,
think again. Surtees re-wrote the
rule book when creator Neil Surtees
built the first prototype back in the
early 1990s. That was the Surtees
550 Barcrusher and the start of the
successful dynasty. In fact, there
was a good many 550’s fishing in the
field of 62 boats for the competition,
including the original hull. Neil later
told us that as far as he knows, every
boat he has built is still in seaworthy
condition, even over 25 year old hulls
that have had the crap pounded out
of them. (There will obviously be
accidental exceptions).
The Surtees sistership, the smaller
700HT won TAB’s Australia’s Greatest
Boats Competition and is the only
brand that has competed as a finalist
in every event. This one is simply
bigger. Should I say better? Well,76 tradeaboat.com.au