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This Week’s Issue

Warren Harris – Wazza The Legend

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Written by

Beverley Sheppard

Published on

July 8, 2025

This year Warren retires from the Council and retires from being the MBGFC Patron.

The New Zealand Sport Fishing Council recently spotlighted Warren Harris on their Facebook page. Wazza, as he is affectionately known, has been a member of the Council for 25 years and a member of the Executive Council for several years. The Facebook post tells the story of Warren having salt in his veins and a lifetime of stories behind the rod.

A long-time member of the Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club (MBGFC), Warren brings experience, dedication, and a deep passion for the sport, especially when it comes to mentoring weigh masters across the country. This year Warren retires from the Council and retires from being the MBGFC Patron. His 25 years of dedication to Game Fishing is worthy of serious acknowledgement.

The FB post goes on to say that Wazza’s go-to lure is a Redgill now but originally it was a Williamson green and yellow.

One of those days? A 265.5kg blue Marlin that took 2.5 hours to land – a club record that was held for 10 years.

While others dream of distant destinations, Warren keeps it close to home. “Mercury Bay and the Bay of Plenty – nothing beats it.”

The Council goes on to say that Warren joined the club for the camaraderie but stuck around to help guide the next generation, ensuring every Weigh Station runs with accuracy, fairness and pride. Wazza is a legend in his own right.

I work a few hours a week at the MBGFC and have attended a few raffle nights on a Thursday. Warren was one of the first members who began to talk to me and as I sat with him and his lovely wife Annette a few times, I began to feel a sense of the great respect the club has for Wazza, and he for the club. He spoke to everyone with such a warmth, a sense of quiet confidence and a great sense of fun. His knowledge on all things game fishing, boating, accurate following of NZ Sport Fishing Council rules is prodigious and his professionalism always a part of his dealings. The MBGFC is very fortunate to have had such a member, a committee member, Past President, Member of the NZ Sports Fishing Council and Area Trainer.

Beginnings:

Life for Warren Harris started out in Papatoetoe in South Auckland in 1947. His Dad enjoyed his fishing and first began taking Warren out on fishing charters on the MV Florence Kennedy. Warren’s first boat was a self-made canoe.

From the canoe, Warren graduated to a bigger Canadian canoe; then to a little Z class yacht; then to a Mischief yacht to sail around the Hauraki Gulf. By then, Warren was hooked. He sold the yacht to buy a 19-foot 6-inch plywood boat which then was replaced by a Fi-Glass Baron. Talking with Warren is a lesson in boats and fish. He has a lifetime of fish he has caught, boats he has had, boats he has built and certificates he has achieved. Might be time for that book!

Warren moved to Tokoroa where he began as a Stock Agent for Dalgety NZ Loan. Various other vocations were followed until he went to the Paper and Pulp Kinleith Mill. He worked hard as a Production Supervisor and management rewarded him accordingly.

Warren bought his first block of land in Kuaotunu in about 1978 and started building his holiday bach. He loved it there. This period of life was very busy – three children, every day working in Tokoroa and then building his house on the Coroamandel. When Warren wasn’t on his boat, he was scuba diving for scallops, crayfish and abalone (Paua).

Warren’s next launch was called The Amarillo.

Part Two

He joined the MBGFC, the Tauranga Game Fishing Club and the Bay of Islands Fishing Club. He had a very good eye for detail in terms of how clubs were to be run and managing fishing tournaments.

Exporting tuna to Japan became a sideline business. Warren decided that he needed more deck room for processing the fish and so he began to plan for a new launch.

At last, Warren realised his dream of building his own boat. FV Amarillo was built and launched – a 41 foot, 6 inch fibre salt house. He had built in a big ice chest in the middle of the boat, the latest ocean-going safety equipment was on board, and in 1996 she was in the water to his immense delight and satisfaction. Warren had learnt so much from the skippers he had met and it was time to put it all into practise.

One great story he has is of the massive two fish he caught on the same day. One was a Striped Marlin of 140kg estimated, the other was close to 180kg on formula. He caught these two fish off the Three Kings Islands of the North Cape, NZ. There is a mounted head and tail of a 265.5 Blue Marlin proudly displayed on the wall of his lounge-room. Taxidermy at its finest. The Blue Marlin was caught off the Whitianga coastline.

During these years of bigger and bigger boats, Warren was volunteering on the MBGFC board. One year, Gary Russell was President and the TCDC had been asking the MBGFC to move its premises from the old wooden wharf. Warren and Gary knew it was time to build a Club that was bigger, safer and modern and could easily run bigger fishing tournaments. The dairy company was on the market a few years before and the Club, thinking ahead, decided to purchase the land where we now stand.

Warren acknowledges five wonderful men in the 1990’s who understood it was time to make a move and used their skills, energy, and money to set in motion the momentum needed to make it happen – Merv Larsen, Harry Harrison, Bob Cawker, Richard Simpson and Ray Blackler. There were other members too numerous to mention.

The new MBGFC began its life by Warren finding a concrete saw and carving out windows one weekend. Warren reflected with so much pride on how so many members and the community rallied together to build the Club Rooms, offices and kitchen. A wonderful man from Auckland who owned a stainless-steel fabrication business, helped with building the stainless steel bar accessories. Warren wanted the curved shape of the current wooden bar, and a long piece of Kauri was found and polished to perfection. The opening was 2001 and Warren and his team were very proud of their hard work and the community around them. The final push was needed to furnish the club rooms and provide tables. This aspect of the project needed to be sponsored and they were all bought and sponsored in one week!

During this time, Warren began to realise that the Weigh Masters here and around NZ were operating with their own culture and their own club rules. Short cuts were the norm and Warren realised it was time to bring professionalism and due process and diligence to being a Weigh Master. He refined his knowledge of the rules and regulations from the NZ Sports Council and went about training every Weigh Master he met up and down the coast of the North Island. He realised that if etiquette and national standards were to be introduced and abided by, then it was his job to do this. So began a remarkable journey of training. He slowly changed the fishing culture of the ‘boys clubs’ which were often cutting corners everywhere. Uniforms were encouraged and slowly but surely, professionalism, uniformity, courtesy and immense respect for the fish began to filter through NZ. Warren’s ability to teach men and women the International Game Fishing Association rules and regulations is amazing. He speaks and teaches the skills needed with such patience and enthusiasm. The Weigh Masters of the MBGFC have long been highly respected and admired because of Warren’s commitment to education.

Fishing Tournaments became bigger and bigger. Warren loved meeting fishers – men and women from all over the world. He loved that the Fishing Club was successful, the books and accounting records were kept precisely, and if corrections were needed to be made, he did so. His attention detail and integrity made for an ethical Board and thus a financially successful Club.

Warren began the Classic Cup in Whitianga in 2005 with 25 boats. He limited the numbers to create a fishing competition that was exclusive and highly desirable and fun to be in. Warren would auction off the boats at the start of the competition to build a prize pool and very successfully so. The following year, 50 boats joined this new and exciting game fishing competition. Warren still has the Cup which sits in the Whitianga Club. Two years ago, Tom Maxwell wanted to launch the Classic Cup to the world. He renamed it the Kubota Cup, and this year 400 boats registered with about 1000 anglers enjoying great weather conditions and created stories of great fish caught which will be told many years to come!

In conclusion, Warren reflects that he’s had a great time of meeting very interesting people over all the years. He loved being President, from 2004 -2007 and now Patron, since 2010 and Life Member since 2014. In September this year, he will step down and look to other interests such as the Classic Car club which he also loves.

Warren has left a legacy in the world that has made such a difference; – 25 years of making great friends, creating lots of good times, trophies won and articles written in magazines such as the Blue Water Magazine in Australia and other papers. His integrity, his passion for life and the sport of Game Fishing makes him a greatly respected and loved man, and one very valued Whitianga long-time resident and volunteer.

Well done Warren Harris.