He broke his back for a fish | 4x NZ Surfcasting Champion | Chad Prentice

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

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