John Mowlem - Tauranga’s Own Big Game Hunter-Fisherman

Guest article by Max Avery

John Mowlem in the 1940s and the big-game reel he designed
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 05-319

From 1926 to 1951 Tauranga was home to retired engineer John Mowlem. The owner of a large property in the Wairarapa, he lived at No. 94 Devonport Rd on the cliff overlooking the railway bridge and moored boats, drawn to the town by the abundance of big game fish in its off-shore waters. He had a workshop on the property and Miss Philomena Lantz kept house for him.

Boating party on Virginia, 1926
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 02-341

Mowlem’s earlier history included playing rugby as an All Black and several big-game shooting safaris in Africa, the trophy heads from which adorned the walls at No. 94. Yet, it was big-game fishing for which he was to become best known. The first marlin taken at Mayor Island were three fish boated by a Colonel Calthorpe on Billy Edwards’ launch in 1922 and Mowlem, learning of this, quickly determined to try the new sport.

Catch of fish by John and friends 1920s or 30s
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 02-339

Soon after settling in Tauranga in 1926, as precise in his approach to his sports as he probably was to his engineering, he became dissatisfied with the existing small-drum single-speed Nottingham big-game fishing reels then in common use. In consultation with veteran angler Arthur Fletcher he contrived a reel with a bigger drum and a narrow spool mounted centrally on the rod, which brought the line in tidily and faster. The prototype was too heavy, but further trials resulted in a fine light reel incorporating fibre and cork washers in a string sprung-steel ball-bearing braking system, which proved most successful, and was widely used.

Mowlem’s bach on Mayor Island 1940s
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 05-317

Obviously a man of substance, Mowlem bought two well-known game launches,(Naomi in 1933 and sold in 1938, and Virginia, sold in 1946) and chartered them with experienced skippers. Ever keen to practise what he preached, he spent a lot of time on Mayor Island and its surrounding waters. He was amply rewarded on January 26, 1932, when he boated a world record 820 pound striped marlin. Mowlem was elected inaugural president of the Tauranga Deep Sea Fishing Club in 1937, after forming the club in association with Mr A.J. Mirrielies. In 1938 he built the first private bach on the island at South East Bay.

Weighing fish at the Big Game Fishing Club’s camp on Mayor Island
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 05-316

Following John Mowlem’s death at the age of 81 in 1951, two doctors established consulting rooms in his house, the walls of which still sported his African trophy heads. Prospective patients sitting in the doctors’ waiting rooms might have wondered whether they had arrived at a veterinarian’s by mistake.

John Mowlem’s living room at 94 Devonport Rd, c1950
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Libraries, Pae Korokī Ref. 02-338