Bill Hohepa on making his first feature film at 80 years old

In the 1950s a young Wayne Willis (AKA Bill Hohepa) would wait in his driveway for his uncle to turn up in an old Dodge truck. Then they’d head off to the Manukau Harbour, net hundreds of piper and pack them into sugar bags to sell to Auckland Zoo for the aquatic animals.

That was Bill’s first fishing experience, but it wouldn’t be his last. He’s a fishing legend these days, has written several books, wrote a newspaper column for 40+ years, and has filmed over 1,200 hours of TV.

At 80 he’s taking the next step in a varied career - making his own film - A Fish Full of Dollars. We had a chat to the man himself about filmmaking and fishing, as he wraps up production of his first movie.

Doing what nobody else was doing

Back in 1968 Bill had a decade or so of fishing experience under his belt and he decided:

“It’s time to start a fishing column. Nobody else was doing it! So I started my column telling people how to fish. I wrote in the Sunday News and in Truth, a 100-odd year old paper, and I did that for 42 years until 2010.”

As well as the column, Bill became known for his Māori fishing calendar, articles in several magazines, and his books on fishing.

Meanwhile, Bill’s other passion besides fishing was always film. It started way back when he was 12 and used to catch matinees - he was intrigued with how they put it all together, and he thought - that’s what I want to do.

Finally in the 90s he thought: “Nobody’s making videos on fishing. Why don’t I do it?”

The advent of NZ DIY fishing TV

In typical Bill Hohepa fashion, he got cracking on making videos. To start he went to a video company and asked how much it would cost to make a fishing show going from North Cape to Bluff, and they said $100,000 plus you have to feed, accommodate and transport our crew.

Bill didn’t have $100,000 knocking around at the time, so he thought he’d make it himself. So he went to a fishing magazine and convinced them to get cash from their advertisers, fundraised $60,000 and hired his own cameraman Peter Laubscher.

They made the first one together, and the next, and sold them both to a TV station. Then eventually after picking Peter’s brains for a few months, Bill thought he could start doing the thing himself - and so he did with his wife, Linda, behind the camera, and him in front of the camera and in the editing room.

The husband and wife team have since made over 1,200 hours of TV all over the country, and in a small way Bill’s dream of making movies came true. In 2014 he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to recreational fishing and the community.

A movie 40+ years in the making

In the late 70s, early 80s, before he started his TV career, Bill started a school holiday programme called Camp Hohepa where he’d take at-risk kids around the country and teach them to fish. At each camp there were 24 kids and a bunch of parents.

It was at one of these camps where he met a young boy with leukaemia who he spent time with. When the boy later died his memory stuck with Bill, and eventually inspired the script for his first film A Fish Full of Dollars.

Bill is credited as a writer, director, and actor in the film, and the rest of the crew are mainly friends (like the star Grant Bittle), family like his wife Linda behind the camera, or local volunteers. It’s the story of a young boy with leukaemia who needs an expensive treatment in the US - and wants nothing more than to go out fishing.

The boy ends up teaming up with Grant and running into old Bill Hohepa in a quest to win fishing competitions to fund his treatment. The good guys have to pull out all their tricks to win when they come up against a rival fishing team who cheats in lots of creative ways.

Bill says that it’s been a lot of fun to make:

“It’s been made on a shoestring. We’ve connected with the local community to find volunteer extras and actors. I tell them, no need to learn your lines, just show up and I’ll tell you what to do.”

“I wrote this script decades ago, but I’ve been waiting until I’m old enough to play the part of old fisherman, before making the thing. Pretty sure I’m old enough now.”

Taking the film on the road

Keen to see the first film by Kiwi fishing legend Bill Hohepa? You should get your chance in late 2026, early 2027, but Bill says he’s in no hurry:

“It’s been made by a lot of volunteers, so I would never rush anyone.”

When the film’s done, Bill plans to take it on the road and show it at as many independent theatres as possible. He’ll stay for a week with his team, go fishing, meet the locals and connect with all the people who’ve watched his shows, read his columns, or met him over the years of fishing, writing and making TV (plus anyone who loves fishing and films).

In a 2018 interview with NZ On Screen, Bill described the way he makes TV, and the same applies to his film. This is old school, number 8 wire Kiwi filmmaking and Bill is proud of it:

“Nobody's taught me how to edit, nobody's taught me anything really ... and I like that because it's a bit like fishing — there are no rules. If it looks good and people at the other end who watch it think it's ok, that's fine.”