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The fishing is hot, Hot, And HOT!
The 2011 Premier NZ line class NZSFC Nationals start Saturday 19th February
and run continuously for eight days, so you can fish where the fish are. Well where do we start? With plenty of fish and water temperatures of a genuine 22 to 25 Deg C off both the East Coast down to East Cape, and the West Coast down to the 'Naki, it makes sense to take time out and fish around our Zane Grey famous waters. Just to whet your appetite here are some results from around the coast:
Heard a rumour that is yet to be confirmed of a 157.4 kg Striped Marlin weighed at Te Toro on the Manukau, West Coast.
Bay of Islandsreport fish are in close. Blue water is the closest for ages, Striker managed 4 tag and released striped marlin in 90m off the Nine Pin last weekend.
Waihau Bayreports these catches of interest; Mojo Rising tagged and released a blue marlin estimated 200 kg on the 10/02, Dr Hook weighed a 296.7 kg blue also on 10/02, there was a kingfish speared by a diver at the Cape weighing 39 kg and local boat Scrubcutter weighed a 150kg blue marlin 15/2 with the water warming and getting bluer and closer by the day
Whangaroa reports 22 marlin caught 12/02 with a top weight for a stripey coming in at 132.4 kg and a blue that went 190 kg. On 13/02 the vessel Shiraz tagged three striped marlin. Skippies are feeding within 300 m of Stevensons Island and most of the Stripey's are being caught inside the 100m line.
Mercury Bayhad an outstanding capture last week, local identity Mick Ellwood of the good ship MV Whai, went out with one of his sons on a friends boat “The Immigrant”. Mick, who is a spritely 72 year old, hooked into the big blue marlin on 37 kg standup gear. After a marathon 6 hour fight, Mick finally boated the amazing 393.8 kg / old fashioned 868 pounder, which is a new club record.They hooked up straight out behind Red Mercury Island and boated it in 700 metres of water
A brief report from Tutukaka shows a 166kg striped marlin liked the look of a livebait and on 13/02 there were 13 marlin recorded - 3 landed and 10 tagged and released and on the 14/02 a further 13 were tagged and released.
Now Whangamata have just finished their three day classic. They only managed to fish two days due to a nasty forecast that brought in the really bad weather, yet they still recorded three blue marlin going 214, 199, and 167 kg, with a further 5 striped marlin with the best going to scale at 145.5kg. The first reported catch of the competition being reported 5 minutes after start fishing. Where were they? They were on the 100m line just south of the Alderman Islands. A bit disappointingly there were no tuna of any type reported, no mahimahi or shortbill spearfish.
Stop the pressI just knew there would be more to come from Whangamata. Just weighed on Monday 14th a black marlin caught from a 14 foot flat bottom dory. Where? About 3 metres of water in front of Clarke Island, you most likely could have seen this all happening live from the clubhouse bar.
Now for the last but by no means least from the Mount Maunganui Club. Past President and current NZSFC Vice President, Mark Hemingway, who was out live baiting and saw little except for a purse seiner hauling her net. They watched as the crew tried at length to release a marlin from the net but it kept on getting tangled in it. Finally free, but nearly dead the crew frantically tried to revive it, but were unfortunately unsuccessful. Mark went home with a nice 120 kg striped marlin that, as the story goes, tasted mighty fine on the barby.
Tight lines and good hunting from the NZSFC Management Team, and top points for those who desire them from the Nationals team.
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