The song, ‘4 seasons in one day’, so true out of one window at home, blue sky and sun, on the next window black thunder clouds, lightning and real persistent rain.
An update. IGFA Great Marlin Race – Four striped marlin have been tagged with pop-up satellite tags during the Zane Grey Tournament in the Bay of Islands. These are the first-time tags have been deployed as part of the IGFA Great Marlin Race (IGMR) in New Zealand. Generous sponsors buy the tags at cost (US$4500) and get to tag their marlin themselves. The winner of the “race” is the crew whose fish travels furthest (straight line distance) when the tag pops up. All going well, the tags will start transmitting in mid-November, 240 days after they are activated. The team on Endeavor were the first to get a tag away on a lively 90 kg striped marlin. Two fish were tagged on 17 March, one by the crew on Absolute after 26 minutes on the line with a tag sponsored by Pacific Ford Whangarei. The other
From Warkworth’s Cam Rathe – For anyone who thinks that tagged marlin don’t survive, here’s one we got this year. Tag had been in it for nearly 4 years and is the longest time between capture and recapture for a striped marlin in New Zealand. Big thanks to the team at Blue Water Marine Research for the great work they do. “Hi Cam, I had a closer look at the tag you sent. I think it is G111630, you can see the pale imprint even if there is no ink. We will have to check this with Pete Saul. We have this tag card; a striped marlin was tagged at the Houhora Onebase 14-02-2013. It was estimated 80kg, was caught on a live bait, took 30 minutes to get boat side to tag and release. The angler was Les Coste on “Real Screamer” fishing for the Manukau Sportfishing Club.” They caught this previously tagged striped marlin on 03 March, 2017 on the Shallow Path area off Houhora.
Whakatane Sport Fishing Club – A Pending New Zealand junior record just weighed in for Marley
Houhora Big Game & Sports Fishing Club – Huge celebrations tonight in Houhora for Guy Jacobsen and the team aboard ‘Hook in Bull’. Perseverance finally paid off for Guy with a pending world record of 252.8 kg on 15 kg. Yes, that is 15 kg Line! A well deserved courtesy weigh for Guy and the Bay of Islands. Congratulations awesome team effort. What are the chances of having two pending World Records in two consecutive days? Congratulations are once again in order for Guy Jacobsen and the team on ‘
Kiwi fishing show host Nicky Sinden – has captured a monster of a swordfish which is expected to land her a world record. Nicky hooked the 361kg, 4.2m-long broadbill at a secret location off northern New Zealand, operating out of Whangaroa. Nicky said the trip, in her new Extreme brand boat, was a “baptism of fire”. “It was on the second drop, it took the bait and we knew automatically that it was a broadbill. The fight lasted one hour. Normally it takes a lot longer. I’ve fought for three and a half hours before for a 199kg. “For this particular one we didn’t realise how big it was until we saw it jump. As its shoulders erupted out of the water, Wow, it was a monster. Getting it back to land was an ordeal. T he 750 Game King is quite a big boat but it wouldn’t fit. The four people on board could only manage to get the bill, head and shoulders on the back of the boat, leaving the rest of the fish dragging in the water. It was a long, slow journey back, at full power we could only go 8 knots.” With her catch, she is claiming three broadbill swordfish records, whose verification is pending: The women’ all-tackle world record, the women’s 60kg-tackle world record, and the women’s New Zealand record.
A contender for the Lord Norrie Gold Cup – heaviest striped marlin of the season so far. Catch Details; Date – 01/04/2017, Angler – Carey Wilson from Mt Maunganui Sport Fishing Club, A striped marlin, 196.6kg on 37kg line, from the 6m AMF trailer boat “Enticer” skippered by Karl Fitness, caught at Astrolabe Reef on a live skippy using a 16/0 eagle claw non-offset circle hook and took 1.5hrs to land.