Chasing marlin in New Zealand

[redsetta]

G'day all,
Spent the past few days out in the South Pacific off New Zealand's North Island, hoping to get some beakies in the gear.
Snapped off a few pics on the phone and thought you might like a look.
Day one dawned bright and clear...



Sunrise was a stunner.



Passing the last island about 60 miles out and heading out to sea.



Into open water now - such a cracker day!



Skippies and albacore everywhere.
We had four marlin rigs out and two for tuna which were hooking up throughout the day.
Picked up a mahi mahi too, which was a nice surprise.



We deep-dropped that arvo into a few hundred metres for bass/hapuka, but ended up with a bunch of monster baracutta instead.
Day one finished up with a beaut sunset.



Day two kicked off with more skippies and albacore.



We had three hits by striped marlin, buzzing through the gear and swatting at the lures, but none hooked up.
And then...



This was a beast Black - around 10ft and 3ft from back to belly, which puts it 300kg+ (getting up towards 700lb).



A truly mighty fish.
We had to pace it up to 25kts on the first run to stop him rounding the boat.
After about 1hr 40mins, we got the leader on the reel, Glenn held the trace and Ryan pushed the drag to sunset (16kg/35lb).
The big Black just swam away like it was nothing, so we backed off to a fight setting.
Repeated the process two, three, four... five times we had him to the back of the boat and on the leader.
He was too big to boat, so we were aiming to retrieve the hook and release.
But the next time we had him to the boat, he put in a big turn and rubbed through the wind-on leader with his tail, breaking off.
Disappointing to not get hold of him on the transom for the photo op, but effectively a 'landed fish' so everyone was happy.
Still, would've been better if he'd hit the 80W instead of the 50W  



The fight path below. Bob's driving was exemplary - check the number of loops we had to do.



We're unlikely to see one again in our lifetimes as Blacks are very rare in NZ waters.

The day ended with a nice sunset.



Over the trip we saw Bridies whales, loads of penguins and pods of dolphins smashing schools of bait fish.
A massive sunfish jumped in front of the boat and passed close on our port side.
We also passed over a manta ray that was wider than the boat (ie more than 13ft across).
All in all, not a bad few days  

Righto - all the best, Justin

[Keta]

Nice!

[Dominick]

Justin:  Thanks for taking us along on that fishing trip.  I really feel I was there without the queasy feeling all those turns would have given me.  Dominick

[BMITCH]

Justin, an epic day and a great fish tale. Love the pics and thanks for sharing with us.
Bob

[Newell Nut]

Nice pics and a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing.

[redsetta]

Cheers lads - good to take yas along

[Shark Hunter]

Good Stuff Justin!

[Capt Ahab]

Beakies - I love that term

Thanks for a great report!


I have never caught (or seen) a Black Marlin - we get big Blue Marlin and lots of Whites here off Maryland / Virginia, USA - that black is a beast

[Alto Mare]

Cheers lads - good to take yas along

Yes, cheers Justin, thanks for taking us along...very nice .

[foakes]

Thanks, Justin --

Great report.

Magnificent fish.

"Old Man and the Sea"

Any estimates/guesstimates on weight?

Glad he lived to fight another day...

Best,

Fred

[redsetta]

Thanks Sal and Darron.
Fred, the consensus was over 300kg or up near 700lb.
Capt, probably the only one I'll ever see! 

[MFB]

Nice photo's, Bay of Islands?

Rgds

Mark

[Bryan Young]

That a day dreams are made of. 

Thanks for sharing the trip Justin...now I can dream easier.

[mike1010]

Great pictures.  Great story.  Thanks for sharing.

[Mattman NZ]

Thanks for sharing - cool pics mate and story .
Mattman.