Chasing marlin in New Zealand II

[redsetta]

Hi all,
Following from last year's epic marlin trip (http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=13312.0), we decided to make it an annual escapade.
Thought ye might be interested in a quick rundown on this year's outing.
Kit for the trip was as follows:
Tiburon Penn 113H 'Tank', spooled with 80lb braid.



The 'big boy' double-dog 10/0, spooled with 80lb mono.



A Newell C220-5, spooled with 20lb braid.



And a 9500SS custom ('Bluefin Special') with 80lb braid.



Already aboard were four 50SW II Internationals, one Tiagra 80W and one Penn 12/O, all on stand-up rods - which my mate Ryan calls 'Real man's fishing'  

Heading out was beautiful. Light northeast wind, about a metre of north swell and glassy calm.



Maybe 60-odd nautical miles out, we hit the blue water and the sea temp climbed to 24.5C (about 76F).

We dropped out some skippie lures and started picking up little bullets like this pretty consistently.
The Newell loves this kind of fishing.
Got hit once by what I assume was either a yellowfin or mahimahi, as it peeled masses of line against about 10lbs of drag before finally dropping the lure just when I started to get in under control.



In the open water now and everything's out the back - two skippie rigs, five marlin set-ups and 11 teasers.
You can see one of the teaser 'daisy chains' smoking away underwater between the reels.



Sunset on open water is always spectacular.



We came in on the radar after dark and headed back out the following morning the same way.
The line across the corner of the shot is the rigger, working away in the pre-dawn light...



So, all up, we did nearly 300 nautical miles and didn't manage to hook a marlin.
We saw 'em on the surface smashing skippies and did our best with livies and lures, to no avail.
The only other boat out at the time had better fortune, with three strikes and one landed (ie tagged and released).
Over the three days, we saw albatrosses (much bigger in real life than I expected), whales, sharks, marlin, flying fish, lots and lots of manta rays and, best of all, an enormous leatherback turtle (very rare anywhere, but particularly so in NZ waters).
We caught loads of tuna, kingies (yellowtail), large sea-run kahawai, trevally and snapper but, alas, no marlin.
C'est la vie. There's always next year  



Dusk falls on another episode of 'Chasing marlin in New Zealand'.



Righto - all the best, Justin

[wallacewt]

thank you justin.

[Patudo]

I loved the last two photos.  Which port are you fishing out of, if you don't mind my asking?  I had the privilege of fishing a few days out of Tutukaka followed by a couple days out of Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty several years ago.  Both marina facilities were amazing and Tutukaka especially was one of the most pleasant settings I've ever fished.  I hope to return some day. 

[Shark Hunter]

Great Pics Justin!

[HOLEINTHEWATER]

THANKS JUSTIN, NICE REPORT.

[RowdyW]

Loved the photos & the narration. I envy you, thanks mate.

[DaBigOno]

You're a lucky man Justin, you live a beautiful part of the world.

keep us posted!

[redsetta]

Cheers lads.
Lucky this section's for 'fishing' reports and not necessarily 'catching'
Patudo, we were way out the back of the Mokohinau and Barrier islands.

[theswimmer]

Nice report Justin,
I wanna go!

[anglingarchitect]

Beautiful big water, nice.
Great job on the photos.
Thanks for taking us along.

Mark

[Alto Mare]

Very nice Justin, thanks for sharing those. Love those reels

[Dominick]

You're a lucky man Justin, you live a beautiful part of the world.

keep us posted!

Times 2 on this comment.  It is beautiful there.  Thanks for the report.  Maybe we will catch more fish if we had a "catching report" thread.    Dominick

[coastal_dan]

Too cool, envious...