330kg Bluefin from 6.5m Pontoon Jetboat!

They’re tough boys the Coasters, no question about that.

South Westland locals Ben Monk and Ashley Clark were joined by their mate Tony Robinson from Christchurch on a mission that had been a couple of years in the making. “It’s been two years since we first had the idea of heading out catch a bluefin and on Saturday the conditions were forecast to be perfect” said Ben Monk.

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“While we’re experienced boaties, we had a bit to organise including some basics of attaching a 75m topshot 200lb mono to the braid and sorting out the leader & rigging” he added.  

Their first challenge was the braid to mono knot so the guys resorted to watching a few YouTube videos helped along with a couple of beers to get an idea of how that should come together. “The first 10 or so we did just pulled apart and all through the fight we were all wondering if that final knot would actually hold, but it did” he said.  When it came to adding the leader and rig, the boys did some surgery on a broadbill rig they had tucked away in a tackle box and just chopped the 2nd hook off to leave a single circle hook already to go.

A full check of the safety equipment on board and all that remained was a few hours restless sleep and for the forecast to fall true. A bluebird day it was indeed and the three crossed the Grey River bar at daylight on Saturday morning motoring approximately 40 miles offshore to where the trawlers were working on the hoki grounds. A good friend was the First Mate on one of the boats and like all good mates would, threw the boys a bag of hoki for bait.

They spent the day throwing baits around the trawlers as they lifted their nets but to no avail and it wasn’t until around 6 p.m. when one of the Chinese boats was lifting their net that the bluefin took a bait and roared off into the sunset. “It probably took about 500m on the first run” said Ben. The crew were right on the case and chased the bluefin in what they estimate was probably around 10knots for almost an hour. The Penn 50SW was pretty much maxed out for the duration of the two-hour scrap but came through to deliver on the day – testament to Penn’s quality build as it certainly wasn’t anything like a new reel.

Getting the fish into the boat proved to be something of a challenge, but the crew stuck to the task and inch by inch managed to eventually win that battle too. Being an aluminium pontoon boat, the stability was fine and “At no stage was there any concern about freeboard or our safety” said Ben.

The 330kg fish was filleted by Ben’s brother and shared amongst friends, family and the local community.

It’s worthy of note that these fisherman had been patient and waited almost two seasons for the ideal conditions and were duly rewarded with a fantastic catch. Conditions on the West Coast are often completely unforgiving and tackling these monsters from small boats is not something to be undertaken lightly. Careful planning and a suitable weather pattern along with attention to safety is essential.

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