Fishing Reports

 

Although marlin have continued in good numbers through to the middle of May, only the odd fish has been caught on the Northland Coast over the last week. Plenty of medium sized albacore have added interest to otherwise quiet days, but for Major Tom II , most of the maiddle and latter part of May has involved continuation of the experiments we have conducted over the last three years with broadbill fishing. Overfishing in most other parts of the world has left New Zealand as one of the few regions where anglers can still catch large "broadies". Murray Hansens 332kg fish, while fishing on Striker a couple of years ago, sent the first buzz around the world, and the fish we caught yesterday, to beat Murrays record, should heighten the awareness of NZ's potential. Jerry Garrett has been an almost constant companion as Heather and I have indulged our passion for broadbill, and we have finally provided him with the fish of most angler's dreams!! Letting out his 37kg outfit, at 2.30pm on May 27th, Jerry's line went slack well before it reached bottom.He quicly retrieved the slack, felt a little weight, then the line slackened again. As he wound furiously, the thoughts became "hook-up" or "break off". Looking over the transom, I saw the Penn hi vis line racing under the starboard aft quarter. I did my Linford Christie impresion to the downstairs station, and gunned the boat forward, then turned hard port, as the line passed the danger of the starboard propeller. Jerry was yelling to keep steaming, having already retrieved the 50M "marker" on to his reel, but I was thinking about having to retrieve over 500m of line on the other outfit, before we could settle in to the fight. Finally Jerry came tight on the fish, and thankfully it slowed and sulked, giving us the valuable minutes to winch in Line 1. With Line 1 safely recoverred, we settled in to an epic battle. We had set the drags at just under 15kg at the button, and Jerry was already there, with the fish sedatly trotting along, like a sunday morning jogger keeping an eye out for a tasty "squid sandwich". It may not have even noticed it was hooked!!! I hate backing up on broadbill, as it takes the pressure off the fish, but this fish was different!! Sometimes we backed up, somtimes we follwed with a belly out on our starboard side, but the fish just ambled along, seeminly oblivious to our presence. This was getting to be a bore. Jerry increased the drag, with the lever on top of the bottom, and the fish finally re-acted, increasing her pace(all big game fish are females), and sounding, taking off a couple of hunred meters of line. We chased her, we led her, we put belly in the line, we genrerally tried every trick we knew, and a few extra ones we made up on the way. Night fell, freighters passed by. Jerry wound, or sat back pacing himself as the fish pulled line. Heather turned the chair , getting colder and sleepier, and I rolled and smoked fag after fag, scratching my head and wondering what to try next. After 10 hours( Jerry thought it was only 6), we were able to start leading the fish. Jerry was now past the button, and we later tested the reel to find out he was on 19kg of drag!! Slowly, ever so slowly, retrieving just inches down every secong wave, the wind on came up to the rod tip, but the fish was too close under the boat. No chance take the fish just yet. I eased the boat forward, just in time for the leader to pass the starboard transom corner. 14hours and 20 minute since the battle began the great swordfish surfaced behind Major Tom II, just 15 meters, within range of the decklights, First it rolled one way, showing it's belly, then it rolled the other. Jerry worked the fish closer, I reached for the leader. Heather gently nudged the boat forward maintaining pressure. As I eased the leader in, Jerry wound it on the reel.With the fish within range, Jerry took the full pressure on the rod, and I placed a gaff behind the pectoral. The fish raced off on the gaff line, and thrashed at the increased pressure. We eased it back to the boat, and sank the second gaff. We had her!! But now we needed to get her in the boat. Jerry reached for the sword, and was promptly thrown back across the cockpit. He tried again, same result.Afetr much struggling, plenty of shouting and cussing, grazed knuckled, rope burns and sherr bloody mindedness, we had the sword and part of the head in the boat, but no chance of lifting it in. Heather stands just over 5ft, Jerry's a bit taller but is 65 years old, and I'm a bit younger than him but no Schwarzenegger!! We had a tail rope to make sure she couldn't slip back, a rope from the sword, to the forwrd cockpit cleat, and for a little extra security, a belly rope secured to the cockpit rod rack. At 6 knots we eased our way to Mongonui wharf some 28 miles away, where volunteers were on hand to admire our catch and help us pull it on board . Then it was a steam back to Russell, where the fish weighed in at 369KG, a new world record!! This was Jerry's 15th broadbill, and 3rd for the season with us, and while all broadbill are good broadbill, this was really one to remember. As we cleaned up the boat back on the mooring, Heather was worried that Jerry had left his bag behind. She reminded him up at the Russell Clubhouse, as we celebrated that night. "I just wanted to be ready to leave again as soon as this Southerly goes through' was his response. So Major Tom hasn't had much time for snapper and kingis in the Bay, but Hamish Faire on Baska Voda tells me he's catching some good snapper and a few tarakihi out in the deeper water from Kingfish Reef, and on windier days is still getting good results in the shallows around Capstan Rock. Some very good kingies have been taken at the bottom end of the Dog at Cape Brett, with 71M Reef, and Bird Rock also giving good results. As always drop me an email at MAJOR.TOM@xtra.co.nz and I'll return the calls once we get back with Jerry's next broadbill!

 

From Major Tom II

Report type: Saltwater

Report date: 29 May 03