Fishing Reports

I was really keen to get back to Norfolk Island this year, not only was it our base for fishing the wanganella banks, but last year we only scratched the top off a potentially great fishery.

Last year we set sail on our first trip for the wanganella and spent an afternoon fishing down the eastern ledge/shelf of the Norfolk Plateau. Late in the afternoon we reach a little rock to the south and found heaps of bait….perfect, I thought. I called out to the boys that we would stop and drop some jigs, but when ever I slowed the boat to drop jigs on the large bait schools, we got bit on our marlin lures! That afternoon we caught 5 marlin, 3 blacks, and 2 stripeys, and a few wahoo and tuna thrown in for fun. A fairly good afternoon!

So, I was anxious to spend a few days on this rock and surrounding area and see if last year was just fluked, or there was something special here.  A quick study of Geo eyes sport fish pro’s latest charts, showed a warm tongue of water just off the eastern ledge, but more importantly, there was a large eddie and temp break down on our southern rock.  It all looked perfect!  The first day we never made it down that far south.  The eastern ledge was holding bait and we had 2 bites from a blue and a black.  The black was a half decent fish of 5 or 600lbs, and perhaps the laziest fish of its size we had caught. It just kept trying to swim around the boat and once on the leader it slowly raised its head and the hook came sliding off the bill.  I would be happy to see more of those, I thought!

The next day we ventured south and straight for the little rock, no sooner then I marked the rise on the sonar that we had 5 striped marlin up behind the boat which sent the cockpit into mild chaos.  The day finished with 4 striped marlin, 1 black, and 6 or so wahoo.  The wahoo were nothing short of spectacular, all the fish had to be over 35kg, and some nearing, if not over 40kg. The biggest I had seen! And they were in plague proportions! 

In the evening we drifted south, so when the sun rose we hauled our sea anchor and fished our way back.  It turned out to be a good way to drift, as just south of the ledge, we came across a heap of birds, and soon marked large schools of tuna and bait on the sonar and sounders.  Three tiagra’s, came to life and the remaining lure, was exploded upon by some pretty big tuna.  We let go all 3 tuna that were in the 55 to 65kg range and attempted to avoid the remaining schools so we could catch some marlin!  I fished wide around the schools for a while, in the hope for a blue marlin bite, but it wasn’t until we found the shallow ledge that we got into the marlin action again.  We ended up catching another 3 big tuna while looking for a blue.  The day finished with 6 fish, all stripeys.  5 of which were over 100kg, and one fish over 150kg.  We missed a fish today that was another mid sized black.

Tuesday the 17th was red hot, we caught 9 stripeys, and lost count of the wahoo! If we could only stay away from the wahoo!!!!, we would have surely had more marlin bites! And more lures at the end of the day.

Wednesday was slower, the current seems a little weaker today, and the wahoo are a bit scarcer, as are the marlin and bait. Only 3 fish today, however, one of the fish was perhaps one of the biggest I have caught. A striped marlin of 170kg or better.

Thursday and Friday were slower still, with the current pushing west, and we let go only 2 fish from a double header. The bait was thinning, and wahoo now almost all gone. Something was up, so we had a look around.  We soon found the yellowfin and caught a nice fish that weighed 55kg.  We ended up back at Norfolk on Friday night having fished our way north up the western edge for only a couple of wahoo and tuna. 

The last few days of the trip may have seemed a disappointment, but I think it highlights the seasonal changes with the migratory marlin species and in current and temperature changes.  Maybe, March is when the marlin slowdown in Norfolk and move on, as the current seemed to change and bait disappeared, similar to last year.  However, I sure would like to see what Norfolk Island could produce in January and February!

Good fishing.

Tom