Having just enjoyed a very successful trip with skipper Marcus Mabee aboard the charter boat Skyline, I was interested to see he was all over the fishing websites and forums a few days later.

Apparently he’d skippered the beautiful launch Valhalla for owner, Sky Mason, accompanied by Warren Mahler, when a double strike of yellowfin tuna occurred in 1500 metres of water off Great Barrier Island. While these fish weren’t huge – 14 and 18.2kg – they were the first yellowfin tuna landed for the 2015-2016 game-fishing season.

A great way to kick things off!

However, I wasn’t on board then, so can only comment on my trip earlier on with Skyline, a 940W Profile based in Tairua on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula.

I’d had to give a soft-baiting talk at Smart Marine in Hamilton first, which finished around 9.30pm, so it was pretty late by the time I finished my very wiggly drive over to meet up with Marcus and his partner Kelly. I then spent a thoroughly comfortable night in their spacious downstairs guestroom – but with the adrenaline still sloshing around inside me from the talk and fast driving, I stayed awake for most of it!

Despite the lack of zeds, I appreciated Marcus making the effort to leave nice and early; this saw us clambering around in a slight daze around 4am, putting on inside-out, back-to-front clothing before driving over to load up Skyline.

What a spectacular looking vessel! Solid with muscular lines and beautifully finished, she’s a real beast, her 9.4m length and 2.73m beam providing plenty of fishing space, as well as accommodating the latest electronics, tackle and accessories – all thanks to her fishing-crazy owner, Sky Mason.

So no wonder kingfish lure-specialists Luke Crockford and Ed Barrett had been quick to accept Marcus’ offer to join us – meeting up at that point, eagerly panting, their tongues hanging out and tails happily wagging, holding armloads of the latest kingfish tackle.

Then, with the boat loaded and gear stored, we headed for Mayor Island. Yes, Mayor Island. While we probably would have done very well at the relatively nearby Aldermen Pins, Marcus wanted us to target Mayor’s less popular waters (at that time of year) using stick-baits and poppers. Sounded like a plan!

First stop was off Mayor’s near shoreline, but we didn’t linger anywhere initially, because Marcus was cruising around the area looking for where the kingfish were holding. Around 30 minutes passed before small congregations of seabirds could be seen wheeling and squawking above feeding predators several hundred metres away, and while heading towards them, isolated slashes of foam signalled other kingfish having breakfast nearby. It was all on.

It seemed to take forever for Marcus to reach the main activity’s outskirts and then position us slightly up ahead, enabling good casting and lure-presentation angles. Ed and Luke cast out excitedly and, sure enough, upon starting their respective retrieves, several ‘V’ wakes could be seen zooming over towards their lures, followed soon after by swirls and foaming strikes.

I have to admit, much of the ensuing two hours is a blur of lure-crashing fish and yahooing hooked-up anglers, keeping Marcus busily de-hooking and releasing a steady stream of mostly rat-sized kingfish, along with the odd bigger one. As for me, I was content to take pictures initially (when I say ‘content’, I wasn’t yet coughing up blood in frustration – the job had to be done – and besides, I hadn’t seen any monster kings to really get me fired-up yet!).

It sure was entertaining: although the guys spent a lot of time tussling with fish, I couldn’t believe how many of the explosive crashes failed to hook-up, despite the lures mostly sporting two barbless trebles. I was also amazed by the violence of the strikes, with some of the lures getting knocked high in the air!

Then, with a hundred or so watery explosions safely captured digitally and Luke having just laid a reasonable 13kg king in the Icey-Tec’s chilly depths, it was time to join the casting rotation.

But without much success, to be honest. Yes, I did get several fish, but none was particularly big – and by now the other guys were only catching small ones, too. I’d missed my chance.

So Marcus headed Skyline around to Mayor’s more northern waters for a bout of jigging, hoping that this might also bring the deeper-holding kings showing on the sounder up nearer the surface to feed on our stick-baits.

In the midst of getting my own jig pouch out, Marcus beat me to the punch by attaching one he’d been supplied by BoP fishing tackle distributors DeCoro to my leader. A flashy blue-pink, this lure has a ridge running along its slender length that’s scooped either side, causing it to glint, weave and flutter nicely on the way down. That would do the job nicely!

Fortunately, I’m not too bad at mechanical jigging for shortish periods, as that’s all it took to hook-up – and it was a good fish, too. Although the Ocea Jigger’s drag had been set to around 15 kilos of pressure, braid was still ripping off in worrying quantities, forcing me to jam a thumb down on the spool for added stopping pressure. That did the trick, slowing the fish to a halt, then allowing some valuable line to be wound back onto the reel.

Talk about textbook: I’d survived the first big run, been able to put the rod butt into my rod bucket, and was now leaning back and doing the business, cranking line back onto the reel steadily.

So I wasn’t too worried when the kingfish managed to turn and start heading back down again – I’d brought it up at least 30 metres – but it just kept going and going. I wondered if a bronze whaler was chasing it.

Strange bangs and judderings followed, strengthening my shark fears, but then line started coming back onto the spool and the rod was still pulsing to a live fish’s movements. Hope returned – it now seemed I’d survived a brush with the jagged reef below.

Minutes later I could see the king slowly planing up from deep down, silvery sides gleaming – and it was a good one. Next thing Marcus had carefully lip-gaffed the big king and was dragging over the side. I was pretty bloody chuffed, I can tell you.

Intrigued as to the weight, Marcus placed the fish on a set of 50lb/23kg scales, but they proved insufficient, the indicator hitting the bottom.

Many more kingfish were caught afterwards on both jig and stick-bait, but none approached the size of that early one. Even so, we’d enjoyed a fantastic day’s kingie fishing, and with aching arms and backs, we happily headed for home.

The operation

Skyline Charters specialises in 10-hour trips chasing kingfish and snapper, as well as general bottom fishing trips for one to six anglers (four anglers enable the best fishing experience), but Marcus can also customise trips based on the time of year and angler interest.

Big game day trips are available over the warmer months, departing before sunrise and returning on dark for up to four anglers. Skyline encourages catch and release of all marlin.

The location

Surrounded by beautiful white beaches, native bush and cafes, and with good access to a plethora of top-notch fishing locations, the sheltered Tairua Harbour provides the perfect base to fish out of (as well as Tairua being a wonderful holiday location). Indeed, the boat ramp’s only minutes away from Shoe and Slipper Islands, with the Aldermen Islands, Mercury Island and Mayor Island also proving popular with anglers targeting all sorts of fish from snapper, kingfish and tarakihi, right through to marlin and broadbill. However, the kingfish receive most of Marcus and Skyline’s attention, being present all year round in big quantities and large sizes, and the boat is particularly well set up to catch them.

The boat

As already mentioned, at 9.4m in length Skyline is a pretty big ‘tinny’, and with no expense spared while constructing this flagship Profile, there’s plenty of ‘fruit’ contained within her 5mm-thick hull sides. Consequently, while good cover and seating are provided for anglers wanting to escape the elements in the wheelhouse, the majority of the boat is dedicated to cockpit space. This means two anglers wielding 2.44m rods can rip out long casts without nailing each other with heavy-duty treble hooks.

Skyline carries a staggering range of the very best fishing equipment specific to a multitude of applications. Target species and techniques used include: kingfish (jigging, top water lures and live baiting); marlin and tuna (dredge and teaser equipment, live- and dead-bait fishing, lures); broadbill swordfish (day drops and overnight trips); snapper (slow-jigging, soft-plastics, stray-lining); hapuku/bluenose (electric reel and heavy braid outfits available).

Electronics aboard include: the latest in Raymarine electronics and a Fusion Sound System. She’s also equipped with cockpit and underwater cameras, a Tow Cam with live video feed displayed in the cabin, with footage available on request.

Other features include: a game chair; slurry bin; a large live-bait tank and four tuna tubes; 18ft outriggers; a Cannon downrigger; full height toilet; refrigerator; and a galley. Catering is available on request.

The man

Like many young Kiwis, Marcus’s passion for fishing began while perched on a rock ledge lobbing baits into a berley trail. Since then he’s spent many years on deck and at the helm of several well known charter boats, and practiced many techniques that target a wide variety of New Zealand’s sport and eating fish.

Marcus also spent quite a few winters fishing and guiding clients throughout Vanuatu, mainly targeting blue marlin, dogtooth, giant trevally and sailfish.

More recently, Marcus worked for consecutive seasons aboard charter vessel Arenui as crewman. This involved extended trips to the Three Kings Island group, utilizing a range of specialist techniques to target billfish, including tease and switch with and dead baits, light tackle and fly-fishing (I should know, because I accompanied him on two of them!).

As you can see, Marcus is committed to a life of providing the best-possible fishing experiences for his customers, no matter what’s being targeted and the skill level of the anglers on board. He certainly did everything he could to ensure success on our trip, and was pleasant to be with – no shouting or stressing on this boat!

For those who like the sound of this top-notch operation, phone: 07 8648558 or 0276354975; Email: [email protected]; websites: www.skylinecharters.co.nz; Facebook: Skyline Charters Tairua.

	This article is reproduced with permission of    New Zealand Fishing News February 2016 - By Mark Kitteridge Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited