Fishing at the Wanganella Banks

When footage first emerged of the Ultimate Lady fishing the Wanganella Banks about 15 years ago, it truly defied belief. Meat-balling marlin, multiple hook-ups and tales of dozens of fish caught per day were the stuff that dreams are made of. However, since the Banks lie some 350 nautical miles north of New Zealand and are 200 nautical miles away from the nearest land mass (Norfolk Island), this marlin fishing paradise sees very few visits by recreational anglers.

The banks themselves are the top of a large seamount rising out of more than 2000 metres of water to a shallowest point around 90 metres deep. They are extremely exposed and remote and so only accessible by the largest and most well-equipped recreational boats.

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I had long dreamed of fishing the hallowed waters of the Wanganella Banks, so when the opportunity arose to go with my mate Neil on his boat Destiny, I jumped at the chance. Destiny has made several private trips to the Banks over the past few years and few people know the area as well as Neil. It was with eager anticipation that I boarded in early March for what turned out to be the trip of a lifetime.

Departing the Bay of Islands with more than 50 hours of travel ahead was a daunting prospect. We filled the time with rigging gear and endless fishing yarns, the monotony broken each day with a welcome ‘transit’ marlin, the first off Doubtless Bay and the second on the Reinga Ridge, another seamount approximately 200nm north-west of New Zealand.

We were running a spread of Bonze lures rigged with platinum light-gauge hooks. We had around 100 hook rigs made up by the time we reached the Banks and 50-odd bite leaders as well. We had five anglers aboard all using Shimano Talica 50s spooled with 80lb hollowcore braid running a 50m, 37kg nylon monofilament top-shot. Due to Destiny’s wide beam, we could run five lures directly off the rod tips.

The weather en route to the Banks was average at best and made the trip fairly uncomfortable. However, with the promise of potentially mindblowing fishing at the other end, we were happy to pay the toll!

Early on day three we woke to a flattening sea, a stunning sunrise and a half-day run to the Banks. As the final approach was made we took care of all our last-minute preparations. The edge of the Wanganellas rises very gradually and before we had even reached the bank proper, all Heaven broke loose! The welcome sight of the electric blue pectoral fins of a lit-up marlin appeared behind three of our five lures, spectacular surface bites ensued, and we were hooked up to our first Banks billfish of the trip!

Destiny is a former commercial purse-seiner and is effectively a very large centre-cabin boat. This makes fighting multiple hook-ups a lot easier. When you hooked up, you would pick up your rod as the boat continued to troll. We would begin to make a slow turn and the angler would walk to the inside of the turn and up to the front of the boat to commence the battle.

More often than not we would end up with multiple fish at the end of the turn and on several occasions, we had all five anglers hooked up at once! At that point, we would come to a stop and it was every man for himself!

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During the first half-day of fishing we never made it onto the Banks proper. Every time we re-set the gear we would come across patches of feeding shearwaters which would give away the location of a meatball, and inevitably, marlin.

Never before have I seen so many surface-feeding fish, which were totally undisturbed by the presence of the boat. On a number of occasions, the meatball would use the boat as cover as we trolled past it, which would in turn bring the marlin up into our lures – the ultimate teaser!

As the sun set on our first day we found the marlin really came onto the bite. It was truly a special experience being 200 miles from land watching the sun dip behind the horizon with jumping marlin silhouetted against a magnificent red sky.

We finished the day with 22 marlin on the board and settled into our bunks with an ache in our shoulders and smiles on our faces.

Day four, our first full day on the Banks, started in much the same vein with our first bite well before the sunrise. With a fish on the board before breakfast, the mind boggled at how many fish we could potentially get for the day!

In a classic case of ‘never count your chickens before they hatch’, we actually found the fish a lot trickier on this day. What struck me while looking at the bathymetry charts of the Banks is just how big the area is. It’s a huge rise of relatively flat bottom covering over 30 square miles and it is very easy to lose the fish.

We worked steadily throughout the day with the location of the fish given up by free-jumpers, as opposed to birds, like the previous day. The action was steady but without the multiple hook-ups of the day before. It was a very strange feeling indeed to have an 11-marlin day feel slow. How quickly your perceptions can change!

As we set the lures on the morning of day five, our discussion revolved around the hope that the fishing was not on the decline. We had arrived at the Banks on a full moon and theories had swirled around the cabin as to how that may affect the fish and their feeding patterns.

With our morning coffee well behind us and no marlin seen thus far, we were quietly starting to worry – it’s a long way to go to have the fish disappear on you! But as the first patch of feeding shearwaters were spotted, our spirits rose and right on cue the first wave of marlin crashed our lures – game on!

While the morning bite was frantic, the fish were not hitting the lures hard and we dropped many on the initial run after the bite. As the day wore on there was a noticeable change in the fishes’ aggression and what had been tailing, bill-tapping bites in the morning were now crash bites from below, resulting in a much higher hookup rate.

Once again, as the sun set the action was as red-hot as the sky – our last bite of the day resulted in a five-way hookup of which four were landed, the last couple being released under torchlight.

With 26 fish for the day the crew were ecstatic, our only disappointment being that we had run out of daylight!

Day six dawned clear and flat and the action kicked off at first light. We found the meatballs straight away and I took the opportunity to put the drone in the air and capture the spectacular action from above. The resulting footage is truly jaw-dropping as the sheer number of marlin feeding on the meatballs becomes apparent.

I also took the opportunity to put on a mask and swim up to a meatball to film some of the action from below – what a privilege it was to join these magnificent fish in their environment.

The fishing action once again intensified throughout the day and multiple hookups were the norm. On more than one occasion we had all five rods hooked up, only to have fish that were feeling left out of the action come in and smash our Bonze Submission daisychain teasers off the back of the boat – even when the boat was stationary!

While reviewing my GoPro tow-cam footage, I couldn’t believe the number of fish that were coming into our spread – in one shot nine fish can be seen amongst our lures!

We once again finished the day fighting fish well after dark and as the dust settled our tally read 27 marlin for the day.

Over a late dinner I received the latest weather forecast via my Garmin InReach Explorer and we were happy to see that conditions would allow us a bonus day of fishing. Whilst the fishing had already blown our minds and exceeded any expectations, it was noted that we were only 14 fish away from the magical 100 fish for the trip mark. We figured that would be a pretty awesome way to round out the adventure.

As normally happens when you put a target on something it suddenly gets harder to hit. After consecutive days of 26 and 27 fish, surely 14 fish would be a shoo-in?

By 3pm our tally board read a paltry three fish and our hopes of reaching 100 were fading fast, but once again, the Wanganella Banks had other ideas and what ensued over the next few hours are something I shall never forget.

It started with a welcome pack-attack, including one very stubborn fish which turned out to be our sole blue marlin of the trip. Waves of iridescent marlin rolled into our lures and the day’s tally rapidly increased.

The afternoon air was filled with the constant scream of Talicas as pack-attacks tore line from our reels. Fish #99 and #100 came by way of a double hookup and it seemed fitting that the skipper came down from his cockpit to wind in #100.

As the sun set on our adventure, the pack attacks continued and we finished our final day on the banks in fine fashion – a five-way hookup of which four were landed, once again well after the sun had set. We finished with 27 fish for the day and 115 fish for the trip, more than we ever could have imagined.

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As we set sail for home, I reflected on what I had experienced. I grew up reading Zane Grey’s Tales of an Angler’s El Dorado and always felt a sense of sadness that I would never get to experience fishing as it once had been. Perhaps now I have?

Check out the two-part episode of our Wanganella Banks Adventure in season two of Built to Fish TV, at www.facebook.com/ builttofish.

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

May 2018 - Ben Brown
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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