Pending junior record

What is believed to be the biggest northern pacific bluefin tuna ever to come across the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club’s scales (211.4kg) has earned 15-year-old angler Tane Reid a potential New Zealand Sport Fishing Council junior 37kg tackle northern bluefin tuna record.

Fishing aboard the Brad Rowe skippered Rowe'De'O, a 43’ North Cape Custom launch built by Bluefix Boatworks in Opua, Tane took two and a half hours to land the fish which ate an XOS koheru livebait.

Tane’s fish is just part of a much bigger story that includes a fascinating ‘one that got away’ chapter along with another that saw all three young anglers account for kingfish over 50lb.

It all started when Brad’s wife Charlotte insisted he take their son Charlie and the Reid brothers Tane and Torrance for an overnight trip the last week of the school holidays.

Intel received by Brad indicated some big fish had been seen feeding close to the coast near Waiwiri Rock, so that was where they headed after picking up some prime koheru baits.

The rock is known as a big kingfish haunt, but Brad had tuna on his mind and set up two baits which would be slow-trolled around its edges. Tane was the designated angler, and he was hoping to better his personal best capture, a 2.4kg snapper. Brad ran him through the drill of getting the 37kg tackle out of the covering board and strapped into the standup hardness, a move he practiced several times. The skipper swung on 20kg of drag so as Tane knew what that sort of pressure would feel like.

It was not long before a loud crack of the rigger going off called him into battle with an adversary of unknown size and species. 

“Suddenly the practice became very real,” Brad says. The drag was pushed to 20kg with the fish pulling line.

“At this point it could have been our target species, or possibly a very big kingfish. Several 30-metre runs with 20kg of drag across the rod tip confirmed this was no kingfish.”

Reminding Tane he was “running a marathon, not a sprint,” the crew offered plenty of encouragement to the flagging angler.

Backing down on the fish all they could see was a big, dark shape that could have been a mako.

Then its tail came out of the water and Brad describes the fish as being something akin to a quad bike with the head and tail of a shark.

“The lateral fins were huge, but its sheer size had trouble written all over it, and it was still pulling strong, really strong.”

Backing down to within 2-3 metres of the wind-on leader, the tuna did a 180-degree turn back under the boat with its gills flared.

As quickly as it had hooked up it was game over. Brad believes when it did the sharp turn the leader was run through its mouth or contacted the gill plates, breaking them off.

While disappointed, the boys now knew what they were up against. The next morning, a much wiser young angler prepared for a rematch, and they did not have to wait long.

Tane was soon back on another fish and there was no doubt that this one was another tuna, but not anything like the bulk and power of the previous day’s opponent – this was a middleweight compared to a heavy hitter.

Tane Reid’s 211.4kg northern pacific tuna is believed to be the biggest ever to come across the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club’s scales. Photo: Bluefix Boatworks.

The angler had a better appreciation of the game he was playing, Brad’s words that it’s a “marathon, not a sprint” no doubt still ringing in his ears.

“The fish did not get any more than 80-100 metres of line on us the whole fight and Tane was patient, realising the runs were getting shorter and a little slower. He was winning by playing the long game.”

At the 2hr 30m mark they got their first shot at the leader. Brad had swapped stations with Charlie who was now at the helm, allowing the skipper to become the wireman. The fish was quite passive at the end, rolling over for the gaff – a job well done by all.

It had proven quite an eventful trip for the boys. Apart from the tuna action all three landed kingfish over 20kg, Torrance’s the biggest at 24.9kg. They managed to add crayfish and snapper to the ice bin, also taking away the lesson that successful gamefishing is very much a team sport.

Brad says he believed they had an encounter with northern bluefin tuna several months earlier. Targeting the smaller southern bluefin tuna they were trolling with two 15kg and one heavier outfit in the spread when they were smashed by a treble hookup. The upshot was through circumstance they were variously cut off or had trace and wind-on failures, leaving them rueing what might have been.

“It was kind of tuna payback time with Tane’s fish, the fish gods owed us one.”

‘Accidental’ bluefin capture at same location 

“We look forward to our trips with you as you always catch us plenty of fish, this time we want some big ones,” was the greeting three of Captain Bucko’s regular clients jokingly made as they stepped aboard for their charter.

Little did they realise what was about to unfold would produce a fish beyond their wildest expectations. 

Moerewa’s Nev Lopeti, his brother Foki and brother-in-law Simi Kalu were repeat customers, often the most difficult to please, especially if their previous charters had all been successful.

Waiwiri Rock was the location, the target species kingfish. With 30 jack mackerel livebaits in the tank the day had started well and got even better when they were hooked straight away.

To improve their chances skipper Bucko Lane threw a weighted treble into a nearby school of blue koheru, jagging a couple out which were soon returned with a hook in their backs.

Success was instant with first a 16kg and then a 25kg kingfish landed, much to the delight of the anglers.

A further bait was hauled out and attached to Nev’s outfit, a 30-wide reel spooled with 37kg mono and attached to a Daiwa VIP 80J rod.

The angler was instructed to just keep enough thumb pressure on the spool to prevent it over-running and when he was bit, slowly increase the drag after a few seconds to roll the circle hook into the corner of the fish’s mouth.

Rowe'De'O skipper Brad Rowe was targeting tuna with slow-trolled livebaits at Waiwiri Rock. Photo: Bluefix Boatworks.

He hadn’t stopped dropping the bait back when it was hit, the fish pulling line off the reel steadily as it headed towards deeper water, Bucko keeping the boat just a little bit in front of it.

Realising its predicament the still unidentified fish hit the afterburners and as a 30-wide spool doesn’t have a great 37kg line capacity Bucko charged after it, narrowly preventing a spooling.

Over the next three hours this happened twice more as the fish tried every direction and tactic possible to win its freedom. Several times it turned and swam back at the boat, trailing lots of slack line. Once, the crew were sure they had lost it, but luckily with some fast winding it came up tight again.

The fight had other dramas. Under the strain the reel separated from the rod at one point, requiring some urgent repairs which held together long enough to get the job done. 

Raising the circling fish up, the sounder was telling the story – 70m, 60m, 50m until it got to 20m.

“At that point, while we were making easier line, we still did not know what we had – a black marlin was our best guess. The water was quite green, so it was not until it was within 4-5 metres of the boat did we realise it was a tuna. We were blown away by its size,” the skipper said.

The fish was secured alongside but could not be wrangled aboard. It was a slow 11-knot trip back to the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club’s weigh station where it pulled the scales down to 189.9kg. Experienced commercial fisher Adam Davey identified it as a northern bluefin, confirming an earlier identification.

While it was not in prime condition, Captain Bucko and the Lopeti whanau ate well for several days afterwards. The skipper had certainly fulfilled the crew’s expectations, even if it was by ‘accident’!

- By Grant Dixon