As would be expected, this time of year produces some great stories of some fantastic catches.

This issue carries a number of those stories – including a couple of great yarns regarding solo catches. Julie Utting, whom we have nick-named ‘Super Gran’, landed a striped marlin at the ago of 64 from her 14-mete launch and John Gregory, on board Primetime, managed a 247kg broadbill on his lonesome. This was no fluke, as John has accounted for no less than 16 swords solo and in his latest issue as well as catching, fighting and tracing the fish while driving the boat, he also had time to get some action shots on his i-phone.

There are several other remarkable catches recorded. John Warburton caught a 107kg bigeye out from Kawhia while Nathan Green, fishing at Houhora, turned up a 335.4kg world record claim pacific bluefin tuna, caught in unusual circumstances. Add to this Gisborne’s Robbie Lewis’ southern blue world record capture story and what is possibly the4 first blue marlin weighed from the west coast and you have some fantastic reading in the first few pages!

Unfortunately yellowfin tuna don’t feature in the magazine at all and at the time of writing this not one had been recorded from the 1300 plus teams contesting the week-long NZSFC Nationals – a real worry.

Other features this issue include a piece by Mark Kitteridge on targeting kingfish around marker buoys, Sam Mossman’s story on targeting deep water species on lures and Paul Senior’s informative ‘how to’ article on drop and dragging soft-bait techniques.
There is plenty in this issue for the surfcasters. Wellington Andy Macleod has cracked the gurnard code he believes, while Bruce Basher commences his DIY series of cost effective ideas for beach fishers.

Born again’ beach fisher Kevin Coutts add his own brand of humour and a little bit of advice in his continuing series ‘Surfcasting for Bunnies’ while Adam Clancey flies in the face of modern technology with his feature on classic fish catchers.

As well as all the news, Graeme ‘Bonze’ Fleet offers some sound advice on how to fight billfish, especially the stubborn ones. Editor Grant Dixon concludes his two part feature on Mexican fishing with a look at the inshore opportunities.

The above are just the features. These are backed up by regular columnists on all manner of angling from dry fly fishing to targeting a billfish from a ‘yak. And don’t forget the 30 or more area reports that bring the latest news and prospects from around the country and your favourite Pacific destinations.

In this issue there is a great subscription prize of a trip for two to Niue as well as chance to enter a competition to win one of the latest Maxwell free-fall winches.