It has been a long time since the boat found its way to Anchorite, but Sunday the planets aligned and the plan was made. We launched before sunrise and were well on our way out there when the sun came over the horizon.
Conditions were excellent although very few birds and no workups in evidence on the way out. By the time we got to Anchorite there were already a few boats about and we set up the first drift. At one point there were what looked like tuna smashing bait and though we didn't get a good ID best guess was albacore. Sea temp over 22 degrees. We trolled the area for a while with tuna lures out but no hits so we went back to bottom fishing. We managed a fish or two but things were pretty slow so based on earlier reports of action closer to Coromandel we shifted closer to there.
We found a few flocks of Gannets just sitting on the water - still no workups - but good to finally see some birds. The fishing then picked up and we started to put a few more fish in the bin. Then this nice specimen showed up:
Top of my chilly bin is 75cm long. All fish were in great condition though not near as big as this and full of fat. Most were caught on bait, one or two on lures/slider. We pulled the plug early afternoon with 11 fish in the bin and cruised back to a sea that was glassing out. A few bonito working closer back around the 40metre mark. Again tried the lures but the bonito weren't playing ball.
Back on land mid afternoon after a great day on the water.