Thought I would put together a bit of info onto the sight that has been happening in Waihau Bay. The only Pelagic weighed was a 60 kg yellow fin caught during the Waihau Bay Tuna Competition. There have been a few reported hook ups on marlin but none landed as yet. One boat went out and had a marlin take a lure four times, swim off let go, and so on. The skipper called it a 200 kg plus fish but not good enough to say black or blue. Small coke bottle size Albacore and slightly bigger to be had.

Off Te Kaha over the weekend at Patuwahine there was a Kahawai work up and two good size marlin seen beating up the school of fish. The call came over the radio as no one had any game gear. One of these was also called as a blue.

Whakatane has produced some good tuna from the back of Whale between 1.5 km to 5 km out. Four from high 50’s to 78. These are massive fish and merits to the anglers and their crews.  This was before the sea temp started to drop, it has come back several degrees, now around 18.5 degrees. A lot of Dolphin activity and Albacore with the odd good size Skipjack thrown in. Several marlin hooked but nothing weighed, one marlin is swimming around with a Trophy Deep Purple as dental floss the first time the lure hit the water then gone. (Great for the lure manufactures) The angler was back on the phone ordering another one while still out on the boat crying. Marlin reported to have been seen at the Paragon, back of whale and in the trench (Eastern Arm) in the last week.

In the lure front I have added a lot of new skirted lures to my range and placing the skirts on the majority of my heads. I will look at updating the season as we go, I will post when the first blue is landed and the catches from Waihau Bay and Eastern Bay as I hear them.   Tight lines and all the best for the game season. Derek at Trophy lures