Shot out of Kawhia on Wednesday for our first look of the season. The Northerly was kicking up some niggly chop on the way out but the new Garmin Reactor Autopilot I installed recently just ate it up. Dropped the gear in at 75m once we got some ok water temp & colour. Picked up some skippies around 116m and headed NW of the 124 towards where we picked up a fish on the same day last year. Conditions flattened off nicely mid morning.
Turned and headed south back towards where we had picked up the skippies and had a solid blind strike on the Bonze D-Shackle on the short corner. Didn't pull much line and as we turned and started to clear the teasers we had a spectacular strike on the long corner with a solid Marlin crashing the Bonze undertaker vertically from below. Unfortunately we got a suspected tip wrap and the mainline snapped on the strike.
Never less we were still hooked up on the initial strike and I got stuck in to whatever it was that was digging in deep.
After a tug of war for about an hour and a half we were stoked to see a nice stripey come up and we were surprised to see both lures in its mouth. The hungry bugger had all four Bonze platinum light gauge hooks buried in its mouth!
Measured the fish at 2.55m so guess it was in the 115 - 120kg range. Popped a tag in its shoulder and sent it back to fight another day.
Picked up a few more skippies throughout the rest of the day but no more fish seen. Went out the following day in some pretty uncomfortable conditions and found better water in closer (around 75m). Had another Marlin up in the gear for about 15 seconds but couldn't get him to bite. Stoked to get the our first fish for the season and good to know they're out there!