Just had a text from marlin spike, he's in Westport un-loading albacore.

While trolling for albies, 55miles due west of Westport they were hit by a couple of stripies. Water temp was 20o.

Lost both the lures, pink & chatreuse, but he was pretty excited about seeing them all lit up & crashing the spread.

He also reported seeing marlin as far south as Greymouth.

Of course it goes without saying, if the lures had been retrieved, the marlin would have to be released. Commercial's are not allowed to take marlin.

I find this all pretty interesting---has anyone heard of marlin being caught down that far?

Spose as the water cools all these wayward billies will find their way back to the back of stevies...

Thats where I'll be waiting...

Hi Bill, yeah i had a very interesting experience down their that's for sure.

We even managed to hook a couple off Mt Cook.

One thing worth mentioning is the water temperature down their. In February we had 19.1 down towards Jacksons bay, and this is in blue water full of sunfish.  Now if this isn't out of it i dont know what is.  For the first time in my fishing career, Rod and I saw a pack of marlin cruising together. It was'nt the usual activity when they herd up baitfish, but there was five of them( and this is no mailto:bullsh@t">bullsh@t) actually side by side like in the start of a car race. Has anyone heard, or actually seen anything like this. I thought i was going bonkers.

Other things worth noting. I cant remember if i told you or not. But the commercial fishing vessel Elan caught a sailfish 60 nm due west off the manukau. This is the 2nd known capture i've heard about off the west coast, apparently taken on a hexhead.

Also ,I must congradulate you on those lures of your yours. The most consistent lures by far would be the pink and green, and red and green ( i think it was red and green.) We ran them on the whiskey lines and hooked striped marlin on them also.

That new one you sent down to us. As soon as it hit the water it was nailed. Not by a tuna, but a bloody big Seal. It even threatened to attack Rod. I hear that they are an endangered species, i think that the latest estimate puts them at 500,000 so i'm wondering when we're gonna have the annual cull. They're in plague proportions, it's not funny. We even had to deviate our way through the damn things.

Also was chatting with another skipper the other night. Are you going to be supplying westfleet next season. If so good on ya, they've proven themselfs.

Sailfish off the Manukau I know were i'll be this weekend with me skipping Gar's and a bottle of Rum.

OOops & Uncle ......

Southern most  caught striped marlin was caught by Mark Harris on the AKE AKE just of Jacksons bay (haast) ABOUT 7-8 YEARS ago .

That was the same year the Nelson lads went to the naki and landed their marlin in Nelson to claim the first southisland caught marlin!

Marlin spike what type oflures are you reffering to?

Hi Bruce, The lures i am refuring to are the MacSkippys from Tauranga

For tuna, we look for the straight running lures, as lures which have too much action don't seem to get bit.

In terms of the marlin. Yes both hooked plenty of marlin, however we put that down to downsizing our lures. We've been using single hooks, and each hit from marlin we were hooked up.

We came back from the kings last week and my mate actually pulled in three stripys on his bungy cords. He was trolling hexheads also.

Cheers Marlin spike

Just out of interest how far out from Jacksons bay did you see the marlin?

Allan at Fiordland Lobster told us 4-5 had been seen south of jacksons about the 18th of april ,but sounds as though there has been afew about this year.

Normally fish out of Milford but we might have to start going to jacksons instead.

bruce