Welcome to Current Lines Issue January 23rd 2012

Be still my beating heart: My how things changed once the sun came out. There seems to be fish-a-plenty on the north-eastern coastline. Clubs and anglers alike have reported phenomenal fishing out from Whangamumu/Whangaruru water from 120m out to over 200m in depth, with the launch Centrefold tagging three marlin and boating a shortbill spearfish over the weekend. Likewise the launch Ocean Monarch tagged three marlin and weighed the fourth from three days fishing out wide east of the Alderman Islands. It seems that there is an equally good bite from the top end of Great Barrier Island past the hook to out wide of Alderman Islands with Mercury Bay, Tairua-Pauanui and Whangamata clubs recording fish caught.

Recently during the Mercury Bay Top Ten Tuna Tournament there were 30 marlin strikes reported from anglers entered and those fishing but not in the event. This panned out to be 18 marlin landed and tagged for the weekend with no yellowfin tuna present. Another fictitious tuna tournament yet they managed to record the following: Top 10 final results 11 marlin were caught (4 weighed and 7 T&R) by tournament boats but there were others caught in the area by non-tourney boats.  51 teams & 144 anglers – eight of the top ten tuna were albacore with the winning tuna being caught by Mike Havard from the vessel Breakaway weighing 9.50kg.

From the Tuna Capital of New Zealand, Whakatane news of a 95.80 kg Bluefin tuna that was caught 10 miles north of White Island on 15-1-2012 from the vessel Chaos.

From the Bay of Islands reports of a 261 kg blue marlin caught by a father and son team. Well the 6 year old lad played the blue for four hours then dad took over to finally land the fish on 24 kg line. Not a winning fish but a father son memory that will last forever. Also reported were two yellowfin tuna from the same vessel on 14/1 and 15/1. One was 52 kg and then a 76 kg monster on 15 kg line shows there are some yellowfin out there.

Warning not for those who are fragile or weak in stamina a marathon 8 day non-stop fishing event is just around the corner. There are 18 line classes, 24 different species, 14 sections to compete for club, team, and angler glory. Yes I’m talking about the NZSFC NATIONALS that are fished each year ending on the Last Saturday of February. This year you can start fishing at 8am on Saturday 18^th and fish until 6pm on the last day being Saturday the 25^th where all fish must be weighed in or processed by the 6pm cut off.

A Discount Fuel Card is now available – see your Club or check our website for details on how to get one and look out for the Press Release in the next NZ Fishing News.

For more information on the Council’s activities check out the website www.nzsportfishing.co.nz

That’s all for now, the Editor - let’s be careful out there!