Silly season is here!

[mozza]

Well Tournaments are just starting to get into full swing over here and over the last few days we Have been fishing the Whangaroa One Base aboard "UWANNAGO"


Day one: Waking to 20knots+ of easterly is not how I like to start the days on the boat but we were there to fish and not sit in the harbour getting shitfaced like half of the boats.

Rounding the heads at the Harbour I felt the boat start to get that all to familiar lift and drop as the swells started to increase in size and drop in swell period 30 minutes smashing out and the call was made to put the gear in at 70m as the sea conditions were getting a wee bit nicer.


10:15 "Fish in the gear" but after grabbing the african queen and taking it for a 50m zap the fish dropped it and came back to pop the opposite rigger before disapearing again. Then shit started to happen
We managed to raise several more fish up to about 130kg but they were swatting and not biting hard. At about 12:30 the captain gave the call for a bit of a lure change. 2 minutes later I am watching the super plunger doing its thing when the blue water behind is swallowed by an electric blue shape moving at speed, The fish went straight over to the long corner and smashed it. gear cleared and we got settled into a fight in some pretty average conditions. 15 mins later and the fish is at the boat. We made the call to gaff it and take it in.


we had several more fish up in the gear and more tentative bites but couldnt get anymore to stick
we raised 11 today, hooked 5 landed one. Not the greatest numbers but first tournament this year for the boat so we can only get better.... I hope
we had to re rig a few of the A team over a few drinks


Unfortunately our fish didn't get anywhere on day one as a BIG striped Marlin of 165kg was brought in also and a heap of fish released.

Day 2 and we had picked up 2 crew from a boat having mechanical issues. cool 5 up on the boat and more hands on deck......... 8:30 we see a fish tailing on the water and its a really nice sized fish at that but he ignores the lures and baits and slinks off into the depths. 10:15 and we raise a small fish of about 60-70kg who pops the rigger not even pulling any line, and he disappears as quickly as he came.
at 12:30 another lure change is called for and we change MR yee over to the long corner. No more than 5 mins later......up in the flybridge I hear a zzzzzzzz........or did I???? a quick spin in the chair and I see a couple of bright blue pec fins shadowing MR yee and in one almighty explosion he grabs the lure and storms off leaving a wash of whitewater and spray as he heads for the horizon. This was Deans first Marlin from a few years of trying........ who knows who was on strike but deano got told he was in the hot seat.


With conditions nicer today we had no problem in backing up with more speed and control and in no time had the fish on the leader

The call was made for a tag(its a bit hard to eat 200kg of marlin in a hurry) and Deano had his first fish



Gear back in the water and hopes were high..... and it was MR yee back in the action soon after with a fish that we popped the hooks on 5 mins into the fight... BUGGER!
I am up top again slowly making our way back to the coast when all of a sudden. Mahi Mahi everywhere and it didnt take long for a few little ones to make their way into the kill bag and home for dinner.



another pretty good day for us and we tucked in behind some islands for the stay over night and a couple of quiets......

Day3 and conditions were getting better and better unfortunately the fish had slowed allot and whilst there were still hookups on the radio, it wasn't the frantic action from the previous two days and we worked our arse off for a fish but couldn't find one in the morning...... live, skip and dead baits produced nothing....... Plastic also produced diddly squat
The day turned into more of a sleeping day in the sun over the calm seas as everyone caught up on lost sleep and tried to eliminate the hangovers pounding through our fish mad heads!
Whammo 1:30 the centre rigger cracks and line starts to howl off the 80w, 200m from the boat a small fish is seen greyhounding along the surface and we give chase. the line is tight, angler is doing a great job when all of a sudden the line goes dead. dropped the *******

During the short period we were hooked up for we got a chance to try the new hooked up flag as there were a few small boats getting a wee bit too close for our liking


Day4 was the best day of the lot with a flat calm ocean. we marked tons of bait(and fish around it) but couldn't raise a fish or get a bite today. very frustrating given the perfect conditions but it just wasn't our day. On 2 occasions we had boats either side of us hook up while our baits were left unmolested.

As we cleaned the boat on our way in we enjoyed a few cold drinks and had a quiet chuckle to ourselves at all of our friends at work.

[gottaflylee]

Great read and pictures. Sounds like you are in the hunt so next tournament you'll get them...

[Tenacious]

One hell of a report. Thanks for sharing

[Sea Draggin]

Great job Mozza. Thanks for the report and update.

[Robja]

Nice report Mozza

[Shortfin]

Nice job and that flag should be marketed,,you would sell a bunch

[Mark Ray]

How often do you all keep the billfish you catch? Do alot of fisherman in your area keep them?

[controlled chaos]

LOVE THE FLAG DUDE!!!! that thing would come in handy in south florida pretty much every weekend. the reefline can get pretty congested with jew canoes driving around cutting people off. no offense to anyone who is jewish. thats just what we call sea rays down there.

dave

[Dave Sikorski]

Where the hell did you get that flag?

Thanks for sharing. Great pics and congrats on some great fishing.

-D

[mozza]

Mark I think the Kill rate was about 30% for this tournament and all the marlin will be smoked and eaten or eaten fresh on the BBQ. I usually take one a year but not adverse to sticking the gaffs into another if the angler wants it. Nothing is wasted unlike the 226kg mako that sat on the table by the gantry late into the night on tuesday and was gone in the morning.

I think we got a lady to make us up that flag. will look into it