After the lizard island tournament the weather eased and the big fish turned up. The last week in October saw our guests catch 6 fish, with a story of the one that got away.
29/10/06
Nicest day on the reef this season! Fished down number 10 ribbon just south of the marks. About 1300hrs, nobody saw the bite, rather just heard the right rigger peg out and saw the saw the white water created by a bill coming down hard on the scad. We came tight and the fish showed itself just off the transom with a series of massive head shakes. Daryle Gregory was in the chair and was attached to a similar sized fish he caught last year.
The fish didn’t take much line, but performed beautifully beside the boat. The combination of the classy calm conditions and huge fish made for an awesome spectacle. However it wasn’t long lived as after 10 minutes the hook just pulled!?!?!
After inspecting photos of the fish, we could see the bait remains on the corner of the mouth, consistent with a good circle hook hookup, but with all the wild jumps, the line was pulling through the mouth and out the other side….perhaps dislodging the circle in the process. Later on that afternoon, Daryle got another chance with a 400lber which we safely released.
November on the reef saw a bit of a slow patch for us, we were raising big fish every day and getting bites, but the bites seemed to be so aggressive that the fish either got tangled in it, or simply crushed the bait, failing to hook up.
NZ shark guru, Brian “sharkin” Harkin managed a nice bronze whaler on the linden bank….the right size, of around 800lbs, but wrong species!! We then moved north and let go two big fish in an afternoon at Number 5 ribbon reef. Noel Hobbs and Taffy, with a 750 and 900lber repectively.
12/11/06
With a new group onboard, we departed Opal reef early in the morning and set the lures. It was a nice surprise at 0830 to have the shot gun eaten by a very large black marlin. The fish bit and started jumping straight away towards the boat. Virgin angler, Murray Ward was in the chair and feeling the heat from both the sun and the fish. We had seen that the fish was a nice one but as it came from under the demi hull fully lit up glowing an irridesent blue from tip of the bill to its tail, the boys readied the gaffs.
The fish tailed some time behind the boat before Randle could grab the leader. However after a couple of wraps and tugs on the leader, the fish had other ideas and did one massive jump shaking its head, releasing itself and returning the lure into the boat almost causing Randle to do an involuntary back flip! I hadn’t witnessed a grander sized fish lit up like this before and it was simply breath-taking! The next 2 weeks saw us out of action thanks to German engineering and half a propeller blade.
We finished off our trips in December catching two 900lb fish and another 5 fish out wide on the sea mount and flora reefs. Leo Jackson, who told me last year that he was quite happy catching the small ones, did a great job on one of the 900lbers, caught at flora reef. It just goes to show, that December doesn’t spell the end of the season….you just have to go looking.
Good Fishing
Tom.
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