Posted on 02/08/2009 7:50:56 PM PST by nickcarraway
The 32nd annual Coruba fishing tournament got a boom start when a near-record 384.2kg monster from the deep was landed after a three-hour struggle by a host-club stalwart off the Central Hawke's Bay coast yesterday.
The mako was too big for the 5.5m boat Rampant from which long-time Hawke's Bay Sports Fishing Club member Graeme Bee first hooked about 10.50am, at Post Office Rock, north of Bare Island and off Ocean Beach.
He battled for the first hour awaiting the arrival of the nearest help, the fellow Napier boat Donna 2, and as a safety measure was allowed to transfer boats to continue the fight.
As word of mouth spread among other boats scattered as far north as Mahia Peninsula on the first day of the tournament, the mako leapt completely out of the sea several times. It was seen biting in half one of about 20 blue shark following the ordeal and once it broke free.
"But it came back for more," said Mr Bee, who with skippers Paul Galbraith (Rampant) and Carson Green (Donna 2) was able to announce about 2.30pm the battle was over and they were on their way home.
Well, not quite, for it was still alive in the water, lashed almost the full length of the Rampant when it arrived at the HBSFC at Ahuriri about 6.30pm.
A welcoming party of more than 300 greeted the catch, which was a few centimetres too long to be hoisted clear of the ground to complete the weigh-in.
"She's not over yet," said Mr Bee, as everyone pondered what to do in what stretched to almost an hour before it was finally strung up and officials could announce the weight of the only shark recorded during the day.
Mr Bee has fished almost every Coruba, saying: "I'm 47 now, and I first competed with the family when I was about 16".
Landed with a 37kg tackle, it was his biggest catch, but it wasn't going anywhere near the New Zealand record 17kg tackle mako landed by Graeme Flett in 1985, on the wall above the club bar.
Mr Bee wanted only the jaw, and today - as he was back out at sea with Mr Galbraith and crewmates Ethan Mills, son of partner Danny Mills, and Mr Galbraith's son, 10-year-old Liam - a Niwa scientist was on the way from Wellington to dissect the mako in public starting at the HBSFC at 3pm.
The mako's landing came just after the landing of the next biggest fish of the day, the only marlin (101.4kg), caught by clubmate Rob Schicker, aboard Anthony Bath's boat, The Boy's Club, under tow by the Maggie May after damaging a throttle cable during the battle. The host club took the first day prizes in a tournament which had almost 500 entries and about 130 boats.
Joe Bicknell's 17.8kg kingfish was the biggest of three weighed in the species, the 72 albacore tuna were headed by David Rouse's catch of 15.625kg, Trevor Brinson landed the biggest of 32 skipjack at 4.565kg, and the biggest of 19 snapper was Shannon Jordan's catch of 9.535kg.
There were no yellowfin, a species which carries the biggest prize at $4000.
whOA
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand ????
almost SAME angle
What kind of fishing line can pull in 847 lbs.?
number 8 piano wire
I once landed a 100 lb. sailfish after about 15 minutes and I thought my arms would fall off. I cannot imagine how this fisherman handled this baby for over 3 hours.
If the line test is over 40 lbs and it is not nicked or frayed it is just about imposssible for any fish to break it if the drag is set properly. (about 30% of the line test) But the angler can break it by whipping jerking or doing some other foolishness with the rod.Or you can loose all the line off the reel.
An excerpt from my website on fighting a mako
. " A mako should be fought differently than other fish. This is not tuna fishing! A tuna fisherman's mentality is "The longer the fight the greater chance of losing the fish , therefore getting it to the boat quickly is a good idea."
The object is not to muscle a mako back to the boat and gaff it, as you would a tuna.. That is a sure way of losing one or getting somebody injured, or worse. You want to keep it away from the boat and "stay attached" until it is tired out.
A mako is too fast for an angler to directly fight, as you would most fish. So you just exercise line control. When possible put the line on the reel, keeping it level, and when the mako runs let it rip off smoothly. The mono closer to the reel spindle is packed rather tightly from the pressure of the line. When you get a blistering run below half spool it will sound like an electrical short circuit in the reel." -Tom
Hawkes Bay — about halfway down the North Island, on the East Coast. Where much of the award-winning New Zealand wine comes from.
That’s a nice catch: I’m a bit saddened by it tho’. Sharks are amazing creatures.
At least he didn’t need a bigger boat.
A closeup picture of the Monster Mako.
Thank you for the info about the line strength and the difference in bringing in a mako and bringing in a tuna. Scary to this non-fisherperson!
What's your website address? I caught a 170 lb. sailfish off of Acapulco. It was 9 ft. 7 inches long. On a 50 lb. test line. I was told it was rather long, but was still 22 lbs. short of a world record. This was back in 1978. I still have the fish on my wall. We caught 7 that day and boated 4. Mine was the biggest.
THROW IT BACK!
Oh, I forgot to mention that it was a very exciting day, expecially when the boat started sinking and we were 25 miles offshore. The floorboards in the cabin were just about underwater by the time we patched the hole and got back to port safely. Very scary there for a while.
A mako is a beautiful creature. Don’t compare it to that.
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