Well what a night ! we left Wellington Harbour at 9pm Sunday and steamed round to Cape Palliser with intentions of doing some night drifts for swordfish and then going for a troll for bluefin the following morning. We set out our first baits and we had a fish smash the baits but managed to get away with our bait and not hook !! A couple of hours later we had a strange hit and we decided to check the bait finding a very docile 50-80kg blue shark. Baits went out for the 3rd time and within minutes something crunched the deeper bait and took off like a rocket forward of the boat . We got the boat spun around and went to battle. This was a big fish but WHAT WAS IT !!! Shark? Swordfish ? Tuna? We really had no idea , it was acting like a tuna at the start but as the fight went longer and longer we thought maybe a sword. After 45min we got our first look using a spot light over the side – a BIG TUNA !! After a battle we managed to sink the gaff and haul it into the boat ,2 years in a row we have landed big tuna from home . It means so much specially after all the trips away we have done over the years. This is our biggest ever bluefin on Wild Bill and to get it close to home is extra special.
“We have spent a lot of time and effort making this fishery . We were told for many years that the fish were way to far off and we were wasting our time so to see what it has become has meant a lot to me” This from Chris , Wild Blue Tackle, wrapping up the 2024 Tuna Comp
“Overall we have had 9 fish that have been caught between Wellington and Castlepoint which is massive, there also been reports of a few hooked and dropped fish “
“Before this year we only had 1 or 2 for a season with only a couple of boats really trying. This year we had up to 20 boats on a good day and with the wild east cost weather the days to get out are minimal but we have had at least 1 fish caught each good day which is epic “
