17 hours, four livebaits and one Cape Brett bluefin

An early start, four precious koheru and a mint Bay of Islands weather window were all a Waikato crew needed to turn a quick mission north into a trip they won’t forget.

When a decent 48-hour weather window appeared over the Bay of Islands, Jason Vroegh and Jason Clark didn’t need much convincing to hook up the boat and head north in search of Pacific bluefin tuna.

At 3am on 14 September, the two Jasons left Hamilton with Clark’s 8.5-metre AMF ShoGun in tow, bound for Northland.
A compulsory stop at Kaiwaka for a Barbecue Hut pie also saw Kerren Packer join the crew before they continued on to Tutukaka.

By 8am ShoGun was in the water and the three anglers were heading for Cape Brett and the Hole in the Rock in absolutely mint conditions.

First on the agenda was securing some livebait. The crew spent around an hour trying to catch blue koheru, but despite their efforts they managed just four for the livebait tank. It wasn’t exactly an overflowing supply, but as it turned out, four would be more than enough.

A couple of the koheru were rigged and deployed as the crew began their first drift just outside the Hole in the Rock.

They didn’t have to wait long. Shortly after starting the drift, the deeper bait was smashed and Jason Vroegh came up tight to a powerful fish.

Initially, nobody was quite prepared to call it a bluefin. A kingfish perhaps? Maybe a shark? Surely they couldn’t have travelled all that way, put the baits out and hooked their target species almost immediately.

But as the battle continued, the signs became increasingly promising.

For around an hour the fish put Jason and his tackle through their paces, making long surface runs before dropping deep and sulking around the 40-metre mark. Just when they thought they were gaining the upper hand, another screaming run would have the reel working overtime again.

Eventually, colour appeared below ShoGun and there was no longer any doubt about what was attached to the other end of the line.

A sizeable Pacific bluefin tuna began circling beneath the boat. The crew worked the fish within range, got hold of the leader and sunk home an assortment of Viper gaffs, bringing the battle to an end.

Remarkably, from putting their first baits in the water to having a Pacific bluefin lying on the deck, less than an hour and a half of fishing had passed.

After a few photos and a well-earned cold adult refreshment, attention quickly turned to looking after the catch. The tuna was iced down and, rather than pushing their luck and continuing to fish, the crew decided they had already achieved exactly what they had travelled north to do.

They pulled stumps and pointed ShoGun towards home. That decision also meant the tuna could be processed in the best possible condition. When it was opened up, the fish proved to be in fantastic shape and loaded with fat.

There was another surprise waiting inside. The crew had expected to find blue koheru or perhaps squid among the stomach contents. Instead, the tuna was absolutely chock-full of fresh pilchards.

For anglers planning their own mission for these fish, it was a useful reminder to pay attention to what the bluefin are actually feeding on.

While a live blue koheru had done the damage on this occasion, the contents of the fish’s stomach showed pilchards were very much on the menu.

From leaving Hamilton at 3am to arriving back in the driveway, the entire adventure took just 17 hours.

It was the sort of fishing mission that is difficult to script: a last-minute weather window, shorts and T-shirts, good mates, four livebaits, mint Bay of Islands conditions and a Pacific bluefin landed almost before the fishing had properly begun.

The crew arrived home absolutely shattered, but there certainly weren’t any complaints.

As they summed it up afterwards: It’s always better to be lucky than good!”

Sometimes everything simply falls into place — and this was one of those days.

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