KEY POINTS:
The regal game fish of the oceans, the big marlin, have arrived in the north a month later than usual. They are lean, mean and hungry after spawning in the north Pacific and, in the past 10 days, catch rates have soared.
They will roam from North Cape down the east coast to the Hauraki Gulf chasing schools of baitfish, on which they feed, and down the west coast as far as Raglan.
The northern gamefish clubs, busy running their yearly tournaments with many boats arriving from overseas, have reported a boom during the past week; some boats getting double and triple strikes.
The striped marlin, which make up the biggest share of the billfish catch, are bigger this year, some of more than 150kg being landed. Usually a fish of between 90kg and 120kg is regarded as pretty good. Striped marlin have been known to grow to 225kg.
Skippers out on the blue water report huge schools of baitfish being rounded up by marlin and other great ocean predators, and a good season is expected right up until June if the north experiences an Indian summer.
Biggest officially recorded catch of the season to date was recorded by the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club, a blue marlin of 284.2kg on 37kg line.
It was caught from the boat Marlena by Pete Miller, of Auckland, fishing beyond the Poor Knights Islands using a broadbill lure. The club has recorded other blue marlin catches of 240.8kg and 222kg.
Not far behind that big blue was another of 255.8kg recorded by the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club. It was caught on a lure around the Cavalli Islands by John Wainhouse, of Birkenhead, from the boat Free Life II. The club claims the prize so far in the striped marlin stakes, a magnificent fish of 172.8kg caught by Ron House from the boat Miss Henry.
The Whangaroa Big Gamefish Club has also recorded a big blue, of 225kg, caught 260m off Flat Rock on 24kg line by Kerikeri angler Mark Silich, who was using a lure from the boat Blackjack.
The club has also recorded a striped marlin of 142.5kg, on 24kg line, caught at the Cavallis by New South Wales fisher Darren Bradley using a lure from the boat Knot Home and a black marlin - one of the few recorded so far this season - of 169kg on 37kg line by Peter Parrish, of Waipapa, fishing with a lure from the boat Lord Grant. Good news, too, from the west coast, where skipper Eugen de Bruyn this week reported the marlin arriving off the Manukau Harbour in numbers, especially big stripeys of 150kg or more.
The number of fish being caught, especially the big blues, indicates good health in the marlin fishery, which was hardly the case 25 years ago when foreign longliners had almost destroyed it, taking billfish as a by-catch to their tuna, before their activities were curtailed by law. As a result, the marlin fishery, in the doldrums since the'70s, was restored to the glory days of the pioneer gamefishers of the 1920s and'30s.
However, the fishery is under constant threat from the domestic and foreign commercial fishing fleets, and recreational fishers need to be vigilant to protect this magnificent asset to the country that has spawned a multimillion-dollar industry and attracts anglers worldwide.
But, for now, the good weather is here, the deep blue water is calling, the gannets are diving, the baitfish are on the move and marlin fins are slicing the surface.
Get the boat out and the lures in the water and you might hook into one of those real big ones - blue marlin, black marlin and broadbills have been known to grow to 540kg, and that's 1200lb of fighting gamefish.
