Hawke's Bay blue marlin
2022 gamefishing season is going down as on of the best for Hawke's Bay
A massive 240kg blue marlin has been caught off the coast of Hawke’s Bay, smashing the local club’s previous record.
Caught by anglers, Ryan and Jacob Bassett, the catch came after only five minutes after the cousins put their lures in the water.
Jacob spent about an hour-and-a-half reeling in the big marlin, while Ryan was at the helm of the Wild Kiwi boat as skipper. He helped lead the fish until it got tired.
The pair didn’t realise how big the marlin was until they had it next to the boat.
Blue marlin are fairly rare in the Hawke’s Bay, with the striped marlin much more common.
The fish was weighed in at the Hawke’s Bay Fishing Club in Ahuriri, Napier, coming in at 242.2kg. According to club president, Neil Price, this is the second ever blue marlin weighed at the club, topping the club’s only record, a 181kg blue marlin caught a few years ago.
The marlin was to be hung on Jacob’s wall, with the back half to be smoked.
There are quite a lot of marlin being caught throughout the country at the moment. While striped marlin tend to be more common this time of year, and the blue marlin species seemed to have arrived a couple of weeks earlier than usual, likely due to warmer sea temperatures.
Since writing this there has been a second blue marlin landed in the Hawkes Bay
