Tournament News
NEW ZEALAND SPORT FISHING COUNCIL
bluewatermag.com.au 87This year’s three-day ITM Billfish Bonanza
held at Tauranga in New Zealand’s Bay
of Plenty delivered challenging weather,
but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm
of the 139 anglers.
Karl Boielle had organised himself a good
weekend crew for his trailerboat Happy Hour,
although on the first day he had to fish solo.
This was something he was quite excited
about – although at that stage he had no
idea what was about to unravel.
After the briefing, Karl set out to sleep
beside Mayor Island, to be ready for the
next day’s fishing. Up early, he spent a little
time catching livebait, but as the weather
deteriorated, he switched to trolling lures.
When the first strike came he was well
prepared, with the gaff, tag pole and
everything else he needed close at hand.
Before long the striped marlin was tagged and
he watched it swim away strongly. Excited
that his day was shaping up well, Karl tidied
up the gear and headed out wide. Two hours
later his Shimano 50 Talica screamed again,
and he soon tagged another striped marlin.
THE THIRD ONE IS A BLUE
After the clean-up, Karl realised he was done
and decided to troll back to Mayor Island, some 20 nautical
miles back inshore. A beautiful afternoon was unfolding, and
he enjoyed the beauty around him, not paying attention to his
lures. Then a blue marlin suddenly tail-walked past his port
window! In disbelief, Karl swung around to see one of his outfits
bent over yet again.
By the time he got to his rod, all the braid was gone and he
was down to the mono backing. It was a difficult situation, but
he managed to settle into the fight and steadily gained line until
he and the marlin were at a stalemate. Unsure what to do next,
Karl called a friend, talking on the phone while the spool was
slowly emptying. If nothing else, he found it helped to settle
his nerves.
With 16kg of drag on the fish, Karl was exhausted after an
hour. It became clear the marlin had died, so now the battle
was to haul it up, get it on board and then heading for home.
TOUGH DECISION
With daylight fading, Karl was still a long away offshore. Realising
it would disqualify his catch from the tournament, he put the rod
in a rodholder and used the rocking of the boat to slowly pump
up line. An hour later the stiff marlin was beside the boat.
Previously he had used the anchor winch to haul a big fish
aboard, but some recent hatch modifications now made that
impossible. Karl called for assistance over the radio, soon finding
a welcome offer of help despite it being so late in the day.
It was dark by the time he’d made the two-hour run back to
Mt Maunganui. There he was greeted by Deryk, the President of
the Tauranga Sports Fishing Club, who helped him put the fish
in the chiller for weighing the next day.
It was 1am before Karl’s day was over. Finally settling into bed
on the boat, with the boat on its trailer in the carpark outside
the club, Karl slept like a baby. It was a day he will never forget!Karl Boielle’s
big day solo
Above: Fishing
solo aboard his
trailerboat Happy
Hour, Karl Boielle
struggles with his
158.4kg blue marlin
off New Zealand’s
Bay of Plenty.
Right: With two
tagged striped
marlin and a
weighed blue marlin,
Karl Boielle certainly
enjoyed a big day
of game fishing –
especially since he
did it fishing solo.