FISHING THE PACIFIC 



The food is delicious. It is a minute's walk to the boats and a 

 twenty-minute run to the main fishing grounds at Bird Rock, 

 Piercey Island and Cape Brett. There is wonderful fishing 

 here because you are smack in among the rocks trying for the 

 black marlin. The striped marlin are usually a little bit farther 

 out but they also come in under the rocks from time to time. 

 It is fabulous to look up from your boat at powerful Cape 

 Brett Light— first landfall sighted by incoming ships bound for 

 Auckland and approaching New Zealand from the north or 

 east. Occasionally you see the goats and other animals peace- 

 fully browsing in the green pastures and the pastoral scene 

 contrasts sharply with the tossing sea below. Usually pretty 

 good weather prevails but at times it does blow like hell. 

 There is more bait here than you will see at any other place 

 of such limited area. Most of it is Kaiwahi or Malmo and there 

 are also two or three other species which are constantly sur- 

 facing. There are so many that it is possible to throw gang- 

 hooks into them to get them out. Unfortunately, few striped 

 marlin are utilized for food in New Zealand. Airs. Farrington 

 and I released twenty-two there in 1949 and I believe we 

 were the first to do so. On my first morning out of the Bay 

 of Islands with Francis Arlidge I caught two striped marlin 

 and a mako before noon, but I was to fish seventeen days 

 thereafter without having a single black marlin strike. 



I missed catching one when after a strike I handed my rod 

 to my photographer Howard Winner. On the long dropback 

 the fish dropped the bait or was frightened off and a little 

 black marlin of about 387 pounds took hold and fought for 

 two hours and five minutes before he was taken by this 

 angler. 



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