26/02/2024
For those of you who are into heading out wide to chase pelagics, this is a story you might want to read. You never know, it may be of help with your catch rate at some point in time.
When my other half and I bought our boat, way back in 2000. We found out pretty quickly that in gamefishing, Wasat was literally a fish magnet. If we put lures in the water there seemed to be more marlin in the sea than we could deal with. Our first ever trip in her over the Manukau bar saw us totally out of our depth with a quadruple hook up, but that's another story in it's self, to be told another time.
So right up until a few years ago, we very rarely missed out on action of one kind or another when we went out.
It began as a ni**le in the back of my mind. A few trips out and nothing seen, another trip and a touch on a rigger that faded and never came back. More weird taps and soft spooky bites. Followed by more trips, a couple of years tick by before we knew it, Skipjack and Albacore were our friends and we contented ourselves with making sure we weren't skunked by binning up on these.
Years go by, excuses started to stack on top of one another
Surely it's just Johnny on the spot?
Ahhhh... we were just "wrong place, wrong time",
"Not our day"
"Just bad luck"
"Was that a banana cake you brought????!!"
"I knew we should have gone yesterday!"
"It's the wrong moon phase"
" At lease we got those huge Albies"
Until the ni**le became a stabbing blade of envy for mates who were "slaying the seas" while you came home with a pocketful of tuna.
The questioning of our run of bad luck nagged
Then I saw an article by a FB friend who was experiencing the same issues. He decided to take his boat to an electrical analyst who tested his boat for STRAY CURRENT. His boat was effectively spooking fish with the amount of stray current it was emitting. If you go in to the Big Game Fishing page and search "Inheritance", you will find Chris's story.
Chris's experience stayed in my head, while we stubbornly persisted for another THREE WASTED YEARS!
Then, a good friend of mine Wood, was in the shop, and during conversation he mentioned he'd recently had his boat electrically tested, and had turned his bite around exponentially. I asked him for the electrical guys details, and sent him an email, to which he immediately replied, and the next Monday, Wasat was at the Marina covered in wiring and meters getting the once over, after which we received a comprehensive assessment email with helpful suggestions on any alterations he saw were needed. Ultimately, there wasn't a huge amount of changes required. Two new anodes for the outboard, a new anode for the hull, our 24 year old buzz bar for the fuses was changed for a fresh new one, and an earth strap from the battery to the hull.
Fast forward to the next available weather window and we were heading over the bar with mixed feelings of doubt and hope.
Well... nothing prepared us for what we were in for.
8.30am we were at 85m, the water was blue and the lures were popping nicely. The shotgun gave a thumping bang, and a short burst of line off Dave's Stella brought us to attention. Veering round slowly, we gave that spot another look, nothing.
A couple of horse Skippies came on board, and at 89m the Shotgun thumped again, this time the Stella told us this one had stuck. A 40 minute fight with a feisty and very aerial 90-100kg fish, a quick release boatside and we were ecstatic. Could this really be? have we got our old boat back?
10 minutes later a false alarm as an albacore chose to eat one of our marlin lures.
Then maybe 30mins passed and the port rigger was crashed, a short burst of line buzzed out and stopped. A few seconds later the short corner received a good slap but still no hook up. I'm still not entirely sure whether there were multiple fish in the gear as it was too choppy to tell, The starboard rigger was knocked out and few seconds after that the long corner zipped. I leaned out to re set the starboard side rigger and had the line ripped out from my fingers and the reel howled, a fish cleared the water for the horizon at what sounded like an alarming rate. Unfortunately, we only had two rods clear when the reel went silent..... Wow! what a buzz!
A few more Skipjack and a Mahi Mahi entertained our day, then we curved around at the hundred meter mark to slowly amble our way back towards the bar. At 65m I said to Dave "what time is it? should we pull the gear?" Dave checked his phone. " we've got another hour before we want to be on the bar, the tide's only just turned" If we do a loop or two we might get a couple of Albies before we go in. BZZZ! a short burst on the long corner got our attention. A bill and a dorsal behind my favourite lure! Eat it!!! Eat it ya bastard! BZZ.. BZZZZ... C'mooooon EAT IT!!, WHAM! BZZZZZZZZ!, Yusssss! OMG my turn! A half hour fight and we called this one for 85ishkg and decided we deserved one for the smoker. Just enough time had passed, and the Port Bar was a smooth transition into the river. Our day was done and dusted.
So.... Whether you believe it or not, we are totally convinced in one trip. Stray current is a very real thing, and marlin are obviously particularly sensitive to it.
If you have even the slightest doubt, get your boat checked for it. It's no reflection on you or your fishing skills. I think of all the fuel we've burned while we stubbornly ploughed through the years thinking it was just pure bad luck, when it could have been a completely different picture if we had done this earlier!!!
If you are interested in getting this done, you are welcome to contact me either through Rusty Dog Outdoors, or Messenger and I am more than happy to pass on the details of the person who did our electrical check.
