KEY POINTS:
The presence of good numbers of XOS yellowfin tuna has saved what would otherwise have been a truly miserable start to the northern game fishing season.
Fishing from the trailer boat Labris, Catalyne Pille caught what will likely be confirmed as the first marlin of the season, landing
a 104.4kg stripee on January 4.
The fish was weighed at the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club in Russell, with the club awaiting official confirmation that it was indeed the first bill fish of the season.
Several days earlier, the club had courtesy weighed a fish of 90kg that will not be eligible for the record books as the angler was fishing outside of his own club's waters.
But, while those two catches suggest the marlin season may well be about to fire, spokeswoman Linda Blomfield confirmed that, at the time of writing, no more fish had been taken by the club's anglers.
Elsewhere, it's a similar story.
On Tuesday, the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club tagged and released its first marlin of the season - a stripee estimated at 80kg that will likely go into the books as the first tagged fish of the season.
This time last year, the club had tagged or weighed 28 marlin, underlining just what a sluggish start to the season it has been.
Further south, in the Coromandel, anglers from the Mercury Bay Gamefishing Club have experienced a similarly frustrating December and January. At the time of writing, the club had yet to tag or weigh its first marlin, although one was hooked and dropped at the boat during last weekend's Toyota Tuna Tournament.
And that's where the good news comes in.
Club weighmaster Marty Bowers estimates between 40 and 50 yellowfin, big eye and albacore tuna tipped the scales during the tournament, with at least that many again caught but not weighed.
"We thought it was going to be a real write-off because the water has been so cold but the top fish was a 66.5kg [yellowfin]," says Bowers. "That's a nice fish. It might not actually be beaten this year."
It also earned a lucky angler the $4000 first prize.
The Far North clubs have also enjoyed success chasing tuna, with the Bay of Islands and Whangarei having weighed specimens of 59.8kg.
While the El Nino-inspired predominating cool south-westerly winds, which have kept the sea temperatures low, are widely tipped as the main reason for the late arrival of the marlin, Bowers believes the price of fuel is also a factor.
"It has been hard," he says. "A few of the guys have gone right out wide looking for broadbill when we've had some gaps in the weather but with no joy.
"And a lot of guys just aren't out there doing it. It's bloody expensive to go out now, with the price of gas. You have to a go a long way out too, so a lot of people tend to sit back and wait until they know the fish are out there and then they all go out."
Last weekend's tuna tournament was a classic case in point.
"There had been a few boats out not catching much, then suddenly you have got 65 boats on the water and everybody was loaded up.
"They are out there, we know that now. It's just a matter of getting people to go out there and do it. It's only a matter of time."
In other good news for snapper hunters, the warmer easterly flows of the past few weeks have sparked that fishing into life - on the Coromandel at least, says Bowers, who operates the charter boat Star Trek.
"We've had a really tough time of it trying to get the punters a decent feed of fish. We've burned up twice the diesel we normally would looking for them but, in the last few weeks, it has just gone off."
