Rain and thunderstorms continued to plague us right through November and into the new year. The 2010 rainfall of 4m being twice the annual average of 2040mm as the strong La Nina dominated the Northern weather. Despite the adverse conditions, Bert Van Heerde from Shimano Europe and his mates Arjen and Huub enjoyed some great fishing as the 2010 season come to an eventful close. While recent groups had caught plenty of good fish, the really big ones had been harder to find. This was soon to change as the Dutchmen found some fantastic GTs, but it was a massive yellowfin tuna taken on a popper by Arjen that was to be the real highlight.
The hot water this season had meant very few tuna, with little surface action out in the deeper water. Despite this, it was decided to take a short break from popping and try a little trolling around a favourite point, immediately resulting in a nice wahoo followed by two smaller tuna. This had the guys reaching for the popping rods, keen to see if the big bloopers could raise a large pelagic. With sharks ever present in the deep it is seldom advisable to throw your favourite or most expensive lures. With this in mind Arjen chose a blue Dumbell for the first drift and after a couple of rises on Bert’s popper, it was Arjen who hit the jackpot. The prototype Shimano rod had an extremely long butt section which made fighting the fish difficult and Arjen did really well to not lose all the line on his Stella. Unfortunately for the other guys, a huge thunderstorm moved in just as photos of the big tuna were being taken. Despite sheltering from the lightning and torrential rain for two hours in a nearby cave under the cliff face, the storm didn’t let up and the 30 minute run back to the boat ramp meant no further casting opportunity.
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