Fiji National Sailfish Record

Another Pacific Sailfish Record fell to Bite Me last week and New Zealand angler Lyn Salvidge. Lyn and her husband Bruce spent two days aboard Bite Me having some fun with the wahoo and looking to take a ladies National Record back home to Auckland.

Bruce hooked up to his first ever wahoo

Happy to oblige, we introduced Bruce to his first ever wahoo and after a 15 minute fight on 30lb line class, Joe sank the gaff into a nice 60lb fish. Not a bad start for your first ever wahoo.

Nice Hoo Bruce !

We decided Lyn should target the W-10kg Pacific Sailfish record. Normally we tag and release all billfish but a National or World Record are sometimes the exception. Working one of Bite Me's favourite sail spots with a pair of 10kg outfits on the riggers, we hooked up a nice sail on a Hollowpoint Mahi Sniper in white and pink with one of our special light tackle hook rigs.
With some careful backing down early on, we had the sail in close after 20 minutes but using only 5lbs of drag on the Shimano TLD20, the fight was anything but over. Lyn applied steady pressure using her Black Magic stand-up fighting harness as we began to slowly chase the sail down in reverse. 55 minutes later with the sail tiring we upped the drag and Lyn guided the 130lb leader into deckie Joe's hands. Using special light tackle Pakula Katana hooks, this was no time for brute force so Joe gently eased the sail into gaff range and the fight was over.

Lyn and Bite Me's deckie Joe

Weighing in at 47.8kg, ( 105 lbs ) and almost five times line class weight, this was a very respectable fish and earned Lyn the new W-10kg Fiji National Record.