Couple catch 87kg marlin

Couple catch 87kg marlin

Horowhenua Star caught up with two of the four boats that caught marlin off the coast of Foxton Beach last week.

It was big news at the Manawatū Marine Boating Club, as no-one could remember marlin being caught in these waters.

Palmerston North couple Jeff Osman and Alice Allsop and their two children were about to pack up and head home last Friday. There wasn’t much happening on the water when “out of the blue” there was a strike on the rod.

Jeff had the wheel and Alice had the rod. The marlin put up a fight, kicking high out of the water. Working in tandem, they managed to bring aboard the 87kg beast.

“The kids had just starting to feel a bit seasick to be honest and we were thinking of heading in,” he said. “But they came right with a few lollies.”

The couple shared their catch with family and friends after putting it through the smoker.

Foxton man Mike Hayes and brother-in-law Graham Alston were in 74m of water and also about to head in when they struck a marlin.

Half an hour later, after a “fair bit of yelling” they’d landed a 75kg marlin aboard their boat Blue Buoy.

Mike says he’d been chasing a marlin “off and on” for the best part of two decades. They’d been targeting marlin after hearing news of sightings so “we thought we’d give Foxton a nudge.

“It’s the first one I have boated myself,” he said.

The biggest marlin of the weekend weighed in at 128kg and was boated by Res and Nigel Aldridge on Blak Dog, while Roger and Rick reeled in a 95kg marlin aboard Sea Toy.