First-time angler pulls in 466Kg marlin!

If you've been put off fishing because of all your mates stories about going out and catching nothing but a cold, then think again. Apparently you don't need any experience to catch fish, let alone a 466Kg blue marlin.

A first time angler Wade Wilson managed to do just this off the West Coast in Northland and man is he stoked! 

The 466kg beast was nearly as big as their boat, and was caught by three members of the Muriwai Sports Fishing Club on Saturday afternoon.

Club president Stan Phillips told the Herald huge catches "weren't that uncommon" by Muriwai Sports anglers.

"We tend to pull in some good ones. There's been a couple of other blues caught off the west coast by Muriwai boys ..." he said.

Phillips said the fish was the heaviest ever caught by a member of the club.

"As far as I know ... there's been a 380kg blue caught in 2009 ... but I think it was on 60kg tackle."

Photos of the marlin on board the boat show the huge scale of the catch, which took two hours to haul in.  

Phillips said the club was looking through the history books to see how the monster catch stacks up, but he believed it was the second-biggest blue marlin ever caught in New Zealand.

The three men aboard the boat were stoked with their haul when they got back to shore, according to Phillips.

"John rang me on the way in ... they were just over the moon, they couldn't believe it. You can just tell how stoked the boys were.

"John had been fishing hard with no luck ... to hook a fish of this size, especially for a first-time angler ... and to land it in a little tinny like that. It's amazing really."

So Wade Wilson, keen to come for tea? 

via NZ Herald