Trent Anderson lands two prized bluefin tuna off Dunedin coast

Trent Anderson finally got the payoff that had eluded him for a year off the Dunedin coast. After losing a monster tuna last June, he landed one bluefin at the start of the month and then backed it up last Friday with a second fish that weighed 125.7kg, hooked about 40km offshore and brought to the boat after roughly 45 minutes of hard work.

That second fish was the kind that tests every decision on the water. Anderson had already been into a heavy fight before sharks moved through the area, and the crew’s choice to stay on the right tackle mattered when the tuna showed just how much power southern bluefin can generate. It was the sort of session that reminds anglers why these fish sit at the top of the gamefish list. Anderson called bluefin the pinnacle of the ocean, a ball of muscle, and this time the fish stayed connected long enough for the story to end differently.

There was more to the result than one good hook-up. Allan Anderson joined Trent in bringing both tuna back to the Tautuku Fishing Club rooms, where the fish were weighed and then shared with the local community. The bigger prize was cut up and served as fresh sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce, turning the haul into a club-room feed rather than a private trophy. Anderson said that when you land a 100kg-class fish, sharing it is exactly the right thing to do. Brett Bensemann, the club’s past president, said it was the first time bluefin tuna from the Dunedin coast had ever been weighed there.

That gave the catch a place in the club’s own history. Tautuku Fishing Club was formed on October 12, 1970, and its clubrooms near Smaill’s Beach in Ocean Grove were bought in 1972 for $8000. For a club with those roots, a pair of bluefin coming off the Dunedin coast was more than a good day’s fishing. It marked a new local benchmark.

It also fit the wider return of southern bluefin to these waters. Allan Anderson said the fish were once around Dunedin in the 1980s before a worldwide collapse, then came back in stronger numbers over the last two to three years. He pointed to the details experienced crews watch for, from water temperature and current to water color and bait presence. For Anderson, the lost fish from last June finally turned into two that stayed buttoned right through to the boat.