Ok guys here is where we are at.
This bloody ship is a pain in the arse for all of us, not just my business but many others as well, not to mention the environment as well.
On the positives here. The oil has so far mainly come inshore where teams are cleaning it up rapidly. At this stage mayor Island is unaffected and this area is the number one top water fishing area in the bay, so with a bit of luck we will soon be back out there and into them. On a side note the last 5 days fishing out there was really hard but they are well overdue to come on the chew.
Mayor island failing then we will be taking our groups up somewhere North or east, either Whitianga or Waihau Bay. Now i fished these araes many times in the past and there will be no worries with the quality of the fishing, these araes recieve very little pressure and are not often fished with top water gear so the potential is massive. One of these araes alos has a spot where me and two mates landed 200 kingfish in one day!!! so they must be ok.
The weather has settled today and should be for a few days, with a bit of luck they will get all the oil of this heap of crap ship. The containers i am not sure about, but teams are working bloody hard to retrieve them all and from what i understand a crane barge is in the area and will hopefull get them off.
On a negative the immediete area around Astrolabe reef will no doubt be severly damaged, this saddens me deeply as it is one of the most special areas in the Bay. It is alsio home to monster kingfish, like the one that stole Bunzos Gamma last year, or was that someone elses gamma. it is also a home to many seabirds, big sharks marlin and massive schools of kahawai. My other favorite spot schooner rock where Malcolm and Chris had a blinder day last year may also be affected, but fingers crossed it escapes most of the drama.
Anyway i have my chinup and we will fight through this, 2011 has been a toguh year for us but our family is made of tough stuff so dont expect us to be going anywhere fast.
Cheers Mark Armistead