When Jason van Esch and his mate Mark headed out from Mercury Bay on 14 March, they weren’t expecting to make history. The weather was brutal, the plan had already changed twice, and a tangled downrigger nearly ended the day before it started. What they pulled alongside their 8-metre Rayglass 2800 that afternoon, however, was a 384kg Black Marlin that would go on to claim first place at the Kubota Billfish Classic, widely regarded as the world’s largest fishing tournament.
The original account of this story by Taryn Taylor can be found on the Rayglass website: https://www.rayglass.co.nz/logbook/2026/march/a-rayglass-2800-just-won-the-world-s-biggest-billfish-fishing-comp/ Used with permission.
The win netted the van Esch family around half a million dollars in prizes. More than that, it secured a place in Mercury Bay Gamefishing Club history.
Rough conditions and a change of plan
Tournament morning arrived with 30-knot winds and building seas. Cor van Esch, the boat’s owner and the boys’ father, made the call to stay ashore. Jason and Mark took the helm of Corblimey and made a pragmatic decision: rather than punch out to deep water in deteriorating conditions, they’d fish a known bait fish spot off Whale Rock, short of Mercury Island.
Three hours of live baiting produced four kahawai and not much else. Then a mechanical mishap intervened. The downrigger ball got caught in the prop, snapping off and leaving two lines tangled together. By the time they’d sorted the mess out, one of the bait fish had gone limp.
Rather than discard it, Jason sent the limp kahawai out as a skip bait around eight metres back. It proved to be the best decision of the day.
“That reel started screaming like crazy.”
Mark was watching the sounder and picking his way through a rocky patch when he made an offhand joke: “Wouldn’t it be funny to see that line get hit right now.” Ten minutes later, it did.
The marlin surged, stripping 800 metres of line in under three minutes. The two men wheeled Corblimey around and chased it down, wound in enough line to get some control, then watched it peel off another 800 metres. This cycle repeated across three hours of sustained effort, with the fish spending much of that time 50 to 100 metres off the stern, its full size still hidden below the surface.
When it finally came up close to the boat, the scale of it became clear. Two friends from a nearby vessel swam across to assist, and four men took turns at the gunnel. Even with that combined effort, the fish barely moved.
“We thought either we’re completely spent, or this thing is absolutely enormous,” Jason said. “Turned out it was both.”
A final surge from the marlin brought it forward just enough. Jason jumped clear of the bill and they brought it aboard. The fish measured 4.5 metres. Corblimey is 8 metres long.
Shock, adrenaline, and a quiet moment behind Ohinau
The aftermath was surreal. One crew member went over the side from pure adrenaline. Jason tried to reach for a beer and couldn’t steady his hands. The four of them sat in silence for a while, staring at what they’d caught.
They motored around behind Ohinau Island, dropped anchor in the shelter, and let it sink in. Cheering followed. Then a slow, careful run back to the weigh-in, the added weight of the fish keeping their speed in check.
The crowd at the club was large. Jason parked Corblimey on the first attempt, which he counts as one of the minor victories of the day.
The result: third heaviest in Mercury Bay history
The Black Marlin weighed in at 384kg, making it the third heaviest fish recorded in Mercury Bay Gamefishing Club history. It will be mounted at the club. The van Esch family donated the fish itself to charity, with the meat auctioned off and all proceeds going to a local organisation supporting disadvantaged children in the Coromandel.
Jason, Mark and Cor were back on the water two days later.
What it says about the Rayglass 2800
Corblimey is not a specialist game fishing boat. Cor uses it for kingfishing, waterskiing, family outings and offshore runs. During the retrieval, four men hauling from one side of the gunnel created a combined load Jason estimated at around 800 kilograms, with the duckboard going briefly underwater. The boat didn’t flinch.
“The duckboard went under, but it’s only about 100mm above the waterline at the best of times,” Jason noted. “The boat handled it. It always does.”
For a family that fishes the Coromandel waters regularly, that kind of confidence in the platform is the real takeaway. The prize money helps, but the fish of a lifetime on a versatile 8-metre trailerable is the kind of story that doesn’t require much embellishment.
Among hundreds of entries bringing bigger budgets, higher-spec gear and the latest sounder technology to the Kubota Billfish Classic, it was Corblimey that took the trophy home to Mercury Bay.
Learn more about the Rayglass Legend 2800.
