Albacore and Kingfish were the name of the game off Sydney last week. However there were enough encounters with Yellowfin to keep the hope alive. Unfortunately since then the weather has intervened and looks like doing so for another few days. So we must wait. Sadly it looks as though the ‘Low’ system that held the Yellowfin up North moved through very quickly but last Wednesday we were still able to reach the Northern edge.
I went out primarily to chase Kingfish but then to go wide and if conditions permitted to have a late afternoon cubing session.
With Wahyu from ‘Global Tackle’ and Lloyd we headed out. We didn’t take any live bait just jigs. A moderate Westerly was blowing but not enough to stop us. When we reached the reef there were a few boats as well as a ‘Pro’ drop lining . A quick pass over the area to locate the fish and down went the jigs.
It was quite interesting to watch. Wahyu was using an electric reel and a ‘knife’ jig and LLoyd jigging the hard way with a ‘flutte’r jig. Surprisingly, to me at least, the slow worked flutter jig consistently caught the larger fish.
After an hour or so we had caught enough Kings and the wind had dropped so we headed out to do some trolling. We hoped to find those elusive Yellowfin. The plan was to go out to the thousand fathom line then go South and hopefully reach the ‘Low’ system.
I was just passing Browns when I got a call from the boat ‘El Patrone’ advising me that he’d caught Yellowfin and Albacore at a position roughly14 miles South East of me. Then another call came in about Yellowfin in the same sort of area.
I made the decision to pull in the gear and run out . Even knowing how quickly the ‘fin move around and the chances they would still be there in the 45 minutes it would take to get to the area, it was worth the risk.
On the run out I noticed a half degree temperature break with a few birds in area, just not enough to stop us from our goal – a mistake.
We finally reached the spot and the only action was another boat working the area. After setting the gear again we continued on our quest. It became apparent that the fish had moved on and since we were in a radio dead area could not get any further information. We ended up trolling back to the temp. break and to set up a cube trail.
It was a beautiful afternoon and just as the sun was setting Lloyd took a hit and after a good fight landed a 7 kilo Albacore. We took another two strikes after sunset and after very lively fights landed 7 and 8 kilo Striped Tuna. If Stripies grew to the size of Yellowfin we would be in trouble.
So that was the day.
After getting back in radio land I heard of a few more Yellowfin and Albacore being taken. So now we have to again wait until the weather clears before we can find out if the fish are still here.
LINKS:
Ripcharts
CSIRO
Bureau of Meteorology
N.S.W. Bluelink
Archived Fishing Reports
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