All I can say after this week-end is that there are still Marlin around, well at least one. Even though he/she may have a sore mouth it may still be hungry.

We went out on Saturday thinking we had a good chance at the Yellowfin which were sighted last week, because it was rough, certainly rougher than I would have expected from the weather report but we all know that ‘fin like it rough. Anyway the guys were keen so off we went. We covered a lot of miles and saw nothing there wasn’t even anything to learn from the radio chatter as there was none.

Sunday couldn’t have been more different than the day before. Other than the rain which we managed to avoid, the sea was dead calm all day even glassing off in the afternoon. Again we covered a lot of miles, going out to and past Heatons were the temperature got up to 21 degrees but with no definite breaks.

It was only when we got back close too the shelf that I found any bait with occasional schools of Sauries showering across the surface and Gannets flying high looking for  the bait schools which were holding up deeper in the water column. It was all coming together but by this stage we had pretty well given up hope of finding anything and it was getting dark almost time to bring in the gear and head for home.  The relief was almost tangible when that Striped Marlin hit the ‘lumo’ on the rigger with the Tiagra screaming in protest and pandemonium prevailed. Unfortunately, as I intimated in the first paragraph, after about 15 minutes the hooks pulled free and we lost the fish.

In general the fishing on Saturday and Sunday was pretty ordinary around Sydney. Those fishing Browns are having a lean time and there were Barracouta on the 12 Mile which is pretty sad in itself. Even the Kings are quiet unless you are really know what you are doing and have good bait.

But, we can always blame the moon…

Tight lines,
Ivan