Sydney’s strange winter of fishing continues.
Under the influence of the warm water offshore the Tuna that we are all chasing have all but disappeared with the exception of the waters a little further South where the occasional fish has been found.
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I spent the week end chasing the Tuna all to no avail but found huge amounts of slimies around the shelf area. So much that I jigged some for bait and trolled them alive around the bait schools feeling sure there would be a Marlin or two hanging around. We actually got a strike and thought we were in but when I looked back there was a bl–dy seal enjoying our slimy so that was the end of that. In fact over the last couple of weeks there have been more Marlin encountered, and good sized Stripies too, than anything else, except for Kings which are still hanging around the local reefs and being hammered by the local drop liners.
The only problem with the Striped Marlin is that of keeping them hooked up. One boat, who may not wish to be named had the good fortune to raise three of them on Sunday and the misfortune to miss them all.
What I did find over the week end was the current is pushing to the North West, by the way not shown on any chart, which might indicate that the Tuna could return and bring with them the sharks that have been in numbers just South of us. A couple of boats ran into schools of Albacore just wide of Browns but they were very localised you would have had to be very lucky to find them but it must be taken as a positive.
Just to add to the weird fishing whilst we were pulling up a string of Gemmies on the mountain two really big Mahi Mahi followed them up but left just as quickly guess it was too cold for them. The Gemmies have increased in size and numbers making it more difficult to catch the Blue Eye but so far thankfully the sharks and seals have not turned up in numbers yet. This is not such a good thing as the Sydney Game Fishing Club’s annual Mako tournament is being held this week end, but we all know how quickly everything can change. The one unfortunate constant is the number of people flouting the bag limits on the mountain with a bit of luck it could end soon with fisheries and the police becoming more active and as a fringe benefit cracking down on the radio chatter which is, I can only describe as obscene, one can only wonder at what listeners must think of us fisher people.
Anyway the week end weather is looking up so Tight Lines,
Ivan