Port Stephens 2018

I left Sydney early on Saturday morning with Lindon. Rhys, Michael and Frank in perfect conditions to chase the Port Stephens Marlin. No wind, no sea and nothing untoward expected weatherwise. I cruised out to an area just short of the Norah Canyons where we put the lures out and proceeded to troll.

As we moved North and further out the water temperature continued to rise. In fact it was rising at an alarming rate, over 26C. Anyway, we continued North seeing nothing but conditions were so good it didn’t matter. Then as so often happens with Blue Marlin just as we crossed over the Northern edge of the Newcastle canyons we had a massive strike on the ‘Lumo’. The Blue did what they do and proceeded to greyhound up past the boat then circled back behind us. After a tough fight Michael brought the fish to the boat where photo’s were taken and the fish released.

We continued on without seeing anything else but kept hearing of a bite at the ‘Car Park’ several miles North of us. Unbelievably the water temperature had reached up to 27.3 degrees and was jumping up and down a half a degree over short distances. A couple of friends fishing even further North tagged and lost Stripes and Michael of ‘Restless’ found a pack of Dollies too. It was so frustrating we kept hearing  of Marlin being tagged but they were much to far away for us to reach. As it happens it was time to head in, clean up and get some sleep, tomorrow would be another day.

On Sunday I went out with Mike on ‘Restless’ to where they were fishing on Saturday. Slimies were no problem and it wasn’t long before we were heading out to the shelf.  When we arrived the temperature was nothing like the day before and in fact never went over 24.7 degrees. But there was bait and there were fish on the bait. Throughout the day everyone caught at least one Striped or Black Marlin. A couple of boats caught more and I think ‘Born Free’ tagged five. All along fishermen were encountering Blues, Blacks and Stripes. Not to mention the Dollies and at least one Spearfish. On ‘Restless we ended up with a Black of about 80 Kgs. , and lost a Stripy and a Shark of unknown species.

Generally speaking I think we could agree that it is Marlin time. I have heard that from Bermagui in the South to South East Queensland the Marlin are on. That doesn’t mean they are easy to catch but nothing worthwhile ever is, so good luck…

Tight Lines,
Ivan