Port Stephens Billfish in the form of Striped Marlin along with Blacks and the appearance of Blue Marlin were on the bite last week-end. Also amongst the Billfish a good run of Mahi Mahi.
The Port Stephen Billfish turned on again last week-end. They were
big fish too. I heard of Stripies around the one hundred kilo mark and of at least one Black estimated at a hundred and fifty kilo’s by a very experienced skipper. Though they weren’t in the same numbers as the Interclub the previous week there were still enough to go round. As usual it was a matter of find the bait and find the Marlin, so what’s new.
The baitfish along the shelf were flighty and difficult to stay in touch with, however that is where the Marlin were. Those guys dunking bait into the schools didn’t fare as well as those covering ground by skipping rigged baits or trolling live baits. Also, to make life more interesting for those dunking baits there were quite a few Whaler sharks in the mix.
The boats trolling lures also raised plenty of Marlin but as is usual the hook up rate not as good as with baits especially for the Striped Marlin. They did have the advantage though of raising the occasional Blue Marlin some of which I heard were on the large size. Apparently you didn’t have to go far to find the Blues either, just wide of the ‘Car Park’ and other well known areas just over the shelf.
AMBITION…
I fished away from the crowds hovering over and trolling around the bait schools, looking for my own patch. I had quite a successful week-end skipping baits. The highlight, was after marking three or four fish under the boat , seeing four big Striped Marlin trying to eat two baits. We did hook two of them but unfortunately one was tail wrapped and while trying to keep up with it the other dropped off. It was pandemonium for a while but we did get one of them.
So, Port Stephens Marlin. It would be hard to find a more productive area for catching all three species of our Marlin as well as all the other tropical species. The currents the bait add up to a game fish have.
Tight lines,
Ivan
LINKS…
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