Maddening Marlin – of all the Marlin the Striped Marlin are the most maddening. They will follow lures for an eternity, hitting and missing continually,  testing each lure in your spread. You can tease them with lures and bait but even if you can get them to eat you’re never sure of how well they are hooked.

At present the Striped Marlin are even more obtuse than usual. Though these maddening Marlin are finnicky biters at best for some reason they are even more touchy than usual. Just to tease us there are still enough being hooked to make the hunt frustratingly worthwhile.

In my last couple of days out the water has got greener and cooler each day.  However there is still plenty of bait around. Inshore it is made up of Slimey Mackerel but offshore I don’t know what makes up the schools. I have seen Sauries out there but they don’t often show on sounders. If anyone has jigged up any bait from near the shelf I would love to know what it is. Personally I think it could be made up of Mackerel as well as Toads, Bellows fish and even Leatherjackets, in which case the Marlin are very well fed.

Mahi Mahi have shown up on some of the FAD’s with the occasional decent sized one turning up so there must be some good water around, maybe a little deeper, below the green stuff.

Whatever the case the charts show a very warm current out wide. At Port Stephens it looks to be within range but it veers out just above the canyons. Inshore of this current the water is unusually cool for this time of year. Hopefully this situation will change in the near future.

Apparently this situation is caused by the ‘Coriolis effect’ on the surface currents caused by the strong North Easterlies we have experienced. With a bit of luck the Southerlies of late will reverse the situation and bring the warm water within reach.

Tight Lines,
Ivan

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