We left Sydney for Port Stephens on Friday at 5am. in great conditions for the run up North. The plan was to run to an area just South of the Norah Canyons and work our way up to the ‘Car Park’ then into Port.

We set the lures at about 8:30 with great expectations in 22.5 degree water of the right colour.

It took about an hour before we got our first strike which was unseen and didn’t jump at all during a screaming 200 metre run. We had just got everything organised when the hook pulled, disappointing but the expectation only increased.

Just on the inside edge of the Newcastle canyons another strike and as before unseen taking a screaming run. With the temp now over 23 degrees we thought maybe a Wahoo. But it didn’t take long before the fish revealed itself and much to our delight a nice Black Marlin proceeded to tear the ocean apart as only they can – I had no idea where he or she was going to come out next (there is a video in the post below shared from Greg Wall’s page ). For young Pat Easson ( Click here for video link ) this was potentially his first Marlin, he’d fought a couple before, he played it like a pro and after time Ron took the leader and the fish was released in good condition.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and after trolling around the ‘Car Park’ I turned Ambition towards Port and headed in with a very tired crew.

Saturday dawned on what was forecast to be NE winds 10 to 15 all day but it certainly wasn’t that. We caught bait and headed out in a very choppy sea with storm cells North and South of us.

To cut it short after marking a couple of fish early we saw nothing all day except the occasional small bait ball. The temperature had jumped up to over 26 degrees and the current was raging South. I did hear of some big Mahi Mahi and of a couple of Blue Marlin raised but it was a quiet day although there are some Blacks showing up inshore.

The change in conditions from Friday to Saturday was dramatic and that’s how it goes – tomorrow is another day…

Tight lines,
Ivan