Tag Archives: 12 Mile

Fishing Reports

Ambition Report 9th.September’23

Leave a comment
September Yellowfin…

Went out last Thursday with Chuck, his wife and son on board from New York State chasing September Yellowfin. I was not very optimistic about the day. The weather wasn’t as good as expected in fact verging on horrible and recent fishing reports were hopeless. There were a few Yellowfin off Kiama and further South and the Marlin and Yellowfin reports I’d heard from the Port Stephens area had dried up. However, on the way out I did hear a couple of boats fishing inshore catching what sounded like some good Snapper.

September Yellowfin
September Yellowfin

When I went past the 12 mile there was one boat there and with the North Easterly already doing fifteen to eighteen knots and the residual sea from the day before it wasn’t pleasant, so I can’t imagine they stayed there for very long.

September Yellowfin
September Yellowfin

Chuck and his family were still happy to be there, so we continued on. I went North to at least get a comfortable ride home. It really wasn’t looking good. No bait schools around the shelf, no birdlife to mention and only eighteen degrees water temperature with no breaks, but there were lots of whales.

September Yellowfin
September Yellowfin
Unseasonal MahiMahi…

I got a huge surprise when in two hundred fathoms the rigger went off with what appeared to be a good fish running hard, sadly it dropped off just as quickly. Then in around three hundred fathoms I saw a heap of Gannets sitting on the water with some occasionally diving in. As we drew closer I saw there was a big block of wood with a big Mako lying under it, a good sign for next weekend’s Mako Tournament. I passed the lures close to the block of wood and to my surprise a school of Mahi Mahi charged in. The SST was only eighteen degrees and the water green. We ended up with two nice Mahi Mahi before they spooked. I worked the area for a while but nothing else appeard.

Further on we got a good hit on the shotgun and line screamed off, this was a Yellowfin. After a good fight Chuck’s son brought it to gaff for a very happy and tired angler.

And so ended the day. The wind had picked up to over twenty knots and the decision was made to head for home – nice down hill run it was too.

That’s how it goes what looked like it was going to be a futile day ended well with the guys catching their biggest fish and something to eat to boot.

Tightlines,
Ivan


Weather and Sea State :

Buoyweather
Bureau of Meteorology
Radar
Seabreeze
Weatherzone
Weathercams
Ripcharts
C.S.I.R.O.
N.S.W Bluelink

Fishing Tackle :

Pakula Tackle
Global Tackle
Otto’s Tackle
Melton Tackle
Aftco
Campbell’s Pro Tackle

Electronics :

Furuno
Keogh’s Marine Electronics
Olectric Systems

Home…

Fishing Reports, Home

Ambition Report 26th.June’23

Leave a comment
Yellowfin Tuna…

 

The Sydney tuna run is coming. With a much-awaited moderation in the weather and reports of the Sydney Tuna with Yellowfin North of us and Bluefin to the South with both groups getting closer I had to get out there.
Colins Yellowfin
Colins Yellowfin
The plan was to head East around to where there was some interesting looking water around Heatons. Out there a cooler Northerly current was eddying on the Eastern edge of a warmer tongue of water from the North, all looking very fishy in theory.
Colins Yellowfin
Colins Yellowfin
We put the lures in at eighty fathoms after dodging all the whales, there’s always the chance of a Striped Marlin around the shelf and headed out.
Colin's Yellowfin
Colin’s Yellowfin
As it was we didn’t encounter anything on the way and as you can see or rather hear in the video below the wind was howling. When we reached the warmer water, the conflicting currents caused the already uncomfortable sea to stand up. To my great surprise there were a couple of smaller boats out there too – I know I wouldn’t have been there in those conditions in a boat smaller than mine – hell, I didn’t even like it in mine.
We spent a little time in the area but there was neither bird activity nor bait so I picked a relatively comfortable course and started heading inshore. On the way I heard one boat say they had caught a couple of Albacore wide of Heatons, another had caught a Yellowfin somewhere inside Heatons yet another had caught a Spearfish wide of the Bait Station. Oddly enough it was the third Spearfish I’ve heard of recently…strange times.
On the way Home…
To cut a long story short I was trolling towards the Bait Station when if five hundred fathoms we were rudely awakened by three rods screaming off. Fortunately, since there were only three of us on board, myself the client and my deckhand, one dropped off. Rob took one of the rods and muscled the Yellowfin to the boat in ten minutes while Colin kept tension on his fish keeping it out of the way until the other was landed. Colin took a little longer but he duly brought his fish to the gaff.
So, an interesting day with a good result and hopefully the start of a good Tuna season. The Bluefin aren’t far away and there are enough Yellowfin to make it interesting.
Inshore there are Kings on the reefs and in the harbour and for those in the know some good Snapper too.
So, get on out there…
Tightlines,
Ivan
Fishing Reports, Home

Ambition report 11th.September’22

Leave a comment
Yellowfin.

Well it did turn out to be a good day for Yellowfin. Not so much weatherwise though.

Yellowfin
Yellowfin
We had a shot early for Kingfish but it must have been too early for them. We only had jigs and eventually managed to lose what seemed to be a good fish.
So, it was offshore we went. The wind was blowing around 15 to 20 knots from the South-West but predicted to ease early in the afternoon. However, as we approached the shelf and the nearly 2 knot Northerly current the resonable swell turned into some really steep nasties. Conditions didn’t seem to be worrying the guys so I continued out and just then had a take on the shotgun. At first I thought it was just a Stripy but it turned out to be a Yellowfin of about 7kilo’s, enough incentive to keep on going.
Yellowfin
Yellowfin

Sometime later we had a much more solid hit on the lumo. This fish gave the angler a bit of a workout; using a new set of muscles. After a decent fight we gaffed a Yellowfin of about 25 kilo’s. There was no turning back now and fortunately the wind was easing, it was still very rocky and rolly but definitely backing off.

Yellowfin
Yellowfin
 It wasn’t too much later that the rigger went off again and this was a very much bigger fish taking a screamer of a run. Then before I could slow down the flat line took off, again a screamer. Sadly, the second fish dropped off after a few minutes but the other one was still going. It took a while and a toll on the angler but after twenty odd minutes we had our third Yellowfin, this one about 35 kilo’s.
So, what started out with an interesting sunrise turned into a great if not uncomfortable day’s fishing. Interestingly all the fish were blind strikes without any bird activity. But I guess it did show that the rough days are the good ones, at least for Yellowfin.
Tight lines,
Ivan
Fishing Reports, Home

Ambition report 23rd.May’22

Leave a comment
Friday
Due to the weather I’d been looking forward to getting out for a while now. What with the weather opportunities have been rare. But a last minute call on Thursday had us on our way.
Although the weather forecast looked good on paper, reality was a whole new ball game. We were met with a reasonable swell from the South and East with an unreasonable current from the North as well as the occasional squall generated by the rain all together making for a terribly unreasonable sea; very short and steep.
The guys did well to stay out and though we didn’t get the whole day in went home with a good feed of Mahi Mahi.
Mahi Mahi
Mahi Mahi
Saturday
It was a shame we didn’t make it to the wide grounds since even at the 12 Mile the sea temperature was 24 degrees.

I went out again yesterday, fortunately sea and wind had abated considerably however it was still fairly uncomfortable. We put in a shot for Kings at the Peak without doing any good so moved out to the FAD. There was at least a 1.5 knot current from the North running past the FAD but conditions weren’t bad and we caught several Mahi Mahi in the 80 to 90 cm. range.

Rob 's Yellowfin
Rob ‘s Yellowfin

Now it was time to at last go wide. The lures were put in straight away since Jamie from ‘Carnage’ had dropped a Striped Marlin in eighty fathoms the day before and we trolled out to Browns where there were a couple of boats fishing the bottom. We trolled a Striped tuna lure and caught a couple but sadly that was all.

Stripy
Stripy
I trolled out to a thousand fathoms without seeing much at, only the occasional Gannet and Albatross. But then as luck would have it out of the blue the Brad’J took off at a thousand miles an hour stripping off over two hundred metres in seconds. Then the unthinkable…there are many ways to lose a fish. The angler thinking he could slow the fish down by putting applying more pressure went straight to sun-set…with the inevitable result.
Our first thought was that it had been a Blue Marlin but when we examined the line there was no sign of chafing so we surmise it may have been a good sized Yellowfin…sadly history now.
The water still looks fabulous out there and I feel there is a lot left of this incredibly bad season…but then again you’ve got to be optimistic.
Tight lines,
Ivan
Fishing Reports, Home

Ambition Report 3rd.March’22

Leave a comment
Fishing Port Stephens…

Fishing Port Stephens was really tough this season. The main problem being the lack of bait, the big schools of Slimey Mackerel were not on their usual grounds, either inshore or offshore. Also, along with the lack of bait the juvenile Black Marlin had not shown up in their normal numbers. Offshore the Southerly current racing along at 3.5 to 4 knots and water temperatures up to 29 degrees Centigrade in early February was unheard of. However, it did come down to a more reasonable 26-27 degrees later in the month.

Port Stephens 2022
Striped Marlin…
Rough Seas…

There were those who persisted with the inshore fishery chasing the Blacks going far and wide in search of their quarry. Some of the more experienced fishermen did manage a few fish but they were far from consistent.

Fishing Port Stephens
Ron doing his thing…

To top off the lack of inshore Blacks, the weather didn’t help for those going wider chasing Stripes and Blues. The first day of the Garmin Shootout was very rough. So, once you reached the 3.5 to 4 knot Southerly current pushing into a 20 to 25 knot South-Easter the sea, with a 3 to 4 metre swell on it just stood up. Consequently lots of boats returned to Port and but some persisting inshore.

Ron doing his thing...
Ron doing his thing…

Fortunately, the sea eased off after that first day, but the fishing didn’t get much better. Those that put in the hard yards got results and there were some really good catches made. However, it was only on the last day of the Interclub Tournament that fishing got significantly better. And the last few hours saw a marked increase in the fishing results both inshore and offshore.

Incidentally, the winning T&R boat for the Interclub was ‘Doghouse’ with a number of Blues amongst which were two taken on 15kg. line, I still don’t know how you catch Blue Marlin, especially big ones, on such light line.

Sadly, though the fishing picked up on the Sunday of the Interclub and was looking like returning to the fishing we normally expect at Port the weather has done it again and who knows what we can expect now.

Tight lines,
Ivan

Weather and Sea State :

Buoyweather
Bureau of Meteorology
Radar
Seabreeze
Weatherzone
Weathercams
Ripcharts
C.S.I.R.O.
N.S.W Bluelink

Fishing Tackle :

Pakula Tackle
Global Tackle
Otto’s Tackle
Melton Tackle
Aftco
Campbell’s Pro Tackle

Electronics :

Furuno
Keogh’s Marine Electronics
Olectric Systems

Home…

Fishing Reports

Ambition Report 1st.January’22

Leave a comment
First of a Happy New Year to everyone and hopefully a Healthy one too.
I went out finally after what seemed an eternity of bad weather. Reports came in of Striped Marlin around the shelf and good-sized Dollies appearing too.

Mahi Mahi
I decided to stay in close for the first couple of hours for a couple of reasons. Firstly the water is exceptionally warm for this time of year and secondly, generally around Christmas, New Year the Black Marlin show up on the inshore reefs.
I ran some small Pakulas in my favourite colours and headed North. Conditions were fabulous to say the least. We passed over huge bait schools, didn’t mark anything but it certainly looked the goods.

Inshore…
After going around the Whale a couple of times we had a hit on the Lumo and a small, very small Black came to the surface but sadly missed the hooks. Further on another strike but this one stayed attached and we landed a Mahi Mahi, on one of Peter’s Fish Prints, which went 110 cm. A surprising fish to catch so close to shore.
In our travels we found several private FAD’s and caught another couple of Mahi Mahi’s.

Baby Wahoo
Baby Wahoo
Offshore…

A couple of boats on the shelf reported catching Striped Marlin however they were really spread out. One tagged by John Sartori from his boat Shoki was out in 400 fathoms were he also saw some Yellowfin jumping. Another a Black was taken around the 12 Mile.

A surprising catch, also inshore was a very small Wahoo (see the photo attached) subsequently released from David Moses’ boat My Molly. Wahoo are a rare catch off Sydney these days.
Well, we continued in our hunt going wide to the Bait Station and beyond. There was heaps of bait pretty well everywhere, there was bird activity, the stage was set but sadly for us the show didn’t get under way.
The fact is, it is still fairly early in the season but with the amount of bait both inshore, out around the shelf and wider it is surely only a matter of time
Tight lines,
PS : I will be travelling up to Port Stephens on the January 22nd. And if anyone wants to come for the trip up, fishing all the way, give me a call.
Also I still have a few days available up there in February.
Fishing Reports

Ambition Report 24th.October’21

Leave a comment

To get back out to sea was indeed good for the soul. Though the relief was great the results left a lot to be desired at least as far as the Game Fishing went.

We left the harbour on Saturday in beautiful weather it being a surprise that the BOM were quite accurate.

Reports from out wide indicated that there were Yellowfin and Marlin off Port Stephens and that the Yellowfin run to the South had eased but there had been Marlin encountered down there. So again Sydney was missing out. Consequently Kingfish became the best option. Reports through the week indicated good catches of sizeable fish on the offshore reefs. However when we got to there there were a million and one boats already hard at it. We dropped a couple of baits to no avail and didn’t see anyone else catching so I moved off to try the other reefs sadly all with the same result. Whether we’d missed the bite or the full moon or the number of boats had anything to do with the shut down we’ll never know but at least we had excuses.

We ended up going wide on the off chance that something would give.

I did end up finding birds working over some bait and Striped tuna just over the shelf. I worked the area for some time but there were no takers so headed off to home.

On the way in we had another shot at the Kings  but there was even less showing on the sounder that earlier. Again we had no takers  so we were throttles down and homeward bound.

Though it was frustrating as far as the fishing went it was still great to be at sea again and in good weather to boot.

Tight lines
Ivan

USEFUL LINKS… 

Weather and Sea State :

Buoyweather
Bureau of Meteorology
Radar
Seabreeze
Weatherzone
Weathercams
Ripcharts
C.S.I.R.O.
N.S.W Bluelink

Fishing Tackle :

Pakula Tackle
Global Tackle
Otto’s Tackle
Melton Tackle
Aftco
Campbell’s Pro Tackle

Electronics :

Furuno
Keogh’s Marine Electronics
Olectric Systems

Home…

Fishing Reports, Home

Ambition report 17th. February’21

Leave a comment
At Port Stephens  Black Marlin are the name of the game at present.
The Port Stephens Black Marlin of varying  sizes are chasing bait on the inner reefs. A lot of anglers expecting to find the usual inshore run of 20 to 30 kilo’s fish are being beaten on light tackle by Blacks  getting up to 80kgs. with reports of even larger fish too.
Mel first Port Stephens Black......
Mel first Black……
Sadly, I think mostly because of the weather, the offshore scene is bit of an unknown. A few boats have ventured out wide but not with any great success. Further South, around the Norah Canyons, the results are a little better though still not what we would expect at this time of year.
Troy's first Port Stephens Black......
Troy’s first Black……

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next two weeks with many boats fishing the local tournaments here at Port Stephens.

If the weather doesn’t stabalise there will be an awful lot of boats on those inshore reefs.
I for one can’t wait to go out wide…
Tight lines,
Ivan
Fishing Reports, Home, Uncategorized

Ambition Report 20th.September’20

Leave a comment
The Mighty Yellowfin Tuna:

At last something to write about…

The Mighty Yellowfin
The Mighty Yellowfin

For weeks I have been  hearing about the Yellowfin Tuna off Port Stephens   and the Bluefin Tuna well out of reach  down South not getting any closer than Kiama.  The action well out reach of most Sydney based boats especially since the weather  has been less than favourable.

 

 

Finally the mighty Yellowfin Tuna  at least are getting closer.

I went out on Saturday a little more optimistic than usual  because I’d noticed a couple of long liners working wide and  North of Broken Bay. Also a warm  current  pushing down with the break  almost within my reach.  However I was a little apprehensive  also since the weather report  was a little bit iffy.  We were going anyway, worst case scenario  we’d be coming home with the weather best case the bureau was wrong.

We started trolling in 300 fathoms after passing through some very

A Double on Yellowfin
A Double on Yellowfin

green water of   18.5 degrees which was a lot better than the 17 at the shelf. There was still  very little  life , other than Whales and the occasional Albatross in the area. But with still 14 miles to  the break. I noticed a blip on the radar, too small for a tanker and too large and far away for a  Game boat, possibly  a Long Liner. As we got closer to it , about 5 miles away, the water colour changed and warmed  then out of the blue a double strike. After a relatively short fight we landed two Yellowfin 25 to 30 kilo’s.

A little hope…

Consequently I worked the area but there was no sign of life, still neither

The Mighty Yellowfin
Mighty Yellowfin

birds nor bait so I moved on,  out towards the Long Liner. After another hour of searching I decided to head back to where we caught the fish.  You wouldn’t believe it, we were within a couple of hundred metres off the spot when we had another strike, this one a much bigger fish. After a solid fight that only a Yellowfin  Tuna can put up we landed a 50 kilo fish much to the excitement of the crew , as you can hear in the video, who had never caught a Gamefish before.

September Yellowfin
September Yellowfin

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so we headed for home, thirty five miles away.

With some luck the current will move in closer and bring with it the  Tuna and bait and hopefully some Marlin will follow.

Tight lines,
Ivan

LINKS…

Weather and Sea State :

Buoyweather
Bureau of Meteorology
Radar
Seabreeze
Weatherzone
Weathercams
Ripcharts
C.S.I.R.O.
N.S.W Bluelink

Fishing Tackle :

Pakula Tackle
Global Tackle
Otto’s Tackle
Melton Tackle
Aftco
Campbell’s Pro Tackle

Electronics :

Furuno
Keogh’s Marine Electronics
Olectric Systems

Home…

 

Fishing Reports

Ambition report 14th.July’20

Leave a comment

Sydney Tuna Fishing is frustrating to say the least at present. Listening to the radio while fishing off Sydney and hearing the guys off Kaiama  and JB catching Bluefin and  those  at Port Stephens catching Yellowfin  has only added to the frustration.

For those of us here  the Sydney tuna fishing is hard work. There have been a few Yellowfin taken out wide but with numbers of Yellowfin only forty miles North and with the Bluefin  only fifty miles South there is great expectation that the  currents will bring them to us  after this blow – one lives in hope.

Rob 's Yellowfin
Rob ‘s Yellowfin

I went out  a couple of times  last week and managed two Yellowfin, one of 58.5 kilo’s and another of 34.8 kilo’s. Both times I headed South hoping the Bluefin had moved up in the current which they hadn’t.

Ambition's Yellowfin
Ambition’s Yellowfin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photo’s of Bluefin below show the result of Sam Ayad taking his boat ‘Smart Bill’ down to the bite off Kiama.

SmartBill Bluefin
SmartBill Bluefin

 

 

SmartBill Bluefin
SmartBill Bluefin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So with the Sydney Game Fishing Club’s annual ‘Tuna Slam’ underway and continuing until the end of August and with an opening purse of $2,000.00  and the potential of both Bluefin and Yellowfin on our doorstep in the coming months you’d be crazy not to enter.

By the way there have been NO Bluefin weighed yet and the biggest Yellowfin so far is only 38.7 kilo’s , you could be a winner…

Tight lines,
Ivan

LINKS…
Weather and  Sea State   

Buoyweather
Bureau of Meteorology
Radar
Seabreeze
Weatherzone
Weather cams
Ripcharts
C.S.I.R.O.
N.S.W Bluelink

Fishing Tackle :

Pakula Tackle
Global Tackle
Otto’s Tackle
Melton Tackle
Aftco
Campbell’s Pro Tackle
Electronics :

Furuno
Keogh’s Marine Electronics
Olectric System