Christmas Marlin…It ‘s that time of year, the water warming, the bait gathering. It is Christmas Marlin time.
Another interesting day at sea yesterday, interesting in that it all seems to have changed again. The bait was not as prolific and the water a little cooler with hardly any current.
Christmas Marlin…
We started trolling in eighty fathoms where the was some patchy bait and worked our way out zigzagging across the shelf between eighty and one hundred and thirty fathoms working northwards.
Christmas Marlin…
After a couple of hours of futile zigging and zagging I turned East and started to pick up bait balls but they were quite deep.
So, we did eventually get a strike on the ‘Lumo’ but nobody saw it. The sun was behind us and there was a decent chop due to the twenty knot North Easter blowing. The fish didn’t jump consequently there was a lot of guessing as to the species as you’ll hear in the video.
All in all it was a good day made so by a beautiful Striped Marlin being a first for the angler and his more then ebullient mates.
So far this has been a great start to the Marlin season especially since the currents have not really set up yet.
Tight lines,
Ivan
All lure used unless otherwise specified are Pakula Lures .
October Marlin Mayhem…What a remarkable day at sea today was. I took out Qing and three of his friends for their first day at Game Fishing and they had a baptism in fire, truly October Marlin Mayhem.
The video will give you some idea of the mayhem, but you had to be there to appreciate it. Bear in mind that these guys’ experience was only some small fish caught rock fishing.
The day started slowly for us, but the radio was telling that the bait schools hadn’t moved on and that several Marlin had already been seen and tagged.
Bait Schools…
I worked the bait schools for a while with no result so had decided to move on. That’s when we got our first strike, a blind strike on, surprise, surprise the Brad’J’ bullet. One of the guys took the rod and the others moved in to help him, one holding the rod, one winding and the other holding the guy with the rod, we were in trouble. It didn’t take long to realise it wasn’t a Marlin and as they brought it closer, I was surprised to see it was a Yellowfin around twenty to thirty kilo’s. Sadly, as luck would have it and with the help of some slack line the fish won its freedom. Though there have been a couple of Yellowfin taken around these bait schools recently it still comes as a big surprise to find any inside the shelf these days.
Qing’s marlin
So, we carried on and shortly after all hell broke loose. We had five, maybe six Marlin in the spread hitting the lures. Ron was running around like a chook with its head cut off. He was trying to tease them into solidly striking the lures but to no avail. We had a couple on for a short time however not one of them stuck, but it was exciting to say the least. Sadly, the video does not do it justice.
Fortunately, the day wasn’t a complete failure, we did end up tagging a Striped Marlin.
Never too late…
Later in the day we had a double hook up. And between the four of them on the rod they got one to the boat where Ron released it. The other fish was left to its own devices, the rod just left in the holder, so lost. By this time none of the guys were feeling terribly well so they decided it was time to go back in. A frustrating decision since it seemed the bite was happening with several boats hooking up as we left.
Other than the seven or eight Marlin that came into our spread throughout the day. I saw another couple tailing down sea. Also, considering that three other boats, Rampage, Shoki and another whose name escapes me, had caught three when we left, not to mention several others boats with at least one to their credit it is hard to imagine the number of Marlin in the area.
This Marlin bite has been going on for quite some time now and it is only October, the next few months could be quite something. The question is, are they holding in the area because of the bait or are they constantly passing through?
.Yesterday was a most remarkable day, for fishing anyway. After last week-end’s effort where we raised two Marlin with no hook ups, yesterday was a complete turnaround. Reports during the week had indicated that the Marlin and most importantly the bait were still in the area so hopes were high for today’s adventure and hopefully another remarkable day.
In Search…
We headed out intending to catch some bait to use either alive or as skippies so as to get a more secure hookup. It didn’t take long to catch the bait and that achieved, we headed for the shelf. It was a pleasant trip with some fair weather for a change. As we neared the shelf the bait and searching birds started to build up. The plan was to start with lures and to change over to baits as the day progressed.
Robbie’s Marlin
So, out went the lures and it wasn’t long before I marked a fish, which actually surprised me, because it was nowhere near any bait. It was only a few seconds later that the Brad ‘J’ on the shotgun took off and after a good fight a beautiful Striped Marlin was brought to boat and released.
Robbie’s Marlin
Continuing on and searching for bait I noticed heaps of Mutton birds on and beyond the shelf and went to look. Most of the birds were on their migration South from Siberia but amongst them many were working on what looked like Striped Tuna. I worked these schools for a while hoping there might be a Yellowfin or two amongst them. The end result was we didn’t find any so went back inshore and to chase the Marlin.
Skip Baits…
By the time I got back inside the shelf the bait had thinned out. Then just as I was considering changing over to skip baits the Brad ’J’ took off again with another nice Striped Marlin tearing the ocean apart. This was a tougher fish than the previous one but it was handled well and eventually brought to the boat and released.
By now the bait had thinned out considerably so it was time to put out the skip baits. Having deployed the baits it was time to keep the eyes peeled and be ready. Suddenly the bait on the Port rigger popped out. Since it didn’t appear to have been a hit Rob wound it back and put it back up when the Marlin showed itself. It popped the rigger again but again no hook up. Then while Rob was winding the bait back the Marlin appeared again and this time Rob teased it and it aggressively took the bait. After free spooling for a short time, the drag was engaged and we had a solid hook up. This one was also eventually brought to boat and released.
So, now we had three Marlin for three of the four guys on board. The last guy was more interested in catching a Yellowfin. As luck would have it a friend, fishing out wide, had just landed a fifty kilo Yellowfin. Consequently, I suggested we might go out and see what we could find. The guys all agreed so out we went.
In the deep water there were heaps of birds migrating but we found several schools of Striped Tuna which I worked to no avail. Continuing on I was just about to head for home when there was a bust-up a couple of hundred metres ahead of us. Expectations were high but after working the area with no other sightings it was time to go home.
It had been a remarkable day’s fishing for us with three Marlin under the belt. Generally speaking I would say to get three Marlin in a day off Sydney is remarkable. However, to have, as I would guess, over twenty caught in a day off Sydney in October is exceptional.
Tight lies,
Ivan
All lure used unless otherwise specified are Pakula Lures .
Striped Marlin, Striped tuna and Yellowfin they’re all here at present. So perculiar to have all three species, Striped Marlin, Striped tuna and Yellowfin at this time of year and all inside the shelf.
It has been a long time between drinks, after finally finishing repairs to the mighty Ambition I took to sea yesterday for the first time in what seemed like years – needed to reconstitute the salt water levels in my blood.
Looking at the charts, I noticed there was a nice little eddy wide of Broken Bay and there had been a long liner working not far from there, so definitely worth a look.
Weather reports were for a Southerly change mid-afternoon with moderate NW winds until then. However, on leaving the heads we were surprisingly met with a totally unreported Southerly, however, it was going our way so all good.
Reports have been interesting for this time of year. Most notable to me was the number of Yellowfin tuna up to fifty kilo’s being caught inside the shelf. Apart from that there was also a good Striped Marlin bite happening the fish attracted by huge amounts of bait along the shelf where the current is raging.
Sadly, we didn’t catch any of the Yellowfin. All we managed were some huge Striped tuna. They do put up an incredible fight, lucky they don’t grow to fifty kilo’s. Definitely the best fight per kilo. Interestingly the Stripies were full of Bellows Fish and the Yellowfin had been eating Slimy Mackerel.
We did encounter a couple of Striped Marlin. One of which hit every lure in the spread without finding the hooks, I still don’t know how they do it.
If the bait keeps building up out there this could be quite a remarkable season. Here’s hoping and more so that the weather plays the game.
Tight lies,
Ivan
All lure used unless otherwise specified are Pakula Lures .
It was with much interest that we went out last Saturday. After the bad weather would the fish still be there? The weather report was promising for Saturday except for a bit of a blow in the afternoon, so off we went.
It was with much interest that we went out last Saturday. After the bad weather would the fish still be there? The weather report was promising except for a bit of a blow in the afternoon, so off we went.
A Great Yellowfin…
Apart from the cold, the sea was kind as I ran out to the shelf where we put the gear in and started trolling. The ocean looked dead, no birds no bait not even any whales to distract us. However, in all fairness that’s how it had been the last couple of times out, just blind strikes out of the blue.
Leon and Yellowfin
We travelled out past Browns heading out to the hot current beyond Heatons. In six hundred fathoms we started to see whales, surprisingly both Humpback and Sperms the latter of which in the past I’d associated with Bluefin, but none today.
Action
Then while I was watching the skirts I saw something I hadn’t seen before off Sydney. A Thresher shark was using its tail to hit the Lumo. It had a couple of shots before it actually hooked up. It then took off at a rate of knots nearly spooling us. The next hour was taken up with Rob and his brother-in-law, Christian, trying to get this thing up. Finally, and they were both exhausted, we gave in, locked up the reel and hoped – the Thresher won this one.
We set off again and was rewarded with a Marlin strike, it ran off some line and dropped the lure, but for some odd reason it kept on greyhounding for another few minutes I guess we must have hit a nerve or something.
So, with a mixture of adrenalin and frustration on deck we set off again. Because of the time spent on the Thresher, going wide was out of the question so I headed back in towards the shelf. It wasn’t long before we had a double on Yellowfin. One of which took off a couple of hundred metres and just dropped the lure. The other rod was taken by young Leon who did a great job and had the fish in sight when it just opened its mouth and out came the lure, frustration all round.
Again, we headed off and with the wind coming away it was homeward bound. We hadn’t gone far when something hit the Pakula Witchdoctor and ripped it off, literally. Whatever it was must have hit the stripteasers and cut the chord in the process, more frustration. We headed off yet again.
In about three hundred fathoms we had another hit and the fish took off, obviously a good one. After a tough fight Robert brought the Yellowfin to the boat.
A great end to a frustrating yet still enjoyable day.
Tight lines,
Ivan
All lure used unless otherwise specified are Pakula Lures .
Today was an interesting day at sea for Kin and his friends. It actually epitomised Game Fishing…ninety nine percent boredom and one percent mayhem, a lot of the time anyway as Kin found out.
I took out Kin and some friends from Hong Kong today. These guys had never caught anything bigger than the equivalent of a Black Bream and were keen to catch a big fish.
By any measure it was a very slow day out there today but after hearing of Yellowfin and Marlin caught yesterday the motivation was there to persevere.
After several hours of trolling we hooked a Striped Tuna which created a lot of excitement and photo taking. After which we continued on just hoping something else would happen.
Later…
Later on after several more boring hours and with time running out I turned for home. I’d virtually given up on Marlin but as we approached the ’12 Mile’ Ron let us know in no uncertain terms that there was a Marlin following the short corner, a ‘Pakula Evil’. It hit the lure but no hook up then turned away, I thought that that was it but then it or another Marlin came in and took the lure solidly, hooked up and was off running. At the same time the starboard rigger got hit but didn’t hook up.
Then amid the mayhem the port rigger was hit and took off at a rate of knots. It was absolute mayhem on deck as you’ll see in the video. Meanwhile Ron was working to clear the shotgun. Frantically trying to keep the Brad ‘J’ from being eaten by yet another Marlin. With these guys of limited experience and limited English the last thing we needed was a triple hook up, a double was going to be problematic enough.
Fortunately the fish on the ‘Lumo’ dropped off after a few minutes so we could concentrate on just the one fish which after some tag teaming, and lots of motivation, some of which I’ve had to mute from the video, was brought to the boat and released.
Thankfully the perseverance paid off and Kin and his friends ended up experiencing the excitement of Game fishing as well as the tedium.
I am glad to say that this remarkable Marlin run continues. This looking to be an early season hopefully the Marlin run will continue into the new year.
We took Izzy and her Uncle Larry out yesterday to chase these Marlin knowing we had every chance of success. Not to say that luck doesn’t play a part.
Izzy’s first Marlin…
Marlin Fishing…
So, on a glorious summer day we headed out. After fishing in some horrible weather over the last week this day was a dream. I ran out to seventy fathoms and put the lures in. The water was twenty-three degrees and a beautiful blue the scene was set, all we needed were the actors.
Izzy’s first Marlin…
There was little chat on the radio but what there was, was talk of the boats raising Stripies which were only half-heartedly hitting the lures. We trolled for a time without any success so I decided to skip some baits. It wasn’t hard to find a bait ball high in the water column and one drop of the jig gave us six reasonable Slimies.
Izzy’s first Marlin…
We put the skippies out on the riggers and I decided to leave the ‘Brad’J’’ out there as a teaser. A big mistake. I should have taken the hooks out of it first. Over an hour of running the skippies two Striped Marlin came in and hit the ‘Brad’J’’ of all things. But because we were trolling at a slow speed we didn’t get a hook-ups. Only one Stripy came in to hit a skippy but it hit the leader instead and spooked.
By now it was mid-afternoon and the bait had gone down so the skippies were pulled in and the lures re-launched.
Hook-up…
After what seemed like an interminable amount of time the short rigger took off at a huge rate of knots and a Marlin bust out screaming off at a rate of knots. It seemed to take forever to get the other lures in and the reel was being stripped very quickly. So much so that with a rigger still out I started backing up trying to slow down the rate of line loss. Izzy had taken the rod and was feverishly trying to gain line. In the meantime, the Marlin was greyhounding at what looked like a mile away.
It took some time, but we finally got the Marlin under control. It was still hard work for Izzy as the fish was dogging it down deep refused to come up. I surmised that this was either a foul hooked Stripy or a Blue, but a Blue in seventy fathoms seemed unlikely, so I thought.
It did take some time but Izzy worked the Marlin up and unbelievably, to me anyway, it was a Blue Marlin looking to be one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty kilo’s. We eventually did release the Blue much to very weary Issy’s relief; she had done a great job.
We had just put the lures in again when to our surprise after not having gone more than a couple of hundred metres we hooked up again, this time to a Striped Marlin with Larry taking the rod. Then and not so surprisingly the Marlin jumped off.
Charlie’s Marlin was an excitement filled day for these Englishmen. Charlie’s Marlin more than made their day.
We went out yesterday in ideal conditions, though a Southerly change was due, with a great degree of optimism after having caught our first Marlin of the season last week. Since then, there have been increasing reports of the Striped Marlin here off the Sydney coast.
Charlie’s Mahi Mahi
The charts were showing a very warm Southerly current (24C to 26C ) way out wide, in fact well wide of Heatons. The current then, a bit cooler now, turning West wide of Port Hacking and splitting with a portion going South and some going to the North. Inshore there is a cooler (21C to 22C) Southerly current coming from the Port Stephens area. I thought the area between these two currents, as well as the area off Port Hacking where the current was coming in from the East were worth working.
Charlie’s Marlin
As if to confirm my thoughts, while we were travelling out I heard of several Stripies being tagged and lost East of us in the eighty fathom area. Reports also from the North and a couple from off Port Hacking. Expectations amongst the crew were getting higher and higher.
After putting the lures in I started trolling North zigzagging across the shelf. It took a while but we got a strike on ‘Lumo’ and a good sized Stripy took to the air then turned and charged the boat, sadly this led to a slack line and the Marlin threw the lure. A while later we had another hit, this one on ‘Brad’. Not a Marlin this time but a very nice Mahi Mahi, the guys had dinner at least. Then while Rob was resetting the lures dropping ‘Brad’ back the line was pulled out of his hands. Because of his quick thinking in resetting the drag to strike we were hooked up again. I thought it was another Mahi Mahi but then this Striped Marlin took to the air and as you will hear in the video, below on deck the excitement was palpable.
It was a good fight and tested the guys, at one stage there was the angler aided by two of his mates stabilising him and another helping to lift the rod, a team effort indeed, with the rest of his friends cheering him on.
Both the Marlin we saw and from what I’ve heard from others, this run of Stripies are all above average size. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that ours were in the order of a hundred kilo’s. Hopefully this trend will continue.
November Marlin although not uncommon are still a surprise. A November Marlin is worthy of gloating about.
Well, it’s always an ice breaker when you catch your first Marlin of the season and yesterday, we caught ours, a good sized Stripy.
November Marlin
I took Shouren and five of his friends out on a perfect day, weatherwise. The plan was to catch some live bait then head out to the FAD’s and have a shot at the Mahi Mahi which have been so prevalent lately. But as it happened,sadly, not this day. As luck would have it the Mahi Mahi had gone off the bite at the spots I visited. I must say I wasn’t unduly surprised as they have copped quite a hammering over the last few weeks.
November Marlin
So, we made the move to go offshore and see if we could find a Marlin or maybe a Yellowfin.
November Marlin
Marlin Time…
Game fishing is probably the most fickle discipline of the fishing world, Perseverance and persistence being the key to success and sadly not for everyone. So, after a few hours of trolling in what was the ocean’s equivalent to a desert the natives were becoming restless. Fortunately as luck would have it, we got hit on the shotgun but no hook up. The crew were all screaming and I turned around in time to see a Stripy hitting the ‘Lumo’ on the rigger, doing what Stripies do…missing the hooks, so frustrating. The Marlin disappeared after a couple of shots. Then a few minutes later the shotgun took off, a solid hook up at last.
After thirty odd heart stopping minutes, we had the fish at the boat. It’s when you have a fish like this on the line you can appreciate the difference between a good angler and one of lesser experience, but I won’t go into that.
On the way home I thought we should give the FAD’s another shot. The Mahi Mahi should have had enough of a break from the hammering to come on the bite again. When we arrived the fish were evident but not going off their heads as they had been but after persevering we did catch a couple, the crew had something to eat and it was time to go home.
In general, the water had changed from the previous week. The current coming in from the East and the water cooler and greener. However, we found that Marlin in a current line of that beautiful blue water.
A Mahi Mahi in winter is more than a surprise it’s a sign of an early summer since that is when we catch our Mahi Mahi.
Spring…
After checking the weather on several different weather sites, three of which were pretty well corresponding, however one, incidentally the BOM, showed the worst case scenario, I decided to see what the conditions were like in the morning before making a final decision. As it happened surprisingly, conditions looked perfect in the morning, there was no wind at all.
Winter Mahi Mahi
At present there is a warmish current with twenty degree water pushing down the coast between ‘Twelve Mile’ and ‘Browns’ covering the shelf were bait generally accumulates. Ideal for an early season Marlin . There had also been word of Yellowfin tuna on the edge of this current but further North.
So, we headed out in great almost Summery conditions. We put the spread out near the ‘Twelve Mile’ and headed towards ‘Browns’. On the way inside the shelf there was huge amounts of bait but not very densely packed. I did mark a couple of fish and worked the area for a while to no avail so continued on to ‘Browns’ looking for the cooler edge of the current where I hoped we might find the Yellowfin.
However by then the North Westerly was beginning to puff so I decided to move back to the warmer water then head North to get a better run home . Then, in about two hundred and fifty fathoms a Marlin came up and hit the short corner (Black Betty). It missed the lure and surprisingly didn’t come back to hit any of the other lures which Striped Marlin usually do. I worked the area for a while but nothing happened so continued back on course.
Surprise…
Back in the warmer water I found some birds working. To my surprise they were on Mahi Mahi, not something you usually find at this time of year. After a couple of passes with hits from smallish fish we got a solid strike on the shotgun. Old ‘Brad’ was into a more decent fish. This turned out to be a good six kilo’s of good eating Mahi Mahi.
By that stage the wind had come away blowing around fifteen knots. Not something that would worry me, but I got word from Scotty Torrington ‘Freedom’ of twenty-five to thirty knots of Westerly heading out way. In light of the fact that a couple of guys on board were quite seasick they decided enough was enough, so the course was set for home.
It had been an interesting day and with that warmer water moving down and the build up of bait on the shelf area we could be in for an interesting Spring. More reports of Marlin sighting and Yellowfin are coming in as well as Kings on the offshore reefs, it could make for an interesting times.
