Blue Marlin, Yellowfin Tuna and Striped Marlin are on the bite off Sydney. The Sydney Game Fishing Club got it right for the  ‘Peter Goadby Memorial Tournament’ last week-end. Though the weather wasn’t perfect the fishing more than made up for it. Over the last few weeks the fishing off Sydney has been the best in years especially for Blue Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna.

I don’t have the exact numbers of fish caught and tagged but all boats saw action. If you go to the SGFC web site you will find the numbers. Interestingly the action was spread out from the ‘Bait Station’ down past Port Hacking and out over the thousand fathom line.  All you had to do was cover the ground, find the bait, work the bait and if luck was on your side you’d find the fish.

On Saturday I was working my way down the thousand fathom line where I found a long liner laying  lines. I worked South down his line hoping for a ‘fin . It was looking good with patches of scattered bait fairly near the surface. As I made a turn around some bait the ‘shotgun’ with the ‘Pakula Brad ‘J” let go. A big Blue took off grey hounding, tearing up the ocean. I couldn’t believe such a big fish would take such a small lure.

By the time we had cleared the lines  this fish, instead of running straight and sounding must have covered miles going in circles and huge arcs never getting really far from us. It was all I could do to keep the line tight and not allow too much belly. By the time we had the lines in the fish had calmed, slowly swimming away from us down sea and probably stuffed.  Backing down wasn’t so comfortable in this sea. I even got wet in the flybridge, the transom regularly under water, poor Ron was drenched even his boots got filled.

After what seemed like ages we had the fish along side finally realising just how big it was. When David took the leader it barely moved so no point tagging. Back at the club it weighed 337.5 kilo’s, a potential Australian and N.S.W. record on 24 kg. line a great effort by Ron. Over the day the number of captured and tagged fish included several Blues between 150 and 250 kilo’s and Yellowfin over 70 kilo’s as well as many lost.

Sunday started much the same as Saturday weatherwise. I went to where I had seen the Long liner the day before. Unfortunately neither it nor the lines were there.  I instituted plan ‘B’ – since the warmer water had moved in even closer I also moved in. I found a small temperature break and followed it. In the meantime ‘Tantrum’ skippered by Glen Wright had caught a 204.5 kilo Blue on 15 kg. line a maximum pointer, only 133 points separated us. Meanwhile Jamie Ward of ‘Carnage’ was fighting a big Tiger shark on 15 kilo line yet another threat.

Suddenly in the middle of nowhere we had a massive strike on the shot gun and the reel again screamed, this time a Yellowfin. To complicate matters while Scott and Mark were clearing the other lines both had hits. Scott’s fish hooked up and fortunately Mark’s didn’t. Now we had a double on large Yellowfin tuna which could be disastrous. Consequently I told Greg to just keep tension on his line but not to bring his fish in and for Scott to go to sunset and go hard.

It worked, Scott after much pain got his fish which later weighed 73.5 kilo’s, to the boat and gaffed in 25 minutes. Now it was Greg’s turn, unfortunately his fish was more stubborn. After more than an hour  of pain he finally had colour but it took another twenty minutes before we gaffed it. Another good ‘fin  which later weighed 72.5 kilo’s, a nice buffer against Glen.

We continued on our way feeling pretty content that the Yellowfin had given us the lead we needed. Well, you know you shouldn’t count your chickens, Tantrum were onto another good Blue on 60kg. line. We desperately needed another fish with only 30 minutes to end of fishing.

“Fish on the rigger”, Ron yelled as a Marlin hit the long rigger, it broke the band but no hook-up. Tension was now extreme, Glen had landed their fish. We waited and watched I circled the area but to no avail. To add to the tension Jamie had landed a 300 kilo plus Tiger on 15kg.  Yet another maximum pointer to contend with.

I can’t tell you the final results because I really don’t know them, you’ll have to come to the Club’s presentation tomorrow night ( 1st. May ).

So that was the tournament, for more results go to the club’s web site.

The Long liners are still working off Sydney so the ‘fin must still be in the area. With the water 24C at the shelf, there is no reason why the Blue Marlin won’t still be here.

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Get out there and give it a go,
Ivan

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I took Tony and his wife Anne from Mackay out Game Fishing off Sydney on Monday. After my success the previous Saturday I decided to go South again. It was a mistake, it was a beautiful day but still a mistake.  The only fish I heard about when we got in  were  a  200 kilo Blue Marlin from Ed Aspden’s boat ‘Malekula’ and a 60 kilo Yellowfin by Robbie Antunes from his boat ‘Angelica’. I had gone the wrong way. I later heard about a Spearfish taken somewhere off Botany.

Ironically the reason for Tony’s visit to Sydney was to fulfil an ambition (no pun intended) to tag all the Billfish species found off Australia in one year. He only needs a Spearfish and a Broadbill to succeed. He’ll probably get the Broady in Tasmania, his next stop, but I don’t like his chances for a Spearfish but you never know.

Yesterday I went North to the area Ed caught his Blue. The water had cooled a little and as I went out developed a greenish tinge. I continued out to what I thought might be a Long Liner some ten miles further. At around 600 fathoms the shotgun went off and we were on. Tony took the rod and after a relatively easy fight of 45 minutes we gaffed a 60.5 kilo Yellowfin. We took photo’s taken and continued out.

It seemed to get more barren as we continued so at around 800 fathoms I turned back to where we had taken the previous fish. I had no sooner turned when a fish crashed the short corner and screamed off. My first thoughts were a Blue but it quickly became apparent it was another ‘fin. This one wasn’t so easy, poor Tony had to fight for every inch. Most of the fight was at ‘sunset’ and took nearly two hours to bring it to gaff much to a relieved Tony. The Yellowfin later weighed at the club went 72.5 kilo’s.

Notwithstanding the fact that Tony didn’t really want to get involved with another Yellowfin anyway, we had now bagged out. So  I headed in to safer waters to maybe find a Striped Marlin or two, which incidentally didn’t happen.

Over the last couple of weeks  I have found the Yellowfin over a wide area ranging from as close in as 250 fathoms and out beyond 1,000 fathoms. If the Long liners are still around they must be in good numbers too.

Apart from the Yellowfin there are reports of big Blue Marlin too.  The boat ‘Doghouse’ killed two weighing 198 and 202 kilo’s from further South. This has always been the time of year for big Blue Marlin off Sydney.

All this action augers well for the upcoming ‘Peter Goadby Memorial Tournament’  this week-end at  the S.G.F.C.

See you there,
Ivan

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Whilst there were Marlin, Yellowfin and some big Mahi Mahi caught over the week-end it was pretty slow going considering the number of boats fishing.

The water looked great, good temperature the right colour and current lines all over the place. I marked several fish but could not induce them to bite.

There was a reasonably bite inshore South of Botany with quite a few Blacks being taken so that was the place to be. The reefs there held plenty of bait and that’s what you need. Still all in all very late in the season for Black in close…strange season!

The guys bottom fishing Browns have had better luck with ideal conditions during the past week. Small Gemmies, Deep Sea Perch and Blue Eye were all on the menu. As a result of successful prosecutions ,I have heard that Fisheries with the help of the police have and will continue to check on the boats at Browns. Also checking when they return to their home ports. This has to be good news as I am sure we have all seen and know of particular boats openly disregarding the bag limits.

I think once the offshore currents turn around the fishing will improve, also I’m going down to Tasmania for just over a week so that might help too…

Tight Lines,
Ivan

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