I don’t know why but I still get surprised when the SST’s don’t reflect what I experience at sea. I shouldn’t I know because the charts don’t have the resolution to show the minor eddies that hold the fish we chase. This is especially important when chasing Marlin and other pelagics.
When I went out on Sunday the SST’s showed a relatively warm current coming down the coast running quite quickly at the shelf and out from there. I headed out East from the heads planning to troll North at the shelf and go out wide. Without going into details, as I trolled North and out the temperature increased as expected. At around two hundred fathoms the temperature started to cool off which I did not expected. I turned around and started to work my way back to the warmer water. Here the bait was also building up. Most interestingly the current varied, as I moved in so as to make me think there was an eddy somewhere around the ‘Bait Station’. As the day progressed we raised two Marlin and one probable Marlin. Each of the fish hit the lures more than once but we just couldn’t sink the hooks.
Through the day several boats saw and hooked Striped Marlin. Jeff Manson from his boat ‘Spindrift’ hooked a Blue Marlin in four hundred and fifty fathoms when it took a 10kg. outfit. As you would expect the fight didn’t end well and that’s what I call sporting. I only heard of one boat catching a Marlin a small Stripy. If you are into sharks the boat ‘Undertaker’ fishing just inside the shelf caught a couple of good sized Tiger Sharks and a small Blue Shark.
Fishing for Kingfish is patchy at present because most of the reefs are being adversely affected or is that infected by Barracouta and Leatherjackets. There are some good fish coming out of the harbour though and some from surprisingly far down past the Bridge.
The numbers of Marlin sighted is definitely increasing. This increase should continue as the water warms and the currents push inshore. November usually sees an increase in the warm water pelagics with larger than usual Mahi Mahi often encountered.
So hurry up and bring on Summer…
Tight lines,
Ivan
On checking the SST’s and seeing that the current had dropped off and that there was a fairly strong Southerly current 35 to 40 miles out I thought Yellowfin might make a showing. It was a real surprise when ‘Phat Cat’ ( I think that was the boat ) called in with a six way hookup on Southern Blues and to his credit transmitting his position on the radio. I would be most surprised if most thought it was a hoax call as the usual radio idiots were out in force. However it didn’t take long to realise it wasn’t a hoax call and several boats headed out to the area where a couple of them got onto the fish. I unfortunately couldn’t get out there due to my group having to be back early.
Saturday was much the same but with more boats out and again captures of Marlin, Mahi Mahi, small Yellowfin and some larger ones. I think some Bluefin were taken but they were further South. I decided to go out wide and wide of Heatons I found a nice break which I followed for a while and ultimately was rewarded with a triple strike. One was definitely a tuna which we lost, another was a Spearfish which we caught and the other an unknown which dropped the hook on its first run which was a screamer.
I went out again on Monday but the water had changed out wide with the break having been pushed in by the colder water – we caught nothing and to add to the frustration we had a school of Yellowfin come down our trail, leaping out of the water like torpedoes, and virtually under the boat without touching anything – you have to wonder how two days can be so different. Even the inshore reef fishing was quieter but that was mostly because a couple of pro’s were drop lining.
Started out with a jig at 12 Mile with limited success but managing one nice King of a metre before the jackets moved in. The sea was up a bit despite weather reports to the contrary. However we ventured out to the spot and started cubing. All was quiet except for the occasional upchuck but then as the sun was setting one of the rods went off, it wasn’t a ‘fin but it had us guessing – a Stripy, a shark or maybe even an Albacore – well after a short but solid fight Marty landed a Striped tuna of 8kgs. , thank God they don’t grow to the size of their bigger cousins.