Tag Archives: Port Stephens Charters

Ambition report 11th.June’17

June 11, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

Yellowfin and Albacore are the prime target at this time of year with Kingies and dropping on Browns thrown in for good measure. The warm currents are slowing and cubing is also on the agenda.

I took Brad, his groomsmen and future father-in-law out on Saturday. The aim was to catch live bait, which we did. Have a jig and drop baits on 12 Mile then a deep drop on Browns followed by a late cubing session out wide.

We arrived at 12 Mile and after several passes sounding it out I couldn’t find anything. There didn’t even appear to be any ‘Jackets, normally a good thing. Irrespective we dropped a couple of live baits down and one of the guys feeling energetic started jigging. Sadly the sounder was telling the truth, not even a nibble.

Consequently we left 12 Mile to troll out to Browns. On the way the radio was telling a sad story of a 3 to 3.5 knot Southerly current making it impossible to hold bottom at Browns; so much for that idea. The only option left was to head out wide and see if we could find some good water to start cubing.

After a couple of hours trolling and reaching the thousand fathom line the only real change was the speed off the current. There was neither bait nor any bird activity so I headed back to an area where the current was slower and we started a cube trail.

To cut a long story short after a couple of hours cubing Brad took a strike and landed a good Albacore of about 7 kilo’s. Unfortunately the guys had to be back early for a dinner pre-wedding so we had to leave early.

I feel sure that if we could had have stayed until dark we would have had more action.

Tight lines,
Ivan

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Ambition report 28th. May’18

May 28, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

Striped Marlin and Mako Sharks as well as Tigers were all the news off Sydney last week-end. Two Tiger Sharks over 450 kgs. were taken as well as another of unknown size lost after several hours of fighting. With the thought of XOS Tiger sharks in mind I went out with Glen and Karen on their boat ‘Tantrum’ to see if we could find one for their daughter Makira.

We headed out on Sunday to the eighty fathom line off Long Reef where we planned to start our trail. On nearing the area we found large numbers of Gannets diving on schools of bait fish. It was more than one group too. We could see several gatherings all in roughly the eighty fathom area. With so much bait around this had to be a good place to start.

With baits set at varying depths on a couple of 15’s and 24’s and the kids punching the burly, it was that time of waiting. I must say there is something really pleasant about shark fishing, other than the smell and mess. It is quiet and peaceful with a tangible sense of expectation as all on board watch the floats for any sign of movement.

After about an hour one of the reels starting slowly ticking off drawing everyone’s attention. The speed increased then the fish took a run. Makira took the rod and wound in the belly of line and struck when Glen told her. She had weight and was hooked up.

Unusually the fish stayed near the surface then we saw a splash as a bill and head broke the surface. We had a Marlin and after a reasonable fight Makira brought a good sized Striped Marlin to the boat where it was tagged and released – not the 400 kg Tiger we were hoping for but a nice surprise.

All the gear was re-set and again we settled in, watching and waiting. The currents were doing strange thing though. We had drifted through two strong current lines. Now our deep baits were on one side of the boat while our burly was going in the opposite direction. This was obviously due to the very light breeze but still indicated a deeper current going opposite to the surface current. Hopefully our burly was heavy enough to reach the deeper water.

It took a while then at the witching hour a small Mako turned up taking scraps off the surface. We drifted a bait out but no takers and after about ten minutes he/she disappeared. Shortly after our deep bait on 15 kg. started to run and again Makira took the rod and under Dad’s instruction struck the fish. This one took a couple of runs and went deep, this had to be the Tiger. The fish continued to take line with the occasional head shakes causing concern. Eventually Makira started to gain line, slowly at first then steadily. After nearly an hour of give and take she had the double up and we got our first view of the fish. Howy took the leader and much to everyone’s dismay brought up a 30 to 40 kilo Mako hooked in the tail. I don’t think anyone could believe a Mako that size could fight as hard as this one had.

So that was the day, we’d tagged a Striped Marlin and a Mako shark. I heard of another boat losing a Striped Marlin and that Browns was fishing well. Generally it seem it was a very quiet day off Sydney.

Tight lines,
Ivan

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Ambition report 7th. May’18

May 7, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

Yellowfin tuna and big ones too are off Sydney at present. I haven’t caught one weighing less than 60 kgs. in the last few weeks yet, with a few going over 70 kilo’s. How long this will last, who only knows.

I went out on both Saturday and Sunday and the fishing was quite different on both days. My plan on Saturday was to work my way out to Heatons looking

for the Tuna. As luck would have it we started to see small groups of ‘fin busting up from 600 fathoms out. The problem was they weren’t staying up long enough for us to get the lures near them. It turned into a rather frustrating day chasing tuna all over the ocean. There were however a few tuna caught late in the day. Throughout the day a few boats ran into Blue an Striped Marlin also, these were found closer inshore around the 500 fathom line.

On Sunday I took Wahyu and his friends from Global Tackle out. It was a different day in that there were more fin showing. The bust ups lasted a lot longertoo so we had plenty of time to get to them. We just had to get there before the other boats. As is common with most schooling fish and especially with Yellowfin, too much boat traffic spooks them and disrupts the bait killing the action.

We managed three fin upward of 65kilo’s. The first was a blind strike in 600 fathoms. The next two were on a double strike which is always fun with Yellowfin. The last thing you want is two fish circling under the boat. If this happens the probability is that you’ll lose one if not both fish. We held one fish off while working hard on the other consequently catching both. We did lose another fish when as we were about to gaff it the hooks let go.

By mid-afternoon lots of boats had found the Yellowfin and were racing around trying to get to the schools before they went down. We were done, the activity was slowing so we headed for home with a very happy and tired crew.

Tight lines,
Ivan

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Ambition report 6th. March’17

March 6, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

Port Stephens deep sea fishing is at the best I have ever experienced. All three species of Marlin are there in numbers. Also Mahi Mahi, Yellowfin tuna as well as the occasional Wahoo and Spearfish. During the previous week the ‘Car Park’ really fired and out wider we had caught Blue Marlin and a couple of big Yellowfin. Consequently I decided to take Stephen and his wife out wide to chase Blues. As luck would have it the conditions out wide had changed. The current was from the South and the water cooling so I turned back inshore. On the radio the ‘Car Park’ was really going off. I have never heard so many double hookups nor so many calls for boats to get out of the way of their hooked fish.

Port Stephens Blue... — Port Stephens Blue…

As we approached the ‘Car Park’ and we were actually only a half mile away when we had another screaming hookup and a good Blue headed East at a rate of knots. This proved to be a very stubborn fish and poor Dr. Stephen had to work really hard to bring it back to the boat. However, after nearly an hour a very tired Stephen had it boat-side. We took some photo’s and let it go and set off again. Neither really expecting the Doctor to take another fish nor his poor wife who had been sea sick pretty well since we left Port.

Well, as Murphy does it didn’t take long for another Blue to climb aboard the ‘Lumo’ and this was a significantly bigger fish. The Doctor was there in a flash ready to go. Fortunately this was a much easier fish and only took about half an hour to subdue.

Due to the circumstances it was decided that we should head for home. We put the lures out again and headed off for home. As we passed over the shelf we had yet another strike, this time a Striped Marlin which dragged off some line then did as Stripies do and went on its way.

The next two days were not so exciting. For all the fish at the ‘Car Park’ on Saturday there were significantly fewer on Sunday and even less on Monday. The action on both days had moved further South and it was hard fishing for everyone. I reckon that nearly every fish in the area on Saturday had either a toothache or a backache. Or, I guess I could just blame the moon or the water colour or the temperature. Anything but the fact that I couldn’t do a thing right on Sunday or Monday – that’s fishing…

Tight lines,
Ivan

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Ambition report 26th. February’17

February 26, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

At present there is a Port Stephens Marlin frenzy going on.

The inshore fishing for the small Blacks hasn’t really taken off being more of a day to day proposition. However it’s more than made up for by the good numbers of larger Marlin further out.

At the well known ‘Car Park’ all three species of Marlin ( Blues, Blacks and Stripes ) are feeding in numbers on the schools of mackerel present. It is frustrating when using 10 or 15 kg. line for Striped and Black Marlin and only to hook a rampaging Blue. I can’t give actual numbers but over the last two tournament weekends every boat saw action with the local boats doing exceptionally well tagging up to and over ten a day. For more information on results go to the ‘NSWGFA‘ and ‘Newcastle Port Stephens Game Fishing Club‘ sites.

Wide of the ‘Car Park’ around the shelf you will find more Striped Marlin as well as Blues and Blacks. As you move wider towards the thousand fathom line which is as far as I went, there is bait and birds working and masses of flying fish. There are schools of Striped tuna and if you’re lucky, some very good Yellowfin tuna. I managed a couple going 69 and 59 kilo’s. There are also Blue Marlin both small and large and you won’t know what size will hit next ; the most exciting fishing.

The Marlin build hasn’t just happened over night but built up over the last few weeks. I first encountered the increasing numbers of Marlin wide and North of the Port. In one day of trolling I had twelve strikes.

The Blues are in numbers that I have never even heard of before, other than off the Gold Coast. This all bodes well for Sydney in the coming months. March and April and even into May is when the biggest fish ( Marlin etc. ) are caught down here. So, if what is happening at Port Stephens continues moving down with the currents we could be in for a bonanza.

Tight lines
Ivan

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Ambition report 12th. February’18

February 12, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

I have just come back from three days at Port Stephens Game Fishing. No two days were the same and each presented its own challenges. However with perseverance, the rewards were there too.

On Friday I took Matty and his friends out on what was a less than comfortable day. In fact downright uncomfortable but we persevered and finally reached the shelf. There was good bait almost to the surface and a few boats working it. It didn’t take long to jig up enugh to get us going. I thought it was too rough to skip bait so I went with trolling live bait. We soon had our first hit and after nearly drowning the poor angler backing up, tagged a striped Marlin.

Striped Marlin fishing — Striped Marlin…

The baits were put out again and even before we had all the baits out we had another hit, this was looking good. The elation didn’t last long however, when we saw it was a Whaler around 2 metres long. The worst of it though was it was accompanied by about twenty others. That set the scene for the rest of the day and we ended up tagging four Marlin and two sharks, losing another four Marlin probably to sharks and being bitten off about ten times. It was a rough day and not just because of the seas.

Saturday was the exact opposite. It was dead calm. I opted to go to the ‘Car Park’ and was immediately sorry. We counted sixty five boats bombing the bait. The problem with such a large number of boats out there in a relatively small area is the lack of respect shown by some to boats that are hooked up and fighting. Some of the stories I heard make you wonder…

Anyway, we eventually caught enough bait and joined the crowd bombing the bait schools. The sea was like a mirror and the fish were certainly shy compared to the day before. We ended up with only one Striped Marlin and caught it after I’d given up bombing and started skipping baits.

Sunday was different again with a strong South-Westerly picking up through the day then backing to the South-East late in the day. Again I went out to the ‘Car Park’, the bait was there and the Marlin too, hard not to go back there. I was hoping the weather might have deterred people from going there. As it happened there were less boats but there were still a lot. Some out there were doing well but most were biding their time waiting for a bite.

I left the ‘Car Park’ and was setting the lures and having no deck hand I was helping out on when a Blue Marlin struck ripping the line out of my hand. The reel screamed in protest as a good sized Blue Marlin raced for the horizon. We did get it under control and tagged a 130 kgs. Blue. Over the next two hours we tagged another Blue around 150 kgs. and kept two Mahi Mahi of 10 an 12 kilo’s.

port stephens fishing tours — Mahi Mahi…

So, that was the week-end, three really diverse days. Next week it is tournament time. There are Stripes, Blacks and Blues as well as all the other Gamefish and that is Port Stephens Game Fishing, anything could and can happen…

Tight lines,
Ivan

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Ambition report 5th. February’18

February 5, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

port fishing tours — A good day’s fishing.

Port Stephens firing is every Game Fishers dream and it fired last week-end. The weather, however, didn’t play ball. On the shelf where a lot of the action was taking place it was far less than comfortable.

On Saturday I took Daniel and a couple of his friends from Wollongong out. We didn’t bother taking Live bait with us choosing to catch it out on the shelf. It was a long and bouncy trip out because of the short steep Easterly swell.

There was no real problem catching the Slimy Mackerel needed. Once the schools were located it was more of a balancing act between standing up and holding the boat in position against the wind the current and the swell.

It didn’t take long for the action to begin and in short time we had an active Striped Marlin tearing up the ocean. The guys loved it especially when I was backing up into those swells and surfing down waves backwards, adrenalin inducing stuff. We eventually brought the Marlin to the boat and tagged it. Then I screwed up and ran over the dredge. It was too rough to go in and clear the prop so it was a long slow trip back home.

Port stephens marlin fishing — Another Mighty Mar;lin…

On Sunday Lindon and three of his mates joined us. The weather was a little kinder but only marginally. This day we had the advantage of knowing where the bait was. We soon caught the bait we needed. Soon we were skipping baits around the bait schools and dropping livies onto Marlin we had marked. This is an exciting way to fish, watching a Marlin come up and take a skipping bait is very visual, the best kind of fishing. All the boats out there caught a mixture of Striped and Black Marlin. Unfortunately there were a lot of sharks out there too, mostly Whalers but also Hammerheads.

We ended up the day with four Marlin tagged plus a Whaler which was hooked in the dorsal fin. A couple of the local boats did better than us but I think everyone caught something.

My only comment after the last few days up here is that Port Stephens is firing…

Tight lines,
Ivan

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Ambition report 29th. January’18

January 29, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

Over the last three days, the Port Stephens Marlin have been almost like the days of past when the ‘Car Park’ fired. Bait is building up on the shelf and the run of Blacks seems to have started up on the inshore reefs. To add further interest there is a good run of Blues and Mahi Mahi on the wider grounds.

Port Stephens Blue on the Trace... — On the Trace…

There is an old saying among fishermen that goes :
‘ If there are ten people fishing and one catches a fish it is luck but if ten people are fishing and one catches ten fish then it is skill’. So what do you say about a lure that gets struck by ten fish out of twelve strikes over two days?

It started like this. A few weeks ago Tony from Mackay called he was comin to Port Stephens and wanted to catch a Spearfish as part of a Slam to catch all the Billfish in one year in Australia. All that was left for him were a Spearfish and a Broadbill, the most difficult ones. Now I don’t know how to target Spearfish but I have caught several and all on smallish lures. In my arsenal, I had a Bullet Head that Peter had given me and assured me that on the shotgun it was deadly, here was the opportunity to test the theory.

In the spread, I had all my regulars out but in the small sizes with the bullet head on the shotgun so off we went. The first strike came in about 400 fathoms when a nice Blue charged the bullet and after a short but exciting burst came undone. Without going into detail we hooked six Blues, a Black and three Striped Marlin all on this one lure. We did, however, manage to tag a Blue of around140 kgs. and the Black about the same size. I have never seen anything like it, every fish hit the one lure, what are the odds.

The next day we went to the same area and put out the same spread. Unfortunately, the Blues had moved on but the first strike was a 15 Kg. Dolly which stayed hooked followed by a Striped Marlin which didn’t hook up. Then to add insult to injury a Wahoo bit the lure off, it was devastating. Over the two days that bullet accounted for strikes from six Blues a Black, three Stripes a Mahi Mahi and a Wahoo. I put the bad conversion rate down to the fact we were primarily after a Spearfish. We were using small lures with small hooks which don’t have the holding power necessary. In spite of not catching a Spearfish it was still an exciting couple of days. If for no other reason than those incredible Blue Marlin strikes and runs.

On Sunday we trolled lures for a while but with bigger lures this time. Without that Bullet I wasn’t confident so switched over to skip baits and trolled the shelf around the bait schools. We ended up missing one Striped Marlin but tagged another as well as a good Black Marlin.

So that was three fun days fishing for Port Stephens Marlin.

I don’t generally recommend anything I can only report on my experiences. I must say I have never seen any lure do what that one did even the mighty Lumo Sprocket. For those interested the colour was ‘Brad J’.

Tight Lines,

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Ambition report 14th. January’18

January 14, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

Black Marlin were the name of the game last week. They certainly went off with a bang when several boats managed to intercept a run of the Blacks on the Northern reefs.

A nice little Striped... The Black Marlin turned up last week and amongst the smaller fish were some in the 90 kg. range. Those who fished light got more than they bargained for when they hooked one of those. The fish turned up on the Northern reefs where the bait, Slimies and big Yellowtail, had congregated. Trolling with live or skipped baits has taken most of the Blacks but don’t overlook lures they work too.

Sunday was a wipeout weatherwise but those who went out on Saturday expecting the bite to continue were unlucky. A few Blacks were seen but in general they had either moved on or just weren’t biting. With this current weather pattern calling a halt to fishing for the next couple of days there are a lot of frustrated fishermen champing at the bit.

Mahi Mahi a bycatch of fishing for Black Marlin... — Mahi Mahi…

Wider out Striped Marlin are still appearing along with the occasional Blue. Good sized Mahi Mahi are still around. Strangely they are still not congregating around the traps and FAD’s yet.

I havn’t made it to Port Stephens yet due to a broken fuel line. I’ll be on my way soon though as I have completed the repairs…

Tight Lines,
Ivan

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Ambition report 1st. January’18

January 1, 2018 Ivan Leave a comment

The year 2017 certainly ended with a bang. The fireworks celebrated not just the end of a successful year but a great couple of days for me. Hopefully it will continue into my summer Chartering at Port Stephens.

Funnily enough while I was preparing Ambition last week I received a deposit from a passing Gull. What is purported to be good luck certainly proved to be true.

I took Dr. Cody Hanish and Nick Seaward and their friends out chasing their first Marlin last Thursday. Conditions were ideal. It took a while but as I crossed the shelf inside Browns we took a hit from a beautiful Striped Marlin. As with most Stripes it put on a great display before being brought

Cody's Striped Marlin... — Cody’s Striped Marlin.

to the boat, photographed and released. We continued trolling up to the ‘Bait Station’ but with no sign of bait or bird activity it looked grim. I turned to run down sea back to the ’12 Mile’ and hadn’t gone a hundred metres when we hooked up another Stripy, this one smaller than the first but just as feisty. So with two Marlin under our belt we headed for home much to the relief of a seasick angler.

On Friday I took Jesper and his friend from Sweden out. After the previous day’s fishing we and they were all fired up. Again it started out slowly but at least there was a lot of bait showing but still little bird activity. As if to repeat the previous day just as we crossed the shelf inside Browns we connected with a nice Marlin. It went crazy and when it first showed itself I saw it was a Blue of around 120 kilo’s. I was surprised to say the least even though there had been a couple taken previously. Anyway, Jesper handled it like a pro and soon had it boat side.

I repeated my track of the previous day and just as had happened then after turning to run down sea we had another hit. We weren’t so lucky with this one though. For some reason the wind-on failed and all we got back was the loop at the end of the double. Worse I lost my favourite Lumo, now I have to break in another one. As if to make up for this loss shortly after we landed a good sized Mahi Mahi.

So, the next time a present comes down from up high go fishing…imagine your luck if it was a Pelican’s present, the mind boggles.

Most boats trolling are encountering Mahi Mahi and all good sized fish. They don’t seem to be hanging around the traps and FAD’s in numbers yet but they are a welcome catch while chasing Marlin.

Port Stephens fired last week with quite a bit of action around the Norah and Newcastle canyons.

Not long to go now before I’ll be running Charters at Port Stephens.

Tight lines and all the very best for the New Year,
Ivan

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Tag Archives: Port Stephens Charters

Ambition report 11th.June’17

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Ambition report 28th. May’18

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Ambition report 7th. May’18

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Ambition report 6th. March’17

Ambition report 26th. February’17

Ambition report 12th. February’18

Ambition report 5th. February’18

Ambition report 29th. January’18

Ambition report 14th. January’18

Ambition report 1st. January’18

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