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

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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Here is a short video of the Mark’s  Marlin with some Mahi Mahi mayhem at the end…

Striped Marlin, Blue Marlin and Mahi Mahi though not in any numbers yet are all on the menu. They’re not easy to find but all have been caught over the last couple of weeks and conditions are becoming more conducive to their presence every day.

I went out last Thursday on a perfect day in ideal conditions. Out past the shelf there were bait balls all over the place and out to 500 fathoms which was as far as I went. To say expectations were high was an understatement. Unfortunately, all I found was a lone Mahi Mahi of about 7kgs.

On Sunday the weather was just too good not to go out. I didn’t have a charter so there was just me, Pat ( my deck hand ) and Mark his father. We put Mark on strike. On his bucket list were catching Blue Marlin, Mahi Mahi and a Yellowfin so we out we went… hunting.

Conditions had changed markedly since last Thursday.  I went North to the ‘Bait Station’  and found there was nowhere near the amount of bait nor bird activity as the previous week. Apparently, it had moved further South. Still, we persisted and after several hours of trolling in what appeared to be a dead sea we had a strike on the short corner and a small Marlin did its window wiper imitation. It pulled off some line and then unfortunately just fell off the lure.

However, disappointment soon turned into panic. Whilst repositioning the short corner the left rigger took off at a thousand miles an hour and a small Striped Marlin took to the air. Incidentally, it took one of Peter Pakula’s Bullet Heads in lumo colours which I’d decided to try out. Obviously a good choice. Mark did well on the rod and we tagged the fish in fairly quick time. Soon after we  hooked up  a 6 kilo Mahi Mahi so we had dinner.

I had only heard about one other Marlin which had subsequently been lost so I was feeling pretty good about our fish. Then my old friend Rob Curry ( Marquis ) ended up catching Blue Marlin of 250 to 300 kilo’s which had died. He had it at the boat after several hours fighting and lifting it from the bottom but as there were only two on board they couldn’t get the fish into the boat. I have attached a photo in which you can see the Blue doesn’t look real pretty. I suppose though that anything would look pretty battered after being towed for two and a half hour through the sea. Irrespective a damn good fish which when weighed pulled the scales down to 273.5 kilo’s. A great fish at any time but who would expect one like that at this time of the year. Sydney can be one of the best blue marlin fishing Australia.

People often ask us where to catch blue marlin. It all just goes to show that you’ll never know what’s out there unless you go…

Tight lines,
Ivan

PS: Port Stephens game fishing is drawing closer…