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?
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 .
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.
I went out yesterday with Daniel’s Group, American soldiers here for the exercises, again not really confident, especially after looking at the SST charts. They were not showing any real feature. No temperature breaks, in fact hardly any temperature variation between shore and a thousand fathoms. The only reasonable feature being the zero line was reachable.
Daniel’s Yellowfin
Anyway, I went out despite the SST’s hoping that because of their low resolution I’d be able to find something to work with.
We put the lures in at the Twelve Mile, always the chance of an early season Marlin there, and worked our way out. As I neared the shelf I got a call from ‘Finfinder’ telling me they had landed a Yellowfin of around fifteen kilo’s wide of Browns. Well, that was incentive enough and I headed off that way.
Whales and Dolphins
There were plenty of Whales, Dolphins and Pilot Whales to see but bait and birds were scarce. Still we continued on getting out to the thousand fathom line sadly with no result, so headed back in.
On the way in I saw a ‘bust up’ but by the time I got there it was all over. I worked the area for a while however they never came up again so continued on my merry way. ‘Finfinder’ had also found nothing out wider so was also on their way back in. Just as I noticed them on the horizon I saw another ‘bust up’ and this one was close by, as I skirted the area we hooked up. I called ‘Finfinder’ in and within minutes they also hooked up. Both fish eventually landed and both roughly the same size, 25 to 30 kilo’s.
Interestingly the Yellowfin we caught had been eating Sauries which were hardly digested. Yet in all the time we trolled the area we never saw a single sign of Sauries.
We both worked the area for quite a while with no result.
So, there are still some Yellowfin around and should make it interesting for this week-end’s Sydney Game Fishing Club’s Monster Mako Tournament since there is a major prize for both the biggest and most tagged Yellowfin.
It is fair to say that this winter’s fishing has been unusual to say the least. Earlier on, just a few weeks ago we had a run of big Yellowfin, what I have heard called the Fijian Yellowfin. It would be interesting to know if these fish have actually come in on a current of tropical origin, i.e. Fijian Yellowfin, it would go a long way into explaining the appearance of some of the other warm water fish we have seen lately.
Winter Yellowfin
At the same time as these Yellowfin, I will call them the Fijian Yellowfin, turned up we experienced a very short run of Bluefin with several over one hundred kilo’s caught. Yet at the same time there were a couple of Blue Marlin and Striped Marlin taken, sighting of Mahi Mahi and the weirdest of all more than a few Spearfish caught. So, a strange mix of warm and cold water species.
Winter Yellowfin
At present we are catching smaller Yellowfin in the twenty five to forty kilo range though a couple of bigger ones have been taken. In the past these smaller fish were found in large schools, often busting up, and when you found them you’d get multiple hook-ups. However, lately to find the fish you have to cover a lot of ground and the hook-ups are from blind strikes in the middle of nowhere with little if any bird activity to indicate their presence.
The last time I was out, a couple of days ago, we caught a couple of thirty kilo ‘fin. The first in three hundred fathoms South-East of Browns and the second in seven hundred fathoms on the same line. There were few birds around in fact for all intents and purposes the area looked barren. What was of interest was that the fish had been eating what looked like baby octopus or squid, hard to tell at the size they were, about two centimetres long and transparent. It amazed me that the fish were feeding on really small bait and yet still took old ‘Brad’.
Sydney Yellowfin tuna have been showing up in reasonable number. Everyone want to have a go at these Sydney Yellowfin tuna.
After checking the weather reports and seeing three different scenarios I thought I’d give Mikko and his friends the option to postpone. However, the lure of the fish ruled and the decision was made to go on out and see what the weather does. Exactly what we used to do before ( in the old days ) before everyone had computers and GPS.
Mikko and Yellowfin
The plan was to head out to where some fairly slack water was edging up to a slightly warmer and faster Southerly current.
Mikko and Yellowfin
When we headed out the weather was quite good but at around 10:30 the South Wester started to show it teeth and that combined with a building Southerly swell in the warmer water made it quite ugly.
I worked the edge for a while unsuccessfully and since couple of the guys were decidedly green I moved back into the slack water which was marginally calmer and headed to where we had caught the fish on the last trip. We had just reached the general area when we had a double hook up. It’s amazing what a shot of adrenalin can do. All hands were on deck and ready to go. The rough sea made it tough going but both fish around the 30 to 40 kilo’s mark were brought in.
Rising Seas…
Meanwhile the South-Easter had dropped off a little so I headed back out to sea and was rewarded with another double hookup and almost twin Yellowfin of the previous pair were brought on board. Rob hadn’t even reset the gear when we had another strike and while that was happening something grabbed my teaser and was stripping line off the teaser reel. I have never had a Yellowfin do that, plenty have hit the teaser but none have tried to escape with it. I guessed it might have been a Marlin but not having seen anything, who knows.
In the mean time the wind had turned to the South and picked up again. So, with five Yellowfin aboard and a happy crew I started trolling home.
The Sydney tuna run is coming. With a much-awaited moderation in the weather and reports of the Sydney Tuna with Yellowfin North of us and Bluefin to the South with both groups getting closer I had to get out there.
Colins Yellowfin
The plan was to head East around to where there was some interesting looking water around Heatons. Out there a cooler Northerly current was eddying on the Eastern edge of a warmer tongue of water from the North, all looking very fishy in theory.
Colins Yellowfin
We put the lures in at eighty fathoms after dodging all the whales, there’s always the chance of a Striped Marlin around the shelf and headed out.
Colin’s Yellowfin
As it was we didn’t encounter anything on the way and as you can see or rather hear in the video below the wind was howling. When we reached the warmer water, the conflicting currents caused the already uncomfortable sea to stand up. To my great surprise there were a couple of smaller boats out there too – I know I wouldn’t have been there in those conditions in a boat smaller than mine – hell, I didn’t even like it in mine.
We spent a little time in the area but there was neither bird activity nor bait so I picked a relatively comfortable course and started heading inshore. On the way I heard one boat say they had caught a couple of Albacore wide of Heatons, another had caught a Yellowfin somewhere inside Heatons yet another had caught a Spearfish wide of the Bait Station. Oddly enough it was the third Spearfish I’ve heard of recently…strange times.
On the way Home…
To cut a long story short I was trolling towards the Bait Station when if five hundred fathoms we were rudely awakened by three rods screaming off. Fortunately, since there were only three of us on board, myself the client and my deckhand, one dropped off. Rob took one of the rods and muscled the Yellowfin to the boat in ten minutes while Colin kept tension on his fish keeping it out of the way until the other was landed. Colin took a little longer but he duly brought his fish to the gaff.
So, an interesting day with a good result and hopefully the start of a good Tuna season. The Bluefin aren’t far away and there are enough Yellowfin to make it interesting.
Inshore there are Kings on the reefs and in the harbour and for those in the know some good Snapper too.
It’s November offshore and it feels like forever since I have had anything to write about and I suppose in all fairness I still don’t have anything much to report.
Sydney Blue Marlin
I will start by saying that I have never experienced the fishing off Sydney to be so bad for such a long period of time. Sadly, I must say that in our last five or six outings, covering on average around eighty nautical miles a day and out to a thousand fathoms, we haven’t, other than a few Kingfish, caught anything more than a few Striped and Mackerel Tuna.
On a brighter note I did hear that for those fishing inshore there are some good Snapper spooking around if you know what you’re doing.
My own theory for the poor pelagic fishery is that the runoff from the floods up and down the coast has affected the normal flow of the offshore currents. The outflows from the rivers have spewed out huge amounts of nutrients creating plankton blooms. As a result the water inshore has varied from ‘clean green’ to virtual ‘mud’. These recent floods have been more than excessive and have also pushed the good water further out. The outflows are normally beneficial providing the nutrients needed to start food chains. Anyway, hopefully the worst is over and the systems will go back to some form of normality. I have noticed the last couple of times out that the blue water is moving closer in shore but still very dead looking with very little bait and virtually no bird activity other than the migrating Mutton birds.
Ambition’s Yellowfin
I am only writing this report because after coming in yesterday I felt some degree of confidence that things were changing for the better.
To cut a long story short after trolling out around Browns then to a thousand fathoms and up the past the Bait Station then trolling down the shelf and only catching a couple of Striped Tuna we headed for home.
Action at Last:-
Suddenly in eighty fathoms Ron started screaming Marlin! Marlin! I turned around to see that unmistakeable dorsal fin behind the Lumo Sprocket on the rigger. It came in twice then appeared to hook up, taking a good run and then doing its imitation of a window wiper. Before I could say anything it threw the lure, Bugger!. I turned around to go over the area again and halfway round the short corner with a Lumo Animal went off. This one seemed well hooked, no playing around this time. But then this one did it too and went into Window Wiper mode and also threw the lure, Bugger! Bugger!.
After examining the lures, one of the Marlin had attacked the swivel and been bill wrapped. On the other trace there was not a mark, the line was probably caught on one of its fins. One must wonder how Striped Marlin survive if they miss their prey so readily.
Even though we didn’t get to tag the fish it was the most action I have seen in ages and motivation to get out there again.
Tight lines,
Ivan
P.S. : I hadn’t planned on taking Ambition up to Port Stephens next year for the Marlin season but I have access to another boat and will be available from mid-January until the end of March for charters.
