Secho

Mick worked a popper as soon as we pulled up there and a big yellowfin launched out of the water with it in its mouth but the hooks didnt stick - straight after that I hooked up on a jig and it ran deep and fast - ended up snapping an Okuma 24kg jig stick on it and fought on with only two eyes on the rod - luck rolled our way and we boated a yft - no doubt at they run heaps harder than kings - being down to one jig stick we ended up jigging using tiagra 80w's and were still landing them one after the other - crazy stuff!

Yes reported to Marine Rescue then water police called us a few hours later wanting to know the likely hood of people being in the water from the upturned tinny - I don't think they retrieve them that far offshore when they are on the drift, this thing was out in about 1100 or 1200 fathoms and they never asked us for the co-ordinates after we called it for having been in the water for more than a year or two.

Great trip with Cammo and Mick onboard Tintola. We trolled up to Port Stephens yesterday then trolled back today - we were out to find the warm water that had been pushing down on the charts in hope that there might be an early season marlin about... both big days on the water but well worth it in the end. Yesterday we hooked a YFT off the back of the Norah Head Canyon but nothing else for the day (other than a thousand beers, turkeys and jacks). Today was a different story though, our first for the day was an XL Mako that took our shotty as we passed back through the Norah Canyons, managed to get the lure back before a smooth release, about an hour or so later a nice short billed spear fish whacked three different lures in the spread before falling to a 13 inch coggin - got it in about 1000 fathoms wide of Long Reef. Things went nuts soon after that when we found an upturned vessel which looked like it had been in the water for a long time, not something you'd want to hit at high speed or in the dark but turned out to be an incredible fad. It was fully loaded with Kings, Dollies and YFT - from small fish right through to meter long kings and bulls - non stop action all afternoon! We spent the rest of the day there and tossed back dozens and dozens of fish and we kept a few of the bigger ones to share amongst friends.. they were landed on trolled lures, jigs, poppers, single hooks ups, doubles, triples, pretty much anything that went into the water - shame we didn't have the go pro's on board as the underwater footage would have been awesome but iphone pics will give you an idea, Cheers Secho.

Pretty quiet day out there yesterday Damo, we got one YFT on the first tide change then nothing for the rest of the day.. there's small jellybeans jumping about out there around Browns but they're too interested in the sauries to take a lure - there's lots of birds showing where and when the fish are about to rise, but very hard to keep up with them.. they come up quickly then go back down deep just as fast... we trolled Sthn cans out to 2000, up to heatons, back to the nthn canyon, back to browns then trolled in - apart from the jellybeans at browns and lots of whales, we saw nothing else all day Did hear an unconfirmed report on 21 that someone caught a small black marlin to the west of browns. Cheers - Secho

It's an interesting one.. the EAC push from the North looks to be making constant progress on the Leeuwin - I wonder if that'll see the end of any more bluefin runs and bring in the school YFT??

We'll be out either day, most likely Tues, Reel Game - probably look for this break if it's still within reach when the wind dies off.

Not sure what brand it is - just a stock standard 1kw married up to a Furuno 585

Great day out yesterday, we left the ramp well before first light and put the spread in somewhere between Browns and Heatons on first light - the first tide change produced a nice blue fin for us and so we continued east in hope of more action. Saw a huge school of tuna jumping high out of the water for sometime however didn't manage to convert to a bite. Some time later the radio was full of hot action back down off the back of the canyons so we pulled the gear in and ran 32nm to get to the area - in awsome conditions we managed 30knots the whole way down. Cracker day, ended up landing 6 from 8 bites between 4 crew - here's some pics of the day. Back out tomorrow, Reel Game on 21

We'll be off Sydney tomorrow - we ran down to JB last week in search of them only to miss the Sydney bite - see how things pan out tomorrow - good luck everyone

Yes we're out tomorrow - Reel Game, cheers Secho

The first YFT of the season for Reel Game - good day for us today. Mick and I hooked this fish just after first light (back home it weighed in right on 50kg dressed). A few hours after having landed the fin we fought a cracker Marlin for 10 or 15 min but with only two of us on board and a full spread set back in the water, we eventually lost the fish when it tossed the hooks a long way back from the boat - probably call it for about 100kg or so. Later this afternoon we found a smallish sized Mako swimming about but didn't get the bite - still a great day - here's a couple of pics of the YFT. Cheers Secho.

We'll be out Thursday - Sailfish Cat, Reel Game, Ch 21 - Happy to share if we come across any. Cheers Secho

Our number one producer for tuna over the last three seasons has been a Carolina Custom Flying Fish Chain. It does well for us on both YFT and bluefin.. we usually run it from the short or long corner. The only problems we've had is during the fight, other bluefin tend to chomp on the flying fish which once cost us a big blue fin and obviously lure as well. We started running the same lure as a bit of a tease during marlin season and it ended up being just as productive - we bought our ones online from USA for about $130 USD each, but unless you're doing a big order, the $80 freight is also a bugger. Here's a pic: Cheers Marty

G'Day Damo, I'd round up a crew for a two day charter at either location no probs Cheers Marty

Someone on ch 21 reported a catch of a 25kg bull same day - definitely been a bumper season for them.. Pity they've started pulling the fads back in already, hopefully the Sydney ones are out for a little while yet

Landed this nice dolly in about 750 fathoms off Sydney this week with my mates Cammo and Gibbo. Dropped a decent marlin and saw another one free swimming while we were out there. Still plenty of nice blue water out there and current seems to have slowed up quite a bit. Cheers Secho

G'Day Mark - didn't realise you were out, would have touched base with you on 21 (what's your new boat's name?). We stayed out wide in the chop from sunrise to sunset, ended up 1.1.1 on a blue that went 2.55 on the short measure - found it in around 400 fathoms / 25.9 degrees. Managed some cracker dollies as well - current out there was ridiculous.. we planned on heading north east for the day but threw the towel in after a few hours and ran south with it.. at one stage we had trolled north for an hour and a half and didn't move 1 mile. It was a bloody cranky blue - had a wrap on its beak within 40 min but it still had plenty left it in it.. it reared up beside the boat and whacked my mate straight across the neck - opened him up on the chin and neck... red sweat dripping everywhere... then it went back and struck the starboard motor and put a hole straight through it - sat their with its beak stuck in the motor's cowling. Cheers Marty

Cheers Dave - yeah it was ripping hard when we were last out too... strongest i've seen in a long time. The current line was so definitive and the water so different on both sides it was amazing... were you travelling with the current when you found the blues or working it in all directions? Thinking of trolling to port and back this week but not if it's still running so hard Cheers Marty

Anyone know if the current has slowed up out wide? Was running very strong last week - any info would be greatly appreciated. Cheers Secho

Hi Mark - not heading out tomorrow but how was Cairns? See a grander? Cheers Marty

I've asked them if they will credit / extend our subscriptions by the length of the downtime - no response yet - I'd be surprised if they didn't

Looks like there will be no rip charts for the time being: "Sincere apologies for the problem. Unfortunately, we are unable to acquire updated datasets due to the US government shut down. We acquire the raw satellite data from US government science facilities, and these have been turned off due to budgetary conflicts within the US government. This outage is temporary and we will have the data repopulated as soon as the data feeds are resumed."

What's your new sailfish called?