Secho

Great news mate - you guys have put in some big hours lately and deserved every one of those fish - it's not luck that gets the numbers up its big hours on the water every week and thousands of bucks in fuel that gets them - well done. Marty.

Nah mate - not us - we're up at terrigal on the kingies - cheers Marty

The hottest lure was a 6 inch coggin, jetted, cup faced in evil colour, they also took a small Pakula in blue yellow, a red yellow Pakula, a hollow point plunger in blue / evil, a Carolina custom flying fish chain with a marlin magic jet in black yellow off it and pretty much any other lure we tried in the spread. It was hard to get them to bite because of the volume of bait around - all our hook ups occurred when the gars they were chasing ran through the spread. We also saw a good sized marlin on the southern canyons, heard another boat sight one, and heard of another boat that caught one - it's all happening out there!!

PS: Forget about the "Sauries" these fin are supposed to be feeding on... not the case - crack them open and check out their guts - there are massive schools of ocean gars out there at the moment and these fish are chokka block full of em!

Get out there guys.. we had the best day in ages today (yesterday) - YFT jumping high, busting up, surface ripping all day long. Ended up 10.9.9 today south of the cans - a day not to be forgotten! We had plans to troll south from Botany to Kiama Cans and back on the 300 however went wider and never got too far past the southern.. birds everywhere, fish everywhere.. cracker day. At one stage mid morning we just pulled up stumps, dropped some dead baits deep and cooked a BBQ while we watched them jump all around us.. then got back on the troll and pumped back into em for round two, three and four! Absolutely unbelievable day - all the action we saw was in 34.22 / 151.29 Have a great weekend - sure there will be plenty more posts to come! Cheers Marty

Made plans to head for Browns before sunrise yesterday and get a trail going before everyone else got there. Pulled up just on first light, turned the motors off, was about to start preparing the burley blocks and sure enough there was a Mako swimming about right behind the boat. Quickly geared up, tossed it a fillet and we were hooked up before we even had time to get things started. Fought the shark for about a half hour or so before sinking the gaffs and a securing a tail wrap. We hung around browns till mid morning and ran through 200kg of blocks without seeing another shark until right when we were about to leave and another swam up behind the boat - didn't manage a bite on the second one though. We set a course SE of Browns after that and put out a spread. We had plans to head for the cooler waters that had come up the coast and stick to the area until dark. Mid afternoon came and we saw about 11 or 12 birds hovering about quite high above the water.. we sped up and got over to the area just as a few of them started to dive.. dropped it back to a suitable speed then right as we passed under the birds the long rigger took off, then the short rigger and also the long corner - 3 way hook up. We managed to boat two of the fish but unfortunately lost the third, and the biggest of the three, right at the boat - all in all still a cracker day - ran home in perfect conditions. Cheers Marty

The skipper told us that they catch them all year round - I asked him what his best and worst ever days were and if he had ever gone zeros.. His worst ever day fishing for kingies in that area was 4 fish (all over 1m) and his best was 104 - just crazy stuff.. I don't doubt what he said.. seemed a very genuine guy. My only other recommendation would be to make sure you book a few extra days to accommodate any bad weather.. we ducked over for two days fishing and got blown out for one.. when we flew out there was four days to come all below 3 knots of wind... we were disappointed we couldn't stay longer. As for weather.. It was windy and 8 degrees one day and sunny / 13 degrees the next.. water was about 13.5 to 14 off memory.

Had a last minute idea to jump on a plane with mates Cammo and Daz to chase some NZ Kingies.. with high expectations in unfamiliar territories we weren't quite sure how things would end up. We started out from Tairua bar then steamed up the coast to Whitianga in the Coromandel Peninsula where we collected livies - the yakka's there are enormous (some as big as rat kings) and after an hour or so the tanks had about 40 or more ready to go. After taking a look at the number of livies in the tanks we gave each other the quiet nod - "that's a lot of livies - got a good feeling about this". We then ran straight out about 18 miles to the grounds where things went absolutely nuts. From the very first drop of the day until the last drop of the day we hit non stop single, double and triple hook ups... rods bent to the point you'd think they'd snap... fish stripping at 12kg drag and heading for the reef one after the other - we were amazed to say the least. We barely got a chance to damage the frosties in the esky - we were hooked up all day long - we stopped counting after the first 15 or 20 releases - every single one of them around that meter long and 15 to 20kg mark. Cracker trip, good crew, sensational accommodation and not too far from home! Cheers Marty

6 Inch Pakula, DHSR, 7/0's, light blue outer, yellow pink inner skirt - shotgun

G'day all First big Tuna for this season on board Tintola Ended up a cracker day considering how bad the seas were throughout the morning.. very uneasy conditions until well into the afternoon when it finally backed off. We'd dropped a spread just outside Sydney heads and pointed it East on sunrise... about an hour before the midday tide change the shotty took off hard - we were just shy of 700 fathoms at the time. Fish took off for a solid first run giving us plenty of time to clear the deck and get things sorted. After that a long hard second run had us convinced we were onto a good fish.. it fought strong and took us about 45 min to get the double up a few times before we finally got it boat side so we could sink the gaffs. Fish went 1.65 on the short - Cammo was on rod but we all took the opportunity to get a happy snap with it Many thanks Rob for the heads up last night - good luck over the weekend mate! We'll be out again on Tueday aboard REEL GAME - give us a hoy on 21 if you're out there Raiders! Cheers - Marty

Hi Johnno, We were at Browns last Tuesday and ran through 230kg of berley in hope of a Mako but didn't raise anything at all. Two other boats were out there bottom bashing and they went zeros on blue eye & gemmies. We'll be trolling wide this week then cubing into the dark - hopefully jag something - been a bit quiet for us lately. Cheers.

G'Day Damo, We'll be out on Friday as well as Monday or Tuesday - give you a call if we have any joy If anyone else is out give us a call on 21 - we'll be on either REEL GAME or TINTOLA Cheers Marty

We were out sharking on Tuesday - heaps of sauries then too - mostly about the 140.. lots of dolphins and juvie dollies too - Heatons looks sensational on the charts eh.

It was around 70 to 75 mate

Had a cracker start to the day.. it was just on 7:30am, we had trolled over the 12 mile and were headed for the Botany wide FAD. The short corner took a good strike and started to peel some line however hooks weren't in bed so after a quick run we thought it was all over. In a matter of seconds the fish was back on and was whacking at the short rigger.. band popped, line ran and with that the hooks came unstuck for the second time. Next thing you know its the shotty that is off and running but before we even get it out of the holder the ratchet goes quiet only to then have the long rigger take off. 4th time lucky the hooks stuck and after some spectacular jumps the fish was boat side and tagged. The rest of the day was quiet apart from getting into a wild storm out wide of Browns where it pelted us with rain, hail, wind and lightening - funny enough we picked up a jellybean in the middle of it all then jogged home in a messy sea. Cheers Marty

Yeah and it has that I Movie program on it - will try and import to that then play with it from there. I remember laughing at my parents when I was a kid and they were trying to connect a Beta video player to a TV.. now my kids laugh at me when I try to get this sort of thing happening! I've got tons of Go Pro footage and no idea how to put it all together LOL

Haven't had much to talk about since the Blue Fin ran out months ago however we managed to get one to stick on Tintola last Sunday (Second one in as many weeks for Cammo). A first Marlin for Muzza who was on rod - he's been out plenty of times in search of one - Congrats! Water's were sensational, up over 24 degrees, crystal clear and blue.. temp was warming up the further north we went.. found it in about 80 fathoms and 24.7 degree water north of Sydney. Anyone know if you can convert GoPro video footage to stills properly using their Cinepro program?.. I took the pics from PC monitor with a phone and the video paused - excuse the quality. Cheers Marty

That's what happens when you put a fillet knife through your hand while cutting rubber hose off the end of a flying gaff.. tendons, artery and nerves about a month ago

No mate didn't try bottom bashing on the Monday.. we cubed pretty hard out wide of Browns from 2pm till about 7pm and ran through about 80kg of berley + 20kg of cubes - didn't raise a thing.

Went out on Monday before first light and spent a fair bit of time looking for bait before heading out - didn't find much along the cliffs or usual spots. Found plenty of bait action about the shelf with loads of striped tuna that were feeding on big schools of very small bait. Had some fun with them on jig sticks before moving on. We put out a spread and trolled up to the bait station, back down towards Browns then wide.. plenty of Dolphins, Whales and a couple of sun fish but only one strike which landed us an Alby. Had another crack yesterday with a late afternoon start and headed to Southern Canyons and beyond.. Water was fluctuating between 17.9 and 18.2.. We had a strike right before turn of the tide and landed a nice jellybean. 20 minutes later we hooked up to a much bigger fish but unfortunately we didn't get a look at it before it threw the hooks. Two more strikes after that but neither hooked up. All in all a good result for a short late afternoon troll - lets hope it's a sign of more to come - been pretty quiet out there for us lately. Cheers Marty

I'd call on an indoor sports day mate - hit the pub for pool, darts or a punt I reckon - looks ordinary till next Friday If you do happen to go I hope you land a cracker - you'd deserve it for having a go out there in that! Cheers

Went for a troll on Tintola with mates yesterday. Headed out off Sydney nice and early in pretty ordinary conditions from the west. We were almost at the shelf and the water was into the 19's and reports were coming in of water over 20's further east. We decided to stick to cooler waters so dropped out a spread and headed south towards the canyons. Half way from Browns to the Canyons the water dropped back into the 17's and we managed a small Yellowfin of about 10kg just before the Canyons. We trolled south for most of the morning before heading north and wide into the afternoon where we found a patch of albies, landing 2 of about 8kg each. Just on sundown we were outside browns and into a double hook up - solid runs. The first was on the short rigger, Carolina Lures Custom Flying Fish chain - we lost the fish with line breaking above the double.. either a poor knot or nick in the line. The second was on the long rigger, Pakula sprocket - multi coloured skirt - this fish put up a good fight but within 20 minutes had it on the deck. We're not sure what to call it for - interested to hear how much you think it would weigh. Here is the boys with it: Great to see so much happening off Sydney - I reckon we're all pretty lucky to have this sort of action on our doorstep! Cheers Marty

Yeah we're out again tomorrow too - ch 21 TINTOLA

Mate, my boat is sailfish "Reel Game" - might be a bit of a mix up there somewhere - we didn't turn a reel at all yesterday. My mates sailfish "Tintola" hooked up on Sundown but that was it for the day Cheers Marty