[Gamefishing]

that's unreal, great fish!

[Marlin Hook-ups and small Dollies on Tuesday]

We got to 12 Mile around midday and blew an engine almost straight away, but conditions were great, so driving around at 8 knots on one engine was no big deal, less noise, less wash and a cheaper fuel bill J

We trolled between the 12 Mile and east of Browns, good water everywhere. On the radio boats were calling in Marlin strikes galore all afternoon, mainly around the Peak.

We managed to hook 2 marlin about 2NM east of Browns, there was sudsy current line out there that we trolled along. Unfortunately we couldn’t get either one to stick, got a bit of GoPro footage of the first hook-up.

Other than that we got small Dollie hook-ups all arvo. Only one Dollie was legal, a little over 60cm. The rest we’re really small all around a foot and plenty of them, there were times when it looked like a whole school was chasing the boat with hundreds of them leaping behind the spread. Got one small Dollie late in the arvo on a 12 inch lure and I swear the lure was bigger.

All in all a great day out and congrats to anyone who landed a Beakie J

http://youtu.be/2KEyJHz2jh0

Peter

[Sydney Offshore 15-12-2014]

Hi Peter,

Just happy to say I caught my first Marlin (see post above "my first marlin") and it was on a medium Scent Blazer lure.

Regards,

Paddy.

Congratulations, excellent job hooking and landing it. Hey, if that fish measured 9ft I think that fish might be close to 150kg or more which is a damn good fish off Sydney

I also got an email from a customer in Newcastle yesterday who got his first marlin on one of our lures as well, so I am pretty pleased at the moment.

Great work!

[Sydney Offshore 15-12-2014]

Great report Peter.

I was at Long reef yesterday.

Huge amount of activity and lots of rat Kings still.

We got one good one at 50M mark drifting with lightly weight yakkas.

Most people slow trolling but despite all the fish on the sounder the bite was very light.

Definitely worth a shot on the weekend

that's fishing they are not always on the bite, but at least you got one

hey I got call from a mate a little while ago, he got 2 marlin hook-ups around 2pm a little east of the Whale Fad. Both were hooked up and dancing on the line but unfortunately they threw the hook, they're out there and in close

[Sydney Offshore 15-12-2014]

We managed to get out there on Monday.

Charts showed a warm break north east about 40 miles out from Sydney, so we fanged it to the Bait Station and went NE from there. Water was green and full of small jelly blubbers. Around 15 miles NE of Bait Station we found water high as 27, but it was really green and still full of small jelly fish. There were large patches of red algae or red blooms along the surface. Not sure what the red blooms were, but they smelt pretty bad. Smelt like washed up rotting seaweed and it looked like tomato soup.

We saw a couple of basking Marlin near the red blooms along with heaps of bait schools rippling along the surface everywhere. The bait fish looked to be casually feeding on the surface and didn’t seem to be harassed by any predators. We spotted a few whales and dolphins out there as well, it was pretty lively but we didn’t manage to get any fish. Nor could we find any blue water, all we found was green all day.

At 5.30pm we fanged it back in and put the lures in about 5 miles out for a final shot at something. We managed to come across some kingies as a consolation prize. We got a hook-up on the lure on behind the camera which was a bonus. We also saw a couple of micro dollies around 12 inches long jumping around the Whale Fad, so it’s all good.

Good luck to anyone lucky enough to be heading out this weekend! There is some good temp breaks out there and I'm sure the water clarity will get better by the weekend.

Peter

[Sydney Dollies are here]

nice work, the biggest one looks like hes gotta a bit of size to it.

Stinging to get out there, unfortunately the weather looks crap for the next few days.

[Marlin last Saturday]

well done

[Black marlin on Reef Magic]

well done, how far out did you get him?

[Botany bay Squid and blue swimmers]

they might not be around yet, I put a trap out this week in the harbour for zip as well.

If they are around yet they should start turning up shortly, its the right time of year and the water is warm enough now

[Sydney Offshore 25-11-2014 – Small Dollies]

Great report mate and good on ya for giving it a go in the afternoons when u can.

Do you find mornings or afternoons more productive for out wide ?

I reckon both are good, mornings are probably a bit better and you usually get better weather in the mornings, not as much wind. North easters generally blow up pretty hard in the arvos off Sydney and it can be pretty uncomfortable. My problem is I usually have work to do most mornings and I work most weekends, plus the kids are in that mix , so afternoon sessions on a weekday is when I have time to get out there.

Normally there is a bite somewhere between 2-6pm in the arvo if there's fish around.

[Sydney Offshore 25-11-2014 – Small Dollies]

Well done Peter, Should not be to long before the dollies come in to the FADS. Lets see how long it takes. Thanks Peter.

Good work.

I saw some big Bulls at D'Costis on the weekend. They were fresh so I'd say they were caught out of Sydney.

yeah one of the hook-ups was near a fish trap, so I am guessing there are small dollies already holding on the fads, probably small numbers at this stage, but it will only get better from now on

A friend of mine got 2 dollies around 20lb each on the w-end off port hacking, about 3 miles out near some fish traps, so there are big ones are around as well

just gotta get out there and give it a shot, you never know

[marlin strike - 22/11/14]

LOL, it was no coincidence J

I hear you, we did the same thing for years, 100s of hours on the water without a beakie boatside. We did manage to raise plenty of fish on other lures, but more often than not they wouldn't strike it. Our hook-up rate increased dramatically with the bait inside the lures.

Marlin can be a bitch to set a hook, their mouths and bills are really hard, so if we see a marlin behind a lure then we normally give the boat little pumps so the lure jerks up then sinks a little. This usually agitates the crap out of them and gets them bitting more aggressively, once the rod is loaded increase your speed to around 12 knots for around 10-15 seconds to set the hook. If it’s a blind strike which is normally a Black or a Blue just pick up your speed for around 10-15 seconds to set the hook.

Most game fisherman I know get about 1 in 3 or less marlin to stick on a lure, so if you drop a marlin don’t worry you are one step closer getting one next time.

Fresh stripy and pillies is perfect to put in the lures. Here’s another trick, when you caught the stripy cut it open and see what’s in its stomach, sometimes you find undigested sauries, garfish, squid and other fish inside it, take those undigested fish and put that inside a couple of the lures, that way you matching the bait the fish are feeding on in the area. When we do that, more often than not those lures get hit more than the other lures in the spread.

Good Luck

Peter

[Sydney Offshore 25-11-2014 – Small Dollies]

Managed to get out this arvo for around 5hrs, blue water from about 3 miles out and around 22. Didn’t go out too far, trolled from inside the 12 Mile to the shelf and went north from there.

Couldn’t find any significant temp breaks, 22 everywhere, so it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. We managed to get 3 small dollie hook-ups and landed 2 on lures chains, too small to keep. We did come across some sauries around the 12 Mile.

A storm came up around 4 and the barometer dropped and we didn’t get anymore strikes after that.

Peter

[Sydney Offshore - 12-11-14 - Marlin Hookup]

Nice one Pete , Keep them coming , Better luck next time.

thanks, oh well that's game fishing for you. Most experienced game fishers I know use the one in three rule. If you land one marlin every three hook-ups on a lure then you are doing well. It can be pretty hard to set a hook in the hard part of their mouth or bill.

check this out from ripcharts today, good water around the bait station. Sunday looks ok weatherwise early but it blows up hard mid arvo. I'd would definitely be out there but I have my kids birthday party on Sunday.

[Sydney Offshore - 12-11-14 - Marlin Hookup]

we managed to get out yesterday for around 6hrs trolling. Water was good from about 6 miles out, blue, 20.5 and rising the further we went out. We trolled from inside the 12 Mile out to about 10 miles inside Heatons. We got a knock down on the lure on the rigger early afternoon about 5NM NE of Browns in 21. I was driving at the time and I was looking forward when the fish hit. When I looked back I couldn't see anything breach so I thought it was Dollie so I didn't pump the boat to set the hook.

I looked at the troll pro footage the next morning, it was a Marlin. So I should have pumped it to set the hook, bummer

http://youtu.be/rHVCm-GFAwg

Peter - SB Lures

[Is this a Big Eye]

yeah its a yft for sure

[Skunked - 28-10-2014]

got out there today with another Raider

we got one dollie hookup but it busted us off, the line got caught around the outrigger clip and it snapped 80lb line, we saw it jump off in distance with the lure in its mouth, it looked pretty big, maybe 30lb or more, might have got some video of it on the go pro on the flybridge

it was our only hookup all day, got it on the outside of the shelf in 20.8, good water out there but there wasn't a lot in it, not much current either, we found water as warm as 21.7 along the shelf about half way between the bait station and browns

[Sydney Offshore – 21-10-2014 Late Session, Dollies in close]

yeah, it was a bleeder

[Sydney Offshore – 21-10-2014 Late Session, Dollies in close]

Weather was so so, but I made a decision get out for a late fish. I couldn’t find another fisho on short notice, so went solo. I got to Sydney Heads at about 4pm.

Fast trolled east at 13 knts from Sydney Heads looking for the nearest temp break, found a break about 5NM directly east of Sydney Heads went from 19 to 19.5. Slowed down to 8 knts and trolled back and forth on the break, hooked a dollie around 15lb about 30 min later. Got it on a teaser chain with a lure chain running behind the teasers, had it rigged directly to the rod. It did the trick. Hooked another fish about 20min later, but dropped it.

Trolled to the 12 Mile after that, water went from 19.5 to 20, hooked a few small stripies around the 12 Mile then headed back at 7pm.

Peter
SB Lures

[Any 1 out tomorrow]

was thinking about it, glad I didn't, looked at the surf cams today it looked pretty unpleasant

Saturday looks really good, but I can't get out there

I am thinking about sunday, it looks kinda of ok. run NE, maybe to the bait station and beyond, then troll back with the nor easter back into Sydney Heads

[Sydney Offshore - 2-10-14 Dollies and Stripies]

Great work again mate you always seem to get some

Can't wait to test my scent blazer this summer when the dollies come in close again

Cheers sydneyfisher12

yeah I don't think it will be long until they are in close, we've got 3 dollies already, 1 about 6 weeks ago and 2 last week, could be in for a good season this year on the dollie front

[Sydney Offshore - 2-10-14 Dollies and Stripies]

Good stuff mate spewing I couldn't make it but defo after the bubs

no probs, good luck with the bub, let us know when have time to fish again

[Sydney Offshore - 2-10-14 Dollies and Stripies]

Well done mate

That's a great bag of fish and well deserved after all your hard work and persistence

What kg rods do you use for your trolling?

Cheers thefisherman6784

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

we use tiagra 50, 50 wide and 80wides, we use the 80 wides for towing the underwater cameras around with a lure behind it

[Sydney Offshore - 2-10-14 Dollies and Stripies]

Haven’t had a fish for over a month, been so busy at work, last time were out we got 3 really big albies so we were keen for a fish again. We finally got our chance yesterday.

We started trolling from inside the shelf and our plan was to troll all the way to Heatons. Best temp break we found was 19.2 to 19.5 over a mile which was just inside the shelf off Longy. It then went down quickly to 19.2 and stayed at 19.2 all the way the Heatons. It was lifeless, nothing on the sounder and the birds were following the boat all afternoon, as if to say “we don’t know where the fish are, maybe these guys do, let’s just follow them J”.

Listening on the radio, all we heard that no one was getting anything, it was dead out there.

At around 2pm decided to try our bread and butter tactic, which is go back to the best temp break we found and run up and down on it. So we went back to the shelf off Longy and started going back and forth from 19.2 to 19.5 then back to 19.2 and just repeated that line over and over, it’s a boring tactic but often works. At 4pm we finally got a Stripy and then a few others. Just before 5pm we hooked a bigger fish in 19.2, I called it as a small YFT, it was pulling pretty hard. We stopped the boat, we stuffed around putting the rod belt on and got ready to play the fish, then bang, another rod went off, it took a sinking lure while the boat was completely stopped. We managed to land them both, a small bull dollie around 20-25lb and a female a bit smaller.

We got everything on our SB lures. We had pillies in 2 of the lures, garfish in 2 other lures and squid in a pink lure. Every strike we got was on lures with garfish inside them, except for the female dollie which took the sinking lure with squid inside it. Upon autopsy of the fish, we found they all had small garfish inside them, so it made sense the lures with garfish inside them were getting hit. We also ran our teasers with cut up pieces of gars and pillies inside to disperse a bit of burley behind the boat to bring the fish up into our spread.

Good luck to anyone heading out this weekend.

Peter

[FADs Sydney & Botany]

the only one that stays out there all the time is Manly Hydraulics, not technically a fad, but holds fish just the same

might still be a little early for holding dollies on MH, but it often holds small kingies all year round, it's always worth a shot