Polynemus_sheridani

Hi all Well we headed to Port Stephens on Friday night and slept on board overnight and woke up at 4.30am and headed out and south to the central zone fishing area and put the lures in at 7am. Headed south and run some small lures because it was only myself and the skipper of the boat fishing everyone that said that they wanted to fish pulled out . Anyway we thought we would give it a go. We trolled till about 10am with not raising a fish so we headed out to the northern norah canyons, changed the lures to large ones and tried for a blue marlin. As soon as we hit the shelf bang off goes the shot gun and the then their was an all might bang as the band on the shotgun rigger didn't break and the band broke the line as the marlin is jumping all over the ocean with a lure in it gob . So i re rigged the rod and reset the lures and went back to the fly bridge and started working the area after about 20 or 30min the rigger goes off and the line is peeling of the tiagra 50wlrs at a rate of knots the skipper comes down and clears the other rods and we get into the fight the marlin is going nuts and screams across the ocean just tearing up the water, so we put the boat into reverse and backed down on him hard, we worked him up to the side of boat a few times only to have him dive under the boat and skipper had to run back the bridge to get away from him so we didn't run over him and i lost all the line again . This goes on for ever we plan him up and back down then he takes another dive deep and just keeps going and going hard, this happend about 3 times, by then we knew that we couldn't get the fish with just 2 people me and skipper so we put in a call for any boat near by to come and help us but we where just to far out when we looked we where out over the 500fathom mark and still going, then out of no where we see a boat heading full steam towards us and we looked and seen the Broken Bay boat Murifin heading full steam towards us only about 500m away from us then after about 1 3/4 hours the fish goes on one big run down deep and then i lost all pressure on him and he was gone . When we had him along side once he was big and we mean big. We where both gutted and by now we so far out that we just put the lures back into the water and started heading back in. About 40min later i was up on bridge and i see in the wake marlin just cruising in the waves, i told the skipper to run down to the rod and he dropped the drag and the lure went right back into him mouth and then locked up and we where on, so i rushed down and picked up the rod and we started chasing him this time we backed down so hard that the back deck on the 30ft DeepV was up to my knees with water and he just kept going and going the line was just peeling off the reel after about 20min again the lure just popped down deep and we lost him . I guess it just wasn't our day. We headed for broken bay some 45nm away. That is day 1 i will report on a better day 2 soon. cheers craig

Hi all Well as the first report from smokinjoe said the first day was canceled and we also headed straight back to our unit for some bacon and eggs and then we all went back to bed for a few hours to rest up and then had a great afternoon drinking and just relaxing, an early night by everyone and we awoke at about 4.30am and we where down at the dock and away by 5.30am We headed out the bait grounds to stock up but not one bait could be found, so we headed straight out towards the FAD, we trolled around for about 10 min and then pulled the gear in and headed further east. Come about 8.00am we had 4 37KG's out in the water and 1 24kg on the shot gun, we where trolling large lures, at about 8.30am bang right rigger goes off on the 37kg and the real is screaming, after about 30min fight the marlin come up and it was a black marlin of about 140 - 150kg, we stuck a tag in him and got the hooks out and reset the line again. At about 9.30am i am sitting up on the fly bridge just watching the lures and all of a sudden I see the shot gun outrigger bending down and then an all mighty bang at the band breaks and the outrigger makes an mighty bang at it straightens back up and the line is streaming away, we clear all the lines and rods and the fight is on it took us about 20 - 30min and we had a small striped of about 75kg up at the side of the boat and in goes the tag. Wow we all thought that this was a great start to the day 2 marlin in 2 hours, we worked some more areas and then we where hearing calls on the radio about mike 9 and all the fish being caught up there so we headed up, we found some bait and starting with the bait jigs and got some bait and sent them straight back in but nothing for the rest of the day, so not a bad start to the Interclub 2,2,2. One of the boats in our team ICE it was out till 4.30am this morning fighting a shark on 15kg line they didnt see the shark take the bait and after 10hours and 20min fight it come up and as they looked down they seen what all shark fisherman want to see a 19ft Great White Shark about 1000kg so they cut it off and headed back in a very bad start for them, the guy on the rod is felling it today we just finished our club BBQ at our place up here. Until next week. Cheers Craig

Hi Daniel we are fishing the Interclub this year we are taking Lockout up next Sat. Craig

Who is fishing out of Botany Bay this weekend for the Bill Heyward. We will be out on Lockout. Looks like the weathers going to good now and should be a great weekend. cheers Craig

Thanks all for the kinds words it was a great day for crew and Team Lockout. I will get Kosta to submit the record when he gets to work on Monday morning Donna. Cheers Craig

Hi all well the weather wasn't that great it was all over the place and was blowing from the NE so we decided to head north and run with it coming home. It was like being in a washing machine while we run up the coast, we headed about 3nm north of the Kink and then turned and set the lures into the water. Was very quite most of the morning with a little bit of bait showing. Then around 12pm i was looking at the short rigger and seen something flash past then again it did the same thing with all the waves i wasn't really sure but then BANG the rigger lets go and the reels starts screaming off at a rates of knots, Kosta pickups the rods while Mathew and myself clear the gear. By now the reel has lost about 400m of line and still going. After clearing all the gear and getting Kosta in a harness and ready to back up on the fish get some line back, the fish fought down deep the whole time not once coming up to the surface to jump, about 10min into the fight i called it for a Blue Marlin, another 30min later out of the depths came this large Blue Marlin the call went over the radio to find out if the capture of the first Marlin of the season had been taken and the answer was no so we tagged the fish first and then had a good look at the fish to guess it size and we called it for 120 - 130 KG. So we gaffed the fish and dragged him onboard. We shook hands and slapped each other backs and we all thought yes has to be at least 130kg. The rest of the day was very quite without any more fish raised, so we headed for the home and the weigh station to get it weighed. It was put on the scales and pulled the needle down to 160KG yep that is right 160KG and Kosta's first Blue Marlin what a great fish, it wasn't long but it was very fat. cheers Craig

Hi all I was looking around today very slow at work this afternoon and went and checked out fishfinder.com.au website and found that tony has just had a new website designed looks good so far but have been told that the site is still being worked on. cant wait till the shop is online hope it isn't long before it is. cheers Craig

Hi Dezmo We have a full lure roll of them and also the new skirted ones also i got them about 4 or 5 weeks ago before they came out lucky me got them before most people and we tested them out we didnt get anything on them yet but the Hybrids in the Destroyers are great, we tried them at 14 to 15 knots and they didnt blow out once because Peter Pakula says they will run up to 20 knots i think i couldnt belive how much they stuck in the water and just keep working. The new skirted lures are mad they have a great smoke trail and look great in the water the 12" Dojo Peche Mouse Evil Angel looks good for Blues this year we will see how it goes in a few weeks out wide. cheers craig

Hi Warnie We are on the 2nd and 4th sunday of every month but also have a saturday in there on the 10th Jan. Cheers Craig

Hi all Is anyone fishing this weekends point score with Botany Bay GFC. The weather is still a bit iffy. cheers craig

Hi Ken yep we fish on lockout we where with you guys later in the day you had a great day. cheers Craig

Hi all Well just s short report because it was a very slow day on Sunday for us. We dropped some lures in on the shelf line and headed out towards browns and then further east another 10miles to work the area looking for some marlin. We got to our mark and the seas where just the best we had in months, we trolled around the area for a few hours without seeing much then we started seeing bait on the surface, dolphins and whales also but still no hits on the lures. We worked the area hard for a few hours then started heading north along a current line working that area without a hit, come 4.00pm we hadnt had a touch, then all of sudden the right rigger gos off and we all look at each trying to work out what it was as it was being dragged with boat and taking a little bit a line, after the skippers young bloke worked on the rod we brought of all things to the side of the boat a large puffer fish we don't know if we just hit it as it was sitting on the top of the water or it came up and hit the lure but we had a laugh and reset the lure and on our way. We headed towards of the other boats from the club who had 8 yft in 1 hour and we also worked the area but nothing, then we headed towards an area that Ross and Glen Hunter where working and we will still didn't get a hit we worked for ages then the tow line on the witchdoctor broke and we had to turn around and go and pick it up again after that we put the lures back in and as we put the close in shot gun lure back in the water it gets hit while still being run back in the water where on after a short fight in come a yft of about 8 or 10kg. Reset the lures and no more action until we started heading in and right on 5.27pm 3 min before stop fishing the shotgun outrigger get pulled out as a stripped Marlin crawls all over it then drops so we give the reel a few quick turns and back he comes and bang where on the skipper calls on the radio where on and the other guys are clearing the deck as i am hooked up to the marlin and he is just sitting there in the water about 40m out the back of the boat thrashing about with bill out of the water and taking line then after about 3min the hooks pull the crew and myself couldn't believe it. It was to late to do another troll around so we just headed back in with all of us . Well there is always another chance in 2 weeks time. Sorry no pictures. cheers Craig

Hey fishlxic No we didnt put them on scales at all. cheers craig

Hey Tony the YFT where about 10 to 12kg each. Cheers Craig

Hi all We had our first day out in a while on Sunday and the first day we fished the new season with Botany Bay Game Fishing Club, great day out there on water with the wind and seas playing ball. First of we headed north up past the harbour in search of some warm water but after a couple of hours we hadn’t seen anything and the water was no warmer than 19.5 so we decided to head south in look of warmer water when out of the blue one of the Tiagra’s starts screaming and after a short fight in comes of small yellowfin, we reset the lures and do a few laps around the area and pickup a another yellowfin and a great dollie. We worked the area for a little while longer with nothing more, with no bait showing up on the sounder we decided to head towards Browns, then we seen a few boats working an area so we headed towards them and gave the area a bash also. Not long after arriving in the area we get a strike on a 30 and then ping the line broke right at the double but then two of the 50s start screaming off, one of the reels was screaming with line pouring of the reel at a rate of nots I worked fast at getting all the gear in with 2 of the guys fighting the fish, once all the gear was in we worked to get them to the boat. We reset the lures and started to troll again, within 5 min the 15kg in the shotgun pulled out of the rigger started screaming and then stops then one 50 starts going of then another then another then another then another we worked to clear the gear and then the fish on the right rigger was gone, so we worked to get the 3 fish in and on board. With a total of 7 Yellowfin and 1 Dollie on board we started to head home. What a great start to the season. Cheers Craig

here is another picture of the mako from water level. cheers craig

Hi All Has been a while since posting due to work but had the chance to get out with Ross Hunter today. I know Ross will post later on about the day but i must say it was a great day out with such a great guy and fisherman. Just to wet your appetites it went like this. 3 YFT caught 1 YFT Lost Lots up at the back of the boat 1 very large Mako est 200Kg That is all for now we have just cleaned up and am going to watch the Aussies beat Wales in the world cup. Cheers Craig PS Pictures to come soon.

Hi Dazzassj6 I remember when i was a kid and we use to fish botany bay a lot we use use yabbies for bait and we use to keep for weeks and this is how we did it. We made up 3 wooden boxes all made out of marine ply say about 60cm x 60cm and 3cm deep with a lid, after you bring them home lay out the yabbies in the tray don't put to many in the trays and then cover them with water that we brought back from where we use to pump for them from in big 20lt drums. and once a day replace the water with new water the best place to keep them is in the coldest place you can find on the ground this helps slow them down and they use less engine and will stay alive a lot longer. Also remember to check them often and remove any dead ones as they will kill all the others if you don't and freeze them in plastic bags, the best way to do that is to lay them out on tray and spry them with a water sprayer and then freeze them and then put them into the bag and take them with you when you go fishing they will still catch fish with them or use them when you want to have a quick bash and don't have time to get live bait. Hope this helps. Cheers Craig

Hi Bob we will be going out on Sat if the weather holds and all looks ok what ramp you leaving from maybe we can head out together. cheers craig

Steve We used a couple of Tiagra 50w with 24kg line and just made up some 24kg leaders with 3 dropper hooks and 3 pillies on each hook and i think about 5 3oz snapper sinkers. Not meant to use this gear i guess but you use what you have when you are there the best thing to use is a 2 handed deck winch with 200 or 300 lb Dacron and about 80 meters of 80lb leader in mono and then droppers of them with 9/0 circle hooks and large fish baits, most of the guys use old timber sash window weights rather than snapper sinkers. Am looking to get one made up soon and give them a good bash at browns then. thanks craig

Hi all Has been a little while since a report worth writing about but on Saturday Kosta, Ray & myself decided to take a run out towards browns and have a troll around. We trolled around the close FAD for zero so we decided to bring the lines in and run out towards to the plonk hole and the wide FAD about a mile from the plonk hole we dropped the lures back in and worked the area for about an hour for zero so in came the lures and did a quick run out to browns. About a mile west of browns the lures went back into the water we worked up and around browns then decided to head east, we headed about 5 mile east of browns and worked the area for zero again things didn't look good. We decided to troll back to browns and then pull the lures and have a drop and see if we could get a feed. First drop nothing, second drop nothing, third drop up come a nice 5kg gemfish , again another drop and up comes another 5kg gemfish , then on the next drop we lost the whole rig so we rig up again and down they go again this time hoping for a blue eye, well we didn't get let down after about 20 min of winding "mind you all of this was on tiagra 50w" out of the depths comes this white large fish first we thought it was a shark or something but then as it come to surface a great blue eye i called it for 20kg but then we put it on the lie detector it only pulled it down to 15 kg bugger. Oh well better than nothing i guess. After that we had all had our fun and started to troll back to the ramp with zero all and not a bad day. thanks craig

well here is the first of the videos so far i have put together this one is of Kosta with his first black. hope you enjoy. craig

Hi all I want to thank Ross and Glen for a great trip away last week even though it was a bit slow we worked at it for 3 days and final got 2 blacks on Monday in close. I am making up a video of one of them right now and will post them up very soon, in the mean time Ross put up most of what happend on our trip on the post this morning. thanks craig

hey penguin they sure do one of the best eating fish in the sea check it out for yourself this was sunday nights dinner and monday night also. we got about 16 cutlets form the fish. thanks craig

yep sure does i havnt seen the weather that good in a long time it was perfect all day long from the time we left to the time we got back, looks like it will be the same this weekend again lets only hope. craig