[Big Bluefin on 15kg]

Adrian got more views of it than I did, and when we debriefed later, he kept saying he was trying to work out how the hell we were going to fit it through the access door !

I was more we would have just tied it on the swim platform.

But we could both see either one or both of us taking a swim if we hit it green!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

No way that fish was fitting through the door. Still, deserved his freedom I think; hope he enjoys his new jewellery.

If yr aware of that then you should also be aware of crews feeding a fish to the boat just above a gaff whilst getting fed super lite tackle in his mouth. Just for the record in the past. I think that is bull.

I think all fast catches deserve questioning. 35 mins is not one of them. I think that was a combo of a good fisherman, team and a lucky run on the fish. 15kg is the breaking strain so drag would not be been more than 10 to 12kg. Not much to hold back on a beast like that. Infact the luck is the low drag. Fish would've maybe stayed on the surface without diving because prolly didn't really feel in trouble. Next step is to chase it down. Hit the drag hard as it gets close to catch up and if luck played their way which it did they'd gaff it green. That's where all the experience lays.

Even though I don't support that kind of fishing I don't really chase records or fish for marlin. I fish to eat but enjoy a fight. I will only chase a fish if I run out of line. Even then I prolly let it spool me in a fair fight as he deserves to live. He earnt it.

15 mins as first mentioned was perfectly fair to question as to how a monster 143kg bft could be caught. 35mins is possible depending on the above mentioned.

That makes a lot of sense. We hit the fish with solid drag early and then after 2 hours went for broke on sunset. Fish then went straight down 500m ... Unstoppable.

[Big Bluefin on 15kg]

That's an amazing effort.

Ian Bat, not going to respond to your provocation. You get on the ****ing fish next time!

Striking Blue out

(Going back to the ****ing gym)

[Quiet day today]

I took my daughter out today but time was limited and we didn't get much past the canyons so like most scored a 0. Sounds like a few fish were caught though so fingers crossed they'll be around a while. We did get to play with the dolphins on the way back just inside the shelf and got a couple of good shots. Rare southern bottlenose tuna

Good luck tomorrow and the rest of the week.

[BFTs Exist!]

That was an awesome read. Congratulations to all of you! The fight mirrored the one we had last Tuesday on a very big fish that was lost after 2 1/2 hours. Gotta keep trying!

[bluefin arrive off sydney]

My suggestion without being there is not fishing straight up and down over the fish, pulling it at right angles. Drive away and get some angle on the fish.

If your 24 is crackling off the spool you cannot do much more.

Shame you guys didn't get it, sounds like a great fish.

Yeah, pretty much exactly what we did. Drove off it, tried to get angles to upset the rhythm ... Changed tactics several times. I really don't know what else we could have done. Ian did a bloody great job with the boat. In all honesty I think the fish was just too big. After all the pressure on it still took 500m of line after 2 1/2 hours!

[bluefin arrive off sydney]

Ok, I'm putting my hand up here to ask a question.

We had a 4 way hit with one holding at 2.25pm. We unfortunately popped the leader at 5.10pm.

We had that fish on 24kg, after 15 mins we had it a ate back of the boat, it was a big fish, then it dove. We had it up and it dove straight down 5 or 6 times. On a few of those the drag was locked right up.

We got it to the boat again around 5 almost had the double in reach, and it dove straight down, the drag was on sunset, again we could hear the strain in the line just off breaking, we saw the bare spool coming up, and he stopped not far before it, we just started to lift him backup, and the leader popped.

Every time that fished dived he could not be stopped. The power was unbelievable. We pulled him up with the boat, we put pressure on him with the boat, every time we got him back up quickly, thinking if he dived again and surfaced again, he would have to kill himself, but no he kept going.

There was an article in the fishingworld newsletter yesterday, Chris Cleaver caught one out there on Wednesday, it was 120kg, that was on 80lb Braid and took 3 hours.

So I'm learning with the boat driving, is there some techniques I need to know or missed?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

It's simple mate ... We need a bigger boat!

[bluefin arrive off sydney]

I was out tues, one the unlucky ones. Saw many, many people hooked up and even saw a few hookups happen right in front of us.

Out of curiosity did anyone notice the bayliner type boat with he light grey hull?... They were hooked up for ages but I was glassing him and he wasn't getting the slightest bend in the rod... None of the boys could figure out what the **** was going on...

Ok, we can help you out here. I was fishing with Ian Bat and we were the boat hooked up for over 2 1/2 hours. The reason the rod didn't look bent is because I had to put the 24kg reel on my old Brookfield 60k broomstick that bends like a crowbar and kills at both ends. Of all the outfits to stay connected after our 4 way pack-attack this was the one we didn't want. Anyway, this fish was freaking huge. Like Ian said we saw it 5 times and after over 2 hours it headed straight down with the drag on sunset and showing no signs of tiring. I have no idea how I wasn't spooled. We tried a lot of things to get close enough to gaff it, the fish was having none of it. We learnt a lot though.

Good luck to those heading out over the weekend. We will give it another go sometime in the next couple of weeks.