Le Pasha

Hey mate, if you're fishing only up to 24kg dump the chair, maybe get some cash out of it for some new rods/gear. 10 and 15 straight butts, 24 is personal preference - some like the added leverage from a SHORT bent butt (chair bent butts and strand up bent butts are different) when stand up fishing, some prefer the straight butts, my tip is to harness yourself up and load the rod up and see which you prefer. Daniel

Hey Ant, IGFA rated Ande at a couple of different shops, and on their website they advertise an IGFA line called Ande tournament and a non IGFA line called Ande premium - is that what you're talking about?

IGFA rated mono lines are your best choice. Maybe Stren Hi-vis Gold, Momoi, or Ande which are all very good lines.

Nice fish! NIC-NAT was it a stand-up effort or in the chair?? Daniel

15kg is perfect to start out, 24kg would be max for the school size YFT we usually encounter.

Hey Crazy, just a quick question, any reason as to why you are using 80lb (37kg) tackle for YFT? For 37kg you can't really use light gauge hooks so I'd say a mustad 7691S in a twin hook rig would be perfect for tuna. You'll need to sharpen them as they are crap out of the packet... Daniel

What size Stella is it mate?

Heard the same thing Craig but no details yet as to boat etc.. Daniel

Do you plan to fish poppers at all for GT's etc..?

VA911, What rod did you decide to match it up to? Daniel

Unlucky Clifford, bit of a transition period at the moment, marlin are scarce and the yellowfin dont seem to have showed up in numbers. Was there much talk on the radio mate? Cheers, Daniel

He is probably referring to the Southern Canyons. They are not further out, but S/SW of Browns. As the name suggests, they are canyons as opposed to a seamount

Hey Warnie, lucky with that SL12 that didn't bend out on 24!!! Sounds like a sweet fish though.... Those rigs made up with steel welding rods sounds interesting. I am going to stiff rig mine on 750lb wire, tootpick and that should be alright. Anyone familiar with Hays Hooks? Apparently they are stronger than a 7691, stainless steel and in a similar shape to the succesful Jobu hook with a turned in point. Specifically designed for blues and heavy tackle, but they are expensive at about $20 for an 11/0!!

Yeh I have some Nitlon on a baitrunner, very good as well. I chose the Jigman because of the changing colour, so that when we mark bait on the sounder I know exactly how far down to go rather than guessing. Fair to say you won't go wrong with any of the YGK varities of braid

YGK Jigman, changes colour every 10 metres. Japanese stuff, very high quality but also pretty expensive

Gday guys, I was just interested to see how people prefer to rig their Blue marlin lures, especially the Hawaiian style Slant heads like the Joe Yee's, Marlin Magic's and Bart's. Could spend hours and hours going over the different rigs, probably one of the most debated topics when it comes to gamefishing. For me personally, if I was targetting blues and there were no annoying stripes which just piss around, I would fish double hook rigs - Mustad 7732S in the front and a 7691S in the back, stiff rigged and toothpicked to keep it upright, front hook up and rear hook down. This is the traditional Hawaiian rig, and no one knows better when it comes to lure fishing with them. I haven't targetted blues specifically, so I guess the best way is trial and error......just after some opinions on how others rig their lures Cheers, tight lines Daniel

Nope the bulge shouldn't affect the action or smoke trail of the lure at all

Second Loctite 401 you can pick some up at your local Bunnings

there sure is, well done Warnie. Speaking of blue lures I have just bought a few Hawaiians for next season after usually sticking with pakulas and hollowpoints, interesting to see how they go. I'm pretty sure the 232kg blue from Black Pete was on a Joe Yee Apollo

hey guys I am pretty sure the fish was caught on a lure, not sure which one though, you usually get blues on lures, only reason is that you are able to cover more miles with them... Daniel

Belive it or not the same boat got spooled on an even BIGGER fish earlier in the day. They were fishing 37kg and had it to the boat in only an hour i think

It sounds like he stayed at Matava Gamefishing Resort?

Another 1056lb blue was weighed out of Kona yesterday.....and that was with a 150lb sharked piece bitten off!! So early for the season in Hawaii as well

Try these ones..... http://www.fishmaui.com/boats.html

Hey Josh, even though its not in your trip plans, try and get a plane to The Big Island for a day or two and fish out of Kona. June is probably the best time of month for HUGE blues over there, and the season looks to be good with a 1251lb fish taken last week! Blues from 500lb and up to that size are common off Kona, not sure about Maui but the fishing is not as good as Kona. Here are some of the best from Kona - Bad Company - Blackwatch 58 Huntress - 43 Merritt Marlin Magic - 43 Allied Marlin Magic II (skippered by Marlin Parker - famous lure maker of ''marlin magic') - 54 Allied Northern Lights - 37 Merritt Pamela - 41 Bertram Sea Genie II - 39 Rybovich Sundowner - 35 Bertram Daniel