Steve07 Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 (edited) Just got back from a couple of day's fishing up at Port Stephens in my 5.5m stessl trailerboat "NEXUS". A very busy weekend up there,as everywhere you looked out wide gameboats & large trailerboats were there working anywhere from the shelf to the 200m mark trying to catch marlin. The water temperature hovered anywhere between 23degrees to a very warm & deep cobalt blue 26.5deg. Most boat's concentrated there efforts up north of the port or straight out east at the "carpark",in these area's you looked for the bait schools & worked them with slow trolled bridle rigged live slimey's as this was your best chance & the most preferred method of catching a black or striped marlin. SATURDAY: We spent the first half of the day covering as much water as possible by trolling a spread of skirted & diving bibless minnows,thinking that maybe with all this warm & great looking blue water work our way out from before the F.A.D. slowly south east to the "carpark",where maybe we had a chance for both marlin,or a nice dollie,even maybe a wahoo. About 10.30am & the 150m mark the 7inch mack bait bibless minnow got nailed a when a long sliver/chrome wahoo came flying out of the water,snipped straight through the 200lb leader in a flash & gone! Out at the "carpark"along with BROADBILL & CALYPSO plus a few large trailerboats we worked around deep bait schools,Calypso hooked up to a nice 100kg plus striped beside us,then having caught a small striped tuna we quickly had it out on the 80lb standup tackle slow trolling it,before it got taken by a big 150kg plus mako,after short 20min fight & high spectacular cartwheel out of the water,it was gone.But i think both of us were glad as it was bigger than the boat anyway! Slow trolling most of the way back in took 3 hour's with a spread of 5 large pusher's,but there was no interest from anything,so the day ended at 4pm. SUNDAY: Today was a new game plan,having spent a couple of hours late saturday arvo talking to a few big game boat skipper's at the marina & a few trailerboat's at the ramp,plus seeing some big boat's coming in with 2,3,4 & 5 marlin tags,it was clear the bait,the marlin & all the action was north of the port off the Gibber. At this location,with stacks of bait schools & a few tailing marlin spotted,many boats working it & a few hooked up to fish,we new it was our chance to get among the action. Around 11.00am as i was watching the trailerboat "BALLISTIC" fighting a fish in the distance,i was over a large bait school with bigger shapes underneath & feeding a slimey down deeper.Suddenly i felt the heavy unmistakeable weight of my line pulling through my hand,i released the line picked up the 24kg outfit as line was now peeling off the reel as a fish moved off with the slimey. I gave it another maybe 7 seconds as the line was coming off pretty quickly by now,the lever was pushed up as the boat was givin a short burst & the rod was locked onto a solid hookup. Out it came,one jump,then two,then 4 or 5 more,what an awesome site seeing a black marlin around the 55kg mark taking to the air all lit up & heading for the horizon,the excitement & adrenlin of hooking up to a marlin is one experience you never get sick of no matter how many times you see it. After the jumps the fish sounded down deeper, into a more pump & wind style of fight,after a 40min battle it was boatside,admired for a couple minutes while the boat motored slowly forward,& let go to swim away with a yellow tag attatched to it's shoulder. That was our one fish for the day,but we witnessed another 6 fish hooked up beside us throughout the day, there were plenty of boats that got 2 or more marlin,but with as many as 25 to 30 boats working around the area it got a bit too busy at times & the risk of getting a good fish cut off by one of the smaller inexperienced trailer boat's was very high as we witnessed a couple of close calls nearby. We got back in at 3.00pm,moored up at the marina & grabbed a couple of crownies to celebrate.At 55kg it was a pretty small black marlin one,but we got what we came for and to get away for a couple of day's to a great place like port stephens we were happy with that. cheers steve Edited March 1, 2008 by nexus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warnie Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Pretty sensational weather i thought up at port those two days especially saturday were you could of made it out in a bathtub... good to see you got on to a fish.... as the carpark lived up to its name with the amount of boats around... interestingly on sunday a floating fad of sorts had drifted on the scene and some of the boats were getting dollies from 10-15kg at will anywere with in co-ee of it first thing in the morn so i rocks up licking my chops over the thoughts of a feed of dollie to take home with me cracked open the ice in the esky and rubbed my hands in anticipation.... and proceded to run a livie past the fad.......so i thought but a Striped marlin thought otherwise and took a liking to the livie and promptly ate it..........oh well so much for dinner !!!!!!!!!! but a keen fisho on board and a marlin virgin who had been watching the action for the weekend and patiently waiting for his time to come around got to have his turn.... although i regret not bringing home dinner i must admitt watching some one catch there first marlin is a feeling hard to beat and at around 110 kg it was a healthy stripe for him to have a first go at..... he like you enjoyed a . at the end of the day... Cheers Warnie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy0884 Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 well done guys, it looks like it was going off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve07 Posted January 28, 2008 Author Share Posted January 28, 2008 (edited) Pretty sensational weather i thought up at port those two days especially saturday were you could of made it out in a bathtub... good to see you got on to a fish.... as the carpark lived up to its name with the amount of boats around... interestingly on sunday a floating fad of sorts had drifted on the scene and some of the boats were getting dollies from 10-15kg at will anywere with in co-ee of it first thing in the morn so i rocks up licking my chops over the thoughts of a feed of dollie to take home with me cracked open the ice in the esky and rubbed my hands in anticipation.... and proceded to run a livie past the fad.......so i thought but a Striped marlin thought otherwise and took a liking to the livie and promptly ate it..........oh well so much for dinner !!!!!!!!!! but a keen fisho on board and a marlin virgin who had been watching the action for the weekend and patiently waiting for his time to come around got to have his turn.... although i regret not bringing home dinner i must admitt watching some one catch there first marlin is a feeling hard to beat and at around 110 kg it was a healthy stripe for him to have a first go at..... he like you enjoyed a . at the end of the day... Cheers Warnie... Congratulations mate that's a great fish especially being your mate's first,think i came in the same time as you at the boat ramp on saturday arvo,you had the big cat with UNGRY on the side,nice rig too! I was the white aluminium boat up on the beach beside the lane you were getting your boat out, but pretty hard to notice being that busy with so many boats around all weekend. cheers mate steve Edited January 28, 2008 by nexus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dezmo Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Sounds like its firing up there. I'll be up next weekend, hope its still good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warnie Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Congratulations mate that's a great fish especially being your mate's first,think i came in the same time as you at the boat ramp on saturday arvo,you had the big cat with UNGRY on the side,nice rig too! I was the white aluminium boat up on the beach beside the lane you were getting your boat out, but pretty hard to notice being that busy with so many boats around all weekend. cheers mate steve Sorry steve i was pre occupied first by a boat that was fishing with me that pulled two blacks out from around me that was giving me friendly stick...and was on the radio trying to talk to a mate on the shelf who had hooked up to a nice black with a female angler on the rod and it was nearing the three hour mark at that stage... we found out later the fight went for four hours and the fish weighed in at 117kg and fell short by 2 odd kgs for it to be considered for a record claim...How must of that female angler of felt after that epic slog we were told she never complained once........good on her. i did however meet up with Oz (netic) and mate who were at the ramp..... Cheers Warnie.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve07 Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Sorry steve i was pre occupied first by a boat that was fishing with me that pulled two blacks out from around me that was giving me friendly stick...and was on the radio trying to talk to a mate on the shelf who had hooked up to a nice black with a female angler on the rod and it was nearing the three hour mark at that stage... we found out later the fight went for four hours and the fish weighed in at 117kg and fell short by 2 odd kgs for it to be considered for a record claim...How must of that female angler of felt after that epic slog we were told she never complained once........good on her. i did however meet up with Oz (netic) and mate who were at the ramp..... Cheers Warnie.... No worries warnie that's cool mate,just wondering where you guys got your livies as i got a couple before going out on sunday,but couldnt get any out wide from the bait schools on the sounder. Not sure if i was looking at the right kind of slimey bait schools on the sounder anyway! Is there a bait jig you prefer or what method do you use to get them out there? thanks heaps steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 i did however meet up with Oz (netic) and mate who were at the ramp..... Mate it was good to meet you that day, unfortunately we left early sunday so i didnt get the chance to bump into you at the ramp again, hopefully soon we can go for a fish together Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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