Close Encounters Of The Marlin Kind...

[Sammy0884]

Hey Guys,

CFD and i were at a loss to what we wanted to do over the weekend, i was taken with family duties during the best day of the weekend, so that left Chris and i discussing options over a beer and some BBQ at 11.30 Saturday night.... with no burley, and an early start off the cards we decided to drag some lures to the southern canyons via 12 mile and back.

We hit the penrhyn road ramp in full daylight at around 7am and shot out at 23kn through some rough stuff at the heads... we wasted time trying to pick up some bait that was busting up inside the bay but lost intrest in that fairly quickly... it wasn't long before we had passed the lifeless close fad, then on to the wide fad which is missing...

On approach to the shelf, we started trolling with a textbook spread of Pakulas in their respective positions, and it was not very long until i saw a big black shape come up on the long rigger, it broke the surface and went down for a sec.... i yelled at CFD.."something is on the long rigger...watch it.." then on cue.. SNAP!!!! ZZZZ...ZZZZZ....nothing.... grrrrrrrr..... we kept trolling and it was only a matter of seconds before the same big black shape lit up behind the shotgun and smashed it... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz the TLD30 was howling and the backbone was buckled over.... the fish took about 50m of line then nothing...again... i caught a glimse of the fish finning in the water just behind the lure before it peeled away never to be seen again.....

This had the spirits high, and we waited in anticipation of the next strike... which didn't eventuate over the next 50 nautical miles we covered... dissapointing but exciting at the same time... the run south was bumpy, and the run north was frustrating with the following wind and swell requiring 9-11 knots to get the lures working which chewed the gas...

We were back at the ramp and on the way home at 2.30pm after covering the best part of 70 nautical miles in some annoying southerly slop...

That made the tally come up to #4 for marlin hooked and missed for me.... it was a milestone however, being the first beakie strike and hookup for me on a lure out of my boat.

tight lines.

Sammy

[james7]

Nice report Sammy. A good read.

I suppose it must be a bit frustrating to be so close sometimes, but at least you're getting strikes, so you're doing something right.

I can only imgine the excitement of seeing that big black shape coming up to the surface. It must be incredible.

I'm sure a big beakie is waiting just around the corner with your initials on his back!

Cheers

Peter

[uglystick]

Unlucky Sammy.

Getting at look at one is something better than nothing.

Better luck next time.

[Gamerod]

I was out 2 weeks ago trolling for marlin got a hit and miss out near 12 mile.

Nothing for the rest of the day. (trolled out to browns and everywhere.)

I would not have gone to browns but after doing 3 hrs inside the shelf I was desperate.

Trolling back in about 2pm saw a boat catch a marlin about 2km east of far fad.

I agree stay in close.

(PS got 8 good size dollies.)

Heading back to Port Stephens this weekend so I'm pretty keen to hook one.

Regards the winch.

[StessL72]

Hey sammy pitty about the non hook ups they are bad but that comes when lure fishing but marlin are a hard fish to snag trust me i know anyway good luck cheers steve.

[djmac]

badluck on the fish mate.

what hooks are you running in your lures?

one thing you should really always have at the ready is something to pitch to a fussy striped marlin.

if you see him out there following or swiping at it with his bill

try to give teh lure some more action. failing that.

have a pitch bait ready. be it a livey a stitched dead bait hell we even switched one to 6 pilchards threaded onto a circle hook.......

lure conversion rates are always pretty poor on stripeys even with super light gauge katanas etc etc they are just sloppy eaters...

id also be interested to hear what you guys do when you have a strike? i.e. do you stop the boat straight away etc

gotta go out there with a gameplan and make sure everyone knows what they are doing when..

Edited April 9, 2008 by djmac

[Sammy0884]

badluck on the fish mate.

what hooks are you running in your lures?

one thing you should really always have at the ready is something to pitch to a fussy striped marlin.

if you see him out there following or swiping at it with his bill

try to give teh lure some more action. failing that.

have a pitch bait ready. be it a livey a stitched dead bait hell we even switched one to 6 pilchards threaded onto a circle hook.......

lure conversion rates are always pretty poor on stripeys even with super light gauge katanas etc etc they are just sloppy eaters...

id also be interested to hear what you guys do when you have a strike? i.e. do you stop the boat straight away etc

gotta go out there with a gameplan and make sure everyone knows what they are doing when..

Hi Col,

I'm running modified Mustad 76LGS hooks in my rigs, all sharpened to buggary..

It was the first lure strike on my boat, but the general rule we have followed in the past was to keep going for another 50-100m... we kept going after the missed strike... whats the right thing to do?

[Red]

Sammy, i'm assuming you are running 10 or 15kg mono on the TLD30? If so, the Mustad's are certainly not your best choice, particularly for a long set lure. Consider DJ's advice and use katana or SL12 hooks with anode tape for 15kg line class or less. They are super sticky hooks and don't require any sharpening at all which is a bonus

Cheers

Red

[djmac]

Yep what you are doing on strike is fine. just making sure you werent stopping dead straight away etc

I know in my seafarer we normally fished 2 up with the occasional 3 up so when we had a strike we were all too busy, the last thing that happened was the rod to be picked up.

as Red has said SL12's or Katanas are great hooks for lure trolling for 15kg and under.

if you use them on any higher line class you will straighten alot of them.

also take warning that if you're heavy on the trace they will straighten.

a good release hook and they certainly bite in well.

that first one is always the hardest but it certainly gets easier after that one. stick with it.

Col

[dandas]

Nice report Sammy.

A bit of a random question. Browns is not off the shelf is it?

I just noticed that gamerod said

<<<I would not have gone to browns but after doing 3 hrs inside the shelf I was desperate.>>>

That doesn't mean he went off the shelf to browns right?

I would not have gone to browns but after doing 3 hrs inside the shelf I was desperate.

I would not have gone to browns but after doing 3 hrs inside the shelf I was desperate.

I would not have gone to browns but after doing 3 hrs inside the shelf I was desperate.

[djmac]

dandas browns mountain is an underwater mountain that rises up to about 150 fathoms

it is about 22nm east of sydney

it is about 5nm past the shelf

[dandas]

jeesh.

I didn't know it was off the shelf. I actually went there a few times on a game fishing charter and they were talking about fishing off the shelf as though it was somewhere further out.

A mate of mine always talks about Sydney Canyons as well. Is that further still? What are these canyons I always hear so much about?

Thanks !!

[Le Pasha]

jeesh.

I didn't know it was off the shelf. I actually went there a few times on a game fishing charter and they were talking about fishing off the shelf as though it was somewhere further out.

A mate of mine always talks about Sydney Canyons as well. Is that further still? What are these canyons I always hear so much about?

Thanks !!

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

[dandas]

Interesting.

Thanks for the info guys.