Byron Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 G'day all, Just received an update from my good buddy Nick at Port Stephens. He and a mate took advantage of the benign sea conditions to punch wide in Sushi Bar, Nick's 445F Haines CC. First stop was a few slimeys from the Tomarree Heads area and then onwards to the FAD for a crack at a decent dollie. A few boats had already taken up residence but a big yakka did the trick and the boated a nice fish for dinner. Next stop was the Continental Shelf, specifically a spot called "The CarPark" where they found themselves dwarfed by the big boats in town for the Inter-Club later this month; Broadbill, Iona, Calypso, amongst others. Despite the lack of size, the little Haines is an awesome sea boat and set-up with everything in its place making it an extremely user-friendly fishing unit. So with the battle wagons circling, Nick set a spread and began trolling. After no luck but seeing other boats hooked up Nick made a decision to fish a few liveys down deep in the patchy bait schools that could be seen on the sounder. 2 baits hit the water and swam for the depths to join their brethren. Immediately, both baits became extremely agitated and Nick made the ominous prediction that a billfish was giving them the evil eye. No sooner had these words excaped his lips, than a very tentative bite was felt and line slowly started to peel off the 24kg TLD. After a few seconds hesitation Nick pushed the drag up to strike at hit the fish, only to find nothing. Winding furiously to pick up the slack and with no more than 10 or so metres of line out the back, Nick finally came tight and all hell broke loose!!! A 100kg (estimated) Black marlin jumped almost clear of the water only metres from the boat To say the guys were a little surprised is an understatemen, but in the spirit of this family site I will refrain from elaborating. A dogged fight ensued, with Nick gimballed up, but without harness, fishing a solid 8kg of drag and getting pulled from one gunwhale to another as the mighty fish did its best to rid itself of the hook. Apparently it played every trick in the book, galloping at a sprint across the surface and then slugging it out deep. Eventually though the pressure told and after a little over an hour, a conservative estimated 100kg Black marlin was traced alonside the boat. Both angler and fish were absolutely knackered, but after 15 minutes of swimming the fish alongside whilst holding the bill, the fish kicked strongly and was let go to provide another lucky angler with the fight of a lifetime. I take my hat off to Nick for this effort, as having been onboard Sushi Bar on more than one occasion, I realise what fighting such a big fish would be like on such a small boat..... let alone without a harness!!! I am reliably informed that Nick is still hurting, and in the market for a decent 2nd hand harness!! Hope you enjoyed the tale and here are 3 photos that Swoffa kindly re--sized for me to post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aero Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Sounds like a great day out there, and nice black to top it off Seems a few boats did reasonalby well over the weekend, with quite a stripes and blacks showing up. P.S excellent resizing there swoff, you relise its only a matter of weeks untill your resizing pics of your marlin Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hottuna Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 P.S excellent resizing there swoff, you relise its only a matter of weeks untill your resizing pics of your marlin You mean to make a garfish look like a marlin don't you Chris... 31004[/snapback] A job well done guys. Good fish out of that litle boat too. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ankles Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 top stuff there boys nice dollie one day ill get me marlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmac Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 awesome post, nice fish but what about that resize. f***********king awesome haha photoshop is a powerful tool. that 6 inch garfish could easily turn into a grander blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jocool Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Awesome stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluecod Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 Nice resizing there Swoff, - and a pretty good effort on the fish too [no credit to Swoffa]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vipernut Posted February 8, 2005 Share Posted February 8, 2005 good report.awsome fish. ps.top boat name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Posted February 8, 2005 Author Share Posted February 8, 2005 Thanks everyone for the usual generous comments. All will be passed on to Nick and I hope that the next fishing tale I describe for you will include me in a starring role!! Have a great day all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted February 9, 2005 Share Posted February 9, 2005 Magnificent prose my freind! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bashir Posted February 10, 2005 Share Posted February 10, 2005 Awesome effort in a little boat, The Car Park isn't exactly a small trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyN Posted February 11, 2005 Share Posted February 11, 2005 Awesome effort in a little boat, The Car Park isn't exactly a small trip. 31245[/snapback] its 22 miles from the heads, great effort with the fish and that size boat and with the right conditions not a bad run, but like last year we used in my old boat(115hp 2 stroke) 150L for the day trolling around there and back, and the following day called it off as we where only half way there and used 60L in not crash hot conditions , always watch the weather regardless of how good the fish are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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