Croydon Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Hi Folks, Well for the past few weeks, when the weather allows, my mates and I have been getting out off Batemans Bay targetting our first Marlin. To say it's been a steep learning curve is the proverbial understatement. A lot of reading, asking questions and just old fashioned trying. Last week we raised out first Marlin off a nice little bait school, it had a look at the lure spread, nudged a couple and then swam away. Now that was exciting!! This morning a mate and I headed out in my 560 Barcrusher. It was a strange day weather wise, light noreaster, 1.5 - 2.5m swell but very overcast. A combination of cloud, fog and a haze from recent burn offs. All in all a promising morning. Started to troll north east from the 60 fathom line and about 10.20am, the water had gotten up to 23.1 or so in 65 fathoms, from a cool 20 in close. As we trolled I spotted a small school of bait skittering across the surface and turned towards it. As we rounded where I thought they were the port side rigger goes off and runs about 2 metres. I picked up the rod (you gotta be quick) thinking we had picked up a small striped tuna, a couple of turnes of the reel and it had stripes all right!! Out of the water, some 20ft away came what I called as a striped Marlin with a body length of around 8ft and quite fat. It was all lit up and the most beautiful sight I have ever seen on the water. She did some head shakes and a few more acrobatics and then dived under, towards the boat!! That was bloody exciting!!! At the same time, my mate is busy pulling in lines, 2 of which were crossed, trying to drive the boat away from the fish with his third hand and grab the camera with his toes. It was mayhem but damn fun. But as luck would have it, the hooks pulled and the fish was gone, never to be seen again. We trolled for the rest of the day and didn't turn another handle. Them's the breaks. We picked up the fish on a lumo Pakula Cockroach. Guess what we're doing tomorrow....... Sorry no pics this time, my mate ain't fast enough with his toes I guess.......... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csg Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 well done boys your first stickface is getting closer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy0884 Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Keep at it mate, you'll get one ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanger Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Nice one dave!!! The screaming ratchet when a fish is on sure gets the blood pumping!!!! Good luck on landing that first fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh191 Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Great report Croydon, bad luck on dropping that beakie but by the sounds of it wont be long till you get a solid hook up good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xib Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 keep at it croydon im still after my first after losing 7, 6 of those before i could get to the rod and 1 big black after about a minute or two our last attempt had 1 minute of madness for the whole day in with we had a double hookup and a third attacking a lure (the 1 minute fight with the black was the end result) all of this with just two on board. matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croydon Posted March 28, 2009 Author Share Posted March 28, 2009 keep at it croydon im still after my first after losing 7, 6 of those before i could get to the rod and 1 big black after about a minute or two our last attempt had 1 minute of madness for the whole day in with we had a double hookup and a third attacking a lure (the 1 minute fight with the black was the end result) all of this with just two on board. matt Thanks guys, it's frustrating but fantastic fun. I was out again today, and you guessed it, same result on the same lure. Another nice fish, with a few jumps and then the hooks get spat back at us. As I said better than no fight... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warnie Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Thanks guys, it's frustrating but fantastic fun. I was out again today, and you guessed it, same result on the same lure. Another nice fish, with a few jumps and then the hooks get spat back at us. As I said better than no fight... Dave Dave Change over to a differant method and put the lures on standby for a while if you are to encounter the bait schools in the area you are fishing like the ones you made mention in your first post then swap over to useing live bait and work the bait schools if this is not to your liking try skipping a dead bait ,one off each rigger and also work the area that is holding the bait .I am quite sure that you will find that by employing either one of these two methods it will provide you with a lot better of a chance in obtaining the result that you are looking for. Cheers Warnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croydon Posted March 29, 2009 Author Share Posted March 29, 2009 Dave Change over to a differant method and put the lures on standby for a while if you are to encounter the bait schools in the area you are fishing like the ones you made mention in your first post then swap over to useing live bait and work the bait schools if this is not to your liking try skipping a dead bait ,one off each rigger and also work the area that is holding the bait .I am quite sure that you will find that by employing either one of these two methods it will provide you with a lot better of a chance in obtaining the result that you are looking for. Cheers Warnie G'day Warnie, Thanks for the reply mate. You wouldn't believe it, my brother and I were just having the same conversation before dinner tonight. We are heading out early in the morning to pick up some good size slimies, to bridle rig and troll the same areas we've picked up the two fish. We intend on trolling both live and dead baites during the day and see how things go. Hopefully we end up with a better hook up rate and add a few pictures to the story. Thanks again to everyone it's much appreciated.... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now