Marlin Off South Head! - 18/12/2010

[jembro]

Just to explain. I didn't catch a Marlin off South Head. But let me tell my story. I'm sure nobody will beleive me but I don't care. Me and my wife saw it with our own eye's.

I started the day off at Balmoral around 5:00 AM to get some Yakka's to try and get into some Kingy action. I filled by bait tank within a few minutes. I then down rigged around north and south head. No Kingy's. While down rigging, I saw some small fish jumping out of the water. I then quickly realized after seeing a couple of fins in the water that sharks were trying to eat these fish. Amazing. I have never seen sharks from my boat before. They were small sharks. They looked to be around a metre long. Sharks are cool to see but not as cool as what was about to happen.

I headed off to Colours Reef to try for some Kingy's. There appeared to be a lot of small fish on my sounder. So I thought I would give it a try. My wife dropped down a livey while I tried jigging. This is where the story gets interesting. While my boat is sitting there, a massive blue billed fish jumped out of the water 5 metres in front of the boat. The only thing I can think of is a blue marlin. Somebody tell me if I'm crazy but what else could it be? It had a bill and it was blue. My guess was that it was around 70kg. Me and my wife were flabergasted. My wife pulled up her livey and it was gone. So we quickly dropped another one down in hope of catching this beast. I think what happened was that small fish tore apart my yakka and the Marlin came in to check out the comotion. Of course I didn't catch a marlin of colours reef. But I saw one for the first time ever. AMAZING!

The funny thing was for the first time in my life I was the only boat out on top of colours reef so nobody else would have seen it.

Anyway, after no luck with the Kingy's, I tried skirting for bonito. We did catch a bunch on my ultra lite. so much fun! We caught 2 50 cm +. I will post the pics later.

To summarize...

We had no luck with the king'. We caught a bunch of bonito. We saw shark's for the first time from my boat. We saw what we think was a blue marlin jump 5 meters in front of the boat. Great day!

Edited December 20, 2010 by jembro

[jay83091]

Awesome! I wonder how long it would take to bring 70 kg fish to the boat hmmmm.

Thanks for sharing your experience mate

p.s. good luck with kings next time

[jim77]

Don't worry Jembro - very believable.

One of the kayak fisherman hooked a Marlin at the Colours last year and they are often caught close in up at Long Reef. It makes sense that they would be in this close with the amount of pesty bonito that are around atm... but i'm surprised that they are this close given how cold the water is/has been.

Would have been a great sight i'm sure. Thanks for the report. Don't be surprised if there are now 00s of boats out at the colours trolling bonnies on heavy gear!!!

[elite]

I believe you Jembro

Saw a few sharks outside botany heads as well.

Huge schools of bonnies around at the moment.

[PPSGT]

A raider I fish with caught and released a Striped marlin (probably what you saw) 2 years ago

not far out from North head whilst trolling for Bonnies with a shimano TR200G reel

and I have read reports of free jumpers between the heads when the water is warm

With so many bonito somethings got to be eating them - they are probably there from time to time

but if nobodys targeting them specifically they would be just a lucky by catch if you hooked it

on a outfit that could give you a chance

Jason

[jembro]

Don't worry Jembro - very believable.

One of the kayak fisherman hooked a Marlin at the Colours last year and they are often caught close in up at Long Reef. It makes sense that they would be in this close with the amount of pesty bonito that are around atm... but i'm surprised that they are this close given how cold the water is/has been.

Would have been a great sight i'm sure. Thanks for the report. Don't be surprised if there are now 00s of boats out at the colours trolling bonnies on heavy gear!!!

one thing i noticed was the water temp was over 21 degrees. maybe a warm current came in and that is why the marlin was in close. who knows? i probably should have put a bonito on a hook and trolled it .

[bunghead]

mate it's more likely to be a little black than blue with all the bait that's around should be more to see and catch.

Edited December 20, 2010 by bunghead

[sanger]

mate it's more likely to be a little black than blue with all the bait that's around should be more to see and catch.

I second that opinion.

I downrigged a live bonito round north head on friday with no luck but saw small sharks ( couldnt tell what they were) but more importantly saw flying fish, so if there is flying fish i would not be at all suprised to see marlin in there with them. Contrary to popular belief the cobalt blue water isnt always required for marlin and often the green stuff is where they will be hanging out... its more a case of where the food is and the fish will follow!

[jembro]

I second that opinion.

I downrigged a live bonito round north head on friday with no luck but saw small sharks ( couldnt tell what they were) but more importantly saw flying fish, so if there is flying fish i would not be at all suprised to see marlin in there with them. Contrary to popular belief the cobalt blue water isnt always required for marlin and often the green stuff is where they will be hanging out... its more a case of where the food is and the fish will follow!

You are probably correct. I just looked at pictures of a striped marlin on the web. Striped marlin also look to have a blueish tinge. I'm definately not an expert on marlin it for sure could have been a striped marlin. I know it had a bill and a blueish tinge. My wife had a better look and she said it definately had stripes on it.

[gummybusta]

You are probably correct. I just looked at pictures of a striped marlin on the web. Striped marlin also look to have a blueish tinge. I'm definately not an expert on marlin it for sure could have been a striped marlin. I know it had a bill and a blueish tinge. My wife had a better look and she said it definately had stripes on it.

yeh stripe marlin come in pretty close to shore and are often the ones that get mixed up with blues

however without seeing it i can put it pass being a black either that love hanging around bait fish and over reefs

my best guess but would be on a stripe marlin

but yeh aren't they just great to see

mate of mine had a stripe hit a knife jig while jigging up north hear last year

saw it do one good jump with the jig in it's mouth but broke the lightish leader

[pacemode]

I used to fish the rocks whem I was younger - I once had a very large black marlin hit a bonnie I spun up.

Then he had the ordasity to cruise straight past my feet 2 meters away from the rock ledge.

They are more common in close than people might be aware of. I have heard them crusing in Botany Bay

and in Sydney Harbour. Where there is plenty of food they will go.

My lesson from those days was to always carry a 15kg or 24kg stand up set up with me at all times. Never

saw one ever again though.

[issue]

I believe you too. I have seen a stripe harassing the salmon schools at the colours and have had a small black try to hook itself on a skirted lure inside North Head. So many bonito around that there has to be a good little black season this year.....please.

[On Strike]

I am sure there are a lot more marlin swimming along the close in coastline than most of us think. They will be where the bait is and when the water is right the marlin will come in real close. We hooked a Black of 70+kg at the colours last year on a live slimie after it was marked on the sounder stalking the kings we were chasing. Gave a great show for the people at the gap before busting us off. That same week two more were hooked at North Head and several more at Long Reef and off Avalon. It was a day or two before the guy on the kayak hooked one. Years ago we would hook them off the rocks at Watamolla and of course off JB rocks. Hey Jembro, you will have that memory forever and good to be able to share it with the wife. Guess you'll be getting some heavy gear for Christmas. Good Luck and Merry Christmas.

On Strike

[eagle ray]

I beleive you. I saw a small black of barrenjoey years ago. Blacks are often found around inshore reefs.