fishmaniac Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Where to start…. Like many keen fishermen it is a dream to one day land a marlin. For me this aspiration has been growing over the past two years as I have found myself spending more time finding powerful hard fighting fish (mainly kings). With the purchase of my bigger boat last year and building up my confidence offshore I made it a 2012 objective to land my first marlin out of my own boat on my terms as skipper. Having never fished on any marlin charters or on boats that have caught/targeted marlin I relied on internet research and the advice of some great blokes (you guys know who you are and I greatly appreciate your time with respect to discussing tactics). I have been fishing many of those days that would allow a 450 Topender to venture out in search of marlin and have come up without much luck. I tried trolling lures a fair bit but that was not really working for me. This weekend my luck turned and with great weather I managed two great days on the water. On the first day I had no luck on finding slimies but had some big yakkas. I found a patch of bait and some other blokes were working it. I spoke to them briefly and they had gone 2-2-1 using slimies. They were rather dismissive of my yakkas but that’s all I had!!! So down it went on my jigging outfit. This consisted of a Saltiga 60B rod, Saltist 40H and 80lb trace. Before I could set up my other outfit the reel started howling and I set the hooks. Within a minute a huge striped marlin was doing the old ‘windscreen wipers’ at the back of my boat. I kicked the engine into life and so the battle began. The fish was dictating terms for the first 2 hours and we got some great footage of the fish leaping time and time again trashing around violently pushing my gear to the limit. After 2 hours I managed to dictate terms a bit more and control the fish. At the 3hour 15 mark I was starting to hurt (I had no gimbal or harness here) and the fish was boat side. He poked his head out next to me, so close I would have been able to poke him with the tip of my rod. It was extraordinarily thick hence my estimate of 100kg+. Another half an hour passed as I tried to pull his head up enough to get a grab at his bill for that boatside shot. Keep in mind I only had 80lb trace so I was in no position to man-handle the fish up to me although he was only 2m away. We thought that to actually grab the fish it would probably mean that it would need to be almost dead. We decided it was not right to kill such a magnificent creature that had put me through the ringer. This was it, and it counted!!! If we had a tag pole we could have put 15 tags in!! So I locked up and popped the leader right near his mouth. The next day we managed a few slimies and yakkas. On the way out to where we had caught the fish the previous day we spotted a marlin tailing along the surface. I watched as he coasted down the face of a wave and positioned the boat about 100m ahead of the fish’s line. I rigged up a slimie on my heaviest jig outfit (56B saltiga rod, 6500 Catalina and 200lb trace). When I dropped the bait over a stripy rushed in for a look and the bait went down deep. A minute later the bait was taken and up popped a small black marlin around 60-70kg. This fish put on some great displays, not as many jumps as the previous days fish but it got some serious air!!!! My girlfriend got some great snaps of the fish in action. After 45 minutes which included some great driving off the fish from my girlfriend to plane him up, the fish was boat side. This time I was confident to pull the fish up on the 200lb trace and so I had a beautiful fish right next to me. The power, size and beauty of this fish was something I will never forget, in fact I’m still coming to terms with it! Unsure of how I was going to hold its bill with a towel having forgot my gloves, I decided to lip gaff the fish and use this as my primary point of hold. Out came the circle hook and after some boatside photos and a swim we sent this great fish back to terrorise some bait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew399 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 WOW! Thats awesome man! Was a really good read and good pics. Congratulations, you take small trailer boat fishing to the extremes! How far offshore were you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodgey Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 :thumbup: Congratulations on a fantastic fish! A great report matched with some excellent photos. Well done! Cheers Hodgey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhype Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 (edited) Amazing story, effort and fish .... you have just achieved what every fisherman dreams of - a marlin on your on boat Even more amazing is that you did it on a 4.5m boat and kingfish gear - I bet you are still smiling till today (and in your sleep too)! Congrats again! Trung Edited February 13, 2012 by dhype Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raysenior Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Well done great effort , love it when a plan comes together. cheers snr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brickman Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 well done mate 2 x marlin in 2 days does it get any better i think not we realy need to start a new forum on fishraider called trailer boat gamefishing great read and top pics again well done cheers gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Well Done. I have the same goal this year, just need to get out! Awesome report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quintrex480 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 that's an awesome effort mate, I have read all your kingfish post from the past and they have all been inspirational and I have learnt a lot from them but this one definitely takes the cake, well done and well deserved!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Well done Andrerw, you put in the hard yards and got two well desrved fish there, congratulation cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmak Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Congratulations mate. That's the ultimate angling achievement from a boat that size. Bet you're still smiling Great that you had your girlfriend on board as well - makes for a great memory both of you will share forever!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongrass18ft Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Where to start…. Like many keen fishermen it is a dream to one day land a marlin. For me this aspiration has been growing over the past two years as I have found myself spending more time finding powerful hard fighting fish (mainly kings). With the purchase of my bigger boat last year and building up my confidence offshore I made it a 2012 objective to land my first marlin out of my own boat on my terms as skipper. Having never fished on any marlin charters or on boats that have caught/targeted marlin I relied on internet research and the advice of some great blokes (you guys know who you are and I greatly appreciate your time with respect to discussing tactics). I have been fishing many of those days that would allow a 450 Topender to venture out in search of marlin and have come up without much luck. I tried trolling lures a fair bit but that was not really working for me. This weekend my luck turned and with great weather I managed two great days on the water. On the first day I had no luck on finding slimies but had some big yakkas. I found a patch of bait and some other blokes were working it. I spoke to them briefly and they had gone 2-2-1 using slimies. They were rather dismissive of my yakkas but that’s all I had!!! So down it went on my jigging outfit. This consisted of a Saltiga 60B rod, Saltist 40H and 80lb trace. Before I could set up my other outfit the reel started howling and I set the hooks. Within a minute a huge striped marlin was doing the old ‘windscreen wipers’ at the back of my boat. I kicked the engine into life and so the battle began. The fish was dictating terms for the first 2 hours and we got some great footage of the fish leaping time and time again trashing around violently pushing my gear to the limit. After 2 hours I managed to dictate terms a bit more and control the fish. At the 3hour 15 mark I was starting to hurt (I had no gimbal or harness here) and the fish was boat side. He poked his head out next to me, so close I would have been able to poke him with the tip of my rod. It was extraordinarily thick hence my estimate of 100kg+. Another half an hour passed as I tried to pull his head up enough to get a grab at his bill for that boatside shot. Keep in mind I only had 80lb trace so I was in no position to man-handle the fish up to me although he was only 2m away. We thought that to actually grab the fish it would probably mean that it would need to be almost dead. We decided it was not right to kill such a magnificent creature that had put me through the ringer. This was it, and it counted!!! If we had a tag pole we could have put 15 tags in!! So I locked up and popped the leader right near his mouth. The next day we managed a few slimies and yakkas. On the way out to where we had caught the fish the previous day we spotted a marlin tailing along the surface. I watched as he coasted down the face of a wave and positioned the boat about 100m ahead of the fish’s line. I rigged up a slimie on my heaviest jig outfit (56B saltiga rod, 6500 Catalina and 200lb trace). When I dropped the bait over a stripy rushed in for a look and the bait went down deep. A minute later the bait was taken and up popped a small black marlin around 60-70kg. This fish put on some great displays, not as many jumps as the previous days fish but it got some serious air!!!! My girlfriend got some great snaps of the fish in action. After 45 minutes which included some great driving off the fish from my girlfriend to plane him up, the fish was boat side. This time I was confident to pull the fish up on the 200lb trace and so I had a beautiful fish right next to me. The power, size and beauty of this fish was something I will never forget, in fact I’m still coming to terms with it! Unsure of how I was going to hold its bill with a towel having forgot my gloves, I decided to lip gaff the fish and use this as my primary point of hold. Out came the circle hook and after some boatside photos and a swim we sent this great fish back to terrorise some bait. Great to see your dreams come true.Putting in the hard yards surely paid off , WELL DONE to you and the crew. Outstanding efforts Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Squidy Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Congratulations mate, any numpty can fork out the cash and get one via a chater boat, figuring it all out for yourself and catching one as skipper from your own boat has gotta mean so much more so well done Cheers, Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAITORS Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Mate that's an incredible effort,you picked the conditions you found the bait and you acheived two magnificent fish,so what's next on the agenda !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancin Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Awesome report mate. Inspirational. Better update your signature for the PB's!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayerOne Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Great read & awesome photos mate! Marlin out of a 4.5trailer boat is just fantastic! It's pretty much the pinnacle of fishing....you may as well give it all away now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dangas Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Congratulations Andrew, thats just sensational to catch it out of your own boat and to do it in a 450 Topender too !! thats just insane. In typical Fishmaniac fashion when you do something you always do it BIG, and landing 2 from 2 on jigging gear is big. Edited February 14, 2012 by Dangas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keflapod Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Hey Fishmaniac, I reckon your biggest achievement here is that you got your GIRLFRIEND on your boat to fish with you AND managed to get her to DRIVE THE BOAT off the fish successfully ! How the hell any man can achieve that is beyond me ! You must have the looks of Brad Pitt, the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the money of Alan Bond and the gab of Shane Warne (and maybe hung like a horse) to get a woman to do that. Well done on a successful tag team operation. By the way, nice marlin on kingy gear... Tony Edited February 14, 2012 by Keflapod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onearmedfisho Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well done mate, you said you were after your first a while back as to not too many reports of big Hoodlums. Congratulations... top effort Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughsnews Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Congrats mate- a 3 hour fight is insane.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibo07 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 great read and amazing fish mate congrats on the top catch!! :thumbup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zdenk01 Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well done, mate persistance pays off, all the more special on your own gear/boat. cheers zed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The President Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Congratulations on an amazing achievement, not only did you get the dream fish on your terms but achieved it again the next day this time you were a little better prepared. The bait and marlin must of been holding there. Just out of curiosity - roughly where and what temp was the whater. Many boats I know fished this weekend without much success on marlin. Water was green and 21 at 12 mile early Sunday and out wide at Browns was 23.8with lots of birds working the area. Many boats followed and worked around the birds for zip. Much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winki Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Hey Andrew that's great stuff..that fish boat side looks like a pretty decent fish, if the stripe was bigger it must have been a cracker.... I,ll let you know how I go in the next few days, the guys reckon a few long liners came into the marlin grounds last night and smashed them hope their are still a few fish getting round, see what happens! I know it will be better than work Cheers Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidboy Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Fish of the month. Great Catch of a lifetime I know the effort you went into for this, and it was surely worth it. Congratulations to you and your skipper. Squidboy and Squidgirl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmaniac Posted February 14, 2012 Author Share Posted February 14, 2012 Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!!! I was fishing about 20-25km offshore a bit south from Sydney. The water was 23.6 on the first day and 23.2 on the second day. There were plenty of birds working the area throughout the day. Matt, sad to hear about the longliners but I hope you get onto a few anyways! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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