Marlin01 Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 (edited) Just finished the family holiday thing and still had a few days leave left. Did a few quick jobs round the house to top up the brownie points. Weather looks good so operation quick trip to South West Rocks is go!Day one an old mate who lives locally comes for a run ( he is also one of the better fishermen I know and has fished here for over twenty years- always handy). Out and catching bait at 0545, secured a dozen or so slimies and north we go. The water on the inner grounds was brown and cold so out to the middle grounds. No boats, always a bad sign. Water here was green but warmer at 23.4deg so we throw a couple of lives in and start looking around. Ten minutes in and first bite, typical smoking mackeral bite, runs 80m off in 5 seconds then nothing. Single strand comes back kinked and broken half way up the trace, DOH.No further activity and didn't mark much bait so troll out to the wider grounds half way between the two and next customer takes four swipes at the livie, pick the revs up a little and got him on. Nice quick run and wind him back only to have the hooks fall out 4m under the boat. No more action for the day.Day two and fishing solo, bait was easier to catch so north again and straight to the middle grounds, had a few other boats around today. Baits out and had a bite after 15 min, missed the hooks (all three of them) baits back out and 10 mins after bite no.2 and this one has read the script properly, good hookup 100m run and then back to the boat after a bit of a tussle, layed along side obligingly for the gaff. Iki Jimied and bled.Baits back out for a terrific pair of surface strikes both of which were behind the hooks again. Fresh baits out and the mackeral on ice. 20min later another surface hit which looked a little strange. A slow take and then he starts jumping and windscreen wiping all over the place, a long bill mackeral this time ( you probably call them black marlin). The little fella put on a great show for fifteen minutes before coming boatside, with my lack of fillets his fate was sewn and onboard he came. That was the end of the tide and correspondingly the end of the action for the day. Nice early finish, clean the fish and the boat and then on to a few frosty ones. Certainly is a hard spot to leave the only consolation is knowing I'll be back soon!Cheers Marlin Edited February 4, 2014 by Marlin01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 Nice work mate! Swr is on my hit list. I hear so many good reports like yours coming from there, it's only a matter if time before I get up there! Thanks for sharing! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Ray Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 How far wide do you need to go to chase Mackeral and Marlin off SWR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlin01 Posted February 2, 2014 Author Share Posted February 2, 2014 You can target marlin virtually straight off the gaol wall when the water is blue but normally out near Jims Hole is a starting point which is still only a couple of k's off the bar. Mackeral are normally targeted narth at Grassy headland some 9k's north and often caught in 10-20m which is fairly closed to shore, around 1-3kms offshore. See a lot of tiller steer tinnies up there as its also a pretty well sheltered bay to get there. Probably the closest grounds that fairly consistently produce marlin in NSW. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlin01 Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Coupla pictures added Marlin01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelguyau Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 How did you find the bar......Its always scared me, hence I havent been there for years. Did you head out from the main river or the back creek. Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlin01 Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 I walked across back creek and barely got my ankles wet. I dont think anyone is heading out from there at present (if they are theyre on a jet ski/boat). River was pretty good, Im only in a 14ft boat and it was an easy crossing both ways, stay clear of the bottom of the tide with any swell. Its always a lot easier to get in than out, just grab the back of a wave and stay with it without going over the top. The trip out was pretty good on the top half of the making tide. I must say however the bar there is getting to be very long again (that is from the end of the wall to the end of the wave break section is probably back to 350-400m at least). I have seen it over 700m and it was a bit harder to cross when breaking. All in all avoid the bottom of the tide with any sizable swell especially with a NE breeze if possible. Well worth the efforts as the fishing is great and Coffs ramp looks a bit like back creek at present. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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