Baby Karlos Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Two Sundays ago we got up early, headed straight out to Sydney FAD and started trolling right on sunrise. Before we could get our second lure in the spread out a dollie was on. The fish we talking anything and within the first hour we had landed to 6 legal dollies and three 70cm+ stripey tuna. Then the fish just went quiet for a couple of hours even though bait continued to bubble on the surface in every direction.We moved on from the FAD and headed north and shortly after found a 3km area where the tuna were going nuts. Double hook-ups, triple hook-ups, quadruple hook-ups and it didn't stop. For six straight hours we just reeled in tuna after tuna after tuna. Ended up landing 32 stripies (averaging 65 - 75cm), 8 dollies (ranging from 55 - 70cm) and two yellowfin tuna (68cm and 72cm) - kept a handful and threw the rest back to get bigger for next time.When we thought our dream day couldn't get any better - we were wrong. Just as we started to call it a day and head back towards the heads a big dorsal fin popped up right behind our spread. Was a nice 2m+ striped marlin - spent the best part of a minute checking out the short corner and rigger before finally smashing our shotgun lure. The fish managed to take over 300m of line as we quickly pulled in the rest of our gear. We fought the fish for a few minutes but unfortunately it managed to spit the lure on its second jump. While we didn't land him it was still an awesome way to end our best day ever off Sydney.Was looking forward to heading out on Saturday to test some new gear but it's looking like I'm probably better off going big wave surfing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 A day to be treasured. Well done guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simda Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Sounds amazing Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandit Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Nice work mate, did you eat that stripe Tuna? Looks like he's in the kitchen ready to be prepared Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Karlos Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 Yep both sashimi style and seared - yellowfin was the hands down winner though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasksta Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Awesome! What lures did the damage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Karlos Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 We were using pakulas and tuna jets Really didn't matter what colour we were running that day - were consistantly hitting lumos, pinks, blues and crystals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasksta Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Thanks, ill be investing in some pakulas before the easter break Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stash Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Awesome report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave G Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Great to see the yellow fin too mate. Awesome catch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erroll Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Well done there BK, I didnt realise you were a chef too! Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Great fishing! one of those offshore days to be treasured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oziodin Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Just Magic ! Cheers Oziodin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefisherman6784 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Great job mate and great feed Bad luck on da marlin though Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 well done mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Karlos Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hadn't had a chance to get out since our dream day earlier in the month so we made the most of the good weather and took Thursday off work to have one last crack at the Marlin this season. We got up at sparrows and headed out to the FAD with a plan to replicate our last trip. We were unfortunately greeted with cold, green water that had floating chunks of weed and rubbish all through it so we quickly pulled in our spread, changed our game plan and started heading to the shelf. On the way out we managed to find an awesome current line at the 120m mark - water turned to a deep blue with the temp spiking from 22.5 degrees to 23.7 degrees and quickly falling away again. That was a no brainer so we turned around, put the spread back out and started trolling. Within minutes we had a triple hookup on good sized dollies (73cm, 76cm and 89cm). By midday we had managed to land 22 dollies, four 65cm+ striped tuna and three monster bonitos but no sign of a Marlin. Thought we needed some positive karma to attract the big fish so I strapped on the stand-up harness and stood out on the deck in anticipation. Call me superstitious but ten minutes later that dorsal fin we had been looking for appeared from the depths, had a look at our long corner lure and smashed it - happy days had taken my heaviest gear (80W with over 1000m of 80lb mono). Kept the boat on autopilot and quickly started to wind in the other lines but within 20 seconds he was off! At lightning speed we reset the spread and started looping the area. Two minutes later another marlin started to stalk our shotgun lure and then finally after a few cracks at it he nailed it. Of course the fish that sticks was on the lightest gear (Penn with only 350m of 50lb braid). We ripped in the other lines and then strapped myself in to try and win back some line - we were down to the last 100m by this stage. Ultimately had to turn the boat to chase the fish to avoid being spooled and just as we did he launched into the air, found a tiny bit of slack and spat the lure. Worked the area for another 30 minutes but they were onto us and had moved on.Only way I could think of heeling those wounds was to head to long reef and bottom bash for some kings before calling it a day. Managed to land a couple of nice 75cm kingies which put the smiles back on our faces pretty quickly.While we didn't land the marlin we were desperately after it was still a cracking day on the water. Hopefully the warm water sticks around for a bit longer so we can have another crack at it.Will put up some underwater videos we got of fish hitting lures later in the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Awesome awesome awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VViCKiD Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 hey guys, dumb question, but what speed to u guys troll at ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomBillfish Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Nice fish, do u eat the stripped tuna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simda Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Too good, great report Did you use the stripe for bottom bashing king bait? Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Karlos Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 hey guys, dumb question, but what speed to u guys troll at ? I usually troll at 6 - 8 knots depending on the lures and conditions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Karlos Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Nice fish, do u eat the stripped tuna Yep - usually marinade and sear the steaks for a minute on each side Also use as bait for kings, jewies, snapper and baitfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Karlos Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 Too good, great reportDid you use the stripe for bottom bashing king bait?Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk Used some of the tuna to burley up and yakkas as bait Got one on a soft plastic also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Karlos Posted May 4, 2014 Author Share Posted May 4, 2014 (edited) Attached are a couple of underwater videos of the big dollie examining the spread / smashing the long rigger and a stripy tuna nailing the shotgun from the depths Dollie Tuna Still working on this camera setup so quality isn't great Edited May 4, 2014 by Baby Karlos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VViCKiD Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Thx karlos... Nice vids! Do u use the videos to monitor what's going on with the lures or r they just for ur own entertainment later ? Ps. Sorry about the questions. But I'm a real noob when it comes to game fishing 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