Billy2014 Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Sunday off Sydney was the sort of day I dream about. Calm seas, we just couldn't do a thing wrong other than one minor issue, fail too stay connected with the fish for any period of time. We had stripes and blacks of all sizes keeping us on our toes. As exciting as it was, it was also equally as frustrating not being able to get a fish boat side. We raised 6 fish in total and one of them stayed connected long enough to see it launch clean out of the water close to the boat. At one stage I was standing on the ice box, looking down over the canopy, a large shadow was lurking under the short rigger. I ask my mate to increase the boat speed, the shadow got excited, it darted across the spread and proceeded to destroy the long rigger lure repeatedly! No photos this time though unfortunately but a very enjoyable day for all of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brickman Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 well you did better than us we went o/o/o and over 120km but thats game fishing there were a few blacks caught in the bill haywood bash and many dollys but for us zip cheers gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy2014 Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 well you did better than us we went o/o/o and over 120km but thats game fishing there were a few blacks caught in the bill haywood bash and many dollys but for us zip cheers gary Hi Gary, I'm guessing the fish were concentrated in certain areas and not necessarily in the really warm currents coming through right now, we struggled to find any decent water for hours, we did about 180km. There were reports of dollies but we only saw them getting harassed by marlin, didn't catch any. Yes, that's game fishing alright! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
australianslug Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 3-3-0 for us yesterday so can relate! Fishing with two other boats east of barrenjoey who went 3-3-3 and 1-1-1 respectively. Watched a good sized stripe charge into the spread and smack the long corner then bolt for the horizon jumping and going crazy. It did another 5 or 6 jumps after the hooks pulled and was great to watch. Bringing the lure back to the boat another fish charged the spread only to hit the same lure. A mate was physically holding the rod and basically fed the lure into its mouth when it hit. It looked like a bloody good strike and it too took off like the clappers. The hook then pulled.........and we were a little bewildered as to why. We bough the lure in only to find the pointy barb of the hook had been bent over meaning it was near impossible for the hook to set into anything let along a beast of the sea. We figured the first fish had caused the damage. As for the conditions (and the timing) it couldn't have been much better. Happy Australia Day everyone. (Ps we got our first marlin on Thursday -a nice stripe so there's still a bit of buzz in the air!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batfishing Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 We mirrored you Gary, as did many Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy2014 Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 Wow! It's good to know I can share some frustration but it's rewarding enough just seeing these amazing fish come to the boat, heat seeking missiles they are! Catching one is just icing on the cake. I'm going to pay a little more attention to hooks, the last fish we landed was only barely hooked so some fine tuning it's required I'm sure. Happy Australia day everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brickman Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 billy for the rest off the year were skipping gars or slow trolling live small macs hope this works cheers gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croydon Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hi Billy, You're obviously doing a lot of things right to raise that many fish. If using lures, make sure the hooks are razor sharp and perhaps gun the boat a bit harder on hook up to try and set the hook. With lures I reckon I drop 7 out of ten. But if you really want to increase the hook up rate, try switch baiting, skip baits or livies, with circle hooks. Seven times out of ten, the hooks will pin them in the jaw and usually stay connected. I'm no expert, just what I've found over the past few years. Hope you stay connected to the next few. Good luck............... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy2014 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 billy for the rest off the year were skipping gars or slow trolling live small macs hope this works cheers gary I am considering just that right now, I haven't fished seriously for over 15 years since I sold my old boat but I came across some pre-rigged live bait rigs, probably rigged by me 18 years ago. Keen to have a go when the bait presents itself, agree, skip baiting is another great option and you can cover a lot more ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy2014 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Hi Billy, You're obviously doing a lot of things right to raise that many fish. If using lures, make sure the hooks are razor sharp and perhaps gun the boat a bit harder on hook up to try and set the hook. With lures I reckon I drop 7 out of ten. But if you really want to increase the hook up rate, try switch baiting, skip baits or livies, with circle hooks. Seven times out of ten, the hooks will pin them in the jaw and usually stay connected. I'm no expert, just what I've found over the past few years. Hope you stay connected to the next few. Good luck............... Dave All good points Dave. I am looking at my setup, amount of slack once the rubber band breaks on the riggers, how we gun the boat during a hit and also the type of hook and how they are sharpened. I had some further advice and that was to also make sure the leaders are no more than 8ft long. Switch baiting really does sound like fun and I am keen to try it, dropping 7 out of 10 on lures is still considered pretty good! We got lucky yesterday, right place at the right time, we persisted in the same areas and saw boats come and go but it took us until 10:30am to find any fish so we had to work pretty hard to get there, helped along with some serious luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croydon Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Sounds like more thank luck, you guys are having a go in the right areas at the right times and most of all putting in the hours. Good luck and hope you get a few. Cheers........ Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickybeak Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Just one of those days Billy we've all had them just makes you hungrier keep at it mate Stickybeak Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy2014 Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Cheers guys, marlin fever has definitely hit. If you tend to suffer from sea sickness like I do then sometimes waiting for the right days can take a while too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
issue Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Striped marlin can be such frustrating things to get on lures. They tend to come up behind the lure and try eating it while swimming directly towards the boat. This makes it very hard to pin them in the corner of the mouth. They have a real tweezer style of feeding which is why you get 10ft of drag pulled then nothing. I recommend using tag lines on your riggers to prevent that slack line from when the rubber band breaks as you say. Switch baiting is a very exciting way to fish but you need everyone on the same page, watching the lures/teasers all day and ready to pitch the bait. Surprising how many people lose interest in hookless lures after an hour without raising a fish. It is my favourite way to do it but you need the right people to pull it off. Blacks know how to eat a lure so you can normally count on them to hook themselves more often. Learning how to rig skip baits is worth the effort too as you can troll them much slower making the ride more comfortable for guests. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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