Marlin 7/2/15

[njsconst]

Went out early on Saturday leaving the Port Botany ramp at 5am. As expected the ramp was pretty busy due to the recent good reports of warm water, fish and calm weather.

Heading out through the heads we were greeted by some pretty large swells rolling in and sloppy conditions, but the forecast was for the swell to drop by mid morning.

Only a couple of KMs out of the heads we were greeted by cobalt blue water pushing 24+ degrees. Things were looking good.

Went to the close FAD of Botany Bay first and there was only two boats there working it. After about 10minutes I looked west and could see a steady stream of boats making their way to the FAD.

It was about to get awfully busy very quickly. Wanting to escape the crowds we left and pushed onto the Botany Bay wide FAD. Using soft plastics (6" Squidgy wrigglers) we quickly bagged 3 legal dollies. That was enough for a feed (as I don't like freezing them) so we commenced trolling NE in 25-26'C water with a spread of 5 skirts and teasers.

We covered some ground and the boys on board appeared to be loosing hope. I made the call that either side of the tide change I would expect the fish to come on the bite. Sure enough at 10:30am the shot gun screams into life. I reached for the rod which was mounted up high in the rocket launcher and set the hook. Next minute a good size marlin launches out of the water about 100mts out the back. As the crew cleared the deck it peels off another couple of hundred metres of line whilst launching numerous times and violently shacking its head around. I was pretty confident that we had a solid hook up as the previous week I had hooked up on a smaller fish only to have it throw the hooks when shaking its head.

After about 20 minutes we had the fish boat side thinking the fight was nearly over, when it has burst into life and launched itself out of the water crashing into the gunnel of the boat in front of the cabin. After another 10-15 minutes we finally have it boat side and take hold of the bill. Grab a few photos. Unfortunately the fish did not recover well and survival was not looking good after about 5 minutes of swimming the fish.

We made the call to capture the fish. This is the first marlin I have ever taken as I am a firm supporter of C&R.

None of the fish was wasted as it was shared amongst no less then 6 families.

Trolled around for a few more hours and then back towards Botany Bay. When about 2NM from the heads we came across a free swimming marlin but it was not interested in our lures.

The whole thing was captured on a Go Pro with some unreal underwater footage of the fish all lit up (I'll try to upload some soon).

For those interested the position of the strike was S33'59.179 E151'31.579 - due east of the 12 mile in 100 fathoms.

One of the boys on the boat reckons it is a stripe marlin but I am pretty confident its a blue Marlin. When it was in the water it was electric blue running down its sides. Any thoughts????

Edited February 9, 2015 by njsconst

[chrisborg86]

Money's on striped mate - tall dorsal fin and long bottom jaw the giveaway for me

[brickman]

well done on the stripe you will now be hooked on game fishing welcome to your new addiction cheers gary

[njsconst]

Gary

Don't worry I've been hooked for years. Its one thing to catch a marlin from a charter boat.

But landing one from your own boat gives me a real buzz.

Nathan

[SEAFEARER]

Job well done, good pic of you holding up fish, how'd you get another boatie over to take it for you

[erroll]

very nice work there mate, congrats.