JonD Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) The plan today was to chase a few dolphin fish, which was going very slow and frustrating - the dollies were not wanting to play (in the end, three did). We found a big bait ball with some pretty hefty whaler sharks near the surface. Down deeper at around 110m, there looked to be some big fish hanging off the bait. My daughter soon had a bait jig down among the bait, successfully hooking into a string of mackerel. As she got the mackerel to the boat, a large striped marlin grabbed the lot, leaving her with nothing but roughed up line from the abrasive bill. I didn't have any heavy gear, so quickly cut a lure from a skirted rig, giving me a 1.5m 130lb trace (a little on the light side). Without a fresh live bait, she simply tossed out a large whole dead mackerel which was instantly taken. Allowing the fish to get the 8/0 mustad circle into the corner of its mouth, she flicked the bail arm over and allowed the fish to take up the strain. All hell broke lose as the fish leapt from the water, ripping off plenty of line from the big saragosa. The fight went from the surface to down deep, and kept heading further and further offshore. After a gruelling 2hrs -which she mostly spent on one leg, due to all the gear in the boat - we finally had a splendid striped marlin of 3.69m (longside) alongside the boat. After a few photos, the fish was released and we headed for home. A big congrats to Georgia; a fantastic effort, especially after ranking 8th (in her age category) in a major triathlon yesterday, where over 4000 crazy people swam, ran and biked for no reason other than all being mad. Edited February 18, 2018 by JonD 12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 What a champion effort! You go girl. cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluefin Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Amazing again JonD!!! Thank You. Howard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu-SP Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 That’s bloody fantastic!! Great work on the light set up and a cracking fish!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 (edited) Cheers for the comments, good to see her finally worn out, blistered up hand too. Edited February 18, 2018 by JonD 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berleyguts Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Solid fish! Well done! How good does that sea look?! Where was that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raging Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Holy moly. I caught a flathead once 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omally Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 That's mad... What sort of boat is it that yous are in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raging Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Were you worried with the pointy bit and the inflatable bit not being compatible? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welster Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 That’s awesome. Massive weekend for her. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 18 minutes ago, Berleyguts said: Solid fish! Well done! How good does that sea look?! Where was that? We went out of Narooma, conditions offshore were great but the bar was ugly keeping many boats land locked. 14 minutes ago, raging said: Were you worried with the pointy bit and the inflatable bit not being compatible? Even if all five chambers were to get puckered the hull will still float without them. The boat is awsome fun but the lack of room is getting to me a little, I'm for ever searching under the seat for the next rig. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chakka Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Wow what a fish. Awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 19 minutes ago, Omally said: That's mad... What sort of boat is it that yous are in It's a little zodiac with a 70hp Yam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berleyguts Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 I love Narooma! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Hi Jon Im putting myself up for adoption and was wondering if you have space at home for one more..... great report, great result ! I know you and your family are huge advocates for the environment. That good fishing karma must be just floating around you wherever you go!! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigma Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Well done to you and your daughter JonD....what a fantastic fish and never seen those seas so calm...Wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingie chaser Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Would have pulled that zodiak around like a bobby cork. Great fish ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackfish Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Congratulations on both the Triathlon and Marlin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickmarlin62 Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 big stripe jon nice work on the threadline...rick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvbigfish Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Amazing team effort guys a huge congrats to you both , where and what depth did you pick it up ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisholb Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 big congrats to both of you excellent team work just wondering how heavy was your mainline will that be some sort of record for a spin reel never seen a marlin caught on a spin reel before we always use 24kg tiagra combo chasing marlin and its mostly hard work when you hook a marlin so fighting one on a spin reel will be at least 5x harder i reckon what size was the spin reel sold my 12000sw saragosa combo recently this story made me want to buy another one lol very well done again to both of you excellent report 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankS Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 What an amazing young lady your daughter is Jon, a lifetime of wonderful achievements at such a young age, I was 22 before I caught my first Marlin and it wasn't for the lack of trying. Congratulations to both of you, what a proud moment she must keep giving you over and over again. Frank 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austwave Posted February 18, 2018 Share Posted February 18, 2018 Great work Georgia, Another great post Jon always a pleasure to read of your kids adventures 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 4 hours ago, fisholb said: big congrats to both of you excellent team work just wondering how heavy was your mainline will that be some sort of record for a spin reel never seen a marlin caught on a spin reel before we always use 24kg tiagra combo chasing marlin and its mostly hard work when you hook a marlin so fighting one on a spin reel will be at least 5x harder i reckon what size was the spin reel sold my 12000sw saragosa combo recently this story made me want to buy another one lol very well done again to both of you excellent report Shes caught a few on that 25000 saragosa and some pretty big bluefin on a 10000 gosa. I put a few metres of mamoi diamond mono 50lb against the spool ( mamoi 50 is closer to 80lb in reality ). Then using a pr knot I have 400m of ocea braid which I'm pretty certain was also about the 80lb which fills the spool to about 3/4. Using the same mamoi with another pr I then fill the spool top, this pretty much lets her go to almost full drag or at least 12-15kg. The mono and trace turned white after running through the guides under such pressure, so will need changing before the next challenge. The hardest thing is not having a low gear to drop down to which makes getting small amounts of line back slow going when the fish goes deep. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 5 hours ago, luvbigfish said: Amazing team effort guys a huge congrats to you both , where and what depth did you pick it up ? There are plenty of marlin right the way down the coast, even across the border. This one was straight off Narooma along the 140m line, this is where the lobster traps are layed and often dolphin fish off the trap buoys which we prefer to target. This depths seems to hold good amounts of bait, in saying that there is heaps of bait from just a few km out at the moment. The plan was to just motor at speed looking for fish trap buoys for dolphin fish. I spotted one seal which looked to be rather active and not just basking at the surface. As soon as we reached the seal the sounder showed bait from 40m to 110m with what looked like big arches hanging off the side. I love the way something as simple as one seagul can give the whole game away on where fish might be, in this case it was a seal. I often think people get to hooked up on the tec side of things like temp charts and depth contours and miss something as simple as one bird hanging around a spot in a vast ocean. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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