Brendan Monks Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Managed to get out a few times over the break – Just need to catch up on reports! 🙄 We had heard a few reports slowly filtering in of early season Marlin coming through earlier in the month, although we held off until we were confident we’d be on. We made a last minute call to fish the Sunday on a mate’s boat as the weather looked like it had slightly improved. 🤞 As we were filling up there was a slight breeze and rain overhead but the conditions out wide were meant to be okay, as we ran across Lake Macquarie for the 6:00am bridge the wind was already pumping from the Southeast. Poking the nose of the ‘Silver Fox’ out past Moon Island we had the worst run out to the FAD line and almost turned around calling it a day. It was over a 2 hour run out in atrocious conditions to the Middle Canyons, this area always seems to hold fish and the plan was to troll a spread of 5 lures north towards the ‘Carpark’. I had guessed the exact number between 1 and 10, so I was on strike for the first 2 hours! Luckily the swell and wind gradually dropped as the skipper was about to come in 30 minutes into trolling. Another mate was on the wheel, and I advised him it would be best to pull the lures wide around a coal ship that was drifting (We have previously hooked Marlin off the back of these). As we approached the ship the shotgun lure went off, it was only a Striped Tuna but at least we know knew we were in the zone! No sooner than we were past the ship, long corner was crashed by a Striped Marlin. Yeewww. We quickly realized there was at least another 2 Marlin trying to take other lures, both hooking up for a few seconds, and another following the witchdoctor teaser, bill-whacking it all the way to the back of the boat (We found out at the end of the day it had in fact cracked the mirrors in some places it was hitting it that aggressive!) We quickly cleared the rest of the spread and focused on the one fish that had stayed connected from the start. The fish played up nicely, jumping quite a lot at the start and we had it boatside after a short 30/35 minute fight. Sadly it had become tail wrapped and could not be revived after trying to swim it for up to 20 minutes. Luckily we had a large fish bag on board and dealt with it humanely – Not to be wasted! Lures were quickly put back into the water and we continued working the general area, not much eventuated until the afternoon when we quickly hooked (And quickly dropped) another Striped Marlin. With another 2 hour run back to Swansea channel to make the bridge opening we decided to call it a day. We ended up going 4-2-1 on Striped Marlin, the one that couldn’t be released estimated around 60kg and shared around to family and friends. Awesome way to start the 20/21 Marlin season and the first time I've witnessed a pack attack! Cheers, Brendo 15 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingie chaser Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 (edited) Great post Brendan, sounds like there was a lot of excitement & action. Shame about the one that wasnt able to be released but that's fishing & as long as it's gone to good use that's the main thing. Just don't eat to much though, I'm sure you know why. Thanks for sharing the trip Edited January 5, 2021 by kingie chaser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 6 minutes ago, kingie chaser said: Great post Brendan, sounds like there was a lot of excitement & action. Shame about the one that wasnt able to be released but that's fishing & as long as it's gone to good use that's the main thing. Just don't eat to much though, I'm sure you know why. Thanks for sharing the trip Cheers @kingie chaser Yeah thats it, I only kept a plates worth for my family 👍 Not a real fan of the taste though, and definitely wouldn't go out of my way to keep one on purpose! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Well done. Super report and Great photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Great report and interesting read! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 1 hour ago, James Clain said: Great report and interesting read! 1 hour ago, Rebel said: Well done. Super report and Great photos. Thanks guys! 🤙 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Good work on finding the marlin. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmad Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Nice work and great looking boat too! Always nice when persistence pays off! What brand of boat is that? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 11 hours ago, fishmad said: Nice work and great looking boat too! Always nice when persistence pays off! What brand of boat is that? Thanks mate! It's a 2660 Sailfish WAC from memory. 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Top job, top effort and top report Brendan. I think it was you that posted - you gotta do the miles to get the smiles. So true! cheers Zoran 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 Awesome report Brendan, nice to see a marlin post and such a great story to go with it! Nice rig too:) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 19 hours ago, Yowie said: Good work on finding the marlin. 1 hour ago, jenno64 said: Awesome report Brendan, nice to see a marlin post and such a great story to go with it! Nice rig too:) Cheers 🤙 3 hours ago, zmk1962 said: Top job, top effort and top report Brendan. I think it was you that posted - you gotta do the miles to get the smiles. So true! cheers Zoran Thank Zoran! haha, yeah I think that report was of our Bluefin Tuna trip down to Jervis Bay! That's it, you won't catch them at home 😁 Kept the theory alive when we managed to land 3 Black Marlin from a recent trip where we travelled to Port Macquarie for the day! (Report to come). 🥳 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 A great report - interesting how we are often rewarded when following through on the game plan, when comfort would suggest to pull the plug. A great report and pics - well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 nothing wrong with knocking one on the head , once they are tailwrapped they do tend to run out of puff really quickly , had one at the boat nearly dead inside ten minutes a couple of years ago-once we towed it around for a while it revived but im guessing if the fight went another few minutes it would of been all over for the fish. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted January 6, 2021 Author Share Posted January 6, 2021 12 hours ago, Pickles said: A great report - interesting how we are often rewarded when following through on the game plan, when comfort would suggest to pull the plug. A great report and pics - well done Thanks Pickles! Yeah, that's it. Confidence levels were still high though that we'd get one! 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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