JonD Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Apologies for not posting for a while, have to admit my computer is getting old and trying to post using my phone usually ends badly!!!!! So after the crazy long tuna season run where fish were quite literally being caught in 10m of water and even from headlands it seems the marlin season is much the same. We had been having a run of small kings in the 55-62cm for so long that now that some bigger ones are here we've almost forgotten how to pull them in!!!!!... The small ones were even in water shallower than 10m and so were striped marlin, bronzies and hammerheads. Dropping down to light gear to have fun on the small kings often meant a marlin or shark would soon home in on the action, which could be seen right under the boat. While small kings have been abundant offshore, friends have been shooting bigger kings to 120cm around the headlands inshore, in saying that we've had crazy amounts of sharks about inshore, including great whites. Dolphin fish were going crazy before the rain but now the fish trap floats have been brought in the fish are proving harder to find. Marlin were going pretty crazy last time I headed out. First bait I stopped on just inside the shelf had two good sized fish showing on the sounder at 120m deep. Dragging up a string of slimies from down deep brought two marlin straight up the surface following the bait, which they instantly turned their interest into two live baits we had just put out. Both hooked up with one fighting on the surface and the other down deep. We had a young lad onboard on his 13th birthday who happened to take the deep fighting fish and had an epic battle where we would almost trace the leader only to have the fish race back to the bottom over and over again!!!!. The surface fish was a 10min wonder but the youngsters fish carried on for around 40 mins. Not sure on survival rates when marlin when they tear their stomach linings but we decided to keep it as the circle had hooked and torn a hole about 10ins long. Marlin is surprisingly good to eat, better than tuna in my opinion an the fish was shared among several families. My daughter has been running charters, mostly two reef trips per day and doing well on most species (over 40 snapper yesterday😕). She's had a fair few mako over the last few weeks which have mostly been taken using snapper gear, she even had a catch and release tiger shark just before the rain. 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hornet Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Good to see you back on Raider and catching a few. Its certainly been a strange season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Thanks for the report Jon. That boy must have been very excited to see the marlin! I remember the same battle where after winding for a long time and almost to the boat zzzzzzzzz off it went. Repeating that over and over is very tiring isn’t it. Glad to hear your daughter is doing well on the charters. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 16, 2022 Author Share Posted March 16, 2022 14 minutes ago, mrsswordfisherman said: Thanks for the report Jon. That boy must have been very excited to see the marlin! I remember the same battle where after winding for a long time and almost to the boat zzzzzzzzz off it went. Repeating that over and over is very tiring isn’t it. Glad to hear your daughter is doing well on the charters. To be honest the young lad is as addicted as I was when I was his age, he even has his own boat that he takes to the seamounts!!!...The week before he had bigger marlin on a 4000 spin reel which was released after an hour battle. He also deckies for my daughter when he's not at school or in his own boat. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 16, 2022 Author Share Posted March 16, 2022 26 minutes ago, Green Hornet said: Good to see you back on Raider and catching a few. Its certainly been a strange season. Actually on my back at the moment with a disk that keeps popping out of line!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Good to see a report at long last. Hopefully the back improves quickly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Lovely report mate and some really nice fishing by the sounds of it. Well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smobaby Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Top report and photos as usual sounds like it's going off down south. Look after your back it an make life very miserable. Hopefully your on the mend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Exhausting stuff Jon - magnificent effort and a great report, great to read your report after a break. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hornet Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 15 hours ago, JonD said: Actually on my back at the moment with a disk that keeps popping out of line!!!! I'm no stranger to back pain myself. Take care and get well soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Great report. Well done. Super photos. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordoRetired Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Many years ago we kept a 70kg Marlin as it qualified for first Marlin capture for the season when I fished with Port Hacking GFC. Like you we shared the steaks around. Cooked up on the barbi they were absolutely delicious. Not sure I would want to be eating off a bigger fish, mercury and all that, but the smaller ones are very tasty. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 27 minutes ago, GordoRetired said: Many years ago we kept a 70kg Marlin as it qualified for first Marlin capture for the season when I fished with Port Hacking GFC. Like you we shared the steaks around. Cooked up on the barbi they were absolutely delicious. Not sure I would want to be eating off a bigger fish, mercury and all that, but the smaller ones are very tasty. 🙂 I have looked into the heavy metals in some of these fish but the fact they are extremely fast growing makes them not as bad as people think, especially compared with the likes of barramundi and even crabs etc. Unfortunately just about all the food we eat has some sort of health issue around it when you start digging deeply into the research side of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Excellent post, catchup and pictures Jon ... some really exciting stuff mentioned. 👍 🤙 the south is really going off. Eating wise, I understood the recommendation for an average sized person was to limit consumption of apex predators (marlin, sharks, tuna ..etc) to 200-300g per week. So being generous with the neighbours, family and friends is always a good move. BTW, if you want to include me in that circle just let me know and I'll PM you may address for postage 😇 😬 Cheers Zoran PS - commiserations with the back .. been there and appreciate what you are going through. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Well worth waiting for that report and photos Jon. I hope your back comes good and you can get back to doing the things that you like. Cheers, bn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Well done 👍 beautiful fish! what area you fishing out of? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 28 minutes ago, Larkin said: Well done 👍 beautiful fish! what area you fishing out of? Im down at Narooma, fishing Montague island and the shelf. 4 hours ago, zmk1962 said: Excellent post, catchup and pictures Jon ... some really exciting stuff mentioned. 👍 🤙 the south is really going off. Eating wise, I understood the recommendation for an average sized person was to limit consumption of apex predators (marlin, sharks, tuna ..etc) to 200-300g per week. So being generous with the neighbours, family and friends is always a good move. BTW, if you want to include me in that circle just let me know and I'll PM you may address for postage 😇 😬 Cheers Zoran PS - commiserations with the back .. been there and appreciate what you are going through. 200-300g is a fair amount of fish to eat in a week for most people. Hows the boat progressing along ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 48 minutes ago, JonD said: 200-300g is a fair amount of fish to eat in a week for most people. Hows the boat progressing along ? Agree it’s a decent quantity. Barrycuda now lives in Mackay… I posted an update a few weeks back…had a tear watching him being towed away. The new rig is under construction with August delivery still on track. Maria’s come up with a name that’s got the family tick of approval … so now just patiently waiting. 😗 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 14 hours ago, zmk1962 said: Agree it’s a decent quantity. Barrycuda now lives in Mackay… I posted an update a few weeks back…had a tear watching him being towed away. The new rig is under construction with August delivery still on track. Maria’s come up with a name that’s got the family tick of approval … so now just patiently waiting. 😗 That friend of mine who bought the new Edencraft with all the goods sold it after 4 trips, so never really got the chance to use that fancy helm master steering in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessell1955 Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 The fishing is going off at your location. I bet the 13 year old will talk about the Marlin he caught for the rest of his life. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 40 minutes ago, JonD said: That friend of mine who bought the new Edencraft with all the goods sold it after 4 trips, so never really got the chance to use that fancy helm master steering in the end. No probs ... you'll be able to play with it on mine. I've met a bloke a suburb away who has exactly the same boat with all the helm master fruit .... he gave a realistic but very positive rap. Confirmed I could do all the stuff I wanted with it. 5mths to go... but who's counting. Hope your back is getting better. Cheers Z 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrepin Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 Great to see you back,. I always look forward to your post. Appreciated Geoff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 Awesome post and pics, that beast will be the subject of many dinner conversations to come👌 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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