James Clain Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 G'day Raiders, On Sunday I got to go out with my uncle on his beautiful new boat for another shot at a Sydney Marlin out of the Hawkesbury. We have been on 2 trips already this year. In the first session, (early January) I got onto what we believe was a nice Blue Marlin early on in the session. It attacked the short corner rod and took a blistering run backwards and then sidewards around the boat. Something gave way in the wind on leader. Probably to do with bow in the line. In late January we had another crack but packed up after an hour of trolling as the conditions were awful, even in the 42 footer. I have never caught a marlin and with the plan to head out on Sunday I was extremely excited to try and get onto and land my first one!!! So, we headed out on Sunday morning with my mate Trent and one of my uncles mates hoping to get onto another big one (and land it this time). We left at around 7am and headed out east of the bait station to troll some skirts over the shelf. After letting the first rod out we had a take from a small 40cm mac tuna. This was a great sign that the bait was around and we quickly got the spread out and began trolling. After an hour or so of trolling we spotted a massive splash over the left rigger skirt far behind the boat and the reel started screaming, it was a marlin. Unfortunately this hookup pulled through and we were off. After resetting the spread we trolled for another 45 minutes and then the right rigger went off with a huge splash. My mate Trent picked up the rod to fight the fish right as the left rigger started screaming. Double Hookup!!! As I picked this rod up Trents one unfortunately pulled through but it wasn't over as my fish took a blistering run with some incredible acrobatics. Shortly after my line went completely slack after trying to wind the slack we believed it had pulled hooks however just as I had given up the rod loaded up again with another blistering run, it was still pinned!! This fish continued to make run after run with lots of incredible acrobatics before diving down and putting the hurt on. As someone who competes in powerlifting I still had my work cut out for me at this point as the endurance required to maintain pressure even on 15kg tackle was surprising. After 15 minutes I was begging to clip the harness in 😂. The fight continued for another hour. I got to the leader line approximately 10 times and each time the fish took another run away from the boat diving down deep. Finally the fish surfaced as a fantastic looking Striped Marlin. My mate Trent had his work cutout for him trying to leader his first big fish. We managed to get a couple nice shots before the fish unfortunately shook its head and spat the hook before we could get a solid grip on the bill. A shame to miss out on my own selfie with it but I am glad that it swam away strong as a result, definitely a caught fish as we did get to touch it briefly. After the fight my shirt was completely drenched with sweat and I was knackered. We trolled around for a few more hours before heading back! Please enjoy these Photos and my Youtube video showcasing the fantastic GoPro footage! 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted March 25 Share Posted March 25 Well Done James! Beautiful fish The arm burn is real lol Better than any gym workout! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 10 hours ago, Larkin said: Well Done James! Beautiful fish The arm burn is real lol Better than any gym workout! Thank you @Larkin, definitely an arm burner as far as endurance goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 What an awesome outcome James ... love the footage and effort you have gone to document and produce this. Just outstanding. From what I could see I think (know) I love your uncle's vessel as well ! Cheers Zoran 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 20 hours ago, zmk1962 said: What an awesome outcome James ... love the footage and effort you have gone to document and produce this. Just outstanding. From what I could see I think (know) I love your uncle's vessel as well ! Cheers Zoran Thank you for the nice words Zoran, His new boat is certainly very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordoRetired Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Loved the video, there's nothing to beat the scream of a reel when a decent Marlin takes off. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 On 3/31/2024 at 5:47 PM, GordoRetired said: Loved the video, there's nothing to beat the scream of a reel when a decent Marlin takes off. 🙂 Cheers @GordoRetired, I cannot agree more. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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