Billfish on Fly

Swoffa · Post by **Swoffa** » Sun May 30, 2010 1:50 pm

Four boats took the trek to Channel Point last week in search of the holy grail of flyfishing.....

Sailfish and Marlin on Fly

The weather gods smiled on us for the first day with virtually no wind and glass seas. The boats spread out all the way from Bateman Shoals up to Sail City trying to locate numbers of fish. Although a couple were raised in other areas, the main concentration of billfish was found in an area about 8km south of Sail City (see post in NT Billfish Log). First day we managed to raise 12 fish with one small marlin landed and tagged. At least the monkey was off our back and we had runs on the board.

Thursday morning saw storms forming everywhere with some lightning flashing around. Not really what you expect for the last week in May. After a bit of a detour towing a broken down boat back to Channel Point ramp, we were again on our way. The sails came on first thing in the morning and lasted throughout most of the day. We raised 32 fish for the day, hooked up on 7 but only managed to land and tag 2 sailfish with the biggest at 15Kg. Both BC and I had our first ever Sailfish on fly. Andy, Edo and Jacki worked the area with us and were also raising fish. With the weather starting to get a bit uncomfortable, we decided to head for the shelter of the Perons. The other boat persisted and the weather gods again smiled on them with the water flattening out. Andy and Edo managed to get their first sailfish on fly and Jacki got one on bait.

Friday morning had us dodging storms all the way to Sail City. The fish were on early again with the first billie teased up by 8.30. In all we raised 25 billfish and hooked six. BC had a great day landing and tagging three Sails with the biggest at 18Kg. I managed to get one Black Marlin up to the side of the boat and grabbed the leader and bill before it twisted and was gone into the deep blue......

Two inches of rain overnight had us all packing up camp and heading back to Batchelor for a bit of lunch and a nice quiet beer to reflect on a great trip.

We learned a hell of a lot about billfish on fly, too much to include in this post but watch out for updates later. All four boats had a great time on pelagics, reefies and billies. There were some great captures as well with George getting a 96cm queenie on fly. Roger and Cath scored good quality queenies, GT's and plenty of other species on fly as well.

Thanks must go to Adam at NSW Fisheries for supplying billfish tags.

Exciting times for Flyfishing in the NT……..Already planning the next trip

double haul · Post by **double haul** » Sun May 30, 2010 4:57 pm

Thats some fully sic sh*t mate. Well done. Cant believe ive had to work for the last 3 weekends in a row. You mob useing teaser rods or just pulling the chain out of the water?

dodgyone · Post by **dodgyone** » Sun May 30, 2010 6:43 pm

Did Andy get the new Key West out there?

Swoffa · Post by **Swoffa** » Sun May 30, 2010 7:10 pm

Hey Double haul, we were just pulling the chain out of the water and teasing the billie up to the bck of the boat with bait. We would have caught a bucket load if we were using baits as they were going crazy at the back of the boat. The big trick was to really get the sail excited then rip the bait out of the water and knock the boat out of gear at exactly the same time the fly goes in behind the fish. Pretty hard when there is only two on the boat but it keeps you on your toes.

I am not going to steal Andy and Edo's thunder. I reckon they will be posting their story pretty soon.

Pecheur · Post by **Pecheur** » Sun May 30, 2010 7:40 pm

Wooohooo!!!

This is totally crazy!
They must really pull hard on a fly rod?!

How much line do you guys have on these reels?

Have a good day,
Pecheur

Ben Jam · Post by **Ben Jam** » Sun May 30, 2010 10:28 pm

WOW, I'm super impressed, what an effort. Great report.

Matthias · Post by **Matthias** » Mon May 31, 2010 9:34 am

Awesome report & pics!

How'd you get the sail to stand up like that in the first pic?

NathanL · Post by **NathanL** » Mon May 31, 2010 9:43 am

Unreal fishing fellas, most impressive.
Make me feel like getting my arse into gear and finally getting my new long wand.

Gove Matt · Post by **Gove Matt** » Mon May 31, 2010 6:02 pm

You must be stoked, well done!!

Balls · Post by **Balls** » Mon May 31, 2010 7:15 pm

G'day Swoffa

Congrats on the Billies on fly, got to be happy when the target species is achieved. What flies were you using, I was going to tie up some to match the herring the Sails are feeding on around Dundee Wide, cheers Balls.

Swoffa · Post by **Swoffa** » Mon May 31, 2010 9:21 pm

Cheers Balls,
we were mainly using flashy profile flys about 5 inches long. All of the flies were built on tandem hooks with 6/0 front and 4/0 rear Gamakatsu SL12 Saltwater Fly hooks.

The flies were tied only on the front hook and most had a base of H2O Steve Farrah flash blend to boof the body of the fly up a bit. Any flashy synthetic was great to top the fly off and give a bit of contrast. There seemed to be no great preference to the colour choice as presentation of the fly to the fish seemed to be much more important. We kept away from feathers altogether as we have been told they tend to get caught up on the bill.

Fast sink lines were used with a plentiful supply of backing on mostly 10Wt rods. We used 15Kg fluorocarbon line class with 55 - 60lb bite tippet.

Darwin Flyrodders will be giving a presentation on this trip during the monthly meeting. Darwin Golf Club, 30 June starting at 7.00pm for anyone interested in learning more about billfish flies or fishing techniques.

Balls · Post by **Balls** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 7:50 pm

G'day Swaffa

Thanks for the feed back, pretty sparse flies & they would end up similar size to the herring/sardines they are feeding on, if you have trouble getting suitable eyes for your Billie flies let me know & I could punch some holographic eyes out to suit what you need, cheers Balls.