North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

max · Post by **max** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:07 pm

hit sth gutter again thismorning it was a bit lumpy going out but settled down as soon as we got there the birds and tuna were going off every where ,we put our 5 rods out 3 skipping gars and 2 hardbodies in close and half an hour later a big bill appeared behind the shotgun ,giving the rod to Phil as I had told him if we hooked a billfish today it was his turn and he freespooled like mad for some time then wacked up the drag and stuck it to him and he went in to orbit and OH MY God its huge the fight went for 2 hrs and 5 ks we had the fish within 5 mtrs of the boat on a few occasions and it would peel off 100 mtrs of line Phil was in agony hurting bad I was worried the fight was going too long and the leader would be copping a chafing and sure enough it popped 5 mtrs from the boat but what a blast that was some fish conservativly 3mtrs and 100 kg but Im thinking much bigger,this is the only worthwhile photo.

Night Stalker · Post by **Night Stalker** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:31 pm

Awesome Max. Well done

Too bad you lost it in the end but sure sounds like a couple hours of fun.
At least you got to see it and even get a good photo.

Slayer · Post by **Slayer** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 2:47 pm

bl..dy awsome Max. Hard to tell from the pic but well over 100kg I reckon. Top stuff your persistance is paying off.

flicker · Post by **flicker** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:39 pm

excellent Max! was it a sail or a marlin? Did you see any of the comp boats doing any good?

Cheers Flicker

Post by **Matt Flynn** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:04 pm

Awesome Max, she's definitely 100kg plus, one of the biggest I have seen off Darwin, bigger than the one Col Cordingley got a few years back.

BarraBeast · Post by **BarraBeast** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:03 am

woohoo that's splendid boyz!

would have loved to have heard that drag screaming

max · Post by **max** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:57 am

heard some boats that were in the comp. talking on the radio and there was one sail caught that we heard of but we were the only ones trolling at sth gutter where we were,hooked the marlin not 1 km from where we got the sailfish a couple of weeks ago there was lots of bait again,we trolled over a huge bait ball with birds and tuna just prior to hooking the marlin also noticed a big bait ball on the sounder later on with a big fish hammering it but trolling there didnt produce jack they were fairly deep.

Post by **Matt Flynn** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 1:45 pm

Gday Max, I've just been looking through the marlin shots I took at the Kimberley two months ago, several fish under 100kg were taken, and your fish looks bigger in comparison to the jump shots I have. That South Gutter is a good spot for marlin!

harmsey · Post by **harmsey** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:27 pm

man thats big,

, your on a roll Max

double haul · Post by **double haul** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 8:03 am

Nice one max. Sorry ya lost him.

We just finished fishing the billfish comp and had two destroy the teasears about the same size.

Sunday morning watched another one take all four baits in another boat only to bust them off 10 minutes later. We trolled the south all day on friday and managed to raise 3 sails. Did the fish come from the ledges or the tuna belt?

Faulksy · Post by **Faulksy** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 8:42 am

So close. Great that you got a jump shot for the memories. What gear did you have it on. Reel line etc.

max · Post by **max** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 3:46 pm

We hooked the Marlin about 1 k from where I gave the co-ords for the sailfish capture same gear ,the mighty Gillmaster reel 50 lb braid its my jewie setup but this one took a Williamson pusher style lure but with the two hook setup I had replaced the skirt (mackeral wrecked) with a pink one and we had the gar on the hooks ,both fish have taken baits with pink skirts maybe its just the closest one who knows,the Williamson lures have heavier trace (150 I reckon) compared to the ones I rig which are 100 lb maybe I should go heavier but how often is one of these things going to turn up, it done a series of jumps and gave the leader a nice old flogging.

Faulksy · Post by **Faulksy** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 8:31 pm

Its a juggling act. If you have balanced tackle for sails then a Black is gonna give you curry but if you trot the big gear out then a sail will be light work. I use 15 and 24 Kg outfits for striped marlin with 200 - 400 lb trace depending on the size of the lure. I have had 350 lb trace worn by bills during a 30 minute fight. Probably lost 20 % of its diametre. Good luck with the next one. I have never landed a Black but mates who have reckon that they are tough customers to budge when they get down a bit.

Balls · Post by **Balls** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:20 pm

G'day all

Max, great fish, the general stats on Billfish is about 1 out of every 7 seen/raised is landed, so sometimes the fish just win, the stats probably improve to individuals/crews with lots of experience, but I think Matt made one of the most important points a while back, finding Billfish is the hardest part, loosing them is the easy part, it will happen to everyone who chases them regularly, you're raising them so you're going in the right direction.

Faulksey, when Billfish go deep & put their Pectorals out, on most line classes you just won't budge them fom directly above (depending on their size that is), changing the angle will help greatly & probably the most consistent way is to drive off a long way in front of the fish & a lot of the time they will plane up where you can put more pressure on them or hopefully they jump & burn energy, they may sound again but you just repeat the change of angle.

All

I will chase up the breakdown of the stats from the DGFC club comp from last week & forward the info + a heap of weigh points that may help any one interested with some starting points where Billfish were hooked/landed. The conditions were good except a drop in barometric pressure seemed to shut them down a bit. I'll post the details as soon as I can check the tag card info for further weighpoints, cheers Balls.

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