Black Marlin are around, good ones too!
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 10:21 am
What a day, we left Dinah Beach around 6.30am and took off towards the west on our way to chase some fish!
With the southeaster blowing we were in the lee most of the way and it took just over 2 hours to get to Long Lost, Fog Bay wide marks, there were a few tuna busting up and we had a troll around for a bit, the easterly wind came up a little around 8am but didn't impede us much as we were heading crossways to the breeze.
After trolling for about 30 min with nothing happening and a bit of slop i made the call to head to Sail City, took just over an hour before we slowed on some northerly marks i had and threw everything out, 5 lines in all different lures, couple of pushers, couple of deep divers and a jet head as well, threw in the teasers and the new Stickface Stalker, flasher that my bro had brought up with him from Perth for the last trip.
Came accross some tuna and birds, only cruising at 5-7kts, depending on which way we were heading and there was a small swell and bit of chop.
As we got closer to Sail City there was a bit more action and i was getting a bit excited, a mack tuna at that stage would have made me happy, jewie bait!! The younger deckie Lachlan said why are we doing this? this is boring! Head in hands!!
We trolled over some of my marks, which are also near some of the other marks i have taken off the forum from different posts, all pretty close, the wind started to die off and i was ready to make the call to pull in and have a jig, slowed the old girl down to about 4 knots and bang, the middle rod with the mack lure in the prop wash went off, nothing unusual i thought, i have had this happen plenty of times when slowing.
I raced to the back and grabbed my rod before anyone else moved, looked back, this was no little mack, hang on! this was a big mack, no there was a mad thrashing on the surface and a bill came out 20m behind the boat, a Black Marlin has eaten my minnow!! He finally realised he was hooked and did a bit of a dance, this way and that and then started peeling the 30lb braid from the reel, this was a big fish, est 200kg plus, seen a few caught over in WA and caught them on a pro boat when i was a little younger but never hooked one behind my boat!!
Unfortunately we weren't quick enough with the video, or camera to get some of the first action, except for a bit of thrashing on the surface, the big feller towed us around for about an hour before we got another glimpse of him. All the while i'm thinking, why this line? why not the big pusher set up for him? i was expecting the line to part in the first 10 minutes.
30lb braid, with an 80lb leader of about a metre in length and a double about 1.5metres, not made for this fish. Got line in, and he turned and stripped line, chased him and got some back again, in out, come here ya bugger!!!
He finally came up about 15 metres from the boat and stuck his big head out,
did a bit of a thrash, managed to get a couple of pics and a bit of video, then down he went again, in out round and round, dammit, then all of a sudden nothing! After an hour and 20 mins the line parted and he took my brand new lure with him, might have to get another one of them.
Oh well I thought, it lasted longer than I was expecting, god was my forearm sore from holding the rod and trying to pump him up, had a beer and that was it. Decided to go for a jig. And every time i hooked a good fish that day i was reminded of the Marlin by the pain in my forearm, few more beers and it calmed down though
We had a bit of fun around Sail but only small stuff, we headed closer to the Perons, had a few goes then went in to Channel Point for a jew, ha! There were 15 boats anchored up along the ledge, oh well.
About 4 am the Southeaster came up a bit, I pulled anchor and everyone else slept while I motored over between the Perons into the calm again and dropped the pick for a while, another hour of rest then up and off. The wind was up pretty good on Sat morning, bit windy for the sandbars, headed out a bit to some closer spots and trolled over a couple of marks, first pass double hookup on small Spaniards! Jordan boated a good sized one which went in the icebox. Everytime we went over it we got something, good trevor, coupla sharks as well, tried jigging but kept losing jigs so gave up on that. The wind eventually started to drop a bit around 11.30am and I went out a bit further, the fish came on a bit and it was Kaos every drop was a fish, couldn’t even get the jigs to the bottom.
Nice Coral trout, big trickies, some ripper Tusk Fish and a coupla nice Goldies, even a nice little Red Emperor mixed in. I stopped counting after I had thrown back 20 good sized Trickies, was great to see so many in the shallower water. After a bit of this we headed for Sail again for another go, trolled round for about an hour, but nothing had a look, so we headed for Long Lost again for an evening troll. 
Soon as we got there we saw tuna all over the place, threw the lines in and first pass got a nice little mack, they were flying out of the water and landing on the squid attached to the teaser, hitting the lures and flying 20 feet in the air, mostly small ones, we had a bit of fun and let a few go, then as the sun set headed for Bynoe.
Sea was pretty good and cruised along until we got a bit closer to Roche Reef, I went around here had to slow down to about 15kts due to a bit of swell, then once past it we took off again along past Bare Sandy, around inside Fish Reef to a Jewie spot, anchored up there for the change of tide. Nothing really exciting, got busted by 1 good fish probly a Jew, Lachlan got a good little Goldy and also pulled up a small lemon.
Moved to a calmer anchorage out of the tide and Passed out, after a few beers and the bottle of red, awoke early and had another go, went to some other marks and got a heap of good sized Flaf, some Chrimson Snapper and a coupla small Goldies. Pulled up and had a troll around the eastern corner of Bynoe but nothing wanted to oblige. Pulled in and sped back to Sadgroves.
Got there right on 11.30 with the low tide, had to back the trailer into the mud and was lucky to get the big girl on easily, polished the prop a little. I thought I was going to have fun pulling her out with tyres on the trailer in mud, but the Pathfinder did it easy, even over the little jump up at the end of the ramp. Another .2 lower though and we would’ve had to wait for the tide a bit. It was a 1.5m low!!
Just gotta work out when to go back and catch one of that Blacks mates if I can find one again!!!!
With the southeaster blowing we were in the lee most of the way and it took just over 2 hours to get to Long Lost, Fog Bay wide marks, there were a few tuna busting up and we had a troll around for a bit, the easterly wind came up a little around 8am but didn't impede us much as we were heading crossways to the breeze.
After trolling for about 30 min with nothing happening and a bit of slop i made the call to head to Sail City, took just over an hour before we slowed on some northerly marks i had and threw everything out, 5 lines in all different lures, couple of pushers, couple of deep divers and a jet head as well, threw in the teasers and the new Stickface Stalker, flasher that my bro had brought up with him from Perth for the last trip.
Came accross some tuna and birds, only cruising at 5-7kts, depending on which way we were heading and there was a small swell and bit of chop.
As we got closer to Sail City there was a bit more action and i was getting a bit excited, a mack tuna at that stage would have made me happy, jewie bait!! The younger deckie Lachlan said why are we doing this? this is boring! Head in hands!!
We trolled over some of my marks, which are also near some of the other marks i have taken off the forum from different posts, all pretty close, the wind started to die off and i was ready to make the call to pull in and have a jig, slowed the old girl down to about 4 knots and bang, the middle rod with the mack lure in the prop wash went off, nothing unusual i thought, i have had this happen plenty of times when slowing.
I raced to the back and grabbed my rod before anyone else moved, looked back, this was no little mack, hang on! this was a big mack, no there was a mad thrashing on the surface and a bill came out 20m behind the boat, a Black Marlin has eaten my minnow!! He finally realised he was hooked and did a bit of a dance, this way and that and then started peeling the 30lb braid from the reel, this was a big fish, est 200kg plus, seen a few caught over in WA and caught them on a pro boat when i was a little younger but never hooked one behind my boat!!
Unfortunately we weren't quick enough with the video, or camera to get some of the first action, except for a bit of thrashing on the surface, the big feller towed us around for about an hour before we got another glimpse of him. All the while i'm thinking, why this line? why not the big pusher set up for him? i was expecting the line to part in the first 10 minutes.
30lb braid, with an 80lb leader of about a metre in length and a double about 1.5metres, not made for this fish. Got line in, and he turned and stripped line, chased him and got some back again, in out, come here ya bugger!!!
He finally came up about 15 metres from the boat and stuck his big head out,
did a bit of a thrash, managed to get a couple of pics and a bit of video, then down he went again, in out round and round, dammit, then all of a sudden nothing! After an hour and 20 mins the line parted and he took my brand new lure with him, might have to get another one of them.Oh well I thought, it lasted longer than I was expecting, god was my forearm sore from holding the rod and trying to pump him up, had a beer and that was it. Decided to go for a jig. And every time i hooked a good fish that day i was reminded of the Marlin by the pain in my forearm, few more beers and it calmed down though
We had a bit of fun around Sail but only small stuff, we headed closer to the Perons, had a few goes then went in to Channel Point for a jew, ha! There were 15 boats anchored up along the ledge, oh well.
About 4 am the Southeaster came up a bit, I pulled anchor and everyone else slept while I motored over between the Perons into the calm again and dropped the pick for a while, another hour of rest then up and off. The wind was up pretty good on Sat morning, bit windy for the sandbars, headed out a bit to some closer spots and trolled over a couple of marks, first pass double hookup on small Spaniards! Jordan boated a good sized one which went in the icebox. Everytime we went over it we got something, good trevor, coupla sharks as well, tried jigging but kept losing jigs so gave up on that. The wind eventually started to drop a bit around 11.30am and I went out a bit further, the fish came on a bit and it was Kaos every drop was a fish, couldn’t even get the jigs to the bottom.
Nice Coral trout, big trickies, some ripper Tusk Fish and a coupla nice Goldies, even a nice little Red Emperor mixed in. I stopped counting after I had thrown back 20 good sized Trickies, was great to see so many in the shallower water. After a bit of this we headed for Sail again for another go, trolled round for about an hour, but nothing had a look, so we headed for Long Lost again for an evening troll.
Soon as we got there we saw tuna all over the place, threw the lines in and first pass got a nice little mack, they were flying out of the water and landing on the squid attached to the teaser, hitting the lures and flying 20 feet in the air, mostly small ones, we had a bit of fun and let a few go, then as the sun set headed for Bynoe.
Sea was pretty good and cruised along until we got a bit closer to Roche Reef, I went around here had to slow down to about 15kts due to a bit of swell, then once past it we took off again along past Bare Sandy, around inside Fish Reef to a Jewie spot, anchored up there for the change of tide. Nothing really exciting, got busted by 1 good fish probly a Jew, Lachlan got a good little Goldy and also pulled up a small lemon.
Moved to a calmer anchorage out of the tide and Passed out, after a few beers and the bottle of red, awoke early and had another go, went to some other marks and got a heap of good sized Flaf, some Chrimson Snapper and a coupla small Goldies. Pulled up and had a troll around the eastern corner of Bynoe but nothing wanted to oblige. Pulled in and sped back to Sadgroves. Got there right on 11.30 with the low tide, had to back the trailer into the mud and was lucky to get the big girl on easily, polished the prop a little. I thought I was going to have fun pulling her out with tyres on the trailer in mud, but the Pathfinder did it easy, even over the little jump up at the end of the ramp. Another .2 lower though and we would’ve had to wait for the tide a bit. It was a 1.5m low!!
Just gotta work out when to go back and catch one of that Blacks mates if I can find one again!!!!
on the Black.