Well, it’s always an ice breaker when you catch your first Marlin for the season and yesterday, we caught ours, a good sized Stripy. I took Shouren and five of his friends out on a perfect day, weatherwise. The plan was to catch some live bait then head out to the FAD’s and have a shot at the Mahi Mahi which have been so prevalent lately. But as it happened,sadly, not this day. As luck would have it the Mahi Mahi had gone off the bite at the spots I visited. I must say I wasn’t unduly surprised as they have copped quite a hammering lately. So, we made the move to go offshore and see if we could find a Marlin or maybe a Yellowfin. Game fishing is probably the most fickle and frustrating discipline of the sport of fishing. Perseverance and persistence being the key to success and sadly not for everyone. After a few hours of trolling in what was the ocean’s equivalent to a desert the natives were becoming restless. Fortunately as luck would have it, we got a hit on the shotgun but no hook up. The crew were all screaming and I turned around in time to see a Stripy hitting ‘Lumo’ on the rigger, doing what Stripies do best…missing the hooks, so frustrating. The Marlin disappeared. Then a few minutes later the shotgun took off, a solid hook up at last. After thirty odd heart stopping minutes, we had the fish at the boat. On the way home I thought we should give the FAD’s another shot. The Mahi Mahi should have had enough of a break from the hammering to come on the bite again. When we arrived the fish were evident, but not going off their heads as they had been, but after persevering we did catch a couple, the crew had something to eat and it was time to go home. In general, the water had changed from the previous week. The current coming in from the East and the water cooler and greener. However we found that Marlin in a current line of that beautiful blue water. Tight Lines, Ivan

I took Tom and his parents, visitors from England, out for a fish last Saturday hoping for a Marlin or Tuna. I had been told of several Marlin sightings the previous day so was somewhat hopeful; I’d also been told of a private FAD holding lots of Dollies but no reports of Tuna other than some down further South. After spending more time than I wanted to catch live bait we headed off to the ‘Nine Mile’ to check out the FAD but there wasn’t much action so continued out to the shelf. The water inshore was definitely the right colour but as we approached the shelf although it got warmer it also got greener and the current picked up markedly. I estimated it at 2.5 Knots to the South. Anyway, we trolled on but because of the current couldn’t find the FAD’s. One that I did find in eighty fathoms was being pulled under and had nothing on it. After trolling out wider and the water getting dirtier I decided to move back inshore to the Botany wide FAD. There was still a fair bit of current but as we approached had a solid hit on ‘Lumo’ and landed a good sized Dolly. We pulled the lures in and put out live bait and had a pretty solid session on 90cm. to 110cm. Dollies. What I found interesting was that though there are two Botany wide FAD’s the fish were all on one of them. Attached is another video of some of Mahi Mahi madness. Tight Lines, Ivan

It’s not unusual at this time of year, mid-spring, to have an early run of the larger Mahi Mahi which are sometimes accompanied by Striped Marlin and other more tropical species, off Sydney. Why, I’m not sure. I always thought it was because they came down on the leading edge of the warmer currents moving in, but the temperature where I’ve been fishing outside is only around19 to 19.5 degrees. However, I do suppose there is probably something going on in the lower depths. I have had a few interesting trips lately taking out various visitors. We have encountered numbers of the Mahi Mahi and a few Yellowfin. Some of the Mahi Mahi have been around fish traps but more than a few have been in open water in quite large schools, in anywhere from sixty to six hundred fathoms. The Yellowfin were all blind strikes in deep water with neither birds nor bait evident. The only clues I noticed were visible current lines with slight temperature variations not apparent on the charts which obviously don’t have the resolution to show them. Attached is a video of some of the action and the frustration of losing a good sized Yellowfin at the boat. Tight Lines, Ivan

Spring is an interesting time of year to fish out of Sydney. The Kingfish start setting up on the offshore and inshore reefs, Yellowfin can be found and quite often we get an early run of Striped Marlin and big Mahi Mahi as well as some of the other summer species. And this was surprisingly the case when I went out yesterday. I say surprising because on looking at the charts the current inshore was running to the East and out wider to the North with no apparent temperature breaks, not really conducive to good fishing. After taking Su, his girlfriend and her friend out the previous weekend when they all got seasick Su was keen to have another shot. The girls however gave it a miss. Anyway, we headed out to the 12 mile and to let Su do some jigging. It looked very quiet and after a few fruitless jigs we left and trolled out, heading for Browns. Between the eighty and ninety fathom lines there were huge bait schools, some deep some high up with Gannets flying high above. There had to be a Marlin around but sadly we never saw one, however a couple of other boats did see cruising Marlin and at least one free jumper. After working the area for quite a while I headed out wider and in five hundred fathoms found a temperature break where there were small schools of Striped tuna popping up on each side of the break. I always run a small lure on fifteen kg. line for the clients who do enjoy catching the Stripies. Well as luck would have it after we’d caught a couple of Stripies the rod went off and it was apparent this was no Stripy. After nearly half an hour Su brought the fish to the boat. We saw it was a nice Yellowfin in the order of thirty five kilo’s, a great effort by Su on his first big fish. Incidentally the fish coughed up several small fish of which I could only identify one, a green toad the others were pretty well digested but had the shape of bream, about six centimetres long. After working the area with nothing other than more Stripies I headed back inshore where a couple of boats had found Mahi Mahi around the bait near the shelf. In eighty five fathoms I found them too. We caught two and lost one. A fine end to an interesting day, it was time to go home. So, we found early season Mahi Mahi, caught a Yellowfin among Stripies, heard of a few Marlin and saw heaps of Whales and Dolphins to top off my clients day. Who could ask for more from a most unexpected day’s fishing. Tight Lines, Ivan

After checking the weather on several different weather sites, three of which were pretty well corresponding, however one, incidentally the BOM, showed the worst case scenario, I decided to see what the conditions were like in the morning before making a final decision. As it happened surprisingly, conditions looked perfect in the morning, there was no wind at all. At present there is a warmish current with twenty degree water pushing down the coast between ‘Twelve Mile’ and ‘Browns’ covering the shelf were bait generally accumulates. Ideal for an early season Marlin . There had also been word of Yellowfin tuna on the edge of this current but further North. So, we headed out in great almost Summery conditions. We put the spread out near the ‘Twelve Mile’ and headed towards ‘Browns’. On the way inside the shelf there was huge amounts of bait but not very densely packed. I did mark a couple of fish and worked the area for a while to no avail so continued on to ‘Browns’ looking for the cooler edge of the current where I hoped we might find the Yellowfin. However by then the North Westerly was beginning to puff so I decided to move back to the warmer water and then head North to get a better run home . Then, in about two hundred and fifty fathoms a Marlin came up and hit the short corner (Black Betty), missing the lure and surprisingly didn’t come back to hit any of the other lures which Striped Marlin usually do. I worked the area for a while but nothing happened so continued back on course. Back in the warmer water I found some birds working and to my surprise they were on Mahi Mahi, not something you usually find at this time of year. After a couple of passes with hits from smallish fish we got a solid strike on the shotgun and old ‘Brad’ was into a more decent fish. This turned out to be a good six kilo’s of good eating Mahi Mahi. By that stage the wind had come away blowing around fifteen knots, not something that would worry me, but I got word from Scotty Torrington ‘Freedom’ of twenty-five to thirty knots of Westerly heading out way. In light of the fact that a couple of guys on board were quite seasick they decided enough was enough, so the course was set for home. It had been an interesting day and with that warmer water moving down and the build up of bait on the shelf area we could be in for an interesting Spring. More reports of Marlin sighting and Yellowfin are coming in as well as Kings on the offshore reefs, it could make for an interesting times. Tight Lines, Ivan

It seems like forever since I last wrote a report. Being overseas and then experiencing a rather unfriendly virus causing me to miss a lot of fishing days not to mention probably the best run of Bluefin Tuna off Sydney in recent years, that didn’t help my reporting either. Well, the Bluefin seem to have moved on, pushed out by the warmer water moving down the coast. However, some good-sized Yellowfin turned up to replace them but at present they seem to have moved on too. The Yellowfin do come and go depending on the currents but from my records they should be coming and going for the next few months. Sadly, by the time most people hear about them it’s too late they are gone. On a more positive note, I have heard reports of Yellowfin further up the coast and with a bit of luck they will move down and give us another shot at them. Also, with this warmer water there have been more encounters with Striped Marlin, always a treat. Incidentally the last time I was out, a couple of weeks ago chasing those Yellowfin, I saw a heap of Sauries take to the air and to my surprise they were being chased by Mahi Mahi, who would have thought, Mahi Mahi in August . So, getting away from the Game Fishing, Kingies are showing up on some of the offshore as well as the regular inshore reefs. The last time I was out, Browns Mountain looked like the ‘Car Park‘ at Port Stephens with all the bottom bashers looking for Gemfish and Blue Eye. Tight lines, Ivan