I took Kevin out today. He has fished all over the world and caught some amazing fish but Marlin have eluded him - today was the day. We started out with a decent North Easterly blowing and I was expecting it to increase as the day went on. To my surprise it eased off and by early afternoon it had all but glassed out probably due to the approaching weather. I started out just wide of the Heads again, still hoping for a small Black which again didn’t happen. As we went out the temperature slowly increased but I was surprised that when I reached the shelf there was none of the 27 degrees we had found two days before. The temperature was a much more reasonable 25 C. But there was very little bait and bird activity and the water had a definite greenish tinge. It was only after I came in from Browns that we found any bait, in fact more than I’d seen for a long time. We trolled around it, not marking anything, for a while to no avail. Then Ron suggested we drop some baits into it. We had no trouble jigging up a few slimies, some call them artificial Pakula's, and soon had one down on a sinker and another free swimming. I couldn’t believe it but in short time the free-swimming bait started acting up and the deep bait rod bent over. We were hooked up then as Ron took up the slack on the free swimmer he found he was hooked up too, we had a double. However, it soon became apparent that one fish had taken both baits. We cut one line off so that Kevin could fight the Marlin freely. This Marlin just wasn’t fighting as expected being slow and not running, I suspected it might have been gut hooked, very surprising using circle hooks. Anyway, the fight didn’t last long because remnants of the second line got tangled in the boat’s running gear and ended up cutting through Kevin’s line. I can’t describe how disappointing it was. I thought we’d blown Kevin’s chances. We continued on…I trolled around the bait for a while hoping on hope but we could see the weather moving in and started heading for home. Just inside the shelf Ron yelled out Marlin. There was a fish following Brad on the shotgun. It followed for a while and Ron eventually teased it into taking the lure. This fish did everything a Marlin is supposed to do and gave Kevin a fight he will remember. So that was it for the day and as a bonus we made it back just before the storms hit. Tight lines, Ivan

After spending the last couple of weekends up at Port Stephens where the only game in town was to chase small Black Marlin it was a pleasure to come back to home territory to see what is happening down here. Up at the Port the run of Blacks which I’m sure most of you have heard about has been quite remarkable. The fish ranging from fifteen kilo’s up to forty kilo’s with the occasional larger one thrown in just to keep it interesting. Those in the know tagging numbers up to the high teens in a day. For those of us lesser mortals it was still achievable to tag up to four or five a day. Stealth however was required, light leaders, smaller hooks and light line to fool these fish which were being harassed by innumerable boats every day. In general it paid to fish during the week when there may have been only forty or fifty boats out there rather than the one hundred and fifty on weekends or you could just wait for bad weather and hope it keeps the numbers down. I went out yesterday and fished most of the day in a 20knot North-Easter which is not the most comfortable of conditions to fish in. Fortunately the guys coped very well so we got the whole day in. I started out trolling in close with small lures hoping for a Black and looking for bait, neither of which I found. I worked my way out wider with the water temperature and colour getting better as we went on the way we caught quite a few Skipjacks but none of the small Yellowfin which I’d heard could be found amongst the Stripies. To my surprise just inside the shelf the temperature reached 27 degrees Centigrade and over the edge went up to 27.4 C which I thought was too warm. However we saw several groups of birds working on something. There were a few flying fish around but after working around the birds and pods of Dolphins we neither raised nor marked anything and weren’t even catching the Stripies anymore. I decided to go back into the cooler water where there was some life at least. We had just hit 24.5 C in about 75 fathoms when the shotgun took off at a rate of knots. I could see it was a Marlin and for some odd reason assumed it was a Black, guess I’d seen too many lately. But as it neared the boat it was apparent it was indeed a Striped Marlin which unusually had stayed deep throughout the fight. We did get it boatside but when Rob took the leader it decided to play up and sadly wore through the trace and I lost my favourite Brad ‘J’. Next time I’m going to try and get to the other side of the hot water where I’ve heard there are Yellowfin and after listening to the scheds from the Port Stephens Shootout over the weekend there should also be some Blue Marlin. Tightlines, Ivan

I, and I expect everyone who has been out chasing Marlin have just experienced the best Striped Marlin fishing, at least that I can remember, in Sydney waters. After hearing about the great fishing up around Coffs and Port Macquarie there was expectation or more precisely hope they would continue South. There were also reports of a huge number of Blacks moving down from the Gold Coast. This run of Stripies started with the New Year, or maybe just before. The SST at the time was centigrade 21 to 22 degrees and the current only just running to the South. The Striped Marlin started showing up off Sydney up around the ‘Bait Station’ at about the time of New Year however they had been caught at Norah Canyons previously. It was fabulous during those first few days, to be at the ‘Bait Station’ raising Marlin with no other boats around. As is typical with Striped Marlin on lures the hook up rate was not good but more than made up for by the sight of several fish trying to eat the lures. Oddly I wasn’t marking much bait then and what there was must have been very small because we couldn’t jig it, thus we were restricted to lures. As the bite continued the Marlin moved slowly South and even increased in numbers and with great weather conditions more and more fishermen were coming out. Personally, I found it hard to understand what was keeping the fish here there just didn’t seem to be enough bait to hold them, however that did change later on. At the time there were heaps of Dolphins accompanied by more Albatrosses than I have ever seen in summer months so there must have been bait around. I guess in retrospect it was sitting too high in the water column to be picked up on my sounder. We then had a change in weather, a Southerly called a halt to fishing on the Friday and Saturday leaving me wondering about what affect it would have on the fishery. On the weather charts Saturday looked fishable and I had a charter so off we went. All I can say is that it wasn’t pretty out there at all. But David and his wife hung in and had the experience of their lives and I had the best day’s fishing I can remember off Sydney. I’m sure the rough sea had something to do with it because suddenly there was bait up high and Marlin everywhere. We ended up raising twelve Marlin, hooking seven and releasing four. Not great figures but not bad for lures in those conditions. The next day, Monday was a glamour, hard to believe the ocean could drop off so quickly. However, conditions had changed. The fish had moved a lot further South and the temperature was up to 24.5 C and at one point reached 26 C, generally considered too warm for Stripies. But they were there, not in the same numbers as Sunday but now they were accompanied by Black Marlin and there were several Blue Marlin taken to add to the mix. At present the bite is down around and South of Wollongong. There is still a bit of action up here. The Blacks are going off out of Port Stephens and enough have been taken down here to make it interesting. And for sure there are Blues to be found out wide ready to run you ragged. Tight lines, Ivan

2023 has certainly gotten off to a good start, at least as far as the Striped Marlin fishery is concerned. We are currently experiencing one of the best runs of Striped Marlin I have seen off Sydney in a long time. The only problem is that lures present the best option for catching them and lures are not the most efficient means of capture. There is bait out there, we have tried jigging it but to no avail. I guess they might be Bellows fish or Pilchards or maybe even Toads giving the Marlin a bit of a buzz and possibly explaining the bad hook up rate. Consequently if you do want to live, skip or switch bait it would be wise to take it with you. I first ecountered this run early last week managing a tag a day but seeing many more followers. The numbers increased each day with New Year's Eve being the best. I was the only boat out there; I think. We raised ten Stripes had six hits and only tagged one. And yet it was still a great day. On hearing about the Blacks moving down the coast I figured I'd give it a try inshore before going wide. Well we did tag a Black, but it wasn't one of the juveniles coming down the coast it was a fish around 60kg. I think a two year old fish. Out wide we tagged a Stripy after again raising many more, with the day culminating in four or five Stripes trying to eat the spread - a great way to end the day and a spectacle for the charter and indeed myself. I would say that every boat out there encountered these 'Pack attacks' and sadly the same hook up rate. Many also learning that 'Bait and Switch' isn't as easy as it sounds. So, the tournament season has had a great start and will hopefully continue. With the 'AIBT' being held at the SGFC in only a few weeks you should hurry to get your entries in. The 'AIBT' is followed by the 'Interclub' at Port Stephens and the 'All Ports' the week after. Tight Lines, Ivan

After a couple of charter cancellations due to weather we finally got Akira out and on a good day too. I decided to head North to where we caught the Stripy last week even though the charts weren't showing anything special up there. I had expected the water temperature to have increased but sadly it was a little cooler. At the shelf there was bait building up and we started seeing Flying fish, always a good sign. A little later in the distance I saw a heap of Dolphins looking like they were working something up. We worked the area for a while marking some bait but all down deep. Oddly the number of Dolphins was increasing. After working around them for a while I saw a big bust up. The Dolphins had worked a school of Sauries to the surface and were smashing them. A most remarkable sight, silver sheets of Sauries spraying across the surface with Dolphins smashing them. Well, you would have thought there would be a Marlin capitalising on this foodfest but alas, only Dolphins. The action evenually came to an end and the Dolphins spread out. I trolled South towards Browns and caught a couple of good sized Striped Tuna on the way. Then I saw the dolphins again and again it seemed like they were working bait up. All was peaceful as I worked the area until Ron yelled out 'Marlin' and the rigger with 'Evil' took off then while Ron was clearing it the other rigger with 'Lumo' took off a double. Sadly both fish dropped off after short runs but then the 'shotgun' with 'Brad' took off and didn't let go, a solid hook-up, good old Brad. This was one tough fish. It took Akira nearly an hour to bring to the boat and left him feeling a little tired and sore. So what started as a slow day came to a great end. Whoever said that gamefishing was 99% boredom and 1% mayhem new what they were talking about. I did hear of one other Striped Marlin being lost a little further North of us. Tight lines, Ivan Bennett P.S. : I'm not taking Ambition up to Port Stephens next year for the Marlin season but I have access to another boat and will be available from mid-January until the end of March for charters. So if you want a shot at arguably the best Marlin fishing in N.S.W. give me a call.

We took Zack who was basically a freshwater fisherman out on Saturday. He had had no experience at Game Fishing but was keen to give it a go. The sea was a little joggly as we left the heads but a hell of a lot better than it had been on Friday. There was still a good swell running but it got lower the further out we went and the wind eased giving us beautiful conditions. We put the lures in fairly close to shore and visited the inshore reefs and FADs in the hope of an early season Black sadly with no result even though there was plenty of bait and the water looked good. Continuing on we reached the shelf still with no action but there was bait in patches down deep and still no bird activity. In the distance I could see lots of splashes which as we approached turned out to be Dolphins balling up some type of baitfish and charging through them. I worked the area until the action dissipated again with no result. They say all comes to he who waits, but that is also true of those who put the time in. I don’t know where I was, lost in some sort of reverie when I nearly jumped out of my skin brought back to reality by Ron yelling… Marlin! I looked back to see a Striped Marlin hitting the short corner and doing what Stripies do best and missing the lure. But Ron had been trained well and teased the fish to the point where he dropped the lure into its waiting mouth – and we were hooked up solid, some would say at last. Zack took the rod and for someone who had never used the gear handled it like a pro. The fish was a stubborn one and by the time we released it Zack was as beaten as the fish. He’ll never feel the same about Northern Pike and Muskies. The only other thing we saw on the day was a very large and very dead Sunfish which I imagine had been hit by something very large. So that was the day. It was good to come back with a result and knowing there is bait out there hopefully starting the food chain. And hopefully ending a very long fruitless run of fishing days. Tight lines, Ivan P.S. : I hadn't planned on taking Ambition up to Port Stephens next year for the Marlin season but I have access to another boat and will be available from mid-January until the end of March for charters.