The offshore fishing for Billfish was not really exciting last week with few fish being encountered. However I did hear of a Lake Macquarie boat losing a good sized Blue Marlin around the Norah Canyons. Off Sydney the water looked good and there was plenty of bait, especially inside the shelf. I did find however that beyond about 300 fathoms and moving South the water went green and cooled a little. All this indicating how fickle the currents still are and also very typical of November. Usually by mid-December the currents have stabalised and that's also when the Blacks should start to turn up. In the mean time it is a day to day proposition. You put in the time you'll find the fish. Of great interest, to me at least, was when on Sunday Pat Shaw and his father Mark found a dead Whale floating South of Browns. Pat, my regular deck hand, constantly told me how much he'd like to find one. He also told me about the number and size of sharks and oddly Kingfish hanging around the Whale. Strangely he couldn't get them to take his baits because of the amount of burley in the water. I only hope he got photo's of the action. The harbour at present is alive with pelagics mostly Tailor but Salmon and Bonito also, and there are good Kingfish amongst them too. Kingfish are also active inshore around the Heads and you can catch them trolling live baits on down riggers or lead lines. I don't know about the offshore reefs but they could be worth a look. So that's it for this week... Tight lines, Ivan

After the weather we experienced last week-end it was surprising that anyone went out Marlin Fishing. Those who went saw a few Marlin. Captures and Tags were another matter entirely. On Saturday a few boats went out and Ed Ingram from ' Hold Up' told of finding an area off Broken Bay where he raised two Striped Marlin but missed both. In the same area there were numbers of Albatrosses. Every so often they would come together and when Ed moved into the area the sounder came alive with big fish down deep. Ed speculated they might be Yellowfin. Sunday's early morning bad weather kept most at home but at least a couple went out. Jeff Manson from 'Spindrift' managed a Spearfish and another Botany Bay boat caught a 50 kilo Yellowfin. The Yellowfin capture may have confirmed what Ed had seen the day before, time will tell. Off Wollongong a Striped Marlin of 159 kilo's was weighed that is one hell of a Striped Marlin. Kingies seem to be around on the inshore reefs with the occasional good one amongst the rats. Perseverance and good bait are essential. Hopefully the warming water has pushed the 'Coutas and maybe even the 'Jackets out too. In summary though it is still early days the water is warming. Marlin fishing as well as that for the other warm water gamefish is getting better and better each day as the currents, fickle though they are, move inshore. On another matter,..I have just cleaned up a fuel tank that I had never previously used. I filled the tank and then checked the clarity of the fuel not surprisingly it was terrible. It took a while but I finally found a 'Fuel Polisher' in Australia who would come out and clean the tank, a relatively small tank. I was so impressed with the job they did I had to mention them. The company is called 'FSA - Fuel Screening Australia' and are based at Tuggerah. On yet another matter...I have just finalised my annual Port Stephens stay. I'll be available up there from 13th.January 2018 until 13th. March 2018 - see you there. Tight lines, Ivan

Well the trophy for the first Marlin of the season for the Sydney Game Fishing Club has been taken out, as can be seen in the post **hidden content**-incidently the first Marlin for the Broken Bay Club was also taken out. Artie Saren caught Sydney's first a Striped Marlin from the boat Compton. A bitter sweet day for many of us as it is a much vied for Trophy. On one hand it means the Marlin season has started on the other the pressure is off and we can save a lot of fuel looking for that first fish. I was out on Sunday with Herman and his wife and daughter, looking for Marlin. The conditions were almost ideal with lots of bait around the shelf, good water colour and temperature but no birds. We did get a strike late in the afternoon which I'd like to think was a Marlin. A few boats encountered Marlin further North, up around the Norah canyons. Inshore the Kingfish are around but you have to put in a lot of time to catch the bait needed to attract them. Even when you do get the bait it is tough to find a keeper fish. I fished on Friday trolling live baits close to the rocks in quite rough conditions but only caught undersized Kings and a couple of Bonito. Browns also seems to be running hot and cold with Gemmies and a few Blue Eye still on offer. From what I have gathered fresh bait is necessary. Overall the fishing is on the quiet side. Whether you are fishing inshore or offshore perseverance is the key and of course good bait... Tight lines, Ivan

I took Joe and three of his friends, two from New Zealand and one from Ireland, out today for an afternoon fish. The aim was to chase Yellowtail Kingfish in along the cliffs of Sydney. The first job was to catch some live bait in the form of Slimy Mackerel. We were lucky on that count as in short time we caught all we needed, so it was off to find the Kings The Kingfish had been around but you had to put in a lot of time to find the keeper sized fish. We started fishing in quite rough conditions exacerbated by our proximity to the cliffs where the swells bouncing back made it quite uncomfortable. The boys however coped well. Unfortunately the bigger fish weren't co-operating and we only caught four undersized Kings and a couple of Bonito. Fortunately the seas calmed down later in the day and in spite of the lack of fish the guys enjoyed the afternoon... Tight lines, Ivan

I don't know why but I still get surprised when the SST's don't reflect what I experience at sea. I shouldn't I know because the charts don't have the resolution to show the minor eddies that hold the fish we chase. This is especially important when chasing Marlin and other pelagics. When I went out on Sunday the SST's showed a relatively warm current coming down the coast running quite quickly at the shelf and out from there. I headed out East from the heads planning to troll North at the shelf and go out wide. Without going into details, as I trolled North and out the temperature increased as expected. At around two hundred fathoms the temperature started to cool off which I did not expected. I turned around and started to work my way back to the warmer water. Here the bait was also building up. Most interestingly the current varied, as I moved in so as to make me think there was an eddy somewhere around the 'Bait Station'. As the day progressed we raised two Marlin and one probable Marlin. Each of the fish hit the lures more than once but we just couldn't sink the hooks. Through the day several boats saw and hooked Striped Marlin. Jeff Manson from his boat 'Spindrift' hooked a Blue Marlin in four hundred and fifty fathoms when it took a 10kg. outfit. As you would expect the fight didn't end well and that's what I call sporting. I only heard of one boat catching a Marlin a small Stripy. If you are into sharks the boat 'Undertaker' fishing just inside the shelf caught a couple of good sized Tiger Sharks and a small Blue Shark. Fishing for Kingfish is patchy at present because most of the reefs are being adversely affected or is that infected by Barracouta and Leatherjackets. There are some good fish coming out of the harbour though and some from surprisingly far down past the Bridge. The numbers of Marlin sighted is definitely increasing. This increase should continue as the water warms and the currents push inshore. November usually sees an increase in the warm water pelagics with larger than usual Mahi Mahi often encountered. So hurry up and bring on Summer... Tight lines, Ivan

I fished on Friday and Sunday and both days had nothing in common at all. On Friday I had the gun jigging crew on board. Thien ( Timpon ) and his friends who can jig like machines all day long. It's tiring just watching them. However this day we were chasing those Yellowfin. After hearing the report from Bushy about the 'fin just South of Sydney and some wide off Broken Bay we had to give it a shot. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very kind with a South-Wester doing its best to blow us off the water and make us as miserable as possible. The first stop was to warm up with a jigging session chasing Kingfish. However the gusting wind was making it difficult to control the drift. After a frustrating half hour the attraction of Yellowfin out wide won out so off we went. We trolled for a few hours making it to the thousand fathom line with no sign of activity. No birds, no temp breaks and no info from other boats. We were on our own. Then in the distance I spotted something red floating. So I we went to investigate. As we got closer I could see it was a couple of very large red buoys apparently holding up something very heavy. My first thought was that it was a long line float but there was neither a radio beacon nor any identifying markings. Also there were no other floats in the surrounding area - a mystery. We passed by the floats and I presented the lures as close as I dared. A double strike took us all by surprise. The water was green and only 18.5 degrees and we were hooked up to two Mahi Mahi. We managed to land one of around 6 kilo's which was a good effort in those seas. After a few more fruitless hours trolling with only one Mahi Mahi to show we decided to give the Kings another shot. By now the wind had eased to only 15 to 20 knots. At the reef the sounder revealed a lot more activity than it had in the morning. The drift was a lot more manageable and the Kings started to come aboard. At the same time a school of Bonito showed up consequently if the jig missed out on a King a tasty Bonito was to be had. However there was still the ever present danger of Leatherjackets to steal the jigs. I didn't go out on Saturday. The weather was supposed to ease through the day but with Sunday looking so much better I postponed the outing. Sunday dawned a perfect day. Simon Fisher had fished on Saturday and talked of Yellowfin out wide and of losing a Blue Marlin. We went out with great expectations on a magic day. I started trolling near the shelf. Gannets were diving on schools of Slimy Mackerel and Dolphins were harassing them from below. The whole area was alive. We worked the area for a while only catching Striped Tuna, but big Striped tuna. From what I gathered over the radio nearly every boat out there saw a Marlin. Unfortunately no one actually caught one in our area but Ed Ingram on his boat 'Hold Up' managed a very out of season Spearfish (pictured). It was also one of the biggest I've seen. Peter Pakula caught one on my boat a few years ago weighing 32.5 kilo's . It was only on our way home in about 300 fathoms we encountered our Marlin. As is usual for the species it ripped off some line without hooking up then a few minutes later had another go. This time we thought t was hooked but after a reasonable run it just simply dropped off. So, though no one found any Yellowfin so many Marlin appearing and so much bait building on the shelf is gratifying. The water is warming and the EAC getting stronger. You just have to be optimistic about this upcoming season. Especially with so many juvenile Blacks up North. Tight lines, Ivan