After watching the weather during the week there hadn’t been any moderation, so I was a bit concerned about the day’s fishing on Friday. The marine charts also didn’t seem really good with the current coming from the South. The only interesting feature being the zero line around the fifty fathom line. I gave Mike and his crew the option to postpone the charter but they were keen so off we went. I think their excitement waned a little when one of them was sick as we went through the Heads. Sadly it wasn’t long before Mike was the only man standing. However he was still keen and we put the lures in and started trolling out. We were out in about seventy fathoms. The sea was a little angry as you can see in the video and fighting a Marlin was going to be interesting if not a little damp. I must say I was just thinking it didn’t look fishy at all, no bait, no birds and just over twenty one degree. As if to make a liar of me ‘Brad’ on the shotgun took at a rate of knots. Suddenly everyone was awake, and the excitement was palpable. To my surprise it was a Black Marlin and a good one too and it didn’t like the boat especially when Mark took the trace. After we released the Black we were on our way again and didn’t even have the full spread out when ’Brad’ was hit again, this time a Striped Marlin which put on a great show and was soon released. So, with two Marlin within a short space of time I turned around a to go back over the area again. Well it happened again. This time we raised two or maybe three Stripies. One hit the shot gun another the long rigger but the only one that stuck hit the short corner with ‘Black Betty’. Amazingly for a day which looked like a no go it turned out to be the best day’s fishing for these guys. Actually, a good day’s fishing by anyone’s standard off Sydney. Our final count for the day was six strikes, four hook ups and three released, all this with no bait and a horrible sea. I think the fish are just passing by in the current like us searching for the bait, and if you’re lucky you strike gold. By this time the state of the sea had overcome the excitement of the Marlin and the call was made to head back. Interestingly I think we spent more time fighting Marlin than actually trolling for them. Being so early in the season and with the best Marlin months still ahead of us one can’t help but be optimistic about the days ahead. Tight Lines, Ivan

Anybody who has been out game fishing over the last couple of weeks will know we are experiencing what is the best Striped Marlin bite I can remember off Sydney, especially for so early in the season. To make it even better the Stripies are all of good size. Listening to reports it is apparent that the bite is slowly moving South and maybe the best of it has already gone by as there is a good bite down the coast from Stanwell Park South. Anyway, we were going out to what looked like an edge a few miles North of Browns. I went with Zac and some of his friends in what were ideal conditions, maybe even a little too calm. We caught some live bait intending to either use them as skippies or on Dollies if we went to a FAD. We put the lures in at eighty fathoms where there had been a few fish taken during the week and trolled North zig zagging between eighty and a hundred and ten fathoms. There was heaps of bait, mostly in small schools and lots of Dolphins, not to be confused with Mahi Mahi, possibly why the bait was broken up into small schools, so expectations were high. It was on one of those zigs that we got a hit on the shotgun but no hook up. Steve and Ollie, my deckies saw the strike and said it was a small Marlin or maybe a Spearfish. Whatever it was hit the ‘Brad’ so hard the lure flew a few metres out of the water, damned if I know why it didn’t hook up. We continued further on and as we went the bait started to disperse. I decided then to have a look out wider and head South towards Browns. Just over the shelf I ran into a school of what looked like Striped Tuna and worked the area for a while to no avail, so headed South again. In three hundred fathoms and ten miles North of Browns Brad got smashed and we were on to a very nice Stripy which gave in after about twenty minutes and was brought boatside by some good angling. We didn’t see anything else for the rest of the day but the guys were satisfied both fishwise and beerwise so we turned West and headed for home. In conclusion it appears another run of Stripies has come down the coast. Reports coming in today of most boats encountering these fish. Being so early in the season and with the best Marlin months still ahead of us one can’t help but be optimistic about the days ahead. Tight Lines, Ivan

We went out yesterday in ideal conditions, though a Southerly change was due, with a great degree of optimism after having caught our first Marlin of the season last week. Since then, there have been increasing reports of the Striped Marlin here off the Sydney coast. The charts were showing a very warm Southerly current (24C to 26C ) way out wide, in fact well wide of Heatons. The current then, a bit cooler now, turning West wide of Port Hacking and splitting with a portion going South and some going to the North. Inshore there is a cooler (21C to 22C) Southerly current coming from the Port Stephens area. I thought the area between these two currents, as well as the area off Port Hacking where the current was coming in from the East were worth working. As if to confirm my thoughts, while we were travelling out I heard of several Stripies being tagged and lost East of us in the eighty fathom area. Reports also from the North and a couple from off Port Hacking. Expectations amongst the crew were getting higher and higher. After putting the lures in I started trolling North zigzagging across the shelf. It took a while but we got a strike on ‘Lumo’ and a good sized Stripy took to the air then turned and charged the boat, sadly this led to a slack line and the Marlin threw the lure. A while later we had another hit, this one on ‘Brad’. Not a Marlin this time but a very nice Mahi Mahi, the guys had dinner at least. Then while Rob was resetting the lures dropping ‘Brad’ back the line was pulled out of his hands. Because of his quick thinking in resetting the drag to strike we were hooked up again. I thought it was another Mahi Mahi but then this Striped Marlin took to the air and as you will hear in the video, below on deck the excitement was palpable. It was a good fight and tested the guys, at one stage there was the angler aided by two of his mates stabilising him and another helping to lift the rod, a team effort indeed, with the rest of his friends cheering him on. Both the Marlin we saw and from what I’ve heard from others, this run of Stripies are all above average size. I wouldn’t hesitate to say that ours were in the order of a hundred kilo’s. Hopefully this trend will continue. Tight Lines, Ivan

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