Fresh New South Wales Fishing Reports

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

kings and mahi mahi active

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

The warm water gas arrived early this year bringing big mahi

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