Fresh New South Wales Fishing Reports

Australias East coast is enjoying a great tuna run this year

After checking the weather reports and seeing three different scenarios I thought I’d give Mikko and his friends the option to postpone. However, the lure of the fish ruled and the decision was made to go on out and see what the weather does. Exactly what we used to do before ( in the old days ) before everyone had computers and GPS. The plan was to head out to where some fairly slack water was edging up to a slightly warmer and faster Southerly current. When we headed out the weather was quite good but at around 10:30 the South Wester started to show it teeth and that combined with a building Southerly swell in the warmer water made it quite ugly. I worked the edge for a while unsuccessfully and since couple of the guys were decidedly green I moved back into the slack water which was marginally calmer and headed to where we had caught the fish on the last trip. We had just reached the general area when we had a double hook up. It’s amazing what a shot of adrenalin can do. All hands were on deck and ready to go. The rough sea made it tough going but both fish around the 30 to 40 kilo’s mark were brought in. Meanwhile the South-Easter had dropped off a little so I headed back out to sea and was rewarded with another double hookup and almost twin Yellowfin of the previous pair were brought on board. Rob hadn’t even reset the gear when we had another strike and while that was happening something grabbed my teaser and was stripping line off the teaser reel. I have never had a Yellowfin do that, plenty have hit the teaser but none have tried to escape with it. I guessed it might have been a Marlin but not having seen anything, who knows. In the mean time the wind had turned to the South and picked up again. So, with five Yellowfin aboard and a happy crew I started trolling home. Tight lines, Ivan

With a much-awaited moderation in the weather and reports of Yellowfin North of us and Bluefin to the South with both groups getting closer I had to get out there. The plan was to head East around to where there was some interesting looking water around Heatons. Out there a cooler Northerly current was eddying on the Eastern edge of a warmer tongue of water from the North, all looking very fishy in theory. We put the lures in at eighty fathoms after dodging all the whales, there’s always the chance of a Striped Marlin around the shelf and headed out. As it was we didn’t encounter anything on the way and as you can see or rather hear in the video below the wind was howling. When we reached the warmer water, the conflicting currents caused the already uncomfortable sea to stand up. To my great surprise there were a couple of smaller boats out there too – I know I wouldn’t have been there in those conditions in a boat smaller than mine – hell, I didn’t even like it in mine. We spent a little time in the area but there was neither bird activity nor bait so I picked a relatively comfortable course and started heading inshore. On the way I heard one boat say they had caught a couple of Albacore wide of Heatons, another had caught a Yellowfin somewhere inside Heatons yet another had caught a Spearfish wide of the Bait Station. Oddly enough it was the third Spearfish I’ve heard of recently…strange times. To cut a long story short I was trolling towards the Bait Station when if five hundred fathoms we were rudely awakened by three rods screaming off. Fortunately, since there were only three of us on board, myself the client and my deckhand, one dropped off. Rob took one of the rods and muscled the Yellowfin to the boat in ten minutes while Colin kept tension on his fish keeping it out of the way until the other was landed. Colin took a little longer but he duly brought his fish to the gaff. So, an interesting day with a good result and hopefully the start of a good Tuna season. The Bluefin aren’t far away and there are enough Yellowfin to make it interesting. Inshore there are Kings on the reefs and in the harbour and for those in the know some good Snapper too. So, get on out there… Tightlines, Ivan

Our snapper charters have neen producing the goods and some happy customers in the process

The Peter Goadby Tournament was certainly held on an interesting week-end. Saturday saw seventeen boats head out into what were ideal conditions. There had been reports of Yellowfin a little South of us, Blue Marlin were evident, Striped Marlin were apparent having pack attacked a couple of boats including mine, there was a Black Marlin speared at Long Reef and to top it off the FAD’s were loaded with Mahi Mahi. In the past this tournament has produced big Blue Marlin and Yellowfin so anticipation was high. Sadly, the fish just weren’t there. The water was good, over 24 degrees at the shelf. There was bird and bait activity to be found out wide though you did have to cover some ground to find it. Trouble was, to the detriment of a couple of boats, that were the birds and bait were there were no predators. There was, however, bait on the shelf and as Little Audrey and Greyhound found it did produce some Striped Marlin. Little Audrey tagging three and Greyhound one. Most other boats found Mahi Mahi many of which were in the middle of nowhere, shame was there were none of the usual bigger ones. I started trolling just inside the shelf and found patches of bait then worked my way out to the thousand fathom line. On the way out the water was cooling and the birds and bait thinned out. By then both Little Audrey and Greyhound had each tagged a Marlin so I started coming back in. I was around the two hundred fathoms area, no bait nor birds, when the rigger went off. The fish didn’t jump just screamed off, so thoughts were of a Yellowfin. Those thoughts were however soon dispelled by a Blue Marlin charging straight at us. It was a very strange fish, it was Black…not a Black Marlin but a very dark coloured Blue Marlin, unlike anything I have ever seen before. It put up a solid fight certainly making Mark work for it, but we did eventually tag it. It was then that we heard Little Audrey had tagged another two Striped Marlin, tomorrow has got to be good. Sunday’s weather wasn’t looking too good but you have to be in it to win it so I headed off to the club in high spirits only to have them dashed as a Gale warning had been issued for waters South of Port Hacking meaning we could not go fishing. NSWGFA rules stipulate that if there is a Gale warning in your zone fishing is cancelled. The decision was made to wait for the 10:00 am. weather update and see if the Gale warning is lifted. On the one hand the news was good, the Gale warning was lifted, we could go out. Going out was interesting in itself. The wider we went the bigger the swell got and near the shelf it got even steeper but it wasn’t too bad and was dropping off. As it was only seven boats ended up going out and only one Marlin, a Stripy and several Mahi Mahi were caught. It was an interesting two days, sadly the fish weren’t there but there is always next time. Tight lines, Ivan

The summer run of mahi mahi ogg the Sydney coast has been good this year , while no monsters the fishing has been consistent