Striped Marlin, Blue Marlin and Mahi Mahi though not in any numbers yet are all on the menu. They're not easy to find but a few have been caught over the last couple of weeks and conditions are becoming more conducive to their presence every day. I went out last Thursday on a perfect day in ideal conditions. Out past the shelf there were bait balls all over the place and out to 500 fathoms which was as far as I went. To say expectations were high was an understatement. Unfortunately all I found was a lone Mahi Mahi of about 7kgs. On Sunday the weather was just too good not to go out. I didn't have a charter so there was just me, Pat ( my deck hand ) and Mark his father. We put Mark on strike. On his bucket list were a Marlin a Mahi Mahi and a Yellowfin so we out we went... hunting. Conditions had changed markedly since last Thursday. I went North to the 'Bait Station' and found there was nowhere near the amount of bait nor bird activity as the previous week. Apparently it had moved further South. Still we persisted and after several hours of trolling in what appeared to be a dead sea we had a strike on the short corner and a small Marlin did its window wiper imitation. It pulled off some line and then unfortunately just fell off the lure. However disappointment soon turned into panic. Whilst repositioning the short corner the left rigger took off at a thousand miles an hour and a small Striped Marlin took to the air. Incidentally it took one of Peter Pakula's Bullet Heads in lumo colours which I'd decided to try out. Obviously a good choice. Mark did well on the rod and we tagged the fish in fairly quick time. Soon after we hooked up a 6 kilo Mahi Mahi so we had dinner. I had only heard about one other Marlin which had subsequently been lost so I was feeling pretty good about our fish. Then my old friend Rob Curry ( Marquis ) caught a Blue Marlin of 250 to 300 kilo's which had died. He had it at the boat after several hours fighting and lifting it from the bottom but as there were only two on board they couldn't get the fish into the boat. I have attached a photo in which you can see the Blue doesn't look real pretty. I suppose though that anything would look pretty battered after being towed for two and a half hour through the sea. Irrespective a damn good fish which when weighed pulled the scales down to 273.5 kilo's. A great fish at any time but who would expect one like that at this time of the year. It all just goes to show that you'll never know what's out there unless you go... Tight lines, Ivan PS: Port Stephens is drawing closer... Attached is a short video Mark's Marlin with some Mahi Mahi mayhem at the end, enjoy...