Hey gang,

Long time no post hope this post finds you all well happy new year and merry chrissy to all !!! i know im a bit late but when there is fish to catch you gotta do what you gotta do !!1

Well guys as the topic says marlin and we sure had a hot bit down in Bermagui on Thursday !! started at the dock on southern aurora at 6:00 am with myself, my father, Steve Gardner and Ron De La Mare on board powered out to the bait hole of Bermagui approx 20km or so out just on the edge of the shelf dropped the lures in the water at 7:00 trolled a spread of skirts around with alot of bait being down near the bottom or 50 fathom mark being pushed downwards with gannets flying very high over head we knew something would be happening around tide change and sure enough and hour from the lowest point of the low tide MARLIN MARLIN MARLIN off the port side of the boat so Steve cut in front of the tailer and sure enough he came out to play but to know avail hitting the long rigger but not connecting !!!! and swimming off in the other direction tailing marlin started to pop up out of everywhere anyone trolling lures soon found them selfs having marlin coming out of the wood works for a solid 2 hours marlin after marlin would come in as they do and play with the lures which really PI55E5 you off when would start winding in the lure spread only to have to reset the spread and at 8:30 it happened !! from the fly bridge right rigger bang the band broke then as per usual he dropped it but this one had a longer run than usual so having a feeling he would be back we left the spread as it was then i spotted him coming from 20 meters behind the shotgun and wack this time it acted like a blue knew what he wanted and took it so the spread came in and ron got on the controls as the shotgun was steves rod so he jumped down got on the rod the fight lasted about 30min with everyone contributing and making the capture a success i was trace and gaff man...

The rest of the day was mayhem untill 10:30 wen the bait pushed back down to the bottom not to return untill high tide when we got another 2 marlin up that did a pack attack on the short corner which was visually amazing and the other going for the rigger but stripes dont often get a great hookup rate so we didnt get any more to the boat apart from this one !!

enjoy the pic

Click to view attachment

Is that a blue or a striped? The head is very narrow, and the stripes are very vivid. I don't really know the difference, though. There have been plenty of confusions on forums about these two species, I know that! Either way it sounds like a hot bite.

How do blues go on the tooth? I heard stripes go alright.

sounds like you guys had fun... thats the main thing, and it looks like a striped

Murderer

It's a stripe guys & they did eat it

Alex sent the pic 2 me the other day & then ling linged me to rub it in that Bermi was going off with stick heads

Ewe back yet Alex ???????????????????????????????????????

Its a striped marlin but in the take that it did on the shottie it acted like a blue in its take !!!

like when i was with jumpy and we caught his striped on the fin nor in jim bookys boat acted the same way jump no shit same hook up !!! i had memory's happening the only thing is all the guys down south dont give a F*&K what other people think on the radio and get on with the job at hand RMFAOL u know what im talkin bout jump

yeah mate im back up for a fish ??

Be at fish therapy tomorrow morning mate got nothing planned mate !!! HINT HINT !!! MY BOATS AT BERMI U BACK ??

We murdered the fish first one of the season hey btw can u see the gaff shot or am i too good 4 u oh btw jump my tld 25 is on steroids now and i got my everol up for sale !!!

Ewe know the rules on my goats

I hide the gaffs when stickheads are abot

All exept the bum gaff , dont want anybloody falling overboard do we

Guess it's ime to start dusting off the game gear tis been while now

Never been Game Fishing before....must be exciting catching those big marlins......

It's generally a very boring day 90% of the time

The exitement is not the fight it's the days ewe see the fish b4 i takes the lure/bait & the challenge is to entice it to strike for a solid hookup

Stripes can be a real pain in the arse as they tend to play with the lure striking @ it with their bills in a bid to kill it b4 eating it.

That's why so many peeps have probs with the striped marlin, even if line is screaming off the reel there's no garauntee you're hooked up, chances are the gape of the hook has wedged onto the marlins bill which tapers to the thickest point @ the fish's head.

All it takes is a jump, change of swiming direction etc & that hook ges dislodged, thats why so many striped marlin hookups are not really hookups merely strikes

I know that one all to well jump*

Yeah majed it is good when its on but when its off bite time its worse than watching paint dry but if ur driving the boat then you are always looking for things on the sounder monitoring radio chatter to see if anyone has seen any bait not necessarily fish but bait cause thats what the beakkys like to eat so chances are eventually they will turn up on that bait !! and yeah

Turns out quite a few Marlins got taken off Sydney yesterday with YFT mixed in

The Kink produced 2 for wun boat 4got the name of the goat

Can't wait for Port Stephens in february!!!

Only just clicked to me the other day hu steve was

How is the old Steve ?????

He was te Rod Boy on Joe's 41 ft Steber Jah Ah

Fushed with them a few times a decade ago, Boys tell me Steve lives in Urradurra these days & owns southern aurora



Can turn it on & it can also be fushless



ps] was just going through of the old Gamefishing reports & I got 2 wun for each hand

Had to pull up the floor on the big goat yesterday as I suspected a fuel blockage underfloor & I was right fortunately the blockage was in te s/s line & not the tank itself so didn't take long to clear it out.

Spent the day 2day servicing the donks & tiding up the goat ready to do sum out wide fushing I've got the itch again