Crewing a Game Boat...
So you want to go Game Fishing….?
Great… because there aren’t nearly enough keen big game anglers in the sport, and there’s always a need for more people to crew boats.
Unlike any other form of angling, game fishing is a team sport - you can’t do it on your own… well, you can try, but solo game fishing can be quite hazardous, and I wouldn’t encourage anyone to make a habit of it.
All other forms of recreational fishing involve an angler and a fish… but when the fish can be north of 200kg of muscle and attitude and totally fearless, the only way to succeed against such an adversary is as part of a team. And this is one of the great appeals of this unique sport - if you like being part of a team that uses skills unlike any other form of angling, and where success isn’t possible unless everyone performs near-perfectly, then you’ll really enjoy this.
People think of game fishing as being about big men and big fish, yet the equipment is so sophisticated these days that brawn isn’t a factor - women are often better at this sport than men, because they can’t muscle a fish, so have to learn to outthink rather than out-muscle a marlin. Some of there best big game anglers I’ve had on my boat have been women.
Game fishing has often been unfairly described as hours of boredom and moments of pure adrenalin driven excitement. The latter is certainly true, but while there certainly can be hours of inaction waiting to drive over a big marlin, finding and hooking the fish can be one of the hardest aspects of the sport. But it’s never boring…. you’re out on a dynamic ocean farther from shore than most other anglers ever go, and where a normal day can involve interaction with dolphins, whales and albatrosses, and where being alert to everything from ocean dynamics to a momentary flash of spray on the horizon can be critical.
The skipper of the boat is under a lot of pressure to find marlin and has to be able to read everything from satellite charts to subtle changes in water colour, and the appearance of just one flying fish out of the corner of his or her eye to know where marlin might be found. The crew is always on alert for signs of game fish, which could be as obvious as a huge circus of wheeling birds several miles away, to a split-second flash of electric blue under the whitewater in the wake of the boat.
Once a marlin is raised, getting the fish to strike a lure and hook up depends on ever-changing factors, but once hooked, controlled pandemonium takes over as one of the ocean’s top predators surges away from the boat at speeds that will water your eyes while screaming gear protests, and the crew goes about clearing the deck for the battle to follow. The angler whose turn it is to manage the fish slips into the fighting chair with one of the most expensive and specialised rigs in fishing, and could then spend the next couple of hours playing a fish that is way bigger and more powerful than any of the crew members, and which is fighting in its own element. Marlin are not aggressive, but that doesn’t mean they simply roll over and give up… instead, they fight to escape until they are defeated, or they win.
Once at the boat, the team is all-important. Somebody has to control a very unhappy fish on a 500-pound leader for long enough for another team member to tag the fish, get the photos, remove the hook, and then swim the fish beside the boat until it regains its strength and can be released without harm.
That’s right… nearly all marlin these days are released. The days of Ernest Hemingway and Zane Grey standing beside dead marlin strung up on a jetty are pretty much gone, as nobody except a few remaining egotistical dinosoars wants to kill a peak predator and such a noble adversary, so if you want to get into this business to kill marlin, forget it.
That doesn’t mean that you don’t come home without a feed, as the same lures that are used to attract the marlin also hook up a fair share of other pelagic fish out there - mahimahi, wahoo, tuna, and other sportfish are all hooked up from time to time, and they’re all great table fish. Just one of these fish, in addition to providing a great angling experience in their own right, usually gives the crew enough fillets of excellent fresh fish to feed half the neighbourhood. A great day on the water can definitely mean coming back with nothing to show for it but a couple of tag flags flying and some sensational marlin photos and video. But as often as not, it also means an esky full of table quality fish dinners without killing a single marlin.
Game fishing is not a two-hour exercise that will have you back home by lunchtime. Boats usually travel out to the edge of the continental shelf, and just getting a game boat out that far means burning as much diesel as the family car will burn on a trip to Brisbane before you even start fishing.
So once you’re out there, finding and catching marlin and then getting back home pretty much involves a 10-hour day and therefore wipes out half your weekend in one hit… which if you’ve got a couple of kids at home who need transport to football matches and swimming classes each weekend, and/or you’re a golf tragic, probably means that game fishing isn’t going to fit that well into your family dynamics.
And then there’s the cost…
Game fishing is not a cheap sport. It involves big toys and top-of-the-line fishing gear. The good thing is that most skippers accept that the cost of the boat, and all it’s ownership and maintenance expenses as their cost of entry into this game.
Once we lose just one marlin to faulty or poorly maintained gear, or to failure of line, knots, or terminal tackle that they didn’t maintain and prepare yourself, skippers learn never to let anything other than their own gear be used on their boat, so as well as supplying the boat, skippers also supply all the gear and tackle. In addition to the capital cost of a boat set up for game fishing, there is usually about $10,000 worth of rods and reels on board on any given day, a roll of a couple of dozen lures that cost upwards of $100 each, and special traces and leaders that may only last for one fish before needing replacement.
But while anglers are not expected to supply anything other than their cut lunch, they are generally expected to contribute to the cost of fuel, which on many large boats with large diesels that burn 100-200 litres of fuel on every trip, while the shared cost is not excessive, it usually works out to be about the same as an afternoon on the golf course.
Everyone has to decide if participating in this fabulous and very different sport is for them… cost in terms of time and a share of the fuel is just one factor - if you’re prone to seasickness, this definitely isn’t going to be your cup of tea, and if you prefer angling on your own and always being the person on the end of the rod, the team side of this game probably won’t suit you either.
However, once you see a huge marlin crash tackle a lure 10 metres from your eyes, and then see it run away on its tail towards the horizon like a bat out of hell in a huge display of speed and white water, and when, after a two-hour battle you get to look into one of its huge, electric blue eyes beside the boat before you release it back into its element, you’ll probably be hooked for life… and that beer you share with mates on the boat on the way back to port at the end of a day where you’ve come face-to-face with a peak ocean predator - and won - is the best beer you’ll ever taste.
Still interested? Use the Contact Page.
Great… because there aren’t nearly enough keen big game anglers in the sport, and there’s always a need for more people to crew boats.
Unlike any other form of angling, game fishing is a team sport - you can’t do it on your own… well, you can try, but solo game fishing can be quite hazardous, and I wouldn’t encourage anyone to make a habit of it.
All other forms of recreational fishing involve an angler and a fish… but when the fish can be north of 200kg of muscle and attitude and totally fearless, the only way to succeed against such an adversary is as part of a team. And this is one of the great appeals of this unique sport - if you like being part of a team that uses skills unlike any other form of angling, and where success isn’t possible unless everyone performs near-perfectly, then you’ll really enjoy this.
People think of game fishing as being about big men and big fish, yet the equipment is so sophisticated these days that brawn isn’t a factor - women are often better at this sport than men, because they can’t muscle a fish, so have to learn to outthink rather than out-muscle a marlin. Some of there best big game anglers I’ve had on my boat have been women.
Game fishing has often been unfairly described as hours of boredom and moments of pure adrenalin driven excitement. The latter is certainly true, but while there certainly can be hours of inaction waiting to drive over a big marlin, finding and hooking the fish can be one of the hardest aspects of the sport. But it’s never boring…. you’re out on a dynamic ocean farther from shore than most other anglers ever go, and where a normal day can involve interaction with dolphins, whales and albatrosses, and where being alert to everything from ocean dynamics to a momentary flash of spray on the horizon can be critical.
The skipper of the boat is under a lot of pressure to find marlin and has to be able to read everything from satellite charts to subtle changes in water colour, and the appearance of just one flying fish out of the corner of his or her eye to know where marlin might be found. The crew is always on alert for signs of game fish, which could be as obvious as a huge circus of wheeling birds several miles away, to a split-second flash of electric blue under the whitewater in the wake of the boat.
Once a marlin is raised, getting the fish to strike a lure and hook up depends on ever-changing factors, but once hooked, controlled pandemonium takes over as one of the ocean’s top predators surges away from the boat at speeds that will water your eyes while screaming gear protests, and the crew goes about clearing the deck for the battle to follow. The angler whose turn it is to manage the fish slips into the fighting chair with one of the most expensive and specialised rigs in fishing, and could then spend the next couple of hours playing a fish that is way bigger and more powerful than any of the crew members, and which is fighting in its own element. Marlin are not aggressive, but that doesn’t mean they simply roll over and give up… instead, they fight to escape until they are defeated, or they win.
Once at the boat, the team is all-important. Somebody has to control a very unhappy fish on a 500-pound leader for long enough for another team member to tag the fish, get the photos, remove the hook, and then swim the fish beside the boat until it regains its strength and can be released without harm.
That’s right… nearly all marlin these days are released. The days of Ernest Hemingway and Zane Grey standing beside dead marlin strung up on a jetty are pretty much gone, as nobody except a few remaining egotistical dinosoars wants to kill a peak predator and such a noble adversary, so if you want to get into this business to kill marlin, forget it.
That doesn’t mean that you don’t come home without a feed, as the same lures that are used to attract the marlin also hook up a fair share of other pelagic fish out there - mahimahi, wahoo, tuna, and other sportfish are all hooked up from time to time, and they’re all great table fish. Just one of these fish, in addition to providing a great angling experience in their own right, usually gives the crew enough fillets of excellent fresh fish to feed half the neighbourhood. A great day on the water can definitely mean coming back with nothing to show for it but a couple of tag flags flying and some sensational marlin photos and video. But as often as not, it also means an esky full of table quality fish dinners without killing a single marlin.
Game fishing is not a two-hour exercise that will have you back home by lunchtime. Boats usually travel out to the edge of the continental shelf, and just getting a game boat out that far means burning as much diesel as the family car will burn on a trip to Brisbane before you even start fishing.
So once you’re out there, finding and catching marlin and then getting back home pretty much involves a 10-hour day and therefore wipes out half your weekend in one hit… which if you’ve got a couple of kids at home who need transport to football matches and swimming classes each weekend, and/or you’re a golf tragic, probably means that game fishing isn’t going to fit that well into your family dynamics.
And then there’s the cost…
Game fishing is not a cheap sport. It involves big toys and top-of-the-line fishing gear. The good thing is that most skippers accept that the cost of the boat, and all it’s ownership and maintenance expenses as their cost of entry into this game.
Once we lose just one marlin to faulty or poorly maintained gear, or to failure of line, knots, or terminal tackle that they didn’t maintain and prepare yourself, skippers learn never to let anything other than their own gear be used on their boat, so as well as supplying the boat, skippers also supply all the gear and tackle. In addition to the capital cost of a boat set up for game fishing, there is usually about $10,000 worth of rods and reels on board on any given day, a roll of a couple of dozen lures that cost upwards of $100 each, and special traces and leaders that may only last for one fish before needing replacement.
But while anglers are not expected to supply anything other than their cut lunch, they are generally expected to contribute to the cost of fuel, which on many large boats with large diesels that burn 100-200 litres of fuel on every trip, while the shared cost is not excessive, it usually works out to be about the same as an afternoon on the golf course.
Everyone has to decide if participating in this fabulous and very different sport is for them… cost in terms of time and a share of the fuel is just one factor - if you’re prone to seasickness, this definitely isn’t going to be your cup of tea, and if you prefer angling on your own and always being the person on the end of the rod, the team side of this game probably won’t suit you either.
However, once you see a huge marlin crash tackle a lure 10 metres from your eyes, and then see it run away on its tail towards the horizon like a bat out of hell in a huge display of speed and white water, and when, after a two-hour battle you get to look into one of its huge, electric blue eyes beside the boat before you release it back into its element, you’ll probably be hooked for life… and that beer you share with mates on the boat on the way back to port at the end of a day where you’ve come face-to-face with a peak ocean predator - and won - is the best beer you’ll ever taste.
Still interested? Use the Contact Page.