...And now for something completely different
Or, what you write about when there's no game fishing going on.
I recently took my boat up to Queensland. It's a delightful run up the coast, about 10 hours of cruising at an economical 18 knots, and a sublime trip on a calm blue sky day. The trip passes the mouths of all the big northern rivers - Clarence, Richmond, Tweed, as well as numerous smaller ones like the Evans, Hastings, and Esk. There are some wonderful strips of coastal scenery, including the Solitary Islands and Cape Byron, not to mention the high-rise strip of the Gold Coast at the end of the journey. When I took this trip, it was also the peak of the northern humpback whale migration, and there were pods of these wonderful creatures for company all the way up the coast.
One of my favourite strips of coast is the RAAF bombing range at Evans Head - nothing really much to look at from the sea, but a piece of real estate I'm intimately familiar with, having first started flying Canberra bombers down there and using the range in1968 before gaping off to fight in that dumb war Southeast Asian war.
The last time I dropped something on the Evans Head range was in an F111 in 1982.
And what does this have to do with this game fishing website...? Not much to be honest, but the last time I passed up the coast past Evens Head range doing 20 knots in my game boat, it did - as always - remind me that I used to fly up the same piece of coast at up to 3000 kilometres per hour.
Still nothing to do with game fishing...? True, but on reflection, this story I wrote a while back does (admittedly rather tenuously...) draw the two stories together...
I recently took my boat up to Queensland. It's a delightful run up the coast, about 10 hours of cruising at an economical 18 knots, and a sublime trip on a calm blue sky day. The trip passes the mouths of all the big northern rivers - Clarence, Richmond, Tweed, as well as numerous smaller ones like the Evans, Hastings, and Esk. There are some wonderful strips of coastal scenery, including the Solitary Islands and Cape Byron, not to mention the high-rise strip of the Gold Coast at the end of the journey. When I took this trip, it was also the peak of the northern humpback whale migration, and there were pods of these wonderful creatures for company all the way up the coast.
One of my favourite strips of coast is the RAAF bombing range at Evans Head - nothing really much to look at from the sea, but a piece of real estate I'm intimately familiar with, having first started flying Canberra bombers down there and using the range in1968 before gaping off to fight in that dumb war Southeast Asian war.
The last time I dropped something on the Evans Head range was in an F111 in 1982.
And what does this have to do with this game fishing website...? Not much to be honest, but the last time I passed up the coast past Evens Head range doing 20 knots in my game boat, it did - as always - remind me that I used to fly up the same piece of coast at up to 3000 kilometres per hour.
Still nothing to do with game fishing...? True, but on reflection, this story I wrote a while back does (admittedly rather tenuously...) draw the two stories together...
It's been a while... 24 July 2020
It sure has... the last entry in the Logbook below was made in July 2018... and there's been a lot of water flow past the continental shelf off Coffs Harbour since.
So, a summary...
The game fishing off the Coffs Coast of northern NSW has gone deathly quiet. It started four years ago as regular readers of this page might have noticed. Poor seasonal weather, disrupted East Australian Current, once uncommon massive downwelling Eddys off the northern section of the coast, and missing elements of the biomass essential for game fishing have all combined to somehow depress the opportunities in what once was one of the best big game fishing locations in eastern Australia... with blue marlin notable only for their near complete absence, and the regular summer run of juvenile black marlin a shadow of its former self. Striped marlin used to be year-round regulars out there, but even they are relatively rare now, and I haven't seen a decent yellowfin tuna for years.
I'd like to blame the rapacious longliners, and I'm sure they'll part of the problem, but it's far more complex and multi-faceted than that. While the giant black marlin season up on the Great Barrier Reef has been as good or better than ever in recent years, and the blue marlin action off Western Australia has been continuous and as good as ever, things just aren't adding up on the northern NSW coast despite excellent game fishing on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, only a day's cruise north.
Add to that the paucity of good crew among the apparently decreasing hardcore group of big game anglers in this part of the world, the diminishing numbers of game boats going to sea, and the disruptive and poorly supported and managed game fishing club scene here, and once dire predictions of the decline of the sport have become self-fulfilling.
Lacking answers, or the ability to do much about any of the above, Foreign Exchange has become part of a small but very strong group of game fishermen (and women) known as the North coast Big Game Anglers (NCBGA) and recently moved location to the Gold Coast, where the game fishing action seems to be relatively unchanged and where there is an enthusiastic core group of clubs, boats and anglers that promise a growing following of the sport rather than a slowly diminishing one.
Let's see what it all brings, and if the inexplicable disaster that used to be game fishing on the Coffs Coast is reversible...
I'm moving north to where numbers of boats, anglers and marlin are better, and where there is enough action to make owning and running a game boat worthwhile.
Foreign Exchange - one of the best BlackWatch 26 game boats available - is for sale (https://www.boatsales.com.au/seller/manage-ads/listing/72ccfee3-69e0-4d63-9516-4966f8ea0104), but only to facilitate the acquisition of a bigger boat that is better suited to the offshore conditions in southeast Queensland.
And I'm not asleep at the wheel on the Flybridge... just waiting for the coming summer.
Stay tuned...
So, a summary...
The game fishing off the Coffs Coast of northern NSW has gone deathly quiet. It started four years ago as regular readers of this page might have noticed. Poor seasonal weather, disrupted East Australian Current, once uncommon massive downwelling Eddys off the northern section of the coast, and missing elements of the biomass essential for game fishing have all combined to somehow depress the opportunities in what once was one of the best big game fishing locations in eastern Australia... with blue marlin notable only for their near complete absence, and the regular summer run of juvenile black marlin a shadow of its former self. Striped marlin used to be year-round regulars out there, but even they are relatively rare now, and I haven't seen a decent yellowfin tuna for years.
I'd like to blame the rapacious longliners, and I'm sure they'll part of the problem, but it's far more complex and multi-faceted than that. While the giant black marlin season up on the Great Barrier Reef has been as good or better than ever in recent years, and the blue marlin action off Western Australia has been continuous and as good as ever, things just aren't adding up on the northern NSW coast despite excellent game fishing on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, only a day's cruise north.
Add to that the paucity of good crew among the apparently decreasing hardcore group of big game anglers in this part of the world, the diminishing numbers of game boats going to sea, and the disruptive and poorly supported and managed game fishing club scene here, and once dire predictions of the decline of the sport have become self-fulfilling.
Lacking answers, or the ability to do much about any of the above, Foreign Exchange has become part of a small but very strong group of game fishermen (and women) known as the North coast Big Game Anglers (NCBGA) and recently moved location to the Gold Coast, where the game fishing action seems to be relatively unchanged and where there is an enthusiastic core group of clubs, boats and anglers that promise a growing following of the sport rather than a slowly diminishing one.
Let's see what it all brings, and if the inexplicable disaster that used to be game fishing on the Coffs Coast is reversible...
I'm moving north to where numbers of boats, anglers and marlin are better, and where there is enough action to make owning and running a game boat worthwhile.
Foreign Exchange - one of the best BlackWatch 26 game boats available - is for sale (https://www.boatsales.com.au/seller/manage-ads/listing/72ccfee3-69e0-4d63-9516-4966f8ea0104), but only to facilitate the acquisition of a bigger boat that is better suited to the offshore conditions in southeast Queensland.
And I'm not asleep at the wheel on the Flybridge... just waiting for the coming summer.
Stay tuned...
Monday, 22nd July
BThe ongoing balmy winter conditions demanded a bit of a search out wide for the yellowfin tuna and striped marlin that should normally be here off the Solitary Coast now, but despite a lengthy circuit that took us between 40 fathoms and 1100 fathoms over the course of a very pleasant day, we never turned a reel.
Current was flowing downhill at about 1½ knots, decent temperature at 22.5C, but rather mediocre colour even out wide.
We saw very little bait, and while there were all manner of birds (more than the usual number of albatrosses too) out there searching for (but from what we could see never finding..) some action, there was nothing happening.
We saw one school of tuna a mile or so away, but they disappeared as tuna are want to do as soon as we got within striking distance, and we never saw another thing all day.
The photo above of Sam Cooper looking for a strike that never happened says it all...
On the other end of the scale, local game fisherman Glen Booth was smarter than us and just went snapper fishing on an inshore reef. He caught a bag of reds, but out of nowhere, just look what materialised beside the boat while they were preoccupied with bottom-bashing...!!!
Current was flowing downhill at about 1½ knots, decent temperature at 22.5C, but rather mediocre colour even out wide.
We saw very little bait, and while there were all manner of birds (more than the usual number of albatrosses too) out there searching for (but from what we could see never finding..) some action, there was nothing happening.
We saw one school of tuna a mile or so away, but they disappeared as tuna are want to do as soon as we got within striking distance, and we never saw another thing all day.
The photo above of Sam Cooper looking for a strike that never happened says it all...
On the other end of the scale, local game fisherman Glen Booth was smarter than us and just went snapper fishing on an inshore reef. He caught a bag of reds, but out of nowhere, just look what materialised beside the boat while they were preoccupied with bottom-bashing...!!!
Monday, 15 July 2019
Despite relatively mild mid-winter weather, and with the East Australian Current still pushing clear blue water at 22C down the edge for the continental shelf of northern NSW, there's been a dearth of big game activity, and boats are spending a lot of time tied up waiting for something to indicate that another run out to the edge of the shelf will prove worthwhile. Can't say I blame anyone for sitting on their hands when it's this quiet.
Still, some anglers just make things happen, as did Sam Connor of the North Coast Big Game Anglers group, who headed down south of Sydney to Shoalhaven Heads with a handful of mates and went chasing southern bluefin tuna.
The end result was that each of the five anglers caught their limit of one BFT in a frenzied hour of afternoon activity in 2000 fathoms when a school of tuna came out of nowhere, and turned a quiet afternoon into an adrenalin filled quintuple hookup.
The fish weighed in at between 40 and 80kg, with Sam's final tuna tipping the scales at just a fraction over 80kg.
Hell of a day... and confirms the tentative recovery of bluefin stocks from the low point of a decade ago.
Still, some anglers just make things happen, as did Sam Connor of the North Coast Big Game Anglers group, who headed down south of Sydney to Shoalhaven Heads with a handful of mates and went chasing southern bluefin tuna.
The end result was that each of the five anglers caught their limit of one BFT in a frenzied hour of afternoon activity in 2000 fathoms when a school of tuna came out of nowhere, and turned a quiet afternoon into an adrenalin filled quintuple hookup.
The fish weighed in at between 40 and 80kg, with Sam's final tuna tipping the scales at just a fraction over 80kg.
Hell of a day... and confirms the tentative recovery of bluefin stocks from the low point of a decade ago.
Tuesday, 18th June 2019
The quiet end to the regular big game season on the NSW north coast has turned into a deafening silence, with almost no action despite some exceptional early winter weather.
Very occasional news of a marlin or two still filters in though, with a striped marlin being tagged last week off Coffs Harbour, and other spending 10 minutes bashing away at the shotgun lure on She's a Dream, breaking several rubber bands in the process, but never hooking up, and a recent battle by a bottom fisherman up at Ballina who hooked up a marlin on a gang hook rig while chasing cod.
But when it comes to the expected striped marlin action that would once have been pretty much guaranteed with such benign winter weather - no such luck.
Still, several longliners appeared in Coffs Harbour this week, all tied up and apparently waiting for the latest southerly to back off, so it's to be assumed they're betting on some YFT action out in the deeper water when things settle down.
Digressing, I should mention that this week I received a part for a navigation display on my boat that was made in Canada by an entrepreneur who has seen a market for marine electronics parts that the original equipment makers have (deliberately) stopped producing. The OEMs all want us to buy their latest offering with CHIRP sounder technology, and new software that makes analysis of sounder returns much easier and clearer, and that's what I'd have as my business model if I was Mr. Raymarine/Garmin/Furuno/Whatever. However, while a new Axiom sounder is the next thing on my purchase list, the simple fact is that for game fishing, a good piece of GPS nav gear and a previous generation sounder that can identify bait and big fish down to no more than 60 fathoms is all I need for now. Therefore, I was thoroughly annoyed to find that when a relatively poorly designed compound diaphragm rotary unicontroller switch on my Raymarine gear failed, I could no longer buy a replacement part.
Someone in the business then pointed out to me that there was a small Canadian company that was using the latest in 3D printers to build replacement switches and other discontinued parts, so I got in touch with Rick Wallace at https://www.i3dgear.com, and a few days later, I received a 3D printed replacement unicontoller selector that is actually better, stronger, and more robust than the original Raymarine part.
Great work Rick, and thanks for affording me the opportunity to keep this otherwise perfectly adequate piece of electronic gear on the boat rather than having to throw it away for the want of a simple replacement switch unit.
Very occasional news of a marlin or two still filters in though, with a striped marlin being tagged last week off Coffs Harbour, and other spending 10 minutes bashing away at the shotgun lure on She's a Dream, breaking several rubber bands in the process, but never hooking up, and a recent battle by a bottom fisherman up at Ballina who hooked up a marlin on a gang hook rig while chasing cod.
But when it comes to the expected striped marlin action that would once have been pretty much guaranteed with such benign winter weather - no such luck.
Still, several longliners appeared in Coffs Harbour this week, all tied up and apparently waiting for the latest southerly to back off, so it's to be assumed they're betting on some YFT action out in the deeper water when things settle down.
Digressing, I should mention that this week I received a part for a navigation display on my boat that was made in Canada by an entrepreneur who has seen a market for marine electronics parts that the original equipment makers have (deliberately) stopped producing. The OEMs all want us to buy their latest offering with CHIRP sounder technology, and new software that makes analysis of sounder returns much easier and clearer, and that's what I'd have as my business model if I was Mr. Raymarine/Garmin/Furuno/Whatever. However, while a new Axiom sounder is the next thing on my purchase list, the simple fact is that for game fishing, a good piece of GPS nav gear and a previous generation sounder that can identify bait and big fish down to no more than 60 fathoms is all I need for now. Therefore, I was thoroughly annoyed to find that when a relatively poorly designed compound diaphragm rotary unicontroller switch on my Raymarine gear failed, I could no longer buy a replacement part.
Someone in the business then pointed out to me that there was a small Canadian company that was using the latest in 3D printers to build replacement switches and other discontinued parts, so I got in touch with Rick Wallace at https://www.i3dgear.com, and a few days later, I received a 3D printed replacement unicontoller selector that is actually better, stronger, and more robust than the original Raymarine part.
Great work Rick, and thanks for affording me the opportunity to keep this otherwise perfectly adequate piece of electronic gear on the boat rather than having to throw it away for the want of a simple replacement switch unit.
Monday, 3rd June 2019
With the end of the local big game fishing season upon us, regular visitors to this page will have to forgive me for not keeping regular updates posted on the Logbook, but when there's been so very little happening, I'm sure nobody wants to read me blathering on about nothing.
That said, there's been spasmodic activity out on the edge of the continental shelf, but while the occasional game boat stumbles into the occasional marlin off the NSW North Coast, it's still almost a blue desert out here.
Striped marlin have been raised and tagged, but you could still only count these occurrences on the fingers of one hand. Blue marlin have been making an appearance at the southern end of our local patch, with a young angler by the name of Zac Danby down at Port Macquarie tagging a couple recently and making a name for himself as a bit of a blue marlin whisperer.
The only other attention getting news has been a well-publicised incident off Wooli, where a small RIB with three anglers in it was cruising back to shore after a day of bottom fishing, when it apparently disturbed a marlin that was either comatose, or simply having a sleep. The fish was startled by the boat's approach at 20 knots, leapt in the air, and landed in the boat, slashing up two of the occupants and breaking an arm of one, and then spearing another in the shoulder before jumping out of the boat and back into the ocean. Lucky escape - for both the marlin, and the anglers.
The early winter weather off the Solitary Coast has been exemplary, with cool nights, but clear, warm days, light breezes, and excellent EAC flow, so maybe this winter will see the end of this marlin free cycle we've experienced most of there summer, and we'll be able to put these disappointing recent years behind us and welcome the striped marlin and yellowfin tuna back to their winter grounds along the north coast in reasonable numbers.
That said, there's been spasmodic activity out on the edge of the continental shelf, but while the occasional game boat stumbles into the occasional marlin off the NSW North Coast, it's still almost a blue desert out here.
Striped marlin have been raised and tagged, but you could still only count these occurrences on the fingers of one hand. Blue marlin have been making an appearance at the southern end of our local patch, with a young angler by the name of Zac Danby down at Port Macquarie tagging a couple recently and making a name for himself as a bit of a blue marlin whisperer.
The only other attention getting news has been a well-publicised incident off Wooli, where a small RIB with three anglers in it was cruising back to shore after a day of bottom fishing, when it apparently disturbed a marlin that was either comatose, or simply having a sleep. The fish was startled by the boat's approach at 20 knots, leapt in the air, and landed in the boat, slashing up two of the occupants and breaking an arm of one, and then spearing another in the shoulder before jumping out of the boat and back into the ocean. Lucky escape - for both the marlin, and the anglers.
The early winter weather off the Solitary Coast has been exemplary, with cool nights, but clear, warm days, light breezes, and excellent EAC flow, so maybe this winter will see the end of this marlin free cycle we've experienced most of there summer, and we'll be able to put these disappointing recent years behind us and welcome the striped marlin and yellowfin tuna back to their winter grounds along the north coast in reasonable numbers.
Tuesday, 16th April
After a thoroughly dismal late summer off the Solitary Coast, there have been recent signs of a sputtering late season blue marlin bite.
There were several blues raised over the past week between Coffs Harbour and Yamba, plus a black marlin or two, with a couple of hookups but only one blue and one black reported tagged. So it's still nothing to blow your skirt up, but arguable better than the dismal results for the season after the poor summer.
Here are a few thoughts on the marlin fishing along the northern NSW coast in recent years...
For some years now, my logbook has been showing a steady decline in the number of marlin raised while fishing off the Coffs Coast and Solitary Islands. This decline comes despite a slight increase in the number of hours my crew and I have spent on the water year-on-year.Curious about this, I contacted the NSW DPI fish tagging program office and asked if they had a database that could be used to find me some basic numbers on marlin tag and release efforts in recent years. After some much-appreciated effort on their part, they came up with billfish tagging details from their program to illustrate my point.
I should note from the outset that the data I use here is strictly a set of numbers that shows billfish tagged for the calendar years being discussed within the geographic limits noted. It is fundamentally raw data that does not account for fishing effort (ie, the number of boat fishing hours per fish tagged), weather and sea conditions, time of year, or other variables such as number of fish raised versus hooked, versus tagged, or numbers of fish released without tagging, or fish killed.However, for the sake of argument, and while it’s acknowledged as unscientific, I’m going to assume that fishing effort was roughly the same from one year to the next.I have argued recently in other forums that for the past three to four years, billfish have been becoming increasingly scarce on the NSW north coast, and that for my boat at least (always with experienced crew), the fish raised/hooked/tagged per hour of fishing time - in other words fish tagged for fishing effort ratio - has been blowing out precipitously.So using the raw DPI numbers and acknowledging all the unaccounted for variables noted above, here’s the picture that presents itself for the recent years in which my logbook records have gone from good to bad.
The data in the table below is for billfish tagged only… and for geographic limits from Port Macquarie to Tweed Heads.
Look carefully at this… all other factors notwithstanding, the blue marlin tag numbers have gone from 95 fish in 2015 to 7 fish in 2018.
Similarly, striped marlin tags for the same period have reduced from 28 to 6.
Black Marlin tags over the same period have actually improved slightly from 24 to 26.
The 2019 figures are not yet available, but based on the anecdotal reports I’ve been hearing and my own experience, I don’t expect 2019 to be much different to 2018, with blue and striped marlin numbers way down, and black marlin numbers more or less steady.
I don’t mean to imply by this that aliens (or longliners) are stealing all the marlin, because we know that excellent blue marlin numbers are being reported recently in S.E. Queensland, and there have been good reports of striped marlin being raised in southern NSW over the last couple of years.
But there’s something happening on the NSW north coast. Whether it’s just part of some cyclic occurrence and all will return to what used to be “normal” in the future, or if changing weather and East Australian Current patterns and dynamics are responsible, or whether the blue and striped marlin are permanently changing their seasonal range and behaviour… all this is yet to be established.
But the bottom line is that something is changing, and the blue and striped marlin fishing off the NSW north coast has gone into severe decline - for the last few years at least.
There were several blues raised over the past week between Coffs Harbour and Yamba, plus a black marlin or two, with a couple of hookups but only one blue and one black reported tagged. So it's still nothing to blow your skirt up, but arguable better than the dismal results for the season after the poor summer.
Here are a few thoughts on the marlin fishing along the northern NSW coast in recent years...
For some years now, my logbook has been showing a steady decline in the number of marlin raised while fishing off the Coffs Coast and Solitary Islands. This decline comes despite a slight increase in the number of hours my crew and I have spent on the water year-on-year.Curious about this, I contacted the NSW DPI fish tagging program office and asked if they had a database that could be used to find me some basic numbers on marlin tag and release efforts in recent years. After some much-appreciated effort on their part, they came up with billfish tagging details from their program to illustrate my point.
I should note from the outset that the data I use here is strictly a set of numbers that shows billfish tagged for the calendar years being discussed within the geographic limits noted. It is fundamentally raw data that does not account for fishing effort (ie, the number of boat fishing hours per fish tagged), weather and sea conditions, time of year, or other variables such as number of fish raised versus hooked, versus tagged, or numbers of fish released without tagging, or fish killed.However, for the sake of argument, and while it’s acknowledged as unscientific, I’m going to assume that fishing effort was roughly the same from one year to the next.I have argued recently in other forums that for the past three to four years, billfish have been becoming increasingly scarce on the NSW north coast, and that for my boat at least (always with experienced crew), the fish raised/hooked/tagged per hour of fishing time - in other words fish tagged for fishing effort ratio - has been blowing out precipitously.So using the raw DPI numbers and acknowledging all the unaccounted for variables noted above, here’s the picture that presents itself for the recent years in which my logbook records have gone from good to bad.
The data in the table below is for billfish tagged only… and for geographic limits from Port Macquarie to Tweed Heads.
Look carefully at this… all other factors notwithstanding, the blue marlin tag numbers have gone from 95 fish in 2015 to 7 fish in 2018.
Similarly, striped marlin tags for the same period have reduced from 28 to 6.
Black Marlin tags over the same period have actually improved slightly from 24 to 26.
The 2019 figures are not yet available, but based on the anecdotal reports I’ve been hearing and my own experience, I don’t expect 2019 to be much different to 2018, with blue and striped marlin numbers way down, and black marlin numbers more or less steady.
I don’t mean to imply by this that aliens (or longliners) are stealing all the marlin, because we know that excellent blue marlin numbers are being reported recently in S.E. Queensland, and there have been good reports of striped marlin being raised in southern NSW over the last couple of years.
But there’s something happening on the NSW north coast. Whether it’s just part of some cyclic occurrence and all will return to what used to be “normal” in the future, or if changing weather and East Australian Current patterns and dynamics are responsible, or whether the blue and striped marlin are permanently changing their seasonal range and behaviour… all this is yet to be established.
But the bottom line is that something is changing, and the blue and striped marlin fishing off the NSW north coast has gone into severe decline - for the last few years at least.
Tuesday, 5th March
After a long time with no fishing action thanks both to the very poor season and recent cyclonic weather, things look like they might be stirring.
North Coast Big Game Anglers group's Sam Connor went down to Southwest Rocks to show a few friends visiting from down south the local area, and over the space of a couple of days they raised three juvenile black marlin, tagging one 60kg model out near the edge of the shelf trolling lures.
Their most interesting result was getting a decent blue marlin up onto a big teaser then switch-baiting it onto a bonito. Sadly, the fish pulled the hook and they never got a pin into it, but it was good to see that there was a blue out there after weeks of little or no action.
The SWR FAD was being overrun with mahimahi as well, so things are looking up, at least on the southern end of the Coffs coast.
North Coast Big Game Anglers group's Sam Connor went down to Southwest Rocks to show a few friends visiting from down south the local area, and over the space of a couple of days they raised three juvenile black marlin, tagging one 60kg model out near the edge of the shelf trolling lures.
Their most interesting result was getting a decent blue marlin up onto a big teaser then switch-baiting it onto a bonito. Sadly, the fish pulled the hook and they never got a pin into it, but it was good to see that there was a blue out there after weeks of little or no action.
The SWR FAD was being overrun with mahimahi as well, so things are looking up, at least on the southern end of the Coffs coast.
Wednesday, 27th February
So much for cyclone Oma, which came busting out of the Coral Sea between New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands threatening a full frontal assault on the southeast Queensland coast, but after confounding the computer models for over a week, eventually turned out to be all bark, and no bite... all hat and no cattle... all fur and no knickers... you get the idea.
Instead of wreaking havoc on the Queensland and NSW north coast, Oma created a great surf for the board riders, blew down a few items of garden furniture and eroded a bunch of beaches... but by the time it had turned, weakened and shuffled off back to where it came from, none of the dire predictions had materialised, and we fortunately dodged that bullet.
The threat posed by the cyclone and the week of strong southeasterly winds was enough for some game fishing clubs to cancel or at least postpone scheduled tournaments in both Queensland and NSW.
Among those affected was the NSWGFA Interclub, which was simply cancelled outright, and the North Coast Big Game Anglers annual Top Gun tournament that has been postponed until the weekend of 16/17 March, when members will be fishing from their home ports to Yamba and back over the two days. It promises to be an interesting Saturday night, with big game anglers from up and down the north coast of NSW converging on the famous Iluka waterfront pub.
Historically, a late season cyclone out on the Coral Sea has been responsible for a pickup in marlin activity and even the occasional hot bite onshore on the east coast around the Queensland/NSW border, so if that materialises, the couple of weeks of no game fishing here will have been worth it.
Instead of wreaking havoc on the Queensland and NSW north coast, Oma created a great surf for the board riders, blew down a few items of garden furniture and eroded a bunch of beaches... but by the time it had turned, weakened and shuffled off back to where it came from, none of the dire predictions had materialised, and we fortunately dodged that bullet.
The threat posed by the cyclone and the week of strong southeasterly winds was enough for some game fishing clubs to cancel or at least postpone scheduled tournaments in both Queensland and NSW.
Among those affected was the NSWGFA Interclub, which was simply cancelled outright, and the North Coast Big Game Anglers annual Top Gun tournament that has been postponed until the weekend of 16/17 March, when members will be fishing from their home ports to Yamba and back over the two days. It promises to be an interesting Saturday night, with big game anglers from up and down the north coast of NSW converging on the famous Iluka waterfront pub.
Historically, a late season cyclone out on the Coral Sea has been responsible for a pickup in marlin activity and even the occasional hot bite onshore on the east coast around the Queensland/NSW border, so if that materialises, the couple of weeks of no game fishing here will have been worth it.
Saturday, 16th February
The latest satellite shots are showing the ongoing effects of the weakening upwelling eddy that formed last week off the Coffs Coast.
This system is presenting game fishermen along the north coast of NSW an interesting choice in the week ahead, when the weather forecasts for early in the week are offering some good game fishing windows.
These upwelling eddies usually bring a flush of cooler, nutrient laden water to the surface over a fairly broad area, and once these nutrients attract the large quantities of baitfish seen around the outflows from such systems, then the big pelagics (and sadly, the longliners...) usually aren't too far behind.
This may be a setup for one of those legendary juvenile black marlin hot bites down off the edge of Smokey Cape near the old gaol, and is also hopefully going to bring on some sort of blue marlin bite along the edge of the continental shelf south of Coffs Harbour. We've been waiting all summer for this blue marlin bite to happen, and while I'm not overly confident, it's fair to say that if it doesn't happen in these conditions, it's unlikely to occur at all this season.
The screen shots from FishTrack below (from the left) show sea level height overlaid on SST, current flow overlaid on SST, and chlorophyl distribution.
This system is presenting game fishermen along the north coast of NSW an interesting choice in the week ahead, when the weather forecasts for early in the week are offering some good game fishing windows.
These upwelling eddies usually bring a flush of cooler, nutrient laden water to the surface over a fairly broad area, and once these nutrients attract the large quantities of baitfish seen around the outflows from such systems, then the big pelagics (and sadly, the longliners...) usually aren't too far behind.
This may be a setup for one of those legendary juvenile black marlin hot bites down off the edge of Smokey Cape near the old gaol, and is also hopefully going to bring on some sort of blue marlin bite along the edge of the continental shelf south of Coffs Harbour. We've been waiting all summer for this blue marlin bite to happen, and while I'm not overly confident, it's fair to say that if it doesn't happen in these conditions, it's unlikely to occur at all this season.
The screen shots from FishTrack below (from the left) show sea level height overlaid on SST, current flow overlaid on SST, and chlorophyl distribution.
Thursday, 7th February
Earlier this week, we spent another mystifying day fishing for marlin in many of the usual hot spots in superb conditions... still with no action.
Fishing for juvenile black marlin in shallow water, striped marlin on the top edge of the continental rental shelf dropoff (where addmittedly, at 27C, the water was probably a bit warm, for stripes), and blue marlin out in the deeper water beyond the shelf produced no action of any sort.
Despite having perfect weather, perfect behaviour from the East Australian Current, perfect clear blue marlin water, and very high hopes given the peak of the marlin season, the ocean was simply dead. There was good bait inshore, but despite bird activity and dolphins working the schools, there were no pelagics to be seen - not even one of the ubiquitous mahimahi.
The deep water beyond the edge of the shelf was essentially empty, with only a handful of flying fish, no other baitfish, no minor pelagics, not a single bird or dolphin working, and not a hint of any marlin.
Several years ago, you were pretty much guaranteed of raising a marlin or three in such perfect conditions in February. But no longer...
Is this anomaly just the low point of a multi-year cycle, is it (as we've been wishfully surmising for several years at this time in the season...) just a lull before a late marlin season swings into gear, is it just bad luck, or is it something permanent...?
On a different matter, for anyone who doesn't already subscribe to the gamefish tagging newsletter from the NSW Dept. of Primary Industry, I'd strongly suggest that you sign up for the DPI e-newsletter "Tag Times". The NSW DPI game fish tagging program is without doubt the best in the world, and is used throughout Australia and beyond into the Pacific Ocean. The great DPI team that administers this program collects valuable data, provides a flow-on service and benefit to game fishermen at large, scientific researchers, and fisheries resource planners.
Follow the link below, and click on the window on the right hand side of the home page labelled "Subscribe"... it's free. https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/fish-tagging/game-fish-tagging
Fishing for juvenile black marlin in shallow water, striped marlin on the top edge of the continental rental shelf dropoff (where addmittedly, at 27C, the water was probably a bit warm, for stripes), and blue marlin out in the deeper water beyond the shelf produced no action of any sort.
Despite having perfect weather, perfect behaviour from the East Australian Current, perfect clear blue marlin water, and very high hopes given the peak of the marlin season, the ocean was simply dead. There was good bait inshore, but despite bird activity and dolphins working the schools, there were no pelagics to be seen - not even one of the ubiquitous mahimahi.
The deep water beyond the edge of the shelf was essentially empty, with only a handful of flying fish, no other baitfish, no minor pelagics, not a single bird or dolphin working, and not a hint of any marlin.
Several years ago, you were pretty much guaranteed of raising a marlin or three in such perfect conditions in February. But no longer...
Is this anomaly just the low point of a multi-year cycle, is it (as we've been wishfully surmising for several years at this time in the season...) just a lull before a late marlin season swings into gear, is it just bad luck, or is it something permanent...?
On a different matter, for anyone who doesn't already subscribe to the gamefish tagging newsletter from the NSW Dept. of Primary Industry, I'd strongly suggest that you sign up for the DPI e-newsletter "Tag Times". The NSW DPI game fish tagging program is without doubt the best in the world, and is used throughout Australia and beyond into the Pacific Ocean. The great DPI team that administers this program collects valuable data, provides a flow-on service and benefit to game fishermen at large, scientific researchers, and fisheries resource planners.
Follow the link below, and click on the window on the right hand side of the home page labelled "Subscribe"... it's free. https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/fish-tagging/game-fish-tagging
Tuesday, 15th January
I think it's time to start making a few objective observations about the quality of big game fishing on the northern coast of NSW...
For the past four years, the fishing - once great - has been getting progressively worse despite the usual hype (some on this website...). Such an opinion is of course highly subjective and only based on anecdotal evidence, but it's getting harder to keep putting lipstick on this pig.
There have been many variables that have been adversely affecting the game fishing here in recent years, with local weather and behaviour of the East Australian Current being two of the more significant. Offshore winds have been increasingly adverse, with stronger and more frequent northerly and southerly winds that have made fishing next to impossible.
For the previous three years, the EAC has been under the influence of a seasonal semi-permanent oceanic mesoscale eddy that has been forming off the NSW/Queensland border and diverting the current out to sea for about 75% of the summer months. That said, this summer is the first in several years where the eddy formed only briefly in the spring before breaking up, and as a consequence, the EAC has been better behaved and a positive influence over game fishing conditions this year.
Yet the fishing this summer has been really terrible... for the fourth year in a row.
I just spent three out of the past four days fishing for marlin in what could only be described as sublime conditions - perfect weather, perfect EAC, perfect tides and moon phase, perfect month of the year for marlin.
Yet over those 30 hours of fishing for marlin everywhere from the inshore juvenile black marlin grounds to the offshore blue marlin grounds, we saw three marlin (all little blacks, not a single blue), hooked up one and tagged it, and spent most of those hours in a lifeless ocean devoid of meaningful concentrations of midwater baitfish (usually everywhere). We saw a total of about 20 flying fish (usually hundreds), two small pods of dolphins (usually dozens), and maybe 50 birds working surface bait (usually hundreds or thousands). We haven't seen a tuna for years.
It seems that no matter how many boats fish the water off the NSW north coast, instead of a steady stream of reports on the radio and social media about frequent raising of marlin and game boats returning to the shore flying flags, there are maybe three or four marlin sightings per day at best, and on average, maybe one marlin tagged on any given day. The majority of boats see no marlin, and tag no marlin. The difference compared to a decade ago could hardly be any more dramatic, and the trend is getting worse.
This doesn't mean that it's all over for game fishing here, and the odds are that like so many other things that are the subject of both real scientific evidence and on the other hand, alarmist cries of change, that the downward trend in game fishing results here is just part of a natural cycle that will in due course cycle the other way.
Just what are all the factors at play here? No doubt many are natural, some anthropogenic. But the bottom line is that the marlin are no longer passing our coast in numbers that would be considered "normal", and that the game fishing has pretty much gone to hell locally regardless of how well it's going to our north and south.
So that despite claims of late or shifting seasons, and all manner of external influences, and even if there's a red hot bite starting here tomorrow, for the fourth year in a row, it's simply nothing like it used to be... and what was once a renowned marlin fishing location with a year-round season is rapidly being reduced to a bottom fishing spot for vacationing snapper fishers where chasing big game is no longer worth the expense or effort.
A photo of yesterday's sublime - and empty - ocean
For the past four years, the fishing - once great - has been getting progressively worse despite the usual hype (some on this website...). Such an opinion is of course highly subjective and only based on anecdotal evidence, but it's getting harder to keep putting lipstick on this pig.
There have been many variables that have been adversely affecting the game fishing here in recent years, with local weather and behaviour of the East Australian Current being two of the more significant. Offshore winds have been increasingly adverse, with stronger and more frequent northerly and southerly winds that have made fishing next to impossible.
For the previous three years, the EAC has been under the influence of a seasonal semi-permanent oceanic mesoscale eddy that has been forming off the NSW/Queensland border and diverting the current out to sea for about 75% of the summer months. That said, this summer is the first in several years where the eddy formed only briefly in the spring before breaking up, and as a consequence, the EAC has been better behaved and a positive influence over game fishing conditions this year.
Yet the fishing this summer has been really terrible... for the fourth year in a row.
I just spent three out of the past four days fishing for marlin in what could only be described as sublime conditions - perfect weather, perfect EAC, perfect tides and moon phase, perfect month of the year for marlin.
Yet over those 30 hours of fishing for marlin everywhere from the inshore juvenile black marlin grounds to the offshore blue marlin grounds, we saw three marlin (all little blacks, not a single blue), hooked up one and tagged it, and spent most of those hours in a lifeless ocean devoid of meaningful concentrations of midwater baitfish (usually everywhere). We saw a total of about 20 flying fish (usually hundreds), two small pods of dolphins (usually dozens), and maybe 50 birds working surface bait (usually hundreds or thousands). We haven't seen a tuna for years.
It seems that no matter how many boats fish the water off the NSW north coast, instead of a steady stream of reports on the radio and social media about frequent raising of marlin and game boats returning to the shore flying flags, there are maybe three or four marlin sightings per day at best, and on average, maybe one marlin tagged on any given day. The majority of boats see no marlin, and tag no marlin. The difference compared to a decade ago could hardly be any more dramatic, and the trend is getting worse.
This doesn't mean that it's all over for game fishing here, and the odds are that like so many other things that are the subject of both real scientific evidence and on the other hand, alarmist cries of change, that the downward trend in game fishing results here is just part of a natural cycle that will in due course cycle the other way.
Just what are all the factors at play here? No doubt many are natural, some anthropogenic. But the bottom line is that the marlin are no longer passing our coast in numbers that would be considered "normal", and that the game fishing has pretty much gone to hell locally regardless of how well it's going to our north and south.
So that despite claims of late or shifting seasons, and all manner of external influences, and even if there's a red hot bite starting here tomorrow, for the fourth year in a row, it's simply nothing like it used to be... and what was once a renowned marlin fishing location with a year-round season is rapidly being reduced to a bottom fishing spot for vacationing snapper fishers where chasing big game is no longer worth the expense or effort.
A photo of yesterday's sublime - and empty - ocean
Friday, 11th January
We've got the first 4-day fishing weather window in 3 months opening up on the NSW north coast at the moment, so we decided to go for a run today and to only chase juvenile black marlin instead of succumbing to the siren's call of the deep edge of the shelf and its (thin on the ground) blue marlin.
It was a gorgeous start to the day, but the seabreeze got a bit boisterous later. However, we had a very lazy black marlin take a couple of half-hearted swipes at a pink lure before midday, finally grabbing it in its mouth and running away. That only lasted for 30 seconds however, and as soon as the fish jumped for the first time, it spat the lure and the action stopped.
It took a few more hours of droning around in the pretty dead looking greenish water before we were able to interest another juvenile black in the (again, pink) Jennings Vuaki Flyer on the shotgun. Unlike its cousin, this fish hadn't been on sedatives, and crash tackled the lure, hooking up nicely, and coming to the boat in about 10 minutes after some deft handling by John (the Ancient Mariner) Stafford. A pretty little marlin of about 40 kilos, and released in perfect health after getting its piece of NSW DPI bling.
Still not great marlin fishing for January, but a hell of a lot better than a week ago... any day you come back with a flag on the 'rigger is a good day of game fishing!
It was a gorgeous start to the day, but the seabreeze got a bit boisterous later. However, we had a very lazy black marlin take a couple of half-hearted swipes at a pink lure before midday, finally grabbing it in its mouth and running away. That only lasted for 30 seconds however, and as soon as the fish jumped for the first time, it spat the lure and the action stopped.
It took a few more hours of droning around in the pretty dead looking greenish water before we were able to interest another juvenile black in the (again, pink) Jennings Vuaki Flyer on the shotgun. Unlike its cousin, this fish hadn't been on sedatives, and crash tackled the lure, hooking up nicely, and coming to the boat in about 10 minutes after some deft handling by John (the Ancient Mariner) Stafford. A pretty little marlin of about 40 kilos, and released in perfect health after getting its piece of NSW DPI bling.
Still not great marlin fishing for January, but a hell of a lot better than a week ago... any day you come back with a flag on the 'rigger is a good day of game fishing!
Tuesday, 8th January
January to March are the prime months for blue marlin on the northern coast of NSW.
Sure, blues can often be caught anytime between September and May, but the hot period is those first three months of each calendar year. Striped marlin can be found here more or less year round in a good season, and the juvenile black marlin generally pass through during the same three months when the blues are in town, so for 9 months of the year at least, anglers used to be able to put to sea for a trip without too much doubt about being able to at least raise marlin...used to.
Which is why it was astonishing to have three game boats out fishing yesterday in good conditions with excellent sub-tropical water, plenty of bait in the form of large areas of flying fish, and a moderate current flow of about 2-2.5 knots at 27C ... and only raise one marlin between them. In what used to be called a "good" year, you could go out at this time fairly secure in the knowledge that even if you didn't tag a blue marlin, you were probably going to raise two or three, and maybe a couple of juvenile blacks on the way out to or in from the blue marlin grounds.
So yesterday, Glen Booth's Wicked Weasel raised a 150kg blue marlin in 400 fathoms on the deep side of the continental shelf, which gave angler Mick Magnay a hard time on 37kg gear until it was tagged 90 minutes later. Photo below... very nice job Glen and Mick ...!
But that was it... Foreign Exchange and Sweet One II - both boats with a solid reputation in the marlin business - couldn't find any action all day, and came home with no flags flying, but very frustrated crew. Something's definitely not right here, and it's been a trend for several years now, but nobody can put their finger on it.
Go figure...
Sure, blues can often be caught anytime between September and May, but the hot period is those first three months of each calendar year. Striped marlin can be found here more or less year round in a good season, and the juvenile black marlin generally pass through during the same three months when the blues are in town, so for 9 months of the year at least, anglers used to be able to put to sea for a trip without too much doubt about being able to at least raise marlin...used to.
Which is why it was astonishing to have three game boats out fishing yesterday in good conditions with excellent sub-tropical water, plenty of bait in the form of large areas of flying fish, and a moderate current flow of about 2-2.5 knots at 27C ... and only raise one marlin between them. In what used to be called a "good" year, you could go out at this time fairly secure in the knowledge that even if you didn't tag a blue marlin, you were probably going to raise two or three, and maybe a couple of juvenile blacks on the way out to or in from the blue marlin grounds.
So yesterday, Glen Booth's Wicked Weasel raised a 150kg blue marlin in 400 fathoms on the deep side of the continental shelf, which gave angler Mick Magnay a hard time on 37kg gear until it was tagged 90 minutes later. Photo below... very nice job Glen and Mick ...!
But that was it... Foreign Exchange and Sweet One II - both boats with a solid reputation in the marlin business - couldn't find any action all day, and came home with no flags flying, but very frustrated crew. Something's definitely not right here, and it's been a trend for several years now, but nobody can put their finger on it.
Go figure...
Tuesday, 1st January, 2019
Happy New Year to all our regular Flybridge readers from around Australia and the world. All the best for your game fishing adventures in 2019...
This website averages a daily 80 individual visitors day in and day out, which considering how small the game fishing demographic in northern NSW is, means that we routinely see a pretty good cross-section of the game fishing community checking us out every week.
During one last run of the year last Monday, North Coast Big Game Anglers skipper Sam Connor pushed through some pretty mediocre swells and chop that the seemingly never-ending northerlies on the NSW coast have been delivering, and went looking for marlin out at The Hole, a well-known feature to the east of Wooli on the edge of the shelf.
They found excellent bait aggregations, and better yet, marked over a dozen marlin working the bait, as the screen shots from Sam's sounder show in these photos. The hooked up one of the marlin but when a clip on the rig broke, that was the end of their day after the winds drove them home.
Bad luck, but it shows us that the marlin are trying hard to move down the coast despite the unseasonable winds and poor water quality out as far as the edge of the shelf.
This website averages a daily 80 individual visitors day in and day out, which considering how small the game fishing demographic in northern NSW is, means that we routinely see a pretty good cross-section of the game fishing community checking us out every week.
During one last run of the year last Monday, North Coast Big Game Anglers skipper Sam Connor pushed through some pretty mediocre swells and chop that the seemingly never-ending northerlies on the NSW coast have been delivering, and went looking for marlin out at The Hole, a well-known feature to the east of Wooli on the edge of the shelf.
They found excellent bait aggregations, and better yet, marked over a dozen marlin working the bait, as the screen shots from Sam's sounder show in these photos. The hooked up one of the marlin but when a clip on the rig broke, that was the end of their day after the winds drove them home.
Bad luck, but it shows us that the marlin are trying hard to move down the coast despite the unseasonable winds and poor water quality out as far as the edge of the shelf.
Friday, 28th December
Well... Christmas has been and gone, and we're still waiting for a decent stretch of calmer weather that gives game boats a chance to get in a bit more than a half day of fishing out wide before the extremely boisterous northerlies that have been plaguing the northern NSW coast trash the conditions each afternoon.
Still, a half day of game fishing is better than none at all. With that in mind, a couple of the boats from Coffs Harbour have been out, with almost daily sorties from the Coffs Harbour Deep Sea Fishing crew, who are doing pretty well finding mahimahi, but like the rest of us, struggling to find marlin.
One of the big problems here is that when the northerlies blow for more than a coup[le of days, the Ekman transport effect rolls the water over, and instead of blue warm water up and down the continental shelf, we get green, cool, lifeless stuff - not conducive to the juvenile black marlin fishing that should be done of the highlights of midsummer game fishing off this coast.
However, North Coast Big Game Anglers boats have been out this week, with Andrew McLennan's On Strike stirring them up off Ballina raising black and blue marlin around excellent large schools of bait. Similarly, Foreign Exchange went searching for blues as well off Coffs, but the ocean on the deep side of the shelf - despite being blue and warm with good current flow - was more or less devoid of life, and particularly blue marlin.
That said, the boundary on the top of the shelf where the cooler water was being pushed out by the warmer EAC was where there were a few juvenile black marlin interested in playing, and just after the high tide, angler Sam Connor found himself attached to a nice 50kg model - photo below. There were a couple more visits from small blacks that pulled some string before spitting the hooks out later in the afternoon in the increasingly rough conditions.
Still, a half day of game fishing is better than none at all. With that in mind, a couple of the boats from Coffs Harbour have been out, with almost daily sorties from the Coffs Harbour Deep Sea Fishing crew, who are doing pretty well finding mahimahi, but like the rest of us, struggling to find marlin.
One of the big problems here is that when the northerlies blow for more than a coup[le of days, the Ekman transport effect rolls the water over, and instead of blue warm water up and down the continental shelf, we get green, cool, lifeless stuff - not conducive to the juvenile black marlin fishing that should be done of the highlights of midsummer game fishing off this coast.
However, North Coast Big Game Anglers boats have been out this week, with Andrew McLennan's On Strike stirring them up off Ballina raising black and blue marlin around excellent large schools of bait. Similarly, Foreign Exchange went searching for blues as well off Coffs, but the ocean on the deep side of the shelf - despite being blue and warm with good current flow - was more or less devoid of life, and particularly blue marlin.
That said, the boundary on the top of the shelf where the cooler water was being pushed out by the warmer EAC was where there were a few juvenile black marlin interested in playing, and just after the high tide, angler Sam Connor found himself attached to a nice 50kg model - photo below. There were a couple more visits from small blacks that pulled some string before spitting the hooks out later in the afternoon in the increasingly rough conditions.
Wednesday, 19th December
A truly fascinating report today from one of the North Coast Big Game Anglers group boats (On Strike) that was fishing off Ballina.
They were out on the edge of the continental shelf in glamour conditions looking for blue marlin, but despite having one mystery hit from what looked a lot like a decent sized marlin, they never raised another billfish all day.
What they did do however, was drive into the largest concentration of mahimahi that skipper Andrew McLennon and his crew had ever seen. Described as "hundreds and hundreds" of mahimahi, mostly over about 1.2m, spread out over a large area around a length of floating rope hawser. The fish were so thick that a large pod of pilot whales was spending time herding them up into balls and smashing in feeding on them. The whales were throwing the mahimahi in the air, balling them up into tight masses, and then running in and picking them off.
The anglers spent a fair bit of time playing with the mahimahi and then circling around the area looking for marlin that might have been interested, but came up empty.
Still, they went home with a great feed, and a very rare experience.
And incidentally, all the mahi mahi that they boated were throwing up macroramphosus gracilis: http://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3161 that they'd apparently been feeding on.
They were out on the edge of the continental shelf in glamour conditions looking for blue marlin, but despite having one mystery hit from what looked a lot like a decent sized marlin, they never raised another billfish all day.
What they did do however, was drive into the largest concentration of mahimahi that skipper Andrew McLennon and his crew had ever seen. Described as "hundreds and hundreds" of mahimahi, mostly over about 1.2m, spread out over a large area around a length of floating rope hawser. The fish were so thick that a large pod of pilot whales was spending time herding them up into balls and smashing in feeding on them. The whales were throwing the mahimahi in the air, balling them up into tight masses, and then running in and picking them off.
The anglers spent a fair bit of time playing with the mahimahi and then circling around the area looking for marlin that might have been interested, but came up empty.
Still, they went home with a great feed, and a very rare experience.
And incidentally, all the mahi mahi that they boated were throwing up macroramphosus gracilis: http://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3161 that they'd apparently been feeding on.
Tuesday, 18th December
The reports of juvenile black marlin arriving on the NSW north coast from Queensland are starting to appear, and with news of a couple caught off Coffs Harbour last weekend, local charter boat Better than Vegas went out today in less-than-ideal conditions with a norwester gusting over 20 knots and still managed to tag and release a black marlin. Good work from skipper Pete English and the team at Coffs Harbour Deep Sea Fishing.
Tuesday, 11th December
During a visit to the Gold Coast, we spent a day out on a 51ft Riviera trolling around the edge of the shelf east of Southport in pretty pleasant conditions looking for blue marlin.
Things were pretty quiet most of the day, with surprisingly little surface action, not a flying fish to be seen, and no birds working despite the presence of a lot of dolphins and the occasional bait.
Early in the day we ran over some excellent bait concentrations in 90 fathoms, but couldn't manage to find any fish, and the really top notch electronics on the boat, which would have been capable of seeing a crap scratching itself on the bottom in 100 fathoms showed no signs of any pelagics working the bait shown in the screen shot on the left.
So after venturing further north to the Riv Grounds structure, we headed back down to where the bait had been earlier in the day and hooked up a 75-odd kilo striped marlin that came on very hard, convincing most of us that it was a blue - at least to start with.
It didn't stand too much chance against the 130 rigs we had out, and had it sorted in fairly quick time, thanks to good work from angler Tom Spalding, and deckies father Wayne and Scott O'Ferrall.
Things were pretty quiet most of the day, with surprisingly little surface action, not a flying fish to be seen, and no birds working despite the presence of a lot of dolphins and the occasional bait.
Early in the day we ran over some excellent bait concentrations in 90 fathoms, but couldn't manage to find any fish, and the really top notch electronics on the boat, which would have been capable of seeing a crap scratching itself on the bottom in 100 fathoms showed no signs of any pelagics working the bait shown in the screen shot on the left.
So after venturing further north to the Riv Grounds structure, we headed back down to where the bait had been earlier in the day and hooked up a 75-odd kilo striped marlin that came on very hard, convincing most of us that it was a blue - at least to start with.
It didn't stand too much chance against the 130 rigs we had out, and had it sorted in fairly quick time, thanks to good work from angler Tom Spalding, and deckies father Wayne and Scott O'Ferrall.
Saturday, 24th November
It's been months since the north coast of NSW last saw a clearly defined warm pulse of water in the EAC over 24C move down from the border and pass along the edge of the continental shelf. The one shown in the screen shot from FishTrack on the left moved through late this week, and is now approach Port Macquarie.
These pulses reliably bring a flush of blue marlin travelling with them, many of which will stay along the edge of the continental rental shelf feeding for several days before moving on, and it should be no different this time.
The strong winds that have kept boats away from the edge of the shelf for days now are easing, and the weekend should present good opportunities to head out and see where the blues are hanging out in excellent weather, particularly on Sunday.
The big downwelling eddy to our northeast is disrupting much of the EAC, but there's a small breakaway flow that's moving into the north of the Coffs Coast around The Hole, where there may be a new bite in the 24C blue water around there.
Conditions are not ideal with a full moon cooling any potential bite, but there will always be fish interested in playing from late morning on... Experience says that with the big moon, 1100 seems to be the best time to start keeping a sharp eye on the spread.
Typically for the Coffs Coast though, finding a keen crew to go game fishing with is becoming harder than finding marlin these days.
These pulses reliably bring a flush of blue marlin travelling with them, many of which will stay along the edge of the continental rental shelf feeding for several days before moving on, and it should be no different this time.
The strong winds that have kept boats away from the edge of the shelf for days now are easing, and the weekend should present good opportunities to head out and see where the blues are hanging out in excellent weather, particularly on Sunday.
The big downwelling eddy to our northeast is disrupting much of the EAC, but there's a small breakaway flow that's moving into the north of the Coffs Coast around The Hole, where there may be a new bite in the 24C blue water around there.
Conditions are not ideal with a full moon cooling any potential bite, but there will always be fish interested in playing from late morning on... Experience says that with the big moon, 1100 seems to be the best time to start keeping a sharp eye on the spread.
Typically for the Coffs Coast though, finding a keen crew to go game fishing with is becoming harder than finding marlin these days.
Thursday, 22nd November
The alternating northerly and southerly blustery winds along the northern NSW coast have been frustrating game fishermen for weeks now, with almost no opportunities to get out for a full day on the edge of the continental shelf without being blown home in conditions that few if any self-respecting marlin would bother to hang about in.
Still, if you've got a couple of hours to spare and feel like some sportfishing between wind events, there's some good action with poppers and livies around the FAD and wave recorder. And that's what Pete English's Coffs Harbour Deep Sea Fishing charters have been doing lately with great results. While it's better to be flashing marlin photos up here, this great shot of a mahimahi caught today shows just how effective timing can be with a photo of a nice mahimahi which would otherwise be the usual dull silver/grey we see with most photos of these sport fish. If you get the fish out of the water quickly, give it a quick wash, and take a few photos in the first 60 seconds after the fish comes on board, this is the sort of result you can expect before the gorgeous colours fade.
Meanwhile, with a weekend forecast starting to hint of one, if not two days of fishable weather, there's a chance that some real marlin action might be in the frame... stay tuned.
Still, if you've got a couple of hours to spare and feel like some sportfishing between wind events, there's some good action with poppers and livies around the FAD and wave recorder. And that's what Pete English's Coffs Harbour Deep Sea Fishing charters have been doing lately with great results. While it's better to be flashing marlin photos up here, this great shot of a mahimahi caught today shows just how effective timing can be with a photo of a nice mahimahi which would otherwise be the usual dull silver/grey we see with most photos of these sport fish. If you get the fish out of the water quickly, give it a quick wash, and take a few photos in the first 60 seconds after the fish comes on board, this is the sort of result you can expect before the gorgeous colours fade.
Meanwhile, with a weekend forecast starting to hint of one, if not two days of fishable weather, there's a chance that some real marlin action might be in the frame... stay tuned.
Saturday, 17th november
After another slow week limited by sloppy and windy conditions off the northern NSW coast, things improved enough on Tuesday for Foreign Exchange to take a look out beyond the continental shelf, but with messy seas and strong winds, the ocean proved to be lifeless despite good water at 25C and encouraging current. One marlin made a solitary pass at a lure and took a swipe, but then moved on without showing any real interest.
However, by the end of the week, a glamour weather day opened things up for North Coast Big Game Anglers Group member Andrew McLennan, who went out in sublime conditions off Ballina and found some action. Andrew's team on On Strike first raised a marlin that made four passes at a lure before briefly grabbing it long enough to pull a bit of string, but then never hooked up.
They then had to wait until mid-afternoon for a second visitor, which turned out to be a more serious encounter, with a 120kg blue marlin hooking up and in due course being tagged and released after the photos below were taken.
Great work Andrew, nice fish, and good to see signs of the blues moving south of the border...
However, by the end of the week, a glamour weather day opened things up for North Coast Big Game Anglers Group member Andrew McLennan, who went out in sublime conditions off Ballina and found some action. Andrew's team on On Strike first raised a marlin that made four passes at a lure before briefly grabbing it long enough to pull a bit of string, but then never hooked up.
They then had to wait until mid-afternoon for a second visitor, which turned out to be a more serious encounter, with a 120kg blue marlin hooking up and in due course being tagged and released after the photos below were taken.
Great work Andrew, nice fish, and good to see signs of the blues moving south of the border...
Monday, 29th October
It's been a pretty quiet week along the NSW north coast - a handful of marlin raised off Coffs over the weekend, but relatively low numbers and a fairly weak bite, thanks in part to the full moon, so those who got a fish up in the excellent weather on Saturday did well for this early in the season.
The same can be said off the Gold Coast, where 23 boats got out to compete in the Shimano Shootout, a great one-day tournament organised by the Gold Coast GFC, who have a knack for lining up excellent sponsors in that part of the world.
Congratulations to skipper Wayne Spalding and team Nomad from the North Coast Big Game Anglers group... Wayne and his scratch crew placed second overall in the Shootout on Nomad's first run since a major re-power and overall refurbishment of the excellent BlackWatch 36. Nice job boys...!
Some of the blue marlin action from Nomad's GoPro, and a shot of the beautiful blue-hulled BW heading out of the Seaway to fish the Shootout in the photos below, but no shot of the fish which spat the hook about 10 seconds after being tagged at the boat... that timely tag shot was worth a few thousand bucks.
The same can be said off the Gold Coast, where 23 boats got out to compete in the Shimano Shootout, a great one-day tournament organised by the Gold Coast GFC, who have a knack for lining up excellent sponsors in that part of the world.
Congratulations to skipper Wayne Spalding and team Nomad from the North Coast Big Game Anglers group... Wayne and his scratch crew placed second overall in the Shootout on Nomad's first run since a major re-power and overall refurbishment of the excellent BlackWatch 36. Nice job boys...!
Some of the blue marlin action from Nomad's GoPro, and a shot of the beautiful blue-hulled BW heading out of the Seaway to fish the Shootout in the photos below, but no shot of the fish which spat the hook about 10 seconds after being tagged at the boat... that timely tag shot was worth a few thousand bucks.
Monday, 15th October
How many times have you seen a marlin surge into your spread and smash a lure...?
While most readers of this space would be able to put their hands up, what most of us rarely if ever see is the other marlin that might be in company with the first one we raise. Occasionally we get a close look at more than one marlin in the spread, and even less frequently, this results in a double hookup.
But what we never see is just how many were actually there in the first place. Unless you have a high tuna tower, or maybe a towcam... or just maybe... a drone!
The photo below was taken by Al McGlashen from his drone while fishing on Blue Lightning III off WA's Monte Bello islands. The blue marlin on the right has just struck the long rigger lure, but so far, probably nobody can see the other two blues from the boat, and maybe never did until the drone image showed them in close formation with the lead fish.
It sure says a lot for the use of drones in this sport...!
While most readers of this space would be able to put their hands up, what most of us rarely if ever see is the other marlin that might be in company with the first one we raise. Occasionally we get a close look at more than one marlin in the spread, and even less frequently, this results in a double hookup.
But what we never see is just how many were actually there in the first place. Unless you have a high tuna tower, or maybe a towcam... or just maybe... a drone!
The photo below was taken by Al McGlashen from his drone while fishing on Blue Lightning III off WA's Monte Bello islands. The blue marlin on the right has just struck the long rigger lure, but so far, probably nobody can see the other two blues from the boat, and maybe never did until the drone image showed them in close formation with the lead fish.
It sure says a lot for the use of drones in this sport...!
Meanwhile, back on the east coast, we're suffering from heavy rainfall in the northern rivers catchment, which means that the rivers will all be discharging huge quantities of brown fresh water - along with the usual dead cows, trees, and other flotsam - into the ocean for a couple of weeks now, so fishing on there top of the continental shelf will probably be very poor now for some time until it all clears away.
If the EAC pushes down steadily though, the water outside the brown/blue line should be good, and fishing on the deep side of there shelf should be relatively unaffected provided you can make it through the floating rubbish that will be everywhere for a while.
If the EAC pushes down steadily though, the water outside the brown/blue line should be good, and fishing on the deep side of there shelf should be relatively unaffected provided you can make it through the floating rubbish that will be everywhere for a while.
Tuesday, 9th October
It's been a while since we heard from skipper Pete English and his game well-known local boat Better than Vegas, but after a quiet winter, Pete was out there again today, and found enough mahimahi around the local wave recorder buoy that you could almost walk over them. After having some fun with more than 20 of these fish around the size of the beautifully coloured model in the photo, he's now looking for striped marlin... more on how he does later this evening.
Monday, 8th October
Fraser Island - the new hot spot for blue marlin!
One of the founding members of the new NSW North Coast Big Game Anglers group, Andrew McLennan, got a bit tired of looking at an empty ocean off Ballina last week, so packed up his boat On Strike and headed for Fraser Island for the weekend.
On Friday, Andrew and new crew "Red" found the fish biting timidly and only on the shotgun bullet lure, dropping all three of the blue marlin raised - in one case after a decent fight when the fish was only 50m from the boat and appearing to be solidly hooked.
Not to be deterred, they were out there on the top of the continental shelf off the northern tip of Fraser first up on Saturday, and within 10 minutes of setting up their spread, drove straight into a red hot blue marlin bite that stayed working all day, and always within a miles or so of that first strike.
By the end of the day, they'd tagged 3 from 6 fish raised. Every blue smashed the lures much harder than the previous day, and were very aggressive, ran very hard, and even on a couple of occasions when the fish spat the hook after a wild run, the fish immediately turned around and came straight back, either hitting the same lure that it had just spat out as it was being wound back in, or another in the spread.
The biggest of the three fish they tagged was estimated by Andrew to be in the 180-kg class, and had given Red a pretty hard time for 90 minutes, diving deep each time they got it close to the boat, but finally staying on to be brought alongside and tagged.
Andrew noticed after it was tagged that it had a set of stainless wires protruding from its shoulder... maybe an old satellite tag anchor...?
Anyway, that's a good weekend's fishing however you look at it, despite the long drive (2.5 hours each way) out to the edge of the shelf from the Harvey Bay marina.
Well done Andrew and Red...!
One of the founding members of the new NSW North Coast Big Game Anglers group, Andrew McLennan, got a bit tired of looking at an empty ocean off Ballina last week, so packed up his boat On Strike and headed for Fraser Island for the weekend.
On Friday, Andrew and new crew "Red" found the fish biting timidly and only on the shotgun bullet lure, dropping all three of the blue marlin raised - in one case after a decent fight when the fish was only 50m from the boat and appearing to be solidly hooked.
Not to be deterred, they were out there on the top of the continental shelf off the northern tip of Fraser first up on Saturday, and within 10 minutes of setting up their spread, drove straight into a red hot blue marlin bite that stayed working all day, and always within a miles or so of that first strike.
By the end of the day, they'd tagged 3 from 6 fish raised. Every blue smashed the lures much harder than the previous day, and were very aggressive, ran very hard, and even on a couple of occasions when the fish spat the hook after a wild run, the fish immediately turned around and came straight back, either hitting the same lure that it had just spat out as it was being wound back in, or another in the spread.
The biggest of the three fish they tagged was estimated by Andrew to be in the 180-kg class, and had given Red a pretty hard time for 90 minutes, diving deep each time they got it close to the boat, but finally staying on to be brought alongside and tagged.
Andrew noticed after it was tagged that it had a set of stainless wires protruding from its shoulder... maybe an old satellite tag anchor...?
Anyway, that's a good weekend's fishing however you look at it, despite the long drive (2.5 hours each way) out to the edge of the shelf from the Harvey Bay marina.
Well done Andrew and Red...!
Sunday, 16th September
After the good news this week about YFT on the Coffs Coast from skipper Rob Lang of Coffs Coast Sportsfishing, Andrew McClennan from Ballina reported large schools of saurys, slimys and bonito up along the shelf when he went out for a quick bottom bash in less than ideal windy conditions. Andrew got smoked by a few kingfish in one of his favourite reef spots, but did tag a 95cm model before having to give it away and go home.
It looks like all the pieces are in place for some good pelagic action on the north coast now, and all we're waiting on is a run of a few days of calm weather.
Meanwhile, in the usual frenzy of spring maintenance activity, I replaced all the major components of my Yanmar engine's exhaust system. Yanmar charges a ton for the cast mild steel exhaust elbow and mixer components used on my motor, but why they make them in mild steel is a mystery, other than the obvious probability that with a service life of less then 5 years, and an outrageous replacement cost, why try harder...?!
Instead, I found an engineering operation near Seattle that makes the most astonishing cast 316 Marine Grade stainless steel replacement exhaust components for the better-known marine engines for less than the cost of the original manufacturer's mild steel self-destructing parts.
HDI Marine make superb exhaust system castings, finished perfectly, and shipped to Australia for less than the mild steel OEM parts available here. Based on the quality 316 stainless steel used, the casting wall thickness, and the finish, it wouldn't be hard to imagine that these parts will exceed the usual life of the OEM parts by a factor of 10.
It looks like all the pieces are in place for some good pelagic action on the north coast now, and all we're waiting on is a run of a few days of calm weather.
Meanwhile, in the usual frenzy of spring maintenance activity, I replaced all the major components of my Yanmar engine's exhaust system. Yanmar charges a ton for the cast mild steel exhaust elbow and mixer components used on my motor, but why they make them in mild steel is a mystery, other than the obvious probability that with a service life of less then 5 years, and an outrageous replacement cost, why try harder...?!
Instead, I found an engineering operation near Seattle that makes the most astonishing cast 316 Marine Grade stainless steel replacement exhaust components for the better-known marine engines for less than the cost of the original manufacturer's mild steel self-destructing parts.
HDI Marine make superb exhaust system castings, finished perfectly, and shipped to Australia for less than the mild steel OEM parts available here. Based on the quality 316 stainless steel used, the casting wall thickness, and the finish, it wouldn't be hard to imagine that these parts will exceed the usual life of the OEM parts by a factor of 10.
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Friday, 7th September
A bit of bad news... Well-known Coffs Harbour game fishing identity, George Blackwell, was on board as crew this morning when Capt. Bill Billson's game boat "Viking" went aground at cruising speed on Wolf Rock, off the end of Double Island Point. The boat is severely damaged, and the crew, including George, were rescued by a passing yacht.
The good news is that everybody is OK, albeit pretty shaken up needless to say. 7 News Brisbane has the story on its website.
The good news is that everybody is OK, albeit pretty shaken up needless to say. 7 News Brisbane has the story on its website.
Wednesday, 5th September
They say that a week can make a difference to everything, including game fishing. Let's hope that's the case on the north coast here, where our week of much-needed rainfall is about halfway finished. It was ironic that after a winter off-season of near perfect weather, the week that the summer season opened, the first rain in months came down and has temporarily wiped out the fishing options.
Not so off Morocco, where Frenchman, Flybridge correspondent, and keen big game angler Bill François is having a blinder. After a slow start to his annual Moroccan pilgrimage, he and his mates went 31/21/17 on white marlin yesterday! The white marlin is a very close Atlantic relative of our striped marlin, and comes with similar behaviour and fishing techniques that we use here on the stripes; but thanks at least in part to the wall of death out there in the Pacific, we're no longer seeing those sort of striped marlin numbers off northern NSW any more.
Thankfully, the once-decimated Atlantic fishery is being so well-managed that it's now thriving on both sides of the Atlantic. Bill only just finished a week off Portugal catching Atlantic bluefin tuna, so he's having a hell of an autumn season. If only we could see a summer like that here...
The photo below is of Bill releasing one of the 17 white marlin they tagged yesterday... those 31 fish were all raised on a trailer boat rather than the usual flybridge cruiser they use in Morocco, and all the fishing was done just between 1100 and 1600 yesterday. Way to go Bill!!
Not so off Morocco, where Frenchman, Flybridge correspondent, and keen big game angler Bill François is having a blinder. After a slow start to his annual Moroccan pilgrimage, he and his mates went 31/21/17 on white marlin yesterday! The white marlin is a very close Atlantic relative of our striped marlin, and comes with similar behaviour and fishing techniques that we use here on the stripes; but thanks at least in part to the wall of death out there in the Pacific, we're no longer seeing those sort of striped marlin numbers off northern NSW any more.
Thankfully, the once-decimated Atlantic fishery is being so well-managed that it's now thriving on both sides of the Atlantic. Bill only just finished a week off Portugal catching Atlantic bluefin tuna, so he's having a hell of an autumn season. If only we could see a summer like that here...
The photo below is of Bill releasing one of the 17 white marlin they tagged yesterday... those 31 fish were all raised on a trailer boat rather than the usual flybridge cruiser they use in Morocco, and all the fishing was done just between 1100 and 1600 yesterday. Way to go Bill!!
As noted, it's all go on either side of the Atlantic. Southport angler and member of the North Coast Big Game Anglers group Wayne Spalding has just returned from a week of fishing in the Western Atlantic off Canada's Prince Edward Island. He and a couple of other anglers joined Tim Simpson from BlueWater magazine for a fishing trip targeting Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, another fishery that had been near the edge of collapse a couple of decades ago, but which is now recovering in good numbers.
Wayne and his mates caught bluefin in the 300+lb range every day, culminating in Wayne releasing a 116 inch bluefin that the charts say would have weighed around 920 lbs (424kg). Wayne was on the rod for a bit under 2 hours with this huge fish, and as the photo below shows, it was a pretty even battle!
Being too far away for the black flag longliners from Asia no doubt has a hell of a lot to do with this game fish stocks recovery that's now evident across the entire north Atlantic Ocean. The IGFA has also been very active in the Atlantic, pushing new conservation laws in the US that have helped with marlin and tuna stocks rebuilding themselves on the western side off the US in particular.
Wayne and his mates caught bluefin in the 300+lb range every day, culminating in Wayne releasing a 116 inch bluefin that the charts say would have weighed around 920 lbs (424kg). Wayne was on the rod for a bit under 2 hours with this huge fish, and as the photo below shows, it was a pretty even battle!
Being too far away for the black flag longliners from Asia no doubt has a hell of a lot to do with this game fish stocks recovery that's now evident across the entire north Atlantic Ocean. The IGFA has also been very active in the Atlantic, pushing new conservation laws in the US that have helped with marlin and tuna stocks rebuilding themselves on the western side off the US in particular.
Tuesday, 28th August
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And more of the same - but with a twist. There's a small but effective upwelling eddy formed off Nambucca that may be setting up some good game fishing conditions right off Coffs Harbour around the Nambucca Canyons. Core water temps are still around 22C, which looks like it may be the coldest we see in the EAC this winter - hopefully that will warm up quicker that most years, and get the blue marlin fishing fired up before Christmas.
This coming Saturday - 1 September - is the official season start for at least one group on the north coast, and while the start of the season can be fairly iffy this early in the spring, the long range forecasts have all been promising a fairly reasonably day (sandwiched between two less than perfect days mind you...), which should be encouraging for any skippers thinking of getting an early mention on the scoreboard. Tides on the north coast are about as good as you could hope to see for a season opener, and the moon is several days past full and waning, so as season kickoffs go, it's pretty positive. As usual, it's all about having regular crew ready for the 2018/19 season, and despite a winter-long campaign to find a couple of good game fishermen/women for the new season here in Coffs, my phone hasn't exactly been running hot. Good luck for the new season to any boats planning to give it a run on Day 1. |
Sunday, 12th August
Our near-perfect winter weather on the NSW north coast continues... although there's little doubt that we could do with a drop of rain at the moment.
Out at sea, the East Australian Current is behaving in an exemplary fashion as the charts here show, albeit a little turbocharged along the Coffs Coast thanks to the effects of a downwelling mesoscale eddy offshore to our southeast.
Otherwise, with temperatures in the current that haven't dipped below 21 degrees this winter, and a beautiful temperature gradient from the top of the continental shelf to the bottom, it's looking very good indeed out there, just as the start of the game fishing season approaches.
The whales have pretty much all gone past now, and in another month or so, will be returning from their winter calving and mating in warmer northern waters. This raises the interesting question of whether the huge increase in whale numbers in recent years will in turn create a "pull" factor and draw packs of killer whales up here to prey on the humpback calves.
There were several seen last year, and several marine biologists have predicted that about the time that game boats will be making regular spring sorties out to the edge of the shelf is when we should expect to see orcas if they're drawn here in any meaningful numbers when the southwards humpback migration starts.
With the takeover of the Solitary Islands GFC, and its consignment to history, the new Coffs Coast Game and Sportfishing Club kicked off proceedings with its first AGM last week. Hopefully, this latest iteration of organised game fishing out of Coffs Harbour won't be more of the same that lead to the demise of the Solitary islands club... time will tell.
Out at sea, the East Australian Current is behaving in an exemplary fashion as the charts here show, albeit a little turbocharged along the Coffs Coast thanks to the effects of a downwelling mesoscale eddy offshore to our southeast.
Otherwise, with temperatures in the current that haven't dipped below 21 degrees this winter, and a beautiful temperature gradient from the top of the continental shelf to the bottom, it's looking very good indeed out there, just as the start of the game fishing season approaches.
The whales have pretty much all gone past now, and in another month or so, will be returning from their winter calving and mating in warmer northern waters. This raises the interesting question of whether the huge increase in whale numbers in recent years will in turn create a "pull" factor and draw packs of killer whales up here to prey on the humpback calves.
There were several seen last year, and several marine biologists have predicted that about the time that game boats will be making regular spring sorties out to the edge of the shelf is when we should expect to see orcas if they're drawn here in any meaningful numbers when the southwards humpback migration starts.
With the takeover of the Solitary Islands GFC, and its consignment to history, the new Coffs Coast Game and Sportfishing Club kicked off proceedings with its first AGM last week. Hopefully, this latest iteration of organised game fishing out of Coffs Harbour won't be more of the same that lead to the demise of the Solitary islands club... time will tell.
Tuesday, 31st July
Last year during our worst-ever game fishing season, I wrote in this column lamenting the behaviour of the weather patterns that were being driven by the stubborn refusal of the high pressure cells over Australia to follow the sun and move north up the continent's profile to their usual path across the centre of Australia, instead following an unseasonal path along the south of the continent, and trashing our summer weather.
This winter, it's entirely different, and what would normally be considered more typical, despite the unfortunate drought inland. The sun is up over the northern hemisphere at present, and the path followed by the high pressure systems has moved north as it should. We're now getting a succession of highs moving from over Exmouth, eastwards over Australia and crossing northern NSW along the border. As a result, we are having a winter of the most magnificent offshore fishing conditions you could ever hope for. In just the past month, we've had more days with clear skies and light breezes than we had for the 9 months of last summer's game fishing season .
What does this mean for this summer...? Who really knows, but the long range forecasts are very promising, so the meteorologists and their computers are all sensing something much different than the past few years of lousy summers with alternating strong northerlies and southerlies and resulting poor game fishing conditions.
Assuming that the usual lag occurs and the path of the high pressure systems takes a while to follow the sun back to the south after the coming equinox, then by rights, the highs that we're seeing running across the north of the state this winter shouldn't move significantly southwards until after the new year. Combine this with the exceptionally solid behaviour of the East Australian Current all winter, and all the factors are starting to point to a good game fishing season.
The EAC is running straight and true, and roughly a degree warmer than it has over the winter for some years. At the moment, it's surging along at a very strong 3 knots (reported a couple of days ago by an angler out on the top edge of the shelf), and while that's not ideal, the fact that the current is behaving conventionally and running straight down the shelf is extremely encouraging.
There's even an unseasonally strong downwelling mesoscale oceanic eddy that's set up further down the NSW coast, and this is no doubt largely responsible for the pace of the current off Coffs. It's also giving the folks down off Port Stephens and the central coast a dose of what we've had to endure up here for the last few years, with the EAC being diverted well out to sea and bypassing the entire central section of NSW coastline. This isn't a big deal now, but when the blue and black marlin start their run in a couple of months, it might just mean that we see all the action up here for a change.
With all these factors that we haven't seen for years in play and pointing to a very different game season this summer, it might be a good time to start getting enthusiastic about the prospects for north coast game fishermen in the early summer at least. Remember those days when blue marlin were caught in decent numbers on there north coast from September onwards, and the Hot Current tournament saw plenty of blues in the spring...? Stand by.
This winter, it's entirely different, and what would normally be considered more typical, despite the unfortunate drought inland. The sun is up over the northern hemisphere at present, and the path followed by the high pressure systems has moved north as it should. We're now getting a succession of highs moving from over Exmouth, eastwards over Australia and crossing northern NSW along the border. As a result, we are having a winter of the most magnificent offshore fishing conditions you could ever hope for. In just the past month, we've had more days with clear skies and light breezes than we had for the 9 months of last summer's game fishing season .
What does this mean for this summer...? Who really knows, but the long range forecasts are very promising, so the meteorologists and their computers are all sensing something much different than the past few years of lousy summers with alternating strong northerlies and southerlies and resulting poor game fishing conditions.
Assuming that the usual lag occurs and the path of the high pressure systems takes a while to follow the sun back to the south after the coming equinox, then by rights, the highs that we're seeing running across the north of the state this winter shouldn't move significantly southwards until after the new year. Combine this with the exceptionally solid behaviour of the East Australian Current all winter, and all the factors are starting to point to a good game fishing season.
The EAC is running straight and true, and roughly a degree warmer than it has over the winter for some years. At the moment, it's surging along at a very strong 3 knots (reported a couple of days ago by an angler out on the top edge of the shelf), and while that's not ideal, the fact that the current is behaving conventionally and running straight down the shelf is extremely encouraging.
There's even an unseasonally strong downwelling mesoscale oceanic eddy that's set up further down the NSW coast, and this is no doubt largely responsible for the pace of the current off Coffs. It's also giving the folks down off Port Stephens and the central coast a dose of what we've had to endure up here for the last few years, with the EAC being diverted well out to sea and bypassing the entire central section of NSW coastline. This isn't a big deal now, but when the blue and black marlin start their run in a couple of months, it might just mean that we see all the action up here for a change.
With all these factors that we haven't seen for years in play and pointing to a very different game season this summer, it might be a good time to start getting enthusiastic about the prospects for north coast game fishermen in the early summer at least. Remember those days when blue marlin were caught in decent numbers on there north coast from September onwards, and the Hot Current tournament saw plenty of blues in the spring...? Stand by.
Tuesday, 10th July
Browsing through all the daily postings to various game fishing sites, I came across a video taken by Tim Simpson of Bluewater magazine who is off on another great boondoggle, fishing in Tahiti at the moment. Tim was talking to a local crew who he'd been out fishing with, and was discussing marlin hookup rates, of which these locals had a very high percentage. They fish primarily for blue marlin and YFT, and were talking about the increase in their hookup percentages since adopting the stiff single hook rig advocated and discussed at length by well-known Tongan charter boat skipper Steve Campbell in his superb book, Blue Marlin Magic.
Steve went to great lengths n his book to explain the mechanics and the construction of his stiff single hook rigs in his book, and it's obvious that most big game anglers who have read the book are at least trying these out. We've been using stiff rigged single hooks on Foreign Exchange for years, and our success in club fishing bears out the effectiveness of these rigs.
These guys in Tahiti found an old discarded throttle cable on their local dock and decided to use the stiff stainless internal piece as the basis for constructing their stiff rigs. The photo on the left is a screen shot taken from the video that best demonstrates just how a stiff rigged single hook will look when mounted in a rigged lure.
Steve went to great lengths n his book to explain the mechanics and the construction of his stiff single hook rigs in his book, and it's obvious that most big game anglers who have read the book are at least trying these out. We've been using stiff rigged single hooks on Foreign Exchange for years, and our success in club fishing bears out the effectiveness of these rigs.
These guys in Tahiti found an old discarded throttle cable on their local dock and decided to use the stiff stainless internal piece as the basis for constructing their stiff rigs. The photo on the left is a screen shot taken from the video that best demonstrates just how a stiff rigged single hook will look when mounted in a rigged lure.
Saturday, 30th June
As noted in yesterday's Logbook entry, the conditions off the Coffs Coast are like one of those rare alignments of a few planets - great water temp of 22C, which at this time of year is exceptional, good clean water flowing past in the EAC, plenty of bait in the form of decent schools of slimys and bonito around the 30-fathom mark, and a great forecast string of light winds and sunny skies. This simply has to bring striped marlin into the frame.
That said, if the FishTrack composite SST satellite shot shown on the left is correct, there would have to be some serious tuna action for Port Macquarie game fishermen out along the big temperature break south that's developed to their immediate north. With temp gradients of up to 4C over this system, something's got to be happening there.
Update on 7 July... this system has moved slightly south, but the big temp break is still there, and it appears to be drawing tuna up from down south. Southern Bluefin - which are rarely seen north of the Central Coast, let alone north of SWR - were reported off Sawtell this week for the first time in years.
Also, the big wave-piercing alloy catamaran longliner was unloading and refuelling in Coffs today, so there has to be something going on out there.
That said, if the FishTrack composite SST satellite shot shown on the left is correct, there would have to be some serious tuna action for Port Macquarie game fishermen out along the big temperature break south that's developed to their immediate north. With temp gradients of up to 4C over this system, something's got to be happening there.
Update on 7 July... this system has moved slightly south, but the big temp break is still there, and it appears to be drawing tuna up from down south. Southern Bluefin - which are rarely seen north of the Central Coast, let alone north of SWR - were reported off Sawtell this week for the first time in years.
Also, the big wave-piercing alloy catamaran longliner was unloading and refuelling in Coffs today, so there has to be something going on out there.
Friday, 29th June
The current is good, the water temps and quality look very good for this time of year, and the harbour is full of longliners dropping off good catches of fish and immediately heading back out to sea, so there's obviously a lot of action out there somewhere.
The old question of whether any of it is close enough to shore to make for a good day out there on the edge of the shelf for a game boat remains, but there's only one way to prove that.
This week's online article from Marlin magazine talks at length about running spread patterns behind boats, and the style of lures that work best in what positions. It's interesting to see that while the author regards cutface and hollow faced lures to be more position and speed sensitive to work best, he concludes that the old standard Moldcraft Widerange to be the most versatile and flexible lure out there, confirming what most game fishermen - professional and recreational - already know.
The winter solstice is now behind us, and the days are getting longer. While the coldest days of winter are still coming, it's time to start thinking about next season, gear overhaul and maintenance, and crew planning. And a few striped marlin on the books in the next few weeks would sure be the morale boost needed in this part of the world...
The old question of whether any of it is close enough to shore to make for a good day out there on the edge of the shelf for a game boat remains, but there's only one way to prove that.
This week's online article from Marlin magazine talks at length about running spread patterns behind boats, and the style of lures that work best in what positions. It's interesting to see that while the author regards cutface and hollow faced lures to be more position and speed sensitive to work best, he concludes that the old standard Moldcraft Widerange to be the most versatile and flexible lure out there, confirming what most game fishermen - professional and recreational - already know.
The winter solstice is now behind us, and the days are getting longer. While the coldest days of winter are still coming, it's time to start thinking about next season, gear overhaul and maintenance, and crew planning. And a few striped marlin on the books in the next few weeks would sure be the morale boost needed in this part of the world...
Sunday, 24th June
Yesterday was one of those near-perfect winter days on the NSW north coast... light breezes, water temps still above 21C, good water colour, and literaly acres of bait (mainly slimy mackerel and bonito where we were) on the surface and in huge schools just 10fa down inside the 30fa line.
We went bottom-bashing for a change, and though we had a brace of 50Ws on board, never put a lure in the water. There were plenty of table fish around the usual spots, but we missed the biggest prize of a large cobia that eventually busted us off.
At least three other game boats were out there, and while there was an unusual easterly drift thanks to the small but fairly intense upwelling eddy off SWR, there were no marlin hooked up by anyone who put a lure out that we heard about...
An interesting piece of news this week from Kelly Dalling Fallon who runs the Black Marlin Blog, and with husband and skipper Luke operate the highly successful Cairns-based charter game boat Kekoa. It seems that they'e selling up in Cairns and moving stakes down to the Harvey Bay area. Harvey Bay is set to explode out of its best-kept-secret status and become a new hub for big game charters, with recent operations in the area by both charter and privateer game boats proving that the area has an extended big game season that includes all three marlin, particularly blue marlin and juvenile blacks. Without the need for offshore motherships, 70nm transits to the outer reef, and six months of lousy monsoonal weather and cyclone threats, Harvey Bay is fast becoming the new go-to marlin destination. With an outstanding climate, cheap real estate, and that sort of game fishing, what's not to like about the place...?
Meanwhile, from my mate Bill François in France, here's a photo of a fish caught by an Israeli commercial fisherman in the eastern Mediterranean.
This is a 1000lb+ Atlantic bluefin tuna. Bill got in touch with this bloke, and it's all correct... the only disappointing thing is that it was caught longlining.
Can you imagine what this would have sold for in the Tokyo fish market...??!!
I'd sure like to be on the receiving end of a yellowfin tuna even a quarter this size off Coffs. I haven't caught any YFT over football size here for years now, and doubt that many other game fishermen on the NSW north coast have either... but don't start me on the "wall of death".
We went bottom-bashing for a change, and though we had a brace of 50Ws on board, never put a lure in the water. There were plenty of table fish around the usual spots, but we missed the biggest prize of a large cobia that eventually busted us off.
At least three other game boats were out there, and while there was an unusual easterly drift thanks to the small but fairly intense upwelling eddy off SWR, there were no marlin hooked up by anyone who put a lure out that we heard about...
An interesting piece of news this week from Kelly Dalling Fallon who runs the Black Marlin Blog, and with husband and skipper Luke operate the highly successful Cairns-based charter game boat Kekoa. It seems that they'e selling up in Cairns and moving stakes down to the Harvey Bay area. Harvey Bay is set to explode out of its best-kept-secret status and become a new hub for big game charters, with recent operations in the area by both charter and privateer game boats proving that the area has an extended big game season that includes all three marlin, particularly blue marlin and juvenile blacks. Without the need for offshore motherships, 70nm transits to the outer reef, and six months of lousy monsoonal weather and cyclone threats, Harvey Bay is fast becoming the new go-to marlin destination. With an outstanding climate, cheap real estate, and that sort of game fishing, what's not to like about the place...?
Meanwhile, from my mate Bill François in France, here's a photo of a fish caught by an Israeli commercial fisherman in the eastern Mediterranean.
This is a 1000lb+ Atlantic bluefin tuna. Bill got in touch with this bloke, and it's all correct... the only disappointing thing is that it was caught longlining.
Can you imagine what this would have sold for in the Tokyo fish market...??!!
I'd sure like to be on the receiving end of a yellowfin tuna even a quarter this size off Coffs. I haven't caught any YFT over football size here for years now, and doubt that many other game fishermen on the NSW north coast have either... but don't start me on the "wall of death".
Friday, 15th June
It's quite a change to be watching the sun come up in the morning over the coastal ranges and set in the evening over the Indian Ocean accompanied by the famous "Green Flash". In many ways, and despite the much more interesting sea and landscapes we have fishing out of Coffs Harbour, fishing from the west coast has the major advantage of heading out to sea with the sun behind you (you can clearly see all the floats, fish trap boys, and surface activity, not to mention avoid getting your face fried from the rising sun) in the morning, and again, behind you as you head back to port in the later afternoon.
The IGFA sen t out one of its regular mailings today with the following news from the Centre for Sportfishing Policy. If only we had a strong, well-funded group of organisations like the IGFA and the CFSP et al who could band together and get sim liar legislation passed to cover Australia's EEZ and fishing industry with the same bans! Just look at the list of US recreational angling organisations at the bottom of the press release that have worked together to bring this bill to Congress... if only.
JUNE 6, 2018
Angler-Backed Billfish Conservation Act Clears U.S. House Natural Resources Committee
Washington, D.C. – June 6, 2018 – Conservationists and anglers are commending the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources for advancing H.R. 4528, a bill to amend the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012, sponsored by Congressman Darren Soto (D-Fla.). An identical bill (S. 396) passed the U.S. Senate on October 2, 2017.
“We thank Chairman Rob Bishop and Congressman Soto for bringing this important conservation measure in front of the House Natural Resources Committee,” said Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy. “We hope to see final passage by the House very soon so that the federal government can finally implement the law as it was originally intended six years ago.”
The Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 banned the importation of all billfish caught by foreign fleets into the continental United States and, perhaps most importantly, set an example for other countries to pursue similar conservation efforts once thought impossible. However, questions arose over whether the same prohibitions on foreign-caught billfish imposed by the bill also applied to billfish caught commercially in Hawaii. If commercially caught billfish could be transported from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, it would circumvent the intent of the conservation measure.
H.R. 4528 and S. 396 simply clarify that billfish landed in Hawaii must be retained there. Implemented as originally intended, the law should make it easier for the U.S. to establish a greater leadership role for the international protection of billfish.
“Today’s action by the Natural Resources Committee brings us one step closer to properly protecting billfish under the original intent of the law and standing tall as conservation leaders,” said Nehl Horton, president of the International Game Fish Association. “It has been a long road since 2012, but I am hopeful the U.S. House will do the right thing and swiftly pass H.R. 4528.”
The coalition of groups supporting the Billfish Conservation Act includes American Sportfishing Association, Center for Sportfishing Policy, Coastal Conservation Association, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, International Game Fish Association, National Marine Manufacturers Association, OCEARCH, The Billfish Foundation and Wild Oceans.
-end-
The IGFA sen t out one of its regular mailings today with the following news from the Centre for Sportfishing Policy. If only we had a strong, well-funded group of organisations like the IGFA and the CFSP et al who could band together and get sim liar legislation passed to cover Australia's EEZ and fishing industry with the same bans! Just look at the list of US recreational angling organisations at the bottom of the press release that have worked together to bring this bill to Congress... if only.
JUNE 6, 2018
Angler-Backed Billfish Conservation Act Clears U.S. House Natural Resources Committee
Washington, D.C. – June 6, 2018 – Conservationists and anglers are commending the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources for advancing H.R. 4528, a bill to amend the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012, sponsored by Congressman Darren Soto (D-Fla.). An identical bill (S. 396) passed the U.S. Senate on October 2, 2017.
“We thank Chairman Rob Bishop and Congressman Soto for bringing this important conservation measure in front of the House Natural Resources Committee,” said Jeff Angers, president of the Center for Sportfishing Policy. “We hope to see final passage by the House very soon so that the federal government can finally implement the law as it was originally intended six years ago.”
The Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 banned the importation of all billfish caught by foreign fleets into the continental United States and, perhaps most importantly, set an example for other countries to pursue similar conservation efforts once thought impossible. However, questions arose over whether the same prohibitions on foreign-caught billfish imposed by the bill also applied to billfish caught commercially in Hawaii. If commercially caught billfish could be transported from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, it would circumvent the intent of the conservation measure.
H.R. 4528 and S. 396 simply clarify that billfish landed in Hawaii must be retained there. Implemented as originally intended, the law should make it easier for the U.S. to establish a greater leadership role for the international protection of billfish.
“Today’s action by the Natural Resources Committee brings us one step closer to properly protecting billfish under the original intent of the law and standing tall as conservation leaders,” said Nehl Horton, president of the International Game Fish Association. “It has been a long road since 2012, but I am hopeful the U.S. House will do the right thing and swiftly pass H.R. 4528.”
The coalition of groups supporting the Billfish Conservation Act includes American Sportfishing Association, Center for Sportfishing Policy, Coastal Conservation Association, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation, International Game Fish Association, National Marine Manufacturers Association, OCEARCH, The Billfish Foundation and Wild Oceans.
-end-
Sunday, 10th June
Yesterday was near-perfect as far as the weather was concerned, with light winds, SST of 21-22C, and a pretty typical winter scene on the edge of the shelf. There were at least four boats out, some bottom bashing, and some looking for surface action.
The fishing was a bit slow for a "normal" winter, with some skittish striped marlin out there if you knew where to find them.
The best result for the day was reported by Black N Blue, which, after finding a spot where they could get away from the greeneye sharks on the bottom, deep-dropped for some good gemfish and blue eye, and then raised a couple of striped marlin on the way home. Neither of the marlin made it to the boat, but it was good to see that they're out there. Maybe this winter will be more like those of several years ago where you could go out in good weather and find a YFT or two, and raise a striped marlin for good measure most days.
The fishing was a bit slow for a "normal" winter, with some skittish striped marlin out there if you knew where to find them.
The best result for the day was reported by Black N Blue, which, after finding a spot where they could get away from the greeneye sharks on the bottom, deep-dropped for some good gemfish and blue eye, and then raised a couple of striped marlin on the way home. Neither of the marlin made it to the boat, but it was good to see that they're out there. Maybe this winter will be more like those of several years ago where you could go out in good weather and find a YFT or two, and raise a striped marlin for good measure most days.
Saturday, 2nd June
A blustery day at the marina, but perfect for some light maintenance and the chance to splash a bit of polish on the boat.
Hotshot, a very nicely turned out O'Brien 43 charter boat from the Gold Coast was moored there today taking a bit of a breather on the way back north of the border after some hot swordfish action down at Mallacoota. One of the rods and electric reel setups they had out on the rear deck must have been a $5000 item at the very least... expensive business this swordfishing.
Before Mallacoota and Tasmania get all the glory, it would be nice to see someone crack the code on swordfish on the NSW north coast. We all know the things are here, but for obvious reasons, we tend to focus on marlin up here because firstly, it's easier and way more exciting, and secondly, the gear required isn't as expensive.
However, with the marlin fishery here going to hell in the past few years, it might be in everybody's interest to develop the swordfish fishery so that if the marlin angling doesn't recover to what we had a few years ago, then at least we'll have another hot billfish species to chase instead of having to go snapper fishing.
Below is the result of deliberations of the GFAA Executive at its meeting on Saturday, 26th May, 2018 concerning Rules Item 1 which can be found on page 63 of the 2018 GFAA Journal.
CLARIFICATION TO ANGLING RULE 1.
If the mate is letting out a bait or lure and the reel is in free spool, the rod can be put back in the cover board. Under no circumstances can any drag be put on the reel or the rod be handed to another person. This situation is legal. The rationale is that the hook has not been set with the reel out of gear. When retrieving a bait or lure the fish would be disqualified immediately if the rod is put back into the cover board or transferred to another person as the reel is in gear and the hook has been set.
The new wording will appear in the 2019 Journal.
Hotshot, a very nicely turned out O'Brien 43 charter boat from the Gold Coast was moored there today taking a bit of a breather on the way back north of the border after some hot swordfish action down at Mallacoota. One of the rods and electric reel setups they had out on the rear deck must have been a $5000 item at the very least... expensive business this swordfishing.
Before Mallacoota and Tasmania get all the glory, it would be nice to see someone crack the code on swordfish on the NSW north coast. We all know the things are here, but for obvious reasons, we tend to focus on marlin up here because firstly, it's easier and way more exciting, and secondly, the gear required isn't as expensive.
However, with the marlin fishery here going to hell in the past few years, it might be in everybody's interest to develop the swordfish fishery so that if the marlin angling doesn't recover to what we had a few years ago, then at least we'll have another hot billfish species to chase instead of having to go snapper fishing.
Below is the result of deliberations of the GFAA Executive at its meeting on Saturday, 26th May, 2018 concerning Rules Item 1 which can be found on page 63 of the 2018 GFAA Journal.
CLARIFICATION TO ANGLING RULE 1.
If the mate is letting out a bait or lure and the reel is in free spool, the rod can be put back in the cover board. Under no circumstances can any drag be put on the reel or the rod be handed to another person. This situation is legal. The rationale is that the hook has not been set with the reel out of gear. When retrieving a bait or lure the fish would be disqualified immediately if the rod is put back into the cover board or transferred to another person as the reel is in gear and the hook has been set.
The new wording will appear in the 2019 Journal.
Thursday, May 31st
Today marks the end of the 9-month summer game fishing season here, and with it, the final season of the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club, the demise of which is both untimely and regrettable.
After four years and three seasons of poor game fishing on the northern NSW coast, something had to give, and with declining club membership and enthusiasm for big game fishing in what should be one of the sport's hot spots, failure of the SIGFC was symptomatic of the ongoing lack of interest in game fishing in Coffs Harbour.
It will be interesting to see where the sport goes in this part of the world...
On that thought... readers will by now have seen news about the huge swordfish caught by a recreational game boat fishing off Lakes Entrance. Just a few pounds short of the "Grander" category, this swordfish will be one of the largest ever caught, it says a lot for the building strength of the swordfish fishery off Gippsland, and is sure to provide a boost to the game fishing community in that part of the world.
There is little doubt that the swordfish fishery extends up the NSW coast, and given the numbers we often see being unloaded from longliners here, there simply have to be swords for the taking out from Coffs Harbour. Some of our more enthusiastic anglers here have made sporadic attempts to find these fish and open up this fishery here, and while not successful so far, cracking the code on these game fish here will be the next big thing to happen that will once again highlight the variety of game fishing available here, and I look forward to seeing it happen.
Meanwhile, for the remaining few of us who are as passionate about game fishing as ever, we live on in hope of a return to more fishing friendly weather and offshore conditions that will bring the sport back from the brink here when the next season gets underway in the spring.
One big game angler whose enthusiasm for his sport is legendary is Steve Campbell, the owner of Blue Marlin Magic, the professional charter operation in Tonga. I've mentioned Steve's superb game fishing book "Blue Marlin Magic" before, and have published extracts from his book on this website in the past. If any reader hasn't already obtained a copy of this book (available through Wind River Press), you're really missing out on a great read and some excellent guidance about Pacific blue marlin angling.
I've previously quoted Steve's thoughts on blue marlin lures and rigs, and Marlin magazine has put out a very good summary of Steve's thoughts taken from his book by Steve Bannerot, which I'd again encourage readers to review at - https://www.marlinmag.com/best-marlin-lures?CMPID=ene053018.
Steve's thoughts on techniques, colours, lure types, pattern spreads and hook rigs for blues are something anglers should be reviewing during the winter months so that they have a good idea of how they're going to set up their boat and lures when spring rolls around again in just three months. After all, when it's cold and windy outside, covering the kitchen bench with lures, hooks, mono, wire trace and heatshrink always brings a smile to my face, even if it causes my wife's eyes to roll skywards as the mess spreads out through the kitchen and lounge as the day goes on.
After four years and three seasons of poor game fishing on the northern NSW coast, something had to give, and with declining club membership and enthusiasm for big game fishing in what should be one of the sport's hot spots, failure of the SIGFC was symptomatic of the ongoing lack of interest in game fishing in Coffs Harbour.
It will be interesting to see where the sport goes in this part of the world...
On that thought... readers will by now have seen news about the huge swordfish caught by a recreational game boat fishing off Lakes Entrance. Just a few pounds short of the "Grander" category, this swordfish will be one of the largest ever caught, it says a lot for the building strength of the swordfish fishery off Gippsland, and is sure to provide a boost to the game fishing community in that part of the world.
There is little doubt that the swordfish fishery extends up the NSW coast, and given the numbers we often see being unloaded from longliners here, there simply have to be swords for the taking out from Coffs Harbour. Some of our more enthusiastic anglers here have made sporadic attempts to find these fish and open up this fishery here, and while not successful so far, cracking the code on these game fish here will be the next big thing to happen that will once again highlight the variety of game fishing available here, and I look forward to seeing it happen.
Meanwhile, for the remaining few of us who are as passionate about game fishing as ever, we live on in hope of a return to more fishing friendly weather and offshore conditions that will bring the sport back from the brink here when the next season gets underway in the spring.
One big game angler whose enthusiasm for his sport is legendary is Steve Campbell, the owner of Blue Marlin Magic, the professional charter operation in Tonga. I've mentioned Steve's superb game fishing book "Blue Marlin Magic" before, and have published extracts from his book on this website in the past. If any reader hasn't already obtained a copy of this book (available through Wind River Press), you're really missing out on a great read and some excellent guidance about Pacific blue marlin angling.
I've previously quoted Steve's thoughts on blue marlin lures and rigs, and Marlin magazine has put out a very good summary of Steve's thoughts taken from his book by Steve Bannerot, which I'd again encourage readers to review at - https://www.marlinmag.com/best-marlin-lures?CMPID=ene053018.
Steve's thoughts on techniques, colours, lure types, pattern spreads and hook rigs for blues are something anglers should be reviewing during the winter months so that they have a good idea of how they're going to set up their boat and lures when spring rolls around again in just three months. After all, when it's cold and windy outside, covering the kitchen bench with lures, hooks, mono, wire trace and heatshrink always brings a smile to my face, even if it causes my wife's eyes to roll skywards as the mess spreads out through the kitchen and lounge as the day goes on.
Sunday, 27th May
It's sad to see the final competition day of the Solitary Islands GFC pass without a single boat bothering to fish. Admittedly the forecast was a bit iffy, but as it turned out, it was a pretty nice day, and in the club's heyday, we'd still have seen at least half a dozen boats of the top boats fishing, even this late in the season.
The demise of this once-strong game fishing club is not an event any big game angler on the Coffs Coast should be particularly proud of, and as one of the founding members I'm personally dismayed that it came to this. Game fishing from this port should be a top sport with a group of diehard enthusiasts behind it, but after years of poor fishing conditions, persistent local micro climate and East Australian Current dynamics that couldn't have been worse for game fishing, and a north coast demographic that simply isn't interested in this specialised sport, the odds have been stacked against the Solitary Islands club for some time now.
Throw in years of lacklustre club oversight and appalling politics, and this outcome, while avoidable, was always on the cards despite the considerable time and energy that went into the establishment of the club eight years ago.
However, nothing in this business is constant, and there is little doubt that while the present situation represents the nadir, it is not the end.
The seasons will improve, and there are still enough real game fishing enthusiasts on the north coast of NSW - not in Coffs Harbour alone - who will want to belong to an inclusive group that fosters their common interest, so stay tuned.
The next couple of days are forecast to have near perfect autumn game fishing weather and good EAC conditions, and while a lack of crew is keeping Foreign Exchange tied up in the marina, the possibility of a season ending hot bite should surely be enough to tempt a couple of boats into one more trip out to the edge of the shelf...
Meanwhile, a quick look at the forecast for the week ahead was pretty sobering this morning - just take a look at the Windguru screen shot below!
This is the wind and wave forecast for the edge of the continental shelf east off Coffs Harbour next weekend, and shows just how quickly an east coast stream of low pressure ridges crossing the coast of southern NSW can disrupt the usually stable autumn weather and ocean conditions... if it's actually correct.
I can't recall ever seeing a forecast yet that predicted 9m waves offshore here. Driven by days of increasing winds peaking at 49 knots next Saturday, the conditions along the coast here will be pretty exciting if the forecast doesn't moderate... We can at least be thankful that this system isn't developing to our immediate north!
That said, there's a good chance that this was either a mad moment from some rogue forecaster or a software glitch, because it didn't stay up on the Windguru website for all that long before it was downgraded, and other forecasting models didn't have it in the frame at anything like this degree of severity.
Interesting to see what really happens, but I don't think we need to batten down the hatches just yet.
The demise of this once-strong game fishing club is not an event any big game angler on the Coffs Coast should be particularly proud of, and as one of the founding members I'm personally dismayed that it came to this. Game fishing from this port should be a top sport with a group of diehard enthusiasts behind it, but after years of poor fishing conditions, persistent local micro climate and East Australian Current dynamics that couldn't have been worse for game fishing, and a north coast demographic that simply isn't interested in this specialised sport, the odds have been stacked against the Solitary Islands club for some time now.
Throw in years of lacklustre club oversight and appalling politics, and this outcome, while avoidable, was always on the cards despite the considerable time and energy that went into the establishment of the club eight years ago.
However, nothing in this business is constant, and there is little doubt that while the present situation represents the nadir, it is not the end.
The seasons will improve, and there are still enough real game fishing enthusiasts on the north coast of NSW - not in Coffs Harbour alone - who will want to belong to an inclusive group that fosters their common interest, so stay tuned.
The next couple of days are forecast to have near perfect autumn game fishing weather and good EAC conditions, and while a lack of crew is keeping Foreign Exchange tied up in the marina, the possibility of a season ending hot bite should surely be enough to tempt a couple of boats into one more trip out to the edge of the shelf...
Meanwhile, a quick look at the forecast for the week ahead was pretty sobering this morning - just take a look at the Windguru screen shot below!
This is the wind and wave forecast for the edge of the continental shelf east off Coffs Harbour next weekend, and shows just how quickly an east coast stream of low pressure ridges crossing the coast of southern NSW can disrupt the usually stable autumn weather and ocean conditions... if it's actually correct.
I can't recall ever seeing a forecast yet that predicted 9m waves offshore here. Driven by days of increasing winds peaking at 49 knots next Saturday, the conditions along the coast here will be pretty exciting if the forecast doesn't moderate... We can at least be thankful that this system isn't developing to our immediate north!
That said, there's a good chance that this was either a mad moment from some rogue forecaster or a software glitch, because it didn't stay up on the Windguru website for all that long before it was downgraded, and other forecasting models didn't have it in the frame at anything like this degree of severity.
Interesting to see what really happens, but I don't think we need to batten down the hatches just yet.
Wednesday, 22nd May
There's a very distinct warm water pulse at 24.7C that's worked its way down the coast from SEQ over the past couple of days.
Both FishTrack and IMOS SST charts show exactly the same large pulse of warm water sitting off Wooli this morning, and if it's the same pool of water that Andrew McClennan found his 6 blues in up off Tweed on Monday, then it could actually bring some last minute action to the Coffs Coast over the next couple of days for anyone game enough to ignore the lousy fishing results here last week, and take a chance on this opportunity. It's doubtful that it will still be here by the weekend, which is a shame given that the last in-hours competition day of both the season, and possibly forever, for the Solitary Islands GFC will be held on Saturday. |
|
Tuesday, 22nd May
In a follow-up to Sunday's report, Andrew McLennan continued his 2-day run fishing out of Tweed to go 6-4-3 0n blue marlin yesterday!
Clearly, those marlin just will not come south of the border - even though we've had a week of excellent fishing weather here, the ocean's empty... and by just taking his boat up to the Tweed from Ballina, Andrew and his team got right into the thick of the ongoing blue marlin bite that has been strong all summer on the Gold Coast.
And they weren't the only ones... there are reports of other good efforts with blues up there all weekend, including one boat that raised three marlin just in a couple of hours of fishing nearby.
It just leaves you scratching your head about what's happened to our game fishing on the north coast of NSW.
Well done team "On Strike".
Here's Andrew's own account of his day - which you'll notice didn't even start until mid-morning...
Well what a day, I knew it had to happen one day and yesterday was it.
Drove to Tweed and put the lures in the water at 8.45 in about 150 metres.
As we neared the shelf drop off we had a pod of a hundred or more dolphins around us and a dozen mutton birds scattered, sure enough when we hit 350 metres at 9.15 the short corner went off, pulled a couple of turns and dropped it, quickly wound it back on to the front of the wave and sure enough about 5 seconds later he climbed all over it, 25 minutes later we were 1/1/1 on a 100kg blue. Lure 15 inch Larva, black over purple
Lures went back in and we looped back around, at 10.20 the lumo 12 inch larva on the long rigger exploded, one small jump then dumped 600 metres heading due west. Bugger went deep and best part of an hour later we were 2/2/2 with a 250cm short, about 150kg
Lures back in and an hour later the short rigger rod growled, before picking up pace and dumping only a few hundred metres, but never jumped and went deep straight away, had a novice angler on the rod who tried to give the rod back several times, but I told him he was in for the long haul. We had to drive off the fish 4 or 5 times to plane it up, but best part of an hour later it popped up, 270cm short, 190kg. we were now 3/3/3 and everyone on board had caught a fish. Lure 12 inch larva, black over chartreuse
Lures back in, 10 minutes later and the lumo 12 inch larva on long rigger got nailed, another acrobatic smaller fish about 120kg that put on a great show, we put the hurt on him early to keep it on top and had it within 50 metres within 10 minutes when the hook pulled. Bugger 4/4/3
Lures back out quickly, 3pm by now, 10 minutes, bang, short corner bite on a 30 year old original pakula animal in evil colour that my decky had from when he used to fish the gold coast, hadn’t been swum in 26 years, pulled 30 metres of line, shook its head a couple of times and the hook let go. 5/4/3
Another 15 minutes and lumo is into it again, solid hit dumped 20 metres, couple of head shakes and gone again. 6/4/3
Trolled for another 20 minutes and pulled the pin at 4pm.
We ran out of tags and only had 3 tag flags, so I suppose it was meant to be.
My goal was to crack 10 blues this season, that puts us at 11, with only 3 caught out of ballina, despite putting in far more hours than anywhere else.
All fish were raised in an area of about 2km square. Fairly rough,15 knot southerly most of the day, backing off at 2pm. Water 24.3 consistent all day.
Clearly, those marlin just will not come south of the border - even though we've had a week of excellent fishing weather here, the ocean's empty... and by just taking his boat up to the Tweed from Ballina, Andrew and his team got right into the thick of the ongoing blue marlin bite that has been strong all summer on the Gold Coast.
And they weren't the only ones... there are reports of other good efforts with blues up there all weekend, including one boat that raised three marlin just in a couple of hours of fishing nearby.
It just leaves you scratching your head about what's happened to our game fishing on the north coast of NSW.
Well done team "On Strike".
Here's Andrew's own account of his day - which you'll notice didn't even start until mid-morning...
Well what a day, I knew it had to happen one day and yesterday was it.
Drove to Tweed and put the lures in the water at 8.45 in about 150 metres.
As we neared the shelf drop off we had a pod of a hundred or more dolphins around us and a dozen mutton birds scattered, sure enough when we hit 350 metres at 9.15 the short corner went off, pulled a couple of turns and dropped it, quickly wound it back on to the front of the wave and sure enough about 5 seconds later he climbed all over it, 25 minutes later we were 1/1/1 on a 100kg blue. Lure 15 inch Larva, black over purple
Lures went back in and we looped back around, at 10.20 the lumo 12 inch larva on the long rigger exploded, one small jump then dumped 600 metres heading due west. Bugger went deep and best part of an hour later we were 2/2/2 with a 250cm short, about 150kg
Lures back in and an hour later the short rigger rod growled, before picking up pace and dumping only a few hundred metres, but never jumped and went deep straight away, had a novice angler on the rod who tried to give the rod back several times, but I told him he was in for the long haul. We had to drive off the fish 4 or 5 times to plane it up, but best part of an hour later it popped up, 270cm short, 190kg. we were now 3/3/3 and everyone on board had caught a fish. Lure 12 inch larva, black over chartreuse
Lures back in, 10 minutes later and the lumo 12 inch larva on long rigger got nailed, another acrobatic smaller fish about 120kg that put on a great show, we put the hurt on him early to keep it on top and had it within 50 metres within 10 minutes when the hook pulled. Bugger 4/4/3
Lures back out quickly, 3pm by now, 10 minutes, bang, short corner bite on a 30 year old original pakula animal in evil colour that my decky had from when he used to fish the gold coast, hadn’t been swum in 26 years, pulled 30 metres of line, shook its head a couple of times and the hook let go. 5/4/3
Another 15 minutes and lumo is into it again, solid hit dumped 20 metres, couple of head shakes and gone again. 6/4/3
Trolled for another 20 minutes and pulled the pin at 4pm.
We ran out of tags and only had 3 tag flags, so I suppose it was meant to be.
My goal was to crack 10 blues this season, that puts us at 11, with only 3 caught out of ballina, despite putting in far more hours than anywhere else.
All fish were raised in an area of about 2km square. Fairly rough,15 knot southerly most of the day, backing off at 2pm. Water 24.3 consistent all day.
Sunday, 20th May
This weekend's weather has been gorgeous... stunning, stable, autumn weather that would normally encourage anglers to head out onto the ocean where conditions were excellent for game fishing... so we went out, as did several other boats, but again, there was nothing much there.
Boats searched for signs of marlin all day yesterday, but the lack of activity was pretty disheartening, and this more or less draws a close to yet another disappointing game fishing season on the NSW north coast, and the Coffs Coast in particular.
With 23C water temps, about half a knot of current, and benign conditions, you would once have expected to find schools of bait being harassed by gannets from above, and striped marlin from below at this time of year, but instead there was nothing. Most boats saw no bird activity, no bait on the surface or the sounder, and no sign of action.
Foreign Exchange had a brief encounter early in the day when a big striped tuna hooked up on the short corner, followed shortly after by a mystery fish on the short rigger. The tuna was foul-hooked, and was making a lot of fuss and dragging plenty of line off, so with what we assumed was only a double hookup on striped tuna and brand new crew members being shown the ropes on the deck, there wasn't much urgency about getting the gear cleared. So it was only after the striped marlin on the short rigger spat the hook while we were dragging in the foul-hooked tuna on the other rig that we realised what we'd missed.
A while after that, a free-jumping marlin was seen herding up some bait between ForEx and She's a Dream, but repeated passes over the spot produced nothing.
Meanwhile, Andrew McClennan and his Ballina crew decided to go to where the real action's been all summer, and launched their boat up on the Gold Coast, going 1-1-1 on a nice blue marlin before midday - that's a photo of their blue above. Great going, and an object lesson in why having a trailer boat on this coast may be the best way to stay in the game these days...
It would be good to think that this winter will see a return to the consistent striped marlin bite that used to define the winter game fishing off Coffs, but the record of the recent past is less than encouraging, and without a good winter bite that segues into a summer that returns to the game fishing activity we used to consider "normal" here, then the steady decline of the sport and its followers here will continue.
A lot of us have been putting whatever lipstick we can on this pig in recent years, but the fact is that the fishing has been declining year on year for some time now, and unless nature steps up and breaks this nexus, then it's hard to be optimistic about what lies ahead for north coast big game anglers.
Boats searched for signs of marlin all day yesterday, but the lack of activity was pretty disheartening, and this more or less draws a close to yet another disappointing game fishing season on the NSW north coast, and the Coffs Coast in particular.
With 23C water temps, about half a knot of current, and benign conditions, you would once have expected to find schools of bait being harassed by gannets from above, and striped marlin from below at this time of year, but instead there was nothing. Most boats saw no bird activity, no bait on the surface or the sounder, and no sign of action.
Foreign Exchange had a brief encounter early in the day when a big striped tuna hooked up on the short corner, followed shortly after by a mystery fish on the short rigger. The tuna was foul-hooked, and was making a lot of fuss and dragging plenty of line off, so with what we assumed was only a double hookup on striped tuna and brand new crew members being shown the ropes on the deck, there wasn't much urgency about getting the gear cleared. So it was only after the striped marlin on the short rigger spat the hook while we were dragging in the foul-hooked tuna on the other rig that we realised what we'd missed.
A while after that, a free-jumping marlin was seen herding up some bait between ForEx and She's a Dream, but repeated passes over the spot produced nothing.
Meanwhile, Andrew McClennan and his Ballina crew decided to go to where the real action's been all summer, and launched their boat up on the Gold Coast, going 1-1-1 on a nice blue marlin before midday - that's a photo of their blue above. Great going, and an object lesson in why having a trailer boat on this coast may be the best way to stay in the game these days...
It would be good to think that this winter will see a return to the consistent striped marlin bite that used to define the winter game fishing off Coffs, but the record of the recent past is less than encouraging, and without a good winter bite that segues into a summer that returns to the game fishing activity we used to consider "normal" here, then the steady decline of the sport and its followers here will continue.
A lot of us have been putting whatever lipstick we can on this pig in recent years, but the fact is that the fishing has been declining year on year for some time now, and unless nature steps up and breaks this nexus, then it's hard to be optimistic about what lies ahead for north coast big game anglers.
Friday, 18th May
Not surprisingly, the northwards flow along the continental shelf off northern NSW didn't last long - if it was ever actually there at all.
However, the upwelling eddy off SWR certainly is there, and should be creating all kinds of activity on its southern and western boundaries, hopefully along the edge of the shelf to the south of Coffs Harbour.
With the weakened EAC and the influence of the upwelling eddy, the water temperatures have dropped by over 1C this week down to around 23.5C, which probably means we can say goodbye to the last of the blue marlin.
However, if everyone's prayers for a long-overdue return to a "normal" season are answered, this means that the situation out there has to be strongly biased towards striped marlin and YFT.
There's a pretty good three day weather window influencing the northern NSW coast at the moment, and this should give anglers a good opportunity to go out and test the "normal" theory.
However, the upwelling eddy off SWR certainly is there, and should be creating all kinds of activity on its southern and western boundaries, hopefully along the edge of the shelf to the south of Coffs Harbour.
With the weakened EAC and the influence of the upwelling eddy, the water temperatures have dropped by over 1C this week down to around 23.5C, which probably means we can say goodbye to the last of the blue marlin.
However, if everyone's prayers for a long-overdue return to a "normal" season are answered, this means that the situation out there has to be strongly biased towards striped marlin and YFT.
There's a pretty good three day weather window influencing the northern NSW coast at the moment, and this should give anglers a good opportunity to go out and test the "normal" theory.
Tuesday, 15th May
Today's screen shot from the FishTrack current and SST chart shows something rarely seen on the NSW north coast - a complete reversal of current flow over the entire coast from Port Macquarie to beyond the Queensland border.
The current is flowing smoothly northwards along the edge of the continental shelf at about 1.5 knots and appears to be driven by multiple upwelling eddies positioned along the coast.
Given the strong southerly winds of the past week, it's entirely possible that the satellite sensors and argo floats are being deceived by only surface water being pushed north, but if this depiction is correct and this extensive, it is indeed very rare.
It's tempting to take the glass-half-full approach to this phenomenon and assume that a northwards current combined with the nutrient rich water being pushed into it by the upwelling eddies should bring a hell of a striped marlin and YFT bite onto the coast... it would only take one relatively calm day - like this coming Friday - and a few boats out there to test this hypothesis.
SWR to Hat Head looks like the real hot spot, and if that's where the longliners all rush off to as this southerly calms, then there should be some interesting catches unloaded here this weekend.
The current is flowing smoothly northwards along the edge of the continental shelf at about 1.5 knots and appears to be driven by multiple upwelling eddies positioned along the coast.
Given the strong southerly winds of the past week, it's entirely possible that the satellite sensors and argo floats are being deceived by only surface water being pushed north, but if this depiction is correct and this extensive, it is indeed very rare.
It's tempting to take the glass-half-full approach to this phenomenon and assume that a northwards current combined with the nutrient rich water being pushed into it by the upwelling eddies should bring a hell of a striped marlin and YFT bite onto the coast... it would only take one relatively calm day - like this coming Friday - and a few boats out there to test this hypothesis.
SWR to Hat Head looks like the real hot spot, and if that's where the longliners all rush off to as this southerly calms, then there should be some interesting catches unloaded here this weekend.
Thursday, 10th May
Nothing to see here... that was the story earlier this week, when Foreign Exchange and Black N Blue spent a couple of days dragging lures everywhere along a 25 mile stretch of the continental shelf from 30 out to 2000 fathoms. Great water, good conditions, and completely... empty. No bait, no birds working, and no signs of any pelagic life out there at all.
We had one single mystery hit over the two days that left a scuff on a trace without seeing what it was that had paid us a visit, and the BnB boys had a shark swim down the side of the boat - not much of a return on around 30 hours of fishing by both boats. The EAC is about 1C warmer than usual at this time of year, and at 25.5C is right in the middle of the blue marlin preferred comfort zone of 24-27C... but obviously, if there's nothing for them to eat here, why would they bother? Nobody saw so much as a single flying fish, striped tuna, or signs of surface schools of bait, and the sounder screens on both boats were completely clear all day.
You have to wonder what's happened to the bait.
Nice sunset back at the marina though...
We had one single mystery hit over the two days that left a scuff on a trace without seeing what it was that had paid us a visit, and the BnB boys had a shark swim down the side of the boat - not much of a return on around 30 hours of fishing by both boats. The EAC is about 1C warmer than usual at this time of year, and at 25.5C is right in the middle of the blue marlin preferred comfort zone of 24-27C... but obviously, if there's nothing for them to eat here, why would they bother? Nobody saw so much as a single flying fish, striped tuna, or signs of surface schools of bait, and the sounder screens on both boats were completely clear all day.
You have to wonder what's happened to the bait.
Nice sunset back at the marina though...
Thursday, 3rd May
When you're stuck on the beach with no crew and there's a steady bite going on out on the edge of the shelf, it's the stuff of nightmares. Mind you, more power to Better than Vegas and Pete English and George Blackwell for taking advantage of the great 2-day weather window and making the most of it on both days.
This is today's first fish, and a very healthy blue by the look of it.
For the rest of us sitting on the beach, seeing the photos and reports come in like this can be frustrating to say the least.
Still, it's great to see a blue marlin bite back on the Coffs Coast, and a boat out there in the thick of it.
There was always a chance that with the very late start to the season, and the big numbers of blue marlin bottled up on the S.E. Queensland coast when the current failed most of the summer, that the fish might make a late run for it when the current settled down. Let's hope this is it, and that it continues long enough to help us forget the lousy summer.
And it's not even midday...!!
More details later today.
This is today's first fish, and a very healthy blue by the look of it.
For the rest of us sitting on the beach, seeing the photos and reports come in like this can be frustrating to say the least.
Still, it's great to see a blue marlin bite back on the Coffs Coast, and a boat out there in the thick of it.
There was always a chance that with the very late start to the season, and the big numbers of blue marlin bottled up on the S.E. Queensland coast when the current failed most of the summer, that the fish might make a late run for it when the current settled down. Let's hope this is it, and that it continues long enough to help us forget the lousy summer.
And it's not even midday...!!
More details later today.
Wednesday, 2nd May
|
Finally... with a glamour forecast and good autumn conditions, Better than Vegas went out to the deep side of the continental shelf to the north of Coffs Harbour, and found water that was as "...Blue as water gets, mate" according to George Blackwell. There had been a full moon up most of the night, so the bite didn't come on until around midday, and when it did, it came in the form of a 140kg blue marlin!
They duly got the fish up to the boat, at which time it decided to leave, taking one of the ever-decreasing world supply of Magoo lures with it. Still, who's complaining... after weeks of nothing out there, finding a good blue marlin after the number of hours that game boats have put into droning around the Coffs Coast with nothing to show for it is good news indeed. The attached video shows the same blue marlin approaching the boat at the end of the fight - nice fish, good work. |
Sunday, 29th April
If the charts are to be believed, the current has lost its momentum and has slowed down, braking down into a series of weak uphill/downhill patches along the coast. This won't be much good for blue marlin, which once again seem to be happy to stay up on the Gold Coast, but it may well allow a few striped marlin to move up the coast and in from the deep Tasman Sea. If this is so, it would look a lot like the early winter patterns we used to see here when the stripes seemed to drift up the coast and stick around through the winter months as long as there was plenty of bait to hold them.
There's only about one day per week that looks any good in the long range forecasts for the northern NSW coast at the moment - this week it's Wednesday - and it will be interesting to see what turns up if the forecast holds and any boats make it out there.
Trolling around the billfish reports on FB this morning, I came across a great report written by Dee Cox of her experience fishing the Shootout this year... you can find it at www.facebook.com/danielle.cox.7798?hc_ref=ARS_RabMbldq2H1Ea4VwvxYaXZMmP059SMu12KT8yNxNvOVpBt0Kw-zKVn11ff2w8OM on Facebook.
There's only about one day per week that looks any good in the long range forecasts for the northern NSW coast at the moment - this week it's Wednesday - and it will be interesting to see what turns up if the forecast holds and any boats make it out there.
Trolling around the billfish reports on FB this morning, I came across a great report written by Dee Cox of her experience fishing the Shootout this year... you can find it at www.facebook.com/danielle.cox.7798?hc_ref=ARS_RabMbldq2H1Ea4VwvxYaXZMmP059SMu12KT8yNxNvOVpBt0Kw-zKVn11ff2w8OM on Facebook.
Friday, 27th April
And so... here she is... the "D&D" - unloading in Coffs Harbour yesterday. This vessel is the latest addition to the Wall of Death operating off our east coast. A purpose built, high speed wave piercing catamaran longliner.
Given the cruise speed off such a vessel, she can get back to the coast from out wide in our EEZ with a load of tuna, swordfish and striped marlin at three times the speed of the other boats out there, thus rendering this vessel able to operate at a significantly higher cycle rate and follow the schools of fast moving tuna up and down our coast more efficiently than most of the other longliners... and consequently play even more havoc among our declining pelagic stocks to keep the fish markets of Japan and China supplied.
Sadly, by building a new, multi-million dollar high speed longliner, the owners are clearly in no doubt of the security of their long term tenure and ongoing licence to fish in our EEZ.
It's been years now since game fishing boats on the NSW north coast have reported even a single decent yellowfin tuna like the big ones we used to see and catch each season out there.
You're probably looking at the reason...
Meanwhile, Better than Vegas went out before the weather turned foul here this week, and only saw one blue marlin swim past the boat without getting a touch on their lures all day. Despite the ongoing lack of any bite at all here, boats that went wide off the Gold Coast once again had a great day on blue marlin, and the stripes are still biting well to our south.
Given the cruise speed off such a vessel, she can get back to the coast from out wide in our EEZ with a load of tuna, swordfish and striped marlin at three times the speed of the other boats out there, thus rendering this vessel able to operate at a significantly higher cycle rate and follow the schools of fast moving tuna up and down our coast more efficiently than most of the other longliners... and consequently play even more havoc among our declining pelagic stocks to keep the fish markets of Japan and China supplied.
Sadly, by building a new, multi-million dollar high speed longliner, the owners are clearly in no doubt of the security of their long term tenure and ongoing licence to fish in our EEZ.
It's been years now since game fishing boats on the NSW north coast have reported even a single decent yellowfin tuna like the big ones we used to see and catch each season out there.
You're probably looking at the reason...
Meanwhile, Better than Vegas went out before the weather turned foul here this week, and only saw one blue marlin swim past the boat without getting a touch on their lures all day. Despite the ongoing lack of any bite at all here, boats that went wide off the Gold Coast once again had a great day on blue marlin, and the stripes are still biting well to our south.
Saturday, 21st April
For the past few days, the East Australian Current has been running perfectly - straight and true down the edge of the continental shelf. This is what anglers on the NSW north coast have been desperately wanting to see most of the summer, instead of watching the current hijacked in late spring for the last three years by the big downwelling mesoscale eddy that has been forming with monotonous regularity at the same time each year off Cape Byron to our north. This eddy has been singularly responsible for the EAC being diverted 100 miles offshore for months at a time, and being unable to get back onto its normal path down the coast until around Port Stephens.
This is probably the biggest factor at play in the ongoing absence of any meaningful numbers of marlin and other pelagics that ride the EAC south between the Queensland border and the central coast of NSW each summer.
Anecdotally, it seems it hasn't got much to do with low marlin numbers, because the big season game boats have had where the current has still been running properly, such as southeast Queensland to our north, and central to southern NSW to our south shows there are plenty of fish.
Belatedly, the EAC is now running near-perfectly, and to top it off, is about 1C warmer than normal for this time of year. But sadly, it's all a bit too late here for the marlin now, and we just have to sit on our hands and hope that the current behaves better next season.
Meanwhile, this morning's screen shot of the BOM radar shows a big line of extremely active thunderstorms that the reinvigorated EAC has been breeding over the past couple of days and have been running along the core of the current. These storms have been flashing and rumbling away day and night just off the coast here, and wherever they blow ashore (today from Evans Head to Byron Bay), the locals are copping a pasting.
This is probably the biggest factor at play in the ongoing absence of any meaningful numbers of marlin and other pelagics that ride the EAC south between the Queensland border and the central coast of NSW each summer.
Anecdotally, it seems it hasn't got much to do with low marlin numbers, because the big season game boats have had where the current has still been running properly, such as southeast Queensland to our north, and central to southern NSW to our south shows there are plenty of fish.
Belatedly, the EAC is now running near-perfectly, and to top it off, is about 1C warmer than normal for this time of year. But sadly, it's all a bit too late here for the marlin now, and we just have to sit on our hands and hope that the current behaves better next season.
Meanwhile, this morning's screen shot of the BOM radar shows a big line of extremely active thunderstorms that the reinvigorated EAC has been breeding over the past couple of days and have been running along the core of the current. These storms have been flashing and rumbling away day and night just off the coast here, and wherever they blow ashore (today from Evans Head to Byron Bay), the locals are copping a pasting.
Saturday, 21st April
After what seems like weeks of empty ocean now, there was finally a bit of action out of the shelf off the Coffs Coast yesterday.
There haven't been any pelagics to speak of for some time now, but some bait finally showed up, and Better than Vegas found plenty of dollies for their sportfishing clients.
Black N Blue had a rather ominous start to their day when they noticed the deckie's car on fire as they were pulling out of the harbour - things never really improved much after that unfortunately...
Meanwhile, Matt Munro and Adam Morris had a better day when they managed to do what nobody else has for some time - raise blue marlin. Something's obviously changed out there, and Hoo Kares was in the sweet spot, raising two blues, missing the first, but tagging the second fish - a nice 140kg model for Adam. Well done guys...
Of course, as soon as the fish turn up, the weather predictably goes to hell, with a week of very unexciting conditions in the long range forecast. The poor game fishermen of the Coffs Coast simply can't win a trick at the moment!
Still, there's always something else to do, and in the absence of better fishing conditions, I'd strongly recommend Marlin Magazine's latest excellent article on Blue Marlin which you can read at - https://www.marlinmag.com/blue-marlin-biology-and-physiology?src=SOC&dom=fb#page-5.
This great piece by Scott Bannerot talks about the evolutionary biology and physiology of blues, and how these fabulous fish have adapted perfectly to their environment, their hunting techniques, and day-to-day behaviour. Game fishermen can infer a lot from what Scott tells us, and like so many things we do, the more we know about what we're hunting, the more we can adapt our tactics and techniques to our quarry, and the more the odds improve for us.
There haven't been any pelagics to speak of for some time now, but some bait finally showed up, and Better than Vegas found plenty of dollies for their sportfishing clients.
Black N Blue had a rather ominous start to their day when they noticed the deckie's car on fire as they were pulling out of the harbour - things never really improved much after that unfortunately...
Meanwhile, Matt Munro and Adam Morris had a better day when they managed to do what nobody else has for some time - raise blue marlin. Something's obviously changed out there, and Hoo Kares was in the sweet spot, raising two blues, missing the first, but tagging the second fish - a nice 140kg model for Adam. Well done guys...
Of course, as soon as the fish turn up, the weather predictably goes to hell, with a week of very unexciting conditions in the long range forecast. The poor game fishermen of the Coffs Coast simply can't win a trick at the moment!
Still, there's always something else to do, and in the absence of better fishing conditions, I'd strongly recommend Marlin Magazine's latest excellent article on Blue Marlin which you can read at - https://www.marlinmag.com/blue-marlin-biology-and-physiology?src=SOC&dom=fb#page-5.
This great piece by Scott Bannerot talks about the evolutionary biology and physiology of blues, and how these fabulous fish have adapted perfectly to their environment, their hunting techniques, and day-to-day behaviour. Game fishermen can infer a lot from what Scott tells us, and like so many things we do, the more we know about what we're hunting, the more we can adapt our tactics and techniques to our quarry, and the more the odds improve for us.
Monday, 16th April
Flying back into Coffs harbour today after a week down south where the weather went to hell, and no right-minded game fisherman would choose to live voluntarily, it was a joy to behold the north coast of NSW on a perfect autumn day...
From Newcastle north, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, there were current lines without a single visible whitecap all the way to the eastern horizon from 30,000 feet, and the game fishing conditions looked sublime.
But the word from Cameron Sweeting on board Sweet One II is that there are no birds working, no bait anywhere to be fund, and absolutely no sign of any marlin out there on this superb autumn day.
There was a report from The Hole northeast of Coffs late last week that spoke of purple water at 27C up there, with large schools of pilchards that had attracted marlin, but as we saw here a couple of weeks ago, when the big billfish are herding up pilchards, they're not interested in anything or anyone else.
So... we wait for another weather window when the current isn't trying to blow everything away, and there's a chance of better action out on the deep side of the shelf, where with plenty of 26+C water coming down from the Coral Sea, there just have to be blue marlin somewhere in the mix...
From Newcastle north, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, there were current lines without a single visible whitecap all the way to the eastern horizon from 30,000 feet, and the game fishing conditions looked sublime.
But the word from Cameron Sweeting on board Sweet One II is that there are no birds working, no bait anywhere to be fund, and absolutely no sign of any marlin out there on this superb autumn day.
There was a report from The Hole northeast of Coffs late last week that spoke of purple water at 27C up there, with large schools of pilchards that had attracted marlin, but as we saw here a couple of weeks ago, when the big billfish are herding up pilchards, they're not interested in anything or anyone else.
So... we wait for another weather window when the current isn't trying to blow everything away, and there's a chance of better action out on the deep side of the shelf, where with plenty of 26+C water coming down from the Coral Sea, there just have to be blue marlin somewhere in the mix...
Sunday, 8th April
There are times when even the most enthusiastic big game angler starts to question the viability of the sport... or more correctly, starts to question the viability of the local fishery after years of lousy outcomes in what was once considered to be one of the better marlin spots on the coast.
This is the fourth year in a row when game boats fishing from Coffs Harbour are only going to be able to record tag and release numbers for an entire summer of fishing here that look more like the total marlin numbers that boats fishing hard just about anywhere in southeast Queensland have been catching in only a week or so this summer. And then there's the NSW Central Coast, South Coast, W.A., .... just about anywhere but here!
We've been plagued by erratic behaviour from the East Australian Current that has spent more time running anywhere but down the edge of the shelf and has been taking pelagics out of reach of boats on the northern NSW coast for years now. Adding to that, the persistently strong unseasonal winds that are becoming more frequent here in summer have made offshore fishing more or less impossible for an increasingly larger percentage of each season.
And so, to top it off, with a rare forecast showing over a week of beautiful mild weather, Foreign Exchange spent all of Friday cruising up and down the edge of the continental shelf in perfect Coral Sea water flowing down from the sub-tropics, only to raise just a single myopic striped marlin that came screaming into the spread, missed the lure it was heading for, then spent the better part of 5 minutes sitting petulantly beside another lure - even following us through turns - before disappearing without hitting anything. There was no sign of surface baitfish anywhere from 50 to 1000 fathoms, not a single bird working all those miles of ocean, and not another hint of a marlin in the remaining 10 hours we spent dragging lures around.
Thinking we were just having a lousy day and that such a perfect ocean on a perfect day should really be full of marlin, we went out into another gorgeous sunrise the next day, determined to shake the monkey of our backs and firmly believing that the Friday had just been one of those rare bad karma days where you we just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong lures out.
Not so... on Saturday, we were joined by local boats She's a Dream and Matador, and between the three of us, we covered miles and miles of perfect ocean in perfect weather from the inshore black marlin grounds all over the canyons on the edge of the shelf, and out to 1000 fathoms where there should have been plenty of blues at this time of year.
Once again though, the ocean was absolutely empty... we saw 6 flying fish all day, not a single bird working any activity at all from one horizon to the other, and never saw a marlin. There wasn't even a wahoo or mahimahi to break the monotony. Ditto for the other two boats.
When has anyone heard of three game boats in some of the best weather this season, perfect 27C blue EAC water, in early April fishing all the known hot spots and never turning a reel...?
So by way of postscript, that's 6 of the better-known game boats in Coffs Harbour that have been out looking for marlin over the past 5 days, or about 55 hours of fishing, or around 250 hours of lure running time. From that, only two boats raised a marlin each, and only one boat turned a reel (briefly), with no marlin tagged.
Simply astounding... but that's what's happening here.
This is the fourth year in a row when game boats fishing from Coffs Harbour are only going to be able to record tag and release numbers for an entire summer of fishing here that look more like the total marlin numbers that boats fishing hard just about anywhere in southeast Queensland have been catching in only a week or so this summer. And then there's the NSW Central Coast, South Coast, W.A., .... just about anywhere but here!
We've been plagued by erratic behaviour from the East Australian Current that has spent more time running anywhere but down the edge of the shelf and has been taking pelagics out of reach of boats on the northern NSW coast for years now. Adding to that, the persistently strong unseasonal winds that are becoming more frequent here in summer have made offshore fishing more or less impossible for an increasingly larger percentage of each season.
And so, to top it off, with a rare forecast showing over a week of beautiful mild weather, Foreign Exchange spent all of Friday cruising up and down the edge of the continental shelf in perfect Coral Sea water flowing down from the sub-tropics, only to raise just a single myopic striped marlin that came screaming into the spread, missed the lure it was heading for, then spent the better part of 5 minutes sitting petulantly beside another lure - even following us through turns - before disappearing without hitting anything. There was no sign of surface baitfish anywhere from 50 to 1000 fathoms, not a single bird working all those miles of ocean, and not another hint of a marlin in the remaining 10 hours we spent dragging lures around.
Thinking we were just having a lousy day and that such a perfect ocean on a perfect day should really be full of marlin, we went out into another gorgeous sunrise the next day, determined to shake the monkey of our backs and firmly believing that the Friday had just been one of those rare bad karma days where you we just in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong lures out.
Not so... on Saturday, we were joined by local boats She's a Dream and Matador, and between the three of us, we covered miles and miles of perfect ocean in perfect weather from the inshore black marlin grounds all over the canyons on the edge of the shelf, and out to 1000 fathoms where there should have been plenty of blues at this time of year.
Once again though, the ocean was absolutely empty... we saw 6 flying fish all day, not a single bird working any activity at all from one horizon to the other, and never saw a marlin. There wasn't even a wahoo or mahimahi to break the monotony. Ditto for the other two boats.
When has anyone heard of three game boats in some of the best weather this season, perfect 27C blue EAC water, in early April fishing all the known hot spots and never turning a reel...?
So by way of postscript, that's 6 of the better-known game boats in Coffs Harbour that have been out looking for marlin over the past 5 days, or about 55 hours of fishing, or around 250 hours of lure running time. From that, only two boats raised a marlin each, and only one boat turned a reel (briefly), with no marlin tagged.
Simply astounding... but that's what's happening here.
Thursday 5th April
Who is this worthless ignoramus...? Apparently, this is the sort of walking talent black hole that the Coffs Council hires after they can't get anyone with real ability or community connection to manage such things as the Coffs Harbour boat ramp. Anyway, they trotted this clown out recently after a spate of trailer boat incidents at the boat ramp so that he could denigrate visiting boaters and downplay the increasingly hazardous nature of boat ramp operations, instead of apologising for poor council oversight and maintenance of this valuable facility.
The following is a limited synopsis of what he said when being interviewed on local Triple M radio - the full recording of his interview is available for anyone who can stand to listen to it on the Triple M website...
Safety remains a concern for the Coffs Harbour boat ramp after a weekend of mishaps with a number of boats running aground into sand and rocks. Triple M raised concerns from locals after the Easter long weekend where several boats endured damage from the shallow waters. One Triple M listener told Moffee on Tuesday, they were in the boat with their nine-year-old child who was terrified after a wave came across their vessel filling the boat with water while they approached the ramp.
According to Coffs Harbour City Council, dredging work to fix the problem would run into the millions.
Many fishers say that extending the groin wall near the ramp area would help the issues. However, Council’s Mick Raby told Triple M, that extending the groin would not fix the problem, but just move the issue down further.
He believes locals have no issues getting in and out from the ramp.
“The conditions over the weekend were difficult, but the vast majority of locals had no issue because they know how to do it”, Mr Raby said. Seeing some of the video footage Mr Raby said “you question some of the experience of these guys”.
“I wasn’t down there, but the stuff I’ve seen, I didn’t see too many locals having an issue”, Mr Raby said.
Coffs Harbour MP, Andrew Fraser disagreed with Mr Raby, saying that he has many locals coming into his office with complaints about the boat ramp.
"Mick is more than welcome to come into my office and see the complaints I get from locals about the ramp", Mr Fraser said.
The recent Heavy Tackle game fishing event held in Coffs Harbour saw weather that kept the boat ramp surf break and surge at dangerous levels for perspective competitors who couldn't launch boats there and safely get out to the harbour to compete in the tournament thanks to the ongoing neglect and maintenance of what should be a safe, all-weather facility.
The design of the boat ramp groin has always been seriously deficient, but not unfixable were some real hydrology and engineering talent ever to be applied to the problem. The council purchased a long-arm excavator to keep the dangerous and constant sand bar buildup under control, but it's only rarely seen doing what it was purchased to do, and then, never thoroughly. While it should be a regular feature seen routinely at work there on Fridays and in the days prior to public holidays or big angling events, don't hold your breath waiting for that to occur.
The boat ramp is more correctly described these days as a world class surf break than a safe boat ramp... boats are routinely badly damaged while using the ramp under all but the most benign conditions and high tide.
So you can only assume that it will take a death or serious injury to get the council's short span attention, at which stage you can bet that they'll run this bloke out in front of the cameras again to explain how sad the council is about this, but that's one of the hazards associated with operating boats when smarter people (like him...?) would stay at home.
Spare me from this level of mind-numbing institutional incompetence...
The following is a limited synopsis of what he said when being interviewed on local Triple M radio - the full recording of his interview is available for anyone who can stand to listen to it on the Triple M website...
Safety remains a concern for the Coffs Harbour boat ramp after a weekend of mishaps with a number of boats running aground into sand and rocks. Triple M raised concerns from locals after the Easter long weekend where several boats endured damage from the shallow waters. One Triple M listener told Moffee on Tuesday, they were in the boat with their nine-year-old child who was terrified after a wave came across their vessel filling the boat with water while they approached the ramp.
According to Coffs Harbour City Council, dredging work to fix the problem would run into the millions.
Many fishers say that extending the groin wall near the ramp area would help the issues. However, Council’s Mick Raby told Triple M, that extending the groin would not fix the problem, but just move the issue down further.
He believes locals have no issues getting in and out from the ramp.
“The conditions over the weekend were difficult, but the vast majority of locals had no issue because they know how to do it”, Mr Raby said. Seeing some of the video footage Mr Raby said “you question some of the experience of these guys”.
“I wasn’t down there, but the stuff I’ve seen, I didn’t see too many locals having an issue”, Mr Raby said.
Coffs Harbour MP, Andrew Fraser disagreed with Mr Raby, saying that he has many locals coming into his office with complaints about the boat ramp.
"Mick is more than welcome to come into my office and see the complaints I get from locals about the ramp", Mr Fraser said.
The recent Heavy Tackle game fishing event held in Coffs Harbour saw weather that kept the boat ramp surf break and surge at dangerous levels for perspective competitors who couldn't launch boats there and safely get out to the harbour to compete in the tournament thanks to the ongoing neglect and maintenance of what should be a safe, all-weather facility.
The design of the boat ramp groin has always been seriously deficient, but not unfixable were some real hydrology and engineering talent ever to be applied to the problem. The council purchased a long-arm excavator to keep the dangerous and constant sand bar buildup under control, but it's only rarely seen doing what it was purchased to do, and then, never thoroughly. While it should be a regular feature seen routinely at work there on Fridays and in the days prior to public holidays or big angling events, don't hold your breath waiting for that to occur.
The boat ramp is more correctly described these days as a world class surf break than a safe boat ramp... boats are routinely badly damaged while using the ramp under all but the most benign conditions and high tide.
So you can only assume that it will take a death or serious injury to get the council's short span attention, at which stage you can bet that they'll run this bloke out in front of the cameras again to explain how sad the council is about this, but that's one of the hazards associated with operating boats when smarter people (like him...?) would stay at home.
Spare me from this level of mind-numbing institutional incompetence...
Wednesday, 4th April
Yesterday's report from the shelf was disappointing...
The very light sou'westerly on the beach, was a much stronger southerly out there, and until it settled down later in the day, things weren't that great.
The dirty water out wide has gone, but it was moved on by a raging current, which at 3.5 knots, is making the fishing out where the blues should be particularly hard, and is probably carrying those fish past the Coffs Coast so fast that they're not bothering to get off the bus.
All the big bait balls of pilchards have been swept away, and the bite with them
The water on the top of the shelf where the current eases a bit is still very dirty with a lot of algae and rubbish in it, and only a brief hookup by a black marlin in 50 fathoms punctuated an otherwise boring day.
When the current's this strong, there aren't many fishing options... you either go back and forth running E-W-E-W, or you find the depth you want drive into the current and go almost nowhere, or alternately, run southwards for 30 minutes and then spend the rest of the day pushing back to the north at 2.5 knots or so groundspeed.
Things should pick up if the large downwelling eddy to our northeast weakens and stops turbocharging the current, but unless/until that happens, this fabulous forecast for the next four days may be largely wasted.
The very light sou'westerly on the beach, was a much stronger southerly out there, and until it settled down later in the day, things weren't that great.
The dirty water out wide has gone, but it was moved on by a raging current, which at 3.5 knots, is making the fishing out where the blues should be particularly hard, and is probably carrying those fish past the Coffs Coast so fast that they're not bothering to get off the bus.
All the big bait balls of pilchards have been swept away, and the bite with them
The water on the top of the shelf where the current eases a bit is still very dirty with a lot of algae and rubbish in it, and only a brief hookup by a black marlin in 50 fathoms punctuated an otherwise boring day.
When the current's this strong, there aren't many fishing options... you either go back and forth running E-W-E-W, or you find the depth you want drive into the current and go almost nowhere, or alternately, run southwards for 30 minutes and then spend the rest of the day pushing back to the north at 2.5 knots or so groundspeed.
Things should pick up if the large downwelling eddy to our northeast weakens and stops turbocharging the current, but unless/until that happens, this fabulous forecast for the next four days may be largely wasted.
Monday, 1 April
There's plenty of bait out there, the current setup is great, with a good flow of 27C water straight down the edge of the shelf, there are marlin being raised just about anywhere you want to throw a lure or a livie out the back of the boat, and the forecast for the week ahead (on top of a great Easter weekend just finished...) is probably the best I've seen for the entire summer on the northern NSW coast. If the EAC flow pushes the green water that boats found out wide last week away and replaces it with decent blue water, there's no reason not to expect a sustained blue marlin bite out there.
Makeup days... a flash comp... win the out-of-hours comp in just a few days? As Nike says - just do it!
What more can you say...?
Makeup days... a flash comp... win the out-of-hours comp in just a few days? As Nike says - just do it!
What more can you say...?
Saturday, 30th March
With almost all of the Easter break showing excellent fishing weather off the NSW north coast and Coffs Harbour, there's no much doubt about where the serious game fishermen will be for most of the coming week and next weekend if the predictions stay steady.
As another perfect day for big game fishing dawns with 2 knots of breeze, a smooth horizon, and current lines as far as you can see, there are plenty of boats going out between Coffs and the border to try their luck in what's looking to be one of the best weeks of game fishing this season.
How different to last weekend's ugly two days of eminently forgettable combat fishing...
Straight from the new electronics suite on the flybridge of the well-known Coffs Coast Sports Fishing boat Black N Blue comes this fabulous screen shot from skipper Rob Lang, who found himself sitting on top of another one of the huge schools of pilchards that we've seen at this time of year here in the past.
Regular readers and local big game anglers will remember the massive school of pilchards mixed with slimy mackerel that set up for over a week on the edge of the continental shelf here a couple of years ago. It looked a lot like this, and it stayed in the same place for days on end, with boats pulling marlin off it every time they went out.
This is the classic "fox in the henhouse" shot of the big ball of pilchards being attacked by multiple marlin that are clearly visible in the photo. BnB and other boats (including She's a Dream and 666) lucky enough to be out there yesterday raised multiple marlin off this school of bait, so the obvious question now is... how long will it be there, and how many marlin will be raised while it's there...?
Maybe these baitfish have always come here to spawn around this time of year, and we've been missing what may just be an annual event that has been occurring somewhere along the edge of the shelf off Coffs for years. It could just be that we've either not been looking hard enough, or we've simply missed this aggregation in the past... Either way, while it may just be anecdotal, I know I'll be out there looking for it in autumn along the edge in future years.
Good luck to the game boats heading back out into this bonanza today...!
As another perfect day for big game fishing dawns with 2 knots of breeze, a smooth horizon, and current lines as far as you can see, there are plenty of boats going out between Coffs and the border to try their luck in what's looking to be one of the best weeks of game fishing this season.
How different to last weekend's ugly two days of eminently forgettable combat fishing...
Straight from the new electronics suite on the flybridge of the well-known Coffs Coast Sports Fishing boat Black N Blue comes this fabulous screen shot from skipper Rob Lang, who found himself sitting on top of another one of the huge schools of pilchards that we've seen at this time of year here in the past.
Regular readers and local big game anglers will remember the massive school of pilchards mixed with slimy mackerel that set up for over a week on the edge of the continental shelf here a couple of years ago. It looked a lot like this, and it stayed in the same place for days on end, with boats pulling marlin off it every time they went out.
This is the classic "fox in the henhouse" shot of the big ball of pilchards being attacked by multiple marlin that are clearly visible in the photo. BnB and other boats (including She's a Dream and 666) lucky enough to be out there yesterday raised multiple marlin off this school of bait, so the obvious question now is... how long will it be there, and how many marlin will be raised while it's there...?
Maybe these baitfish have always come here to spawn around this time of year, and we've been missing what may just be an annual event that has been occurring somewhere along the edge of the shelf off Coffs for years. It could just be that we've either not been looking hard enough, or we've simply missed this aggregation in the past... Either way, while it may just be anecdotal, I know I'll be out there looking for it in autumn along the edge in future years.
Good luck to the game boats heading back out into this bonanza today...!
Easter Good Friday, 30th March
The ocean was smooth, calm, and had current lines stretching eastwards to the horizon this morning... great fishing conditions at the prime time of the year. Frustrating not to be out there stirring up blue marlin, but...
Meanwhile, here's a great post from Steve Campbell, author of Blue Marlin Magic.
Steve's record keeping and statistical summaries of his years of fishing for blues in Tonga are about the best you'll find. Bearing in mind that this is Tonga, and each boat, it's setup in terms of where you run long and short, even the number of engines and the direction your prop(s) rotate, the lures you use, and your location around the hot spots of the world may show different degrees of variation. But the bottom line is that this isn't rocket science, and if your records are as good as Steve's, there's a lot you can learn from plotting a few years of results as Steve has done in this instance. His book is full of stuff like this, and is a great read...
Meanwhile, here's a great post from Steve Campbell, author of Blue Marlin Magic.
Steve's record keeping and statistical summaries of his years of fishing for blues in Tonga are about the best you'll find. Bearing in mind that this is Tonga, and each boat, it's setup in terms of where you run long and short, even the number of engines and the direction your prop(s) rotate, the lures you use, and your location around the hot spots of the world may show different degrees of variation. But the bottom line is that this isn't rocket science, and if your records are as good as Steve's, there's a lot you can learn from plotting a few years of results as Steve has done in this instance. His book is full of stuff like this, and is a great read...
Thursday, 29th March
Just a day ahead of one of the nicest looking 4-day weather windows to open up for some time, Local skipper Sultan Linjawi took Matador out to the edge of the shelf for a look around yesterday with a couple of newbies (no experienced crew around Coffs of course... my thoughts on this later), and drove into some action.
First up, they raised a rather lazy blue marlin that wasn't too excited about what was on display in the spread - they were only running two lures due to the inexperienced crew - but eventually, after minutes of uncharacteristic window shopping, it grabbed a lure and ran away but never hooked up, spitting the lure after briefly getting everyone's adrenaline levels up.
Shortly after that, they hooked up on a striped marlin and got that in and tagged, but then the fish ran under the boat while the skipper was down on the deck doing the wiring/tagging/jack of all trades thing with nobody at the helm, and a prop cut the line. So the stripe swam away with a lot more jewellery than Sultan would have liked.
There was a lot of bait around, and despite being a bit lumpy out there to start with, finding fish straight out the front of Coffs Harbour wasn't a problem.
The coming couple of days and the entire weekend have forecasts with no wind gusts over 11 knots, and all of the steady breeze under 8 knots for the entire 4 days... right at the best time of year. The two screen shots from Windguru and FishTrack shown here tell the story better than any words.
If only last weekend's Heavy Tackle tournament had been postponed just one week, we'd all be looking at going out and fishing hard in excellent conditions instead of the atrocious stuff we faced all of last weekend. The current is flowing really well, the water is good, and Matador reported excellent bait all over the edge of the continental shelf.
With Blues, Blacks and Striped Marlin all seemingly sharing the same stretch of the continental shelf at the moment, then as mentioned in a Logbook entry below, the chances of a boat racking up a grand slam this week are probably as high as they'll ever be this season.
That depends of course on whether you can find enough crew to go fishing. In just about any other game fishing port in Australia, experienced anglers used to working the deck of a game boat are usually lining up at the Marlin Bar for the chance to join a crew. However, there's just something about the fishing demographic on the north coast of NSW that's singularly different - they just aren't enough game fishermen. Plenty of 2-hour snapper fishermen and a bunch of mackerel freaks, but almost no real big game afficionados.
Despite only a modest number of game boats here in Coffs Harbour (and even less in Yamba, Evans Head and Ballina), and despite the greater Coffs Coast area having a population of 74,000 people, experienced, dedicated game fishermen are near impossible to find to crew a boat. Even during last weekend's Heavy Tackle tournament, a large proportion of the boats in the event fished with anglers with limited game fishing experience, or went out short-handed.
Given the modest demands of being part of a game boat team, the lack of regular starters on this coast is simply inexplicable, and while family, work , and other commitments understandably account for the inability of many would-be anglers to join crews, this is no different from other ports, so it still doesn't fully explain this unique local dilemma.
Changing to another pet topic... during my conversation this morning with Matador's skipper, we were having another bitch about the local marina, and its user-unfriendly ethos - nothing new there, but it's always worth grumbling about.
Among the usual list of "what's wrong with the marina" gripes, Sultan mentioned something that should have been blindingly obvious, but which gets lost in the ongoing everyday distractions. That is the lack of a dedicated game fishing arm. How obvious...!
Game fishermen who have spent time at other marinas around Australia and the world will all recall just how fantastic the atmosphere is in a game fishing marina where all the game boats park together.
Whether it's just skippers bumping into each other during maintenance visits to their boats, or on lazy summer evenings when they just wander down to check on their boats and maybe get a few things ready for the next day's outing, there's always a buzz in a marina where all the game boats are lined up on the same arm.
And when all the fleet returns after a competition day, the atmosphere turns electric. Crews are cleaning their boats, packing gear, sitting on the transom having a beer, walking from boat to boat and chatting - it's always a great environment, everyone is together on the same finger, and the place comes alive.
Instead of being spread out amongst the yachts and the deserted, unloved hulks, game boats all moored together are always the centre of attention, and the focus of marina social life. Instead of being stuck somewhere on your own and not having the opportunity to socialise as everybody winds down and tells their stories about the adventures of the day, we drift away and go home. The focus of social life in most game fleet marinas worldwide is the buzzing arm where all the boats pull in together at the end of a big day of fishing - if you've never seen this, you've really missed out on a great part of the experience.
Having the game fleet sharing the same arm strengthens the camaraderie, culture, and all-round enthusiasm of those in the game fishing fleet, with all the flow-on effects as far as clubs and this sport are concerned.
Good luck trying to convince the tone deaf management at our local marina how beneficial it would be to the game fishing fleet if this was made to happen...
First up, they raised a rather lazy blue marlin that wasn't too excited about what was on display in the spread - they were only running two lures due to the inexperienced crew - but eventually, after minutes of uncharacteristic window shopping, it grabbed a lure and ran away but never hooked up, spitting the lure after briefly getting everyone's adrenaline levels up.
Shortly after that, they hooked up on a striped marlin and got that in and tagged, but then the fish ran under the boat while the skipper was down on the deck doing the wiring/tagging/jack of all trades thing with nobody at the helm, and a prop cut the line. So the stripe swam away with a lot more jewellery than Sultan would have liked.
There was a lot of bait around, and despite being a bit lumpy out there to start with, finding fish straight out the front of Coffs Harbour wasn't a problem.
The coming couple of days and the entire weekend have forecasts with no wind gusts over 11 knots, and all of the steady breeze under 8 knots for the entire 4 days... right at the best time of year. The two screen shots from Windguru and FishTrack shown here tell the story better than any words.
If only last weekend's Heavy Tackle tournament had been postponed just one week, we'd all be looking at going out and fishing hard in excellent conditions instead of the atrocious stuff we faced all of last weekend. The current is flowing really well, the water is good, and Matador reported excellent bait all over the edge of the continental shelf.
With Blues, Blacks and Striped Marlin all seemingly sharing the same stretch of the continental shelf at the moment, then as mentioned in a Logbook entry below, the chances of a boat racking up a grand slam this week are probably as high as they'll ever be this season.
That depends of course on whether you can find enough crew to go fishing. In just about any other game fishing port in Australia, experienced anglers used to working the deck of a game boat are usually lining up at the Marlin Bar for the chance to join a crew. However, there's just something about the fishing demographic on the north coast of NSW that's singularly different - they just aren't enough game fishermen. Plenty of 2-hour snapper fishermen and a bunch of mackerel freaks, but almost no real big game afficionados.
Despite only a modest number of game boats here in Coffs Harbour (and even less in Yamba, Evans Head and Ballina), and despite the greater Coffs Coast area having a population of 74,000 people, experienced, dedicated game fishermen are near impossible to find to crew a boat. Even during last weekend's Heavy Tackle tournament, a large proportion of the boats in the event fished with anglers with limited game fishing experience, or went out short-handed.
Given the modest demands of being part of a game boat team, the lack of regular starters on this coast is simply inexplicable, and while family, work , and other commitments understandably account for the inability of many would-be anglers to join crews, this is no different from other ports, so it still doesn't fully explain this unique local dilemma.
Changing to another pet topic... during my conversation this morning with Matador's skipper, we were having another bitch about the local marina, and its user-unfriendly ethos - nothing new there, but it's always worth grumbling about.
Among the usual list of "what's wrong with the marina" gripes, Sultan mentioned something that should have been blindingly obvious, but which gets lost in the ongoing everyday distractions. That is the lack of a dedicated game fishing arm. How obvious...!
Game fishermen who have spent time at other marinas around Australia and the world will all recall just how fantastic the atmosphere is in a game fishing marina where all the game boats park together.
Whether it's just skippers bumping into each other during maintenance visits to their boats, or on lazy summer evenings when they just wander down to check on their boats and maybe get a few things ready for the next day's outing, there's always a buzz in a marina where all the game boats are lined up on the same arm.
And when all the fleet returns after a competition day, the atmosphere turns electric. Crews are cleaning their boats, packing gear, sitting on the transom having a beer, walking from boat to boat and chatting - it's always a great environment, everyone is together on the same finger, and the place comes alive.
Instead of being spread out amongst the yachts and the deserted, unloved hulks, game boats all moored together are always the centre of attention, and the focus of marina social life. Instead of being stuck somewhere on your own and not having the opportunity to socialise as everybody winds down and tells their stories about the adventures of the day, we drift away and go home. The focus of social life in most game fleet marinas worldwide is the buzzing arm where all the boats pull in together at the end of a big day of fishing - if you've never seen this, you've really missed out on a great part of the experience.
Having the game fleet sharing the same arm strengthens the camaraderie, culture, and all-round enthusiasm of those in the game fishing fleet, with all the flow-on effects as far as clubs and this sport are concerned.
Good luck trying to convince the tone deaf management at our local marina how beneficial it would be to the game fishing fleet if this was made to happen...
Monday, 26th March
The Solitary Islands GFC's annual Heavy Tackle Challenge was held over the past weekend, and it was a challenge in more than name!
There wouldn't have been more than a couple of anglers in the 16-boat fleet who could say that they've fished in such miserable conditions for two days consecutively in their game fishing careers.
We had pouring rain, strong wind warnings, standup seas from multiple directions, and speaking for my crew at least, we got flogged!
There was good water beneath all the whitecaps, a lot of excellent marlin candy on the surface in the form of striped tuna and flying fish, and there were certainly marlin - black, striped and blue - about, but most of them understandably wouldn't come up to the mess on the surface. Most boats reported marking fish sitting 20 fathoms under boats, and refusing, quite understandably, to venture to the top to play, where there were 2 metre waves separated by about a 5-second period for at least half the tournament.
The boats that did tag marlin (only 14 fish from the 16 boat fleet over 2 days of competition), pretty much all had full crews where there was a crew member for every corner of the deck, and nobody had to try to get anywhere other than where they stood to clear the deck quickly. For those of us who were fishing chronically short-handed (don't ask...), it was almost impossible for anyone to move about the deck quickly, and more specifically safely, to clear rods in a timely manner and get on with the task of fighting a fish.
The tournament winner, Seaborn, did a superb job of finding fish where others couldn't, and with 5 anglers on the deck of a relatively small boat, never lost a single fish from a hookup, and never spent more than 10 minutes from calling the hookup to calling the tag. Truly great work in awful conditions from skipper Clayton Livingston and his crew.
There were official strong wind warnings all day on Sunday and on Saturday morning, with really nasty cross seas, and the wind forecast had been showing those winds and the dodgy swell in the frame for most of the week. So we fished in conditions which took most of the fun out of what should have been a great event that we look forward to all year... and which could very easily have been postponed to a better weather window in plenty of time to allow competitors to regroup.
The tournament was well run, and the marlin certainly were there, but most of us like to enjoy pleasant conditions, not combat fishing.
There wouldn't have been more than a couple of anglers in the 16-boat fleet who could say that they've fished in such miserable conditions for two days consecutively in their game fishing careers.
We had pouring rain, strong wind warnings, standup seas from multiple directions, and speaking for my crew at least, we got flogged!
There was good water beneath all the whitecaps, a lot of excellent marlin candy on the surface in the form of striped tuna and flying fish, and there were certainly marlin - black, striped and blue - about, but most of them understandably wouldn't come up to the mess on the surface. Most boats reported marking fish sitting 20 fathoms under boats, and refusing, quite understandably, to venture to the top to play, where there were 2 metre waves separated by about a 5-second period for at least half the tournament.
The boats that did tag marlin (only 14 fish from the 16 boat fleet over 2 days of competition), pretty much all had full crews where there was a crew member for every corner of the deck, and nobody had to try to get anywhere other than where they stood to clear the deck quickly. For those of us who were fishing chronically short-handed (don't ask...), it was almost impossible for anyone to move about the deck quickly, and more specifically safely, to clear rods in a timely manner and get on with the task of fighting a fish.
The tournament winner, Seaborn, did a superb job of finding fish where others couldn't, and with 5 anglers on the deck of a relatively small boat, never lost a single fish from a hookup, and never spent more than 10 minutes from calling the hookup to calling the tag. Truly great work in awful conditions from skipper Clayton Livingston and his crew.
There were official strong wind warnings all day on Sunday and on Saturday morning, with really nasty cross seas, and the wind forecast had been showing those winds and the dodgy swell in the frame for most of the week. So we fished in conditions which took most of the fun out of what should have been a great event that we look forward to all year... and which could very easily have been postponed to a better weather window in plenty of time to allow competitors to regroup.
The tournament was well run, and the marlin certainly were there, but most of us like to enjoy pleasant conditions, not combat fishing.
Moving on, with a good forecast showing light winds and low swell through the latter half of this week ahead, and with anglers catching black, blue, and striped marlin during the weekend tournament, the odds of anyone successfully going out and managing a grand slam this week are probably higher now than at any time this season.
Monday, 19th March
One of the game boats participating in the annual Ballina to Iluka weekend run was Andrew McLennnan's On Strike.
On the Saturday run down to Iluka, they didn't go wide enough into the cobalt water out around 750fa where Sambo eventually hooked up the only blue raised that day.
However, on the run back to Ballina on Sunday, Andrew stopped for a drift on top of the shelf for a while (as noted below, the weather just up there was dramatically better than off Coffs...) to see if they could scare up some dinner.
On the first drift, they passed over a big fish sitting down about 20fa under the boat, and Andrew remarked that it could be a marlin. So on the next drift over the same area, they were just dropping a soft plastic down when the sounder lit up with an echo that was coming up to the boat, then turned around and chased the soft plastic downwards as it sank.
Yep... the next minute they'd hooked up a juvenile black marlin that came up and put on a bit of a show before pulling the hook. Those soft plastic hooks are pretty wimpy when it comes to catching marlin, so the loss was no real surprise, but being able to see the fish then watch it as it followed the bait down on the sounder was the big surprise of the day.
You can see the various drops of the soft plastic bait on the screen ,and then you can clearly see the marlin following the last drop down before it grabbed the bait and hooked up.
Bad luck they didn't get to tag it, but it's a great screen shot and a good story.
On the Saturday run down to Iluka, they didn't go wide enough into the cobalt water out around 750fa where Sambo eventually hooked up the only blue raised that day.
However, on the run back to Ballina on Sunday, Andrew stopped for a drift on top of the shelf for a while (as noted below, the weather just up there was dramatically better than off Coffs...) to see if they could scare up some dinner.
On the first drift, they passed over a big fish sitting down about 20fa under the boat, and Andrew remarked that it could be a marlin. So on the next drift over the same area, they were just dropping a soft plastic down when the sounder lit up with an echo that was coming up to the boat, then turned around and chased the soft plastic downwards as it sank.
Yep... the next minute they'd hooked up a juvenile black marlin that came up and put on a bit of a show before pulling the hook. Those soft plastic hooks are pretty wimpy when it comes to catching marlin, so the loss was no real surprise, but being able to see the fish then watch it as it followed the bait down on the sounder was the big surprise of the day.
You can see the various drops of the soft plastic bait on the screen ,and then you can clearly see the marlin following the last drop down before it grabbed the bait and hooked up.
Bad luck they didn't get to tag it, but it's a great screen shot and a good story.
Sunday, 18th March
Regular readers of this column may recall an earlier blurb I put up that talked about the local "Coffs effect" on winds blowing along the coast here. The effect of the great dividing range branching all the way eastward from the main range down to the beach here creates a localised macro venturi effect that means we all too often have wind speeds way in excess of what locations just to our north and south experience, all other factors being equal.
Today was a classic example of this when the northerly that blew hard here from mid-morning reached a steady 20 knots, gusting to 25, turning the ocean off Coffs once again into something like the inside of a washing machine, and completely unfishable.
Well, the boats from Ballina mentioned in yesterday's Logbook entry were today fishing their way back from Iluka to Ballina, and never saw a whitecap on that entire run all day. Maximum breeze they encountered from dawn to late afternoon was only around 5 knots... you've just got to shake your head in bewilderment at our diabolical local weather.
Today was a classic example of this when the northerly that blew hard here from mid-morning reached a steady 20 knots, gusting to 25, turning the ocean off Coffs once again into something like the inside of a washing machine, and completely unfishable.
Well, the boats from Ballina mentioned in yesterday's Logbook entry were today fishing their way back from Iluka to Ballina, and never saw a whitecap on that entire run all day. Maximum breeze they encountered from dawn to late afternoon was only around 5 knots... you've just got to shake your head in bewilderment at our diabolical local weather.
Saturday, 17th March
Conditions were mixed all right... the wind blew up earlier than forecast and considerably stronger. With a steady 20 knot northeasterly gusting to 25 knots blowing over an already sloppy sea, it was going to be hard to raise marlin in what were otherwise pretty good ocean conditions, with good water quality, plenty of bait up to and including a lot of striped tuna, and no shortage of bird activity, so there should have been a good marlin bite.
Instead, despite pretty good coverage by boats from both Coffs clubs and a couple of privateers, there were a only couple of black marlin raised on the top of the shelf with just one tagged, and a blue marlin or two seen out in deeper water, but in the end, most of the boats out there saw nothing in their spread all day except a striped tuna or two - normally marlin candy, but not today.
However, one of the Ballina boats - Marc Sams' Sambo - doing a run down to Iluka for the day in company with two other Ballina boats hooked up a 140kg blue in 750fa on the deep side of the shelf that sadly pulled the hooks right at the boat, so there was at least one blue south of the border!
Despite the tough conditions, this is the peak time for blue marlin fishing on the NSW north coast, and these sort of results - for the third summer season in a row now - are simply bewildering.
Instead, despite pretty good coverage by boats from both Coffs clubs and a couple of privateers, there were a only couple of black marlin raised on the top of the shelf with just one tagged, and a blue marlin or two seen out in deeper water, but in the end, most of the boats out there saw nothing in their spread all day except a striped tuna or two - normally marlin candy, but not today.
However, one of the Ballina boats - Marc Sams' Sambo - doing a run down to Iluka for the day in company with two other Ballina boats hooked up a 140kg blue in 750fa on the deep side of the shelf that sadly pulled the hooks right at the boat, so there was at least one blue south of the border!
Despite the tough conditions, this is the peak time for blue marlin fishing on the NSW north coast, and these sort of results - for the third summer season in a row now - are simply bewildering.
Friday, 16th March
After concluding a week of relatively good weather during which almost nobody took to the water, this Saturday looks like having mixed conditions to host the local Solitary islands GFC's once-in-a-blue-moon competition makeup day. It's actually once in 7 years, but who's counting...
Anyway, it's good to see the idea has belatedly caught on.
Still, the morning fishing should benefit from reasonably settled conditions, although the boisterous afternoon sea breeze may blow the fishing out if it comes in early.
The water picture is really promising, with a small kink in the current creating a cool pool directly east of Coffs Harbour surrounded by warmer water, as the screen shot from today's FishTrack's SST chart shows. Where the edges of this pool come up against the warmer East Australian Current flow, conditions should be good for pelagic action.
Good luck all boats heading out off Coffs... if Hemingway can find a big blue out there earlier this week, it can't be the only one in the neighbourhood.
Good luck also to the boats from the Northern Rivers Reprobates, who are having their annual Ballina to Iluka run. This involves a group of game fishing trailer boats that launch in Ballina (provided the swell from the offshore tropical low pressure system to the east isn't closing out the Richmond River bar...) fish their way down the edge of the shelf to Yamba (again, another bar, this time at the Clarence mouth to deal with), then anchor up outside the Iluka pub and tell lies half the night before repeating the exercise in reverse direction on Sunday.
Sounds like an exciting format for a fun weekend of game fishing... tight lines fellas.
Anyway, it's good to see the idea has belatedly caught on.
Still, the morning fishing should benefit from reasonably settled conditions, although the boisterous afternoon sea breeze may blow the fishing out if it comes in early.
The water picture is really promising, with a small kink in the current creating a cool pool directly east of Coffs Harbour surrounded by warmer water, as the screen shot from today's FishTrack's SST chart shows. Where the edges of this pool come up against the warmer East Australian Current flow, conditions should be good for pelagic action.
Good luck all boats heading out off Coffs... if Hemingway can find a big blue out there earlier this week, it can't be the only one in the neighbourhood.
Good luck also to the boats from the Northern Rivers Reprobates, who are having their annual Ballina to Iluka run. This involves a group of game fishing trailer boats that launch in Ballina (provided the swell from the offshore tropical low pressure system to the east isn't closing out the Richmond River bar...) fish their way down the edge of the shelf to Yamba (again, another bar, this time at the Clarence mouth to deal with), then anchor up outside the Iluka pub and tell lies half the night before repeating the exercise in reverse direction on Sunday.
Sounds like an exciting format for a fun weekend of game fishing... tight lines fellas.
Wednesday, 14th March
What was shaping up as a bit of a non-event out in the deep water off the edge of the continental shelf at Coffs Harbour today for Marcus and George Blackwell suddenly took on a whole new complexion when a horse of a blue marlin turned up in the spread behind Hemingway.
George described this marlin as the biggest blue he'd ever seen, somewhere in the 700-800 pound range.
Sadly, after hooking up, the blue pulled the hook before they could get it up to the boat, and with only two of them on the boat, a photo at that stage of the battle was out of the question.
But it sure will give them a hell of a story to tell at the Marlin Bar for a while...
George described this marlin as the biggest blue he'd ever seen, somewhere in the 700-800 pound range.
Sadly, after hooking up, the blue pulled the hook before they could get it up to the boat, and with only two of them on the boat, a photo at that stage of the battle was out of the question.
But it sure will give them a hell of a story to tell at the Marlin Bar for a while...
Monday, 12th March
OK... I'll play their silly game - the BOM's that is.
Here's the forecast for the coming weekend, and if it holds, and if it's as good as the weather we're getting now that the foul southerly of the past week has blown through, there could actually be a multi-day fishing window from Saturday to Tuesday.
Coffs Coast game fishermen probably shouldn't get too excited about this yet, because as we've constantly seen recently, the good forecasts we've been getting a few days out all too often seem to evaporate and degenerate to rubbish. Still, there's no harm in making sure the boat is fuelled up, the crew are on standby, and the drags are all checked between now and Saturday... just in case.
Here's the forecast for the coming weekend, and if it holds, and if it's as good as the weather we're getting now that the foul southerly of the past week has blown through, there could actually be a multi-day fishing window from Saturday to Tuesday.
Coffs Coast game fishermen probably shouldn't get too excited about this yet, because as we've constantly seen recently, the good forecasts we've been getting a few days out all too often seem to evaporate and degenerate to rubbish. Still, there's no harm in making sure the boat is fuelled up, the crew are on standby, and the drags are all checked between now and Saturday... just in case.
Wednesday, 7th March
One of the warm water pulses that used to herald the arrival of a hot blue marlin bite on the northern NSW coast is now passing down the edge of the continental shelf off northern NSW.
Characterised by steady current flow and fabulous 29C Coral Sea water like this one, these warm pulses have always been loaded with blue marlin.
Classic pulses like this one that appeared today in the FishTrack SST shot usually gave anglers here a red hot bite for 4-5 days as they passed through, often with a lingering population of blues hanging around for a couple of days even after the warm pulse had moved on.
But... of course, it's blowing an unfishable 20 knots out there, and promises to do so for another three or four days, by which time this beautiful piece of water will probably be gone.
Just what we did to deserve this ongoing bad luck is anyone's guess, but it just keeps on happening here, while to our north and south, anglers have marlin leaping into their boats .
We used to see these warm pulses come through every week or two in summers several years back, but this is the only classic "Pulse" I can recall seeing this entire summer.
Since 2013, the East Australian Current has been diverted away from the northern NSW coast for much of the summer by a recurring mesoscale oceanic eddy that has formed each spring off the Queensland border, taking the current, and with it, these pulses and the marlin that ride in them well out into the middle of the Tasman Sea instead allowing this sort of system to flow normally down the coast.
In previous years before the large oceanic eddy became a feature of our local oceanic dynamics here, anglers would go out and raise half a dozen marlin a day around the edges of this sort of water when each pulse swept past the Coffs Coast. But it's been a while since that's happened anywhere except in my daydreams...
Characterised by steady current flow and fabulous 29C Coral Sea water like this one, these warm pulses have always been loaded with blue marlin.
Classic pulses like this one that appeared today in the FishTrack SST shot usually gave anglers here a red hot bite for 4-5 days as they passed through, often with a lingering population of blues hanging around for a couple of days even after the warm pulse had moved on.
But... of course, it's blowing an unfishable 20 knots out there, and promises to do so for another three or four days, by which time this beautiful piece of water will probably be gone.
Just what we did to deserve this ongoing bad luck is anyone's guess, but it just keeps on happening here, while to our north and south, anglers have marlin leaping into their boats .
We used to see these warm pulses come through every week or two in summers several years back, but this is the only classic "Pulse" I can recall seeing this entire summer.
Since 2013, the East Australian Current has been diverted away from the northern NSW coast for much of the summer by a recurring mesoscale oceanic eddy that has formed each spring off the Queensland border, taking the current, and with it, these pulses and the marlin that ride in them well out into the middle of the Tasman Sea instead allowing this sort of system to flow normally down the coast.
In previous years before the large oceanic eddy became a feature of our local oceanic dynamics here, anglers would go out and raise half a dozen marlin a day around the edges of this sort of water when each pulse swept past the Coffs Coast. But it's been a while since that's happened anywhere except in my daydreams...
Saturday, 3rd March
Today has dawned with very slight seas and just a puff of wind from the northwest... plenty of promise, and it's to be hoped that the 10 boats out fishing do well... more on that later.
All but two of the boats are from the Coffs Harbour GFC fleet, which had scheduled a makeup day to get boats out on the water on a day when conditions are good to make up for one where conditions caused cancellation of one of their previous scheduled competition days. The club is to be commended for this, as it gets members out there doing what they joined the club to do - go fishing.
It's to be hoped that following amalgamation of the two Coffs clubs next season, that the concept of makeup days becomes the norm... Regrettably, in the Solitary Islands GFC, this idea was repeatedly and decisively shouted down and never followed, despite provision in the club's fishing rules, and numerous other attempts to make this happen. Successive SIGFC committees have refused to schedule makeup days like this - an inexplicable mindset, and one which, by minimising the number of competition days for members to fish together, almost certainly contributed to the declining enthusiasm for game fishing which has been a feature of that club in recent years.
Regular readers of this column may have noticed that the big Gold Coast charter boat Mistress has been fishing out of Hervey Bay for much of this summer, and by tagging its 100th blue marlin off Fraser Island this summer has pretty much underlined the huge game fishing potential of this area.
In the past, Hervey Bay was better known for its light tackle fishing for juvenile black marlin around the northern tip of Fraser, and while there have been blue marlin caught regularly to the east of Fraser, it's unlikely anybody realised just how much potential there is in the offshore waters there until now.
But now that Brett and Barry Alty have been so successful in these waters with Mistress this year, it's a fair bet that a few of the better known game boats will be working off Fraser next year after the Cairns season ends.
And with the drive by car relatively short between the Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay, there are likely to be a few Sunshine Coast boats move up and base themselves there for half the year, and the Hervey Bay GFC and its open tournament will no doubt see a boost as a result.
MID-AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Excellent conditions have been reported out on the edge of the continental shelf, with 27C clean blue water coming down from the Coral Sea, but not many fish in it unless you can apply a bit of luck and local knowledge.
Up off Ballina, Andrew McClennan's On Strike hooked up a fish conservatively estimated at 300+kg in 160 fathoms which stripped 700 ,metres of line on its first run and then threw the hook a bit later after they had got about half of that back.. bad luck boys!
Meanwhile, down off Coffs Harbour, at a location known by locals as "Byron's Mark" which over the years has produced more than its share of blue marlin, Solitary Islands boat Wicked Weasel, skippered by Glen Booth, latched onto and subsequently tagged and released a handy bantam-weight blue of about 60 kg which was the perfect fish for new big game angler Susan Reid, for whom this was her first ever marlin.
All but two of the boats are from the Coffs Harbour GFC fleet, which had scheduled a makeup day to get boats out on the water on a day when conditions are good to make up for one where conditions caused cancellation of one of their previous scheduled competition days. The club is to be commended for this, as it gets members out there doing what they joined the club to do - go fishing.
It's to be hoped that following amalgamation of the two Coffs clubs next season, that the concept of makeup days becomes the norm... Regrettably, in the Solitary Islands GFC, this idea was repeatedly and decisively shouted down and never followed, despite provision in the club's fishing rules, and numerous other attempts to make this happen. Successive SIGFC committees have refused to schedule makeup days like this - an inexplicable mindset, and one which, by minimising the number of competition days for members to fish together, almost certainly contributed to the declining enthusiasm for game fishing which has been a feature of that club in recent years.
Regular readers of this column may have noticed that the big Gold Coast charter boat Mistress has been fishing out of Hervey Bay for much of this summer, and by tagging its 100th blue marlin off Fraser Island this summer has pretty much underlined the huge game fishing potential of this area.
In the past, Hervey Bay was better known for its light tackle fishing for juvenile black marlin around the northern tip of Fraser, and while there have been blue marlin caught regularly to the east of Fraser, it's unlikely anybody realised just how much potential there is in the offshore waters there until now.
But now that Brett and Barry Alty have been so successful in these waters with Mistress this year, it's a fair bet that a few of the better known game boats will be working off Fraser next year after the Cairns season ends.
And with the drive by car relatively short between the Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay, there are likely to be a few Sunshine Coast boats move up and base themselves there for half the year, and the Hervey Bay GFC and its open tournament will no doubt see a boost as a result.
MID-AFTERNOON UPDATE:
Excellent conditions have been reported out on the edge of the continental shelf, with 27C clean blue water coming down from the Coral Sea, but not many fish in it unless you can apply a bit of luck and local knowledge.
Up off Ballina, Andrew McClennan's On Strike hooked up a fish conservatively estimated at 300+kg in 160 fathoms which stripped 700 ,metres of line on its first run and then threw the hook a bit later after they had got about half of that back.. bad luck boys!
Meanwhile, down off Coffs Harbour, at a location known by locals as "Byron's Mark" which over the years has produced more than its share of blue marlin, Solitary Islands boat Wicked Weasel, skippered by Glen Booth, latched onto and subsequently tagged and released a handy bantam-weight blue of about 60 kg which was the perfect fish for new big game angler Susan Reid, for whom this was her first ever marlin.
Friday, 2nd March
The forecast for tomorrow on the Solitary Coast shows light to moderate sea breezes, with the likelihood of reasonable fishing conditions most of the day, and so no doubt crews will be looking for a bit of inspiration out there after yet another recent run of unfishable conditions.
The current is in better shape than it's been for weeks, and is pushing 27C water down along the edge of the northern NSW continental shelf in textbook fashion. The swell will be low, and the tides are near perfect, but the moon phase isn't ideal, although the glass-half-full take on that is that the chances of an afternoon bite should be good.
The biggest problem is still going to be the dirty floodwater that Better than Vegas encountered earlier this week. The FishTrack true colour screen shot on the left - while very difficult to make out - is showing that there's still a lot of nasty water flowing out to sea from the Tweed and Richmond rivers, and that the whole mess is flowing southwards along the coast.
The satellite image is up to 24 hours old, so conditions tomorrow may be a lot better than indicated, because the current is flowing at about 3 knots, and if those rivers empty quickly, this brown water might be south of us come tomorrow.
Well known game fishing skipper Bill Billson told George Blackwell yesterday that the blue marlin bite on the Gold Coast had gone very quiet... so where are they...? This reminds me of the old Scarlet Pimpernell line... "They seek him here, they seek him there... those (anglers) Frenchies seek him everywhere ... is he in heaven, or is he in hell... that damned elusive (Blue Marlin) Pimpernell...!" OK, so it wasn't that great, but it sounded all right at the time.
Meanwhile, the local Heavy Tackle Challenge big game tournament entry forms are finally available on the Solitary Islands GFC website.
And finally... here's one of the best short corner big game fish action videos ever!
The current is in better shape than it's been for weeks, and is pushing 27C water down along the edge of the northern NSW continental shelf in textbook fashion. The swell will be low, and the tides are near perfect, but the moon phase isn't ideal, although the glass-half-full take on that is that the chances of an afternoon bite should be good.
The biggest problem is still going to be the dirty floodwater that Better than Vegas encountered earlier this week. The FishTrack true colour screen shot on the left - while very difficult to make out - is showing that there's still a lot of nasty water flowing out to sea from the Tweed and Richmond rivers, and that the whole mess is flowing southwards along the coast.
The satellite image is up to 24 hours old, so conditions tomorrow may be a lot better than indicated, because the current is flowing at about 3 knots, and if those rivers empty quickly, this brown water might be south of us come tomorrow.
Well known game fishing skipper Bill Billson told George Blackwell yesterday that the blue marlin bite on the Gold Coast had gone very quiet... so where are they...? This reminds me of the old Scarlet Pimpernell line... "They seek him here, they seek him there... those (anglers) Frenchies seek him everywhere ... is he in heaven, or is he in hell... that damned elusive (Blue Marlin) Pimpernell...!" OK, so it wasn't that great, but it sounded all right at the time.
Meanwhile, the local Heavy Tackle Challenge big game tournament entry forms are finally available on the Solitary Islands GFC website.
And finally... here's one of the best short corner big game fish action videos ever!
Well... not quite finally... it's a boring day, and sadly, I've got no crew to fish with tomorrow, so I'm not preparing the boat and gear for a trip to the edge of the shelf as I normally would be on a Friday... so it's time to beef up the Logbook.
Here's a photo of Frank Johnson... like to guess who he is?
He's an inductee to the IGFA Hall of Fame, a well-deserved honour for the inventor of the Mold Craft game lure range. There's probably not a game boat anywhere in the world that takes marlin fishing seriously that doesn't have at least one Mold Craft lure ready to put out on the spread every time they go to sea. The famous Wide Range, Bobby Brown, and Super Chugger designs are pretty much a must-have lure somewhere in the spread, and on most boats, they catch as many marlin as anything else. They don't look like much, and they're cheaper than most of the ritzy big name lures. They're also very robust, and they just keep on raising fish after fish.
Frank's Mold Craft Wide Range and Super Chugger lure designs were deservedly rated numbers one and two in Marlin Magazine's top ten lures of all time.
Here's a photo of Frank Johnson... like to guess who he is?
He's an inductee to the IGFA Hall of Fame, a well-deserved honour for the inventor of the Mold Craft game lure range. There's probably not a game boat anywhere in the world that takes marlin fishing seriously that doesn't have at least one Mold Craft lure ready to put out on the spread every time they go to sea. The famous Wide Range, Bobby Brown, and Super Chugger designs are pretty much a must-have lure somewhere in the spread, and on most boats, they catch as many marlin as anything else. They don't look like much, and they're cheaper than most of the ritzy big name lures. They're also very robust, and they just keep on raising fish after fish.
Frank's Mold Craft Wide Range and Super Chugger lure designs were deservedly rated numbers one and two in Marlin Magazine's top ten lures of all time.
Thursday, 1 March
And so... in what will go down as an historic vote, 92% of members present at a special meeting of the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club last night voted to amalgamate their club with the Coffs Harbour GFC.
An eloquent and at times blunt assessment of the situation with regard to the future of game fishing on the Coffs Coast by local skipper Rob Lang, complemented by an equally objective discussion of the options open to members by club vice-president Rob Glover combined to convince many members who may have been uncomfortable with the amalgamation proposal to vote in favour, and in the end, the vote was overwhelmingly for amalgamation.
And now... back to the future. At the start of next season, both Coffs-based game fishing clubs will become one new entity, hopefully with the membership numbers, financial strength, and organising ability to become an effective advocate and home club for all northern NSW game fishermen between Southwest Rocks and the Queensland border.
So back to game fishing...
Despite a promising Saturday forecast and good charts, my overly optimistic (blue marlin fever...?) predictions for a bit of a marlin bite this weekend took a huge hit yesterday when local boat Better than Vegas went for a look in what should have been encouraging conditions. However, to skipper Pete English's surprise, the extremely heavy but localised thunderstorms that swept through the catchments of the Richmond and Tweed rivers to our north this past week apparently brought enough local flash flooding and runoff to dump massive swaths of floodwater into the ocean, and it had all washed down here.
Vegas drove through empty brown water all the way out to 500 fathoms, after which conditions improved dramatically to 28C blue water, good current flow, and ... sharks! The only action all day turned out to be a frenzied pack of whaler sharks that attacked all the marlin lures they had in the water at once, creating something of a spectacle and providing a bit of excitement. But no sign of any marlin.
So the big question is, will all this floodwater wash away to the south over the next couple of days, and will the EAC water that follows it down from the Coral Sea have billfish in it? The true colour satellite photography has too much cloud cover to be sure of what's out there, and is, as usual, subject to a 24-hour processing delay, so it won't be until tomorrow that there will be any indication of how quickly the brown water has dispersed.
An eloquent and at times blunt assessment of the situation with regard to the future of game fishing on the Coffs Coast by local skipper Rob Lang, complemented by an equally objective discussion of the options open to members by club vice-president Rob Glover combined to convince many members who may have been uncomfortable with the amalgamation proposal to vote in favour, and in the end, the vote was overwhelmingly for amalgamation.
And now... back to the future. At the start of next season, both Coffs-based game fishing clubs will become one new entity, hopefully with the membership numbers, financial strength, and organising ability to become an effective advocate and home club for all northern NSW game fishermen between Southwest Rocks and the Queensland border.
So back to game fishing...
Despite a promising Saturday forecast and good charts, my overly optimistic (blue marlin fever...?) predictions for a bit of a marlin bite this weekend took a huge hit yesterday when local boat Better than Vegas went for a look in what should have been encouraging conditions. However, to skipper Pete English's surprise, the extremely heavy but localised thunderstorms that swept through the catchments of the Richmond and Tweed rivers to our north this past week apparently brought enough local flash flooding and runoff to dump massive swaths of floodwater into the ocean, and it had all washed down here.
Vegas drove through empty brown water all the way out to 500 fathoms, after which conditions improved dramatically to 28C blue water, good current flow, and ... sharks! The only action all day turned out to be a frenzied pack of whaler sharks that attacked all the marlin lures they had in the water at once, creating something of a spectacle and providing a bit of excitement. But no sign of any marlin.
So the big question is, will all this floodwater wash away to the south over the next couple of days, and will the EAC water that follows it down from the Coral Sea have billfish in it? The true colour satellite photography has too much cloud cover to be sure of what's out there, and is, as usual, subject to a 24-hour processing delay, so it won't be until tomorrow that there will be any indication of how quickly the brown water has dispersed.
Wednesday, 28th February
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A picture says a thousand words right...? So here's two thousand words worth for this coming weekend. With very little time to make sure the gear and crew are up to speed before the Heavy Tackle Challenge, this weekend looks like being fishable. This in itself shouldn't really be that newsworthy at this time of year particularly, but with the weather and winds having been so fractious again this summer, and the number of club competition days lost at a record high for the season, most anglers are shaking their heads in frustration.
If the FishTrack and Windguru screen shots are to be believed, there's light winds on the way, and excellent 26C water flowing down the edge of the shelf in northern NSW with the EAC. The current is even being supplemented with a fairly strong input flow joining it just to our north from mid-Tasman Sea. This will probably spin the current up to a difficult 3+ knots out there, but that just means a run to SWR isn't on the cards unless you're keen on a slow trip home.
Gold Coast anglers are still catching juvenile black marlin, so even though the main flush of blacks appears to have passed through here, there should still be a few around here if you can just find where they're hanging out.
But the real action should be down on the bottom edge of the shelf, where there have to be blue marlin waiting.
And for those readers who should be attending the Special General Meeting of the Solitary Islands GFC this evening, here's a photo below to make you reflect...
This was taken at the inaugural meeting of the Solitary Islands club. This is another picture that tells a thousand word story... a small group of passionate game fishermen wanting a chance to get a lot more out of their sport and their new club. This photo will remind some readers of those early days and how keen we all were to make this work... it may also remind a few of the trouble we brought with us that has had a lingering influence on where we are today. Think carefully, and vote...
If the FishTrack and Windguru screen shots are to be believed, there's light winds on the way, and excellent 26C water flowing down the edge of the shelf in northern NSW with the EAC. The current is even being supplemented with a fairly strong input flow joining it just to our north from mid-Tasman Sea. This will probably spin the current up to a difficult 3+ knots out there, but that just means a run to SWR isn't on the cards unless you're keen on a slow trip home.
Gold Coast anglers are still catching juvenile black marlin, so even though the main flush of blacks appears to have passed through here, there should still be a few around here if you can just find where they're hanging out.
But the real action should be down on the bottom edge of the shelf, where there have to be blue marlin waiting.
And for those readers who should be attending the Special General Meeting of the Solitary Islands GFC this evening, here's a photo below to make you reflect...
This was taken at the inaugural meeting of the Solitary Islands club. This is another picture that tells a thousand word story... a small group of passionate game fishermen wanting a chance to get a lot more out of their sport and their new club. This photo will remind some readers of those early days and how keen we all were to make this work... it may also remind a few of the trouble we brought with us that has had a lingering influence on where we are today. Think carefully, and vote...
Sunday, 25th February - less than one month to the Heavy Tackle Challenge
There's little doubt that there are really passionate people in the sport of game fishing... and then there are the also-rans...
And if you're one of the former, you'll get out to the marlin grounds on the edge of the continental shelf at every opportunity, you enjoy the company of other sportsmen and women who feel the same, and you'd spend much of your time on the water thinking about your club's annual game fishing tournament, which is the highlight of the year for you and your crew of big game tragics.
But if you allowed yourself to become distracted, you might neglect your club's tournament to the point where the only explanation would be that you were deliberately holding the tournament hostage to other less time-critical matters like an amalgamation that won't happen until next season.
For reasons known only to the committee of the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club, its successful and much anticipated Heavy Tackle big game tournament has had absolutely no advance publicity, entries are still not being sought despite there being less than one month before the tournament is supposed to take place, sponsors and sponsorship appear to have been neglected, and I for one am as mad as hell...
The club needs to get out from under the amalgamation funk it seems to be in, show some focus on what matters to anglers - right now, not next season - and run the damned event.
And if you're one of the former, you'll get out to the marlin grounds on the edge of the continental shelf at every opportunity, you enjoy the company of other sportsmen and women who feel the same, and you'd spend much of your time on the water thinking about your club's annual game fishing tournament, which is the highlight of the year for you and your crew of big game tragics.
But if you allowed yourself to become distracted, you might neglect your club's tournament to the point where the only explanation would be that you were deliberately holding the tournament hostage to other less time-critical matters like an amalgamation that won't happen until next season.
For reasons known only to the committee of the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club, its successful and much anticipated Heavy Tackle big game tournament has had absolutely no advance publicity, entries are still not being sought despite there being less than one month before the tournament is supposed to take place, sponsors and sponsorship appear to have been neglected, and I for one am as mad as hell...
The club needs to get out from under the amalgamation funk it seems to be in, show some focus on what matters to anglers - right now, not next season - and run the damned event.
Thursday, 22nd February
The weather today is probably as good as it's going to get for the rest of the week. There are excellent all-round blue marlin fishing conditions showing up on all the charts, and were it not for lack of crew, Foreign Exchange and no doubt a few other boats would be in the thick of it.
Hemingway is in the thick of it as today's Logbook entry is typed, and skipper Marcus Blackwell reports winds around 10 knots, 26.5C on the top of the shelf, and a near-perfect 1.5 knot current flowing downhill. Marcus is furiously sending me frustrated text messages about a big blue marlin they've found that keeps ignoring everything they drag past it... sounds like the big blues are there though, which is good news. Hemingway also just had a shot at a small black marlin, and shortly after, hooked up and then tagged the 140kg blue marlin in the photo above - and all this before morning coffee time! So it seems to be all happening out there this morning.
The bad news is that the weather forecast for the upcoming Saturday club competition day is bordering on tough fishing that will keep a lot of boats in the marina despite any hot bite today unless the forecasters have a change of heart over the next 48 hours...
The other bad news is that there was only one member who bothered to show up for the SIGFC's club amalgamation information night yesterday - other than the club President and Vice President who were good enough to devote their evening to this. This is not good news, but may be indicative of the lack of enthusiasm that has seen the SIGFC get to the position where this amalgamation was canvassed in the first place.
I've posted a summary of just some of the matters discussed at the information night, and have to admit to some fairly subjective comments on my part.
Readers can review my report on the information session at the Amalgamation Blog on this website by clicking on the highlighted link.
Hemingway is in the thick of it as today's Logbook entry is typed, and skipper Marcus Blackwell reports winds around 10 knots, 26.5C on the top of the shelf, and a near-perfect 1.5 knot current flowing downhill. Marcus is furiously sending me frustrated text messages about a big blue marlin they've found that keeps ignoring everything they drag past it... sounds like the big blues are there though, which is good news. Hemingway also just had a shot at a small black marlin, and shortly after, hooked up and then tagged the 140kg blue marlin in the photo above - and all this before morning coffee time! So it seems to be all happening out there this morning.
The bad news is that the weather forecast for the upcoming Saturday club competition day is bordering on tough fishing that will keep a lot of boats in the marina despite any hot bite today unless the forecasters have a change of heart over the next 48 hours...
The other bad news is that there was only one member who bothered to show up for the SIGFC's club amalgamation information night yesterday - other than the club President and Vice President who were good enough to devote their evening to this. This is not good news, but may be indicative of the lack of enthusiasm that has seen the SIGFC get to the position where this amalgamation was canvassed in the first place.
I've posted a summary of just some of the matters discussed at the information night, and have to admit to some fairly subjective comments on my part.
Readers can review my report on the information session at the Amalgamation Blog on this website by clicking on the highlighted link.
Sunday, 18th February
Here it is a very pleasant Sunday, and the current and SST satellite shots (from the latest FishTrack posts shown on the left) are the best I've seen for months. The swell is getting up a bit thanks to the cyclone in the east Coral Sea, but unless you're trying to get across a river bar, it's probably of little consequence. No news at present from any game boats out for a fish today, and unless they've had better luck in the crew stakes then we have, it might be a bit quiet on the radio.
All our black marlin appear to have moved on in a hurry it seems, with boats south of us having 10 shots a day on blacks and the fishing going crazy in the Newcastle/Port Stephens area.
Blue marlin are almost certainly out off the Solitary Islands right now, but without a couple of days of "normal" weather, they're unlikely to be disturbed.
In the Mediterranean, our French connection - Bill François - is having a hell of a time with Atlantic bluefin. They're working big schools of bluefin offshore from Nice, and there are even anglers fishing from the beach who have been able to get baits to bluefin schools within casting distance of the shoreline. More news on this as it comes in.
At least they're seeing more Atlantic bluefin tuna than we've seen YFT here this year...
The whole tuna situation has been turned on its head - the Atlantic bluefin used to be seriously endangered but are starting to come back, whereas off Australia, the once-plentiful numbers of big YFT are nowhere to be seen - at least on the western side of the longlining wall of death.
Meanwhile, anyone from the Coffs Harbour game fishing community interested in the upcoming vote on the merger of the two local clubs should read (and feel free to comment) on the Amalgamation Blog Page on this website.
All our black marlin appear to have moved on in a hurry it seems, with boats south of us having 10 shots a day on blacks and the fishing going crazy in the Newcastle/Port Stephens area.
Blue marlin are almost certainly out off the Solitary Islands right now, but without a couple of days of "normal" weather, they're unlikely to be disturbed.
In the Mediterranean, our French connection - Bill François - is having a hell of a time with Atlantic bluefin. They're working big schools of bluefin offshore from Nice, and there are even anglers fishing from the beach who have been able to get baits to bluefin schools within casting distance of the shoreline. More news on this as it comes in.
At least they're seeing more Atlantic bluefin tuna than we've seen YFT here this year...
The whole tuna situation has been turned on its head - the Atlantic bluefin used to be seriously endangered but are starting to come back, whereas off Australia, the once-plentiful numbers of big YFT are nowhere to be seen - at least on the western side of the longlining wall of death.
Meanwhile, anyone from the Coffs Harbour game fishing community interested in the upcoming vote on the merger of the two local clubs should read (and feel free to comment) on the Amalgamation Blog Page on this website.
Saturday, 17th November
Waiting...waiting... for the winds to moderate to something fishing friendly. It's hot, the humidity is oppressive, and there would be no better place to be this weekend than out on the edge of the continental shelf chasing marlin.
The current is flowing better than it has for months, water temperatures and colour look as close to perfect as you could expect, and there quite simply have to be blue marlin out there. One boat travelling from the Gold Coast to Port Stephens for the Shootout reported to a mate in Ballina that they hooked up 7 blues travelling along the deep edge of the shelf just past Ballina on Wednesday, so there's every reason to believe that the late summer movement of large numbers of blue marlin down the NSW coast has started.
And so to something really important to the future of game fishing on the Coffs Coast...
There has recently been a proposal to merge/amalgamate the Coffs Harbour GFC and the Solitary Islands GFC. The reasons are many, and the rationale is pretty simple - basically, merge or die.
After discussions involving the committees of both clubs, President Rob Lang from the CHGFC has sent a letter to James McGinty, the President of the SIGFC, laying out some of the fundamentals that would come into play in a merger, and way these would have to be dealt with for the merger to proceed.
I have opened a Blog page on this issue and have reproduced Rob Lang's letter on the opening page. If you're a member of the SIGFC, I recommend that you read this letter, and by all means comment or provide us with your thoughts on the issue so that others can hear your views.
GO TO THE Coffs Harbour Club Amalgamation Blog for more...
The current is flowing better than it has for months, water temperatures and colour look as close to perfect as you could expect, and there quite simply have to be blue marlin out there. One boat travelling from the Gold Coast to Port Stephens for the Shootout reported to a mate in Ballina that they hooked up 7 blues travelling along the deep edge of the shelf just past Ballina on Wednesday, so there's every reason to believe that the late summer movement of large numbers of blue marlin down the NSW coast has started.
And so to something really important to the future of game fishing on the Coffs Coast...
There has recently been a proposal to merge/amalgamate the Coffs Harbour GFC and the Solitary Islands GFC. The reasons are many, and the rationale is pretty simple - basically, merge or die.
After discussions involving the committees of both clubs, President Rob Lang from the CHGFC has sent a letter to James McGinty, the President of the SIGFC, laying out some of the fundamentals that would come into play in a merger, and way these would have to be dealt with for the merger to proceed.
I have opened a Blog page on this issue and have reproduced Rob Lang's letter on the opening page. If you're a member of the SIGFC, I recommend that you read this letter, and by all means comment or provide us with your thoughts on the issue so that others can hear your views.
GO TO THE Coffs Harbour Club Amalgamation Blog for more...
Weekend of 9/10/11 February
Well... it looked good from the marina. But the reality was something different...
On Friday, Hemingway went to the edge of the shelf and fished north looking for action. Skipper Marcus Blackwell found thousands of flying fish busting up with birds and dolphins all active, although there wasn't a thing showing on the sounder - it was all surface activity, but that should have meant a marlin bonanza. However, despite hours of dropping live baits and dragging lures around all this, they never saw a marlin.
At the same time, Foreign Exchange was working in shallower water along Marlin Alley east of South Solitary Island. Again, we saw plenty of flying fish, but once again there was no bait on the sounder, and instead of having black marlin leaping in the boat as you'd expect at this time of year, it was almost as dead.... gorgeous, but no meaningful February action.
It wasn't helped by a localised sea breeze that blew 15-20 knots most of the day in close, despite it glassing off out where Hemingway was just to the northeast - go figure that one out. Where the wind was blowing strong, the lures were all over the place in the slop, so it wasn't surprising that the two black marlin we raised had trouble getting the lures in their mouths and never hooked up properly, despite both pulling a bit of string before jumping off.
But.. it gets worse. The next day was a club competition day for both Coffs-based clubs, and between the two groups, there were 17 boats out working the shelf looking for marlin - one of the best turnouts for months. Again, there were plenty of flying fish around, but again, the sea breeze blew up much stronger than forecast in close, and made the conditions very difficult for working lures, leaving most boats trying to drop live baits down the where the marlin were avoiding the choppy surface conditions.
This worked for Seaborn, who tagged a nice black marlin after just 10 minutes connected via 15kg line. It seemed there were more sharks out there than marlin though, with several boats losing livies (and terminal tackle) to sharks, where once again, it should have been crawling with marlin.
Alcatraz was trying to find some action in close at one stage, and they all watched in surprise as a big pack of whaler sharks cruised through the area - naturally grabbing all their live baits and busting their tackle. Ditto Back N Blue, which had a hammerhead grab both their live baits, chopping off the terminal tackle in the process. And Foreign Exchange drove over a decent sized hammer cruising around where there would normally have been marlin. Who said sharks were endangered...???
Fortunately, later in the day, Hoo Kares fishing down off SWR latched onto a blue marlin which Rachel Terrasson (the Solitary Islands GFC's leading female angler now...) dealt nicely with despite the rough conditions out there.
There wasn't much else going on, although Sneaky Pete did get a 15+kg spanish mackerel into the boat, and there was a small wahoo and YFT tagged as well, and several fish were dropped.
Another couple of blues were raised by the Ballina contingent, with Andrew McLennan tagging a 100kg model after dropping an earlier one.
What does the fact that 17 game boats working the shelf on the Coffs Coast at prime time in February but only tagging two marlin between them mean...? For that amount of effort, crew involvement, diesel expended, lure hours in the water... etc...etc, you could correctly claim that the entire fleet result for that day would normally be what just one boat would rack up on a good February day on its own. It's hard to describe it as less than absolutely terrible fishing, more in tune with the past couple of very poor years than the sort of result that we were all accustomed to and would have expected several years ago...
And of course, just to rub it in, this morning (Sunday) has dawned clear and calm after the previous two days blowing out at double the forecast wind, and the forecast for the next two days looks great now.
Of course, these last couple of years of poor fishing may be at least partially related to the steady decline in the membership of both the Coffs Harbour based clubs, and that has in turn inspired some radical thinking as far as the future of big game fishing on the north coast of NSW is concerned. As a result, the Coffs Harbour Game Fishing Club and the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club have been talking merger, which may make sense. The SIGFC is having a Special General Meeting to discuss just this matter on the 28th of February. Prior to that meeting, the club committee will be holding information and Q&A nights in order to ensure that members attending the GM will be fully informed on the pros and cons of any subsequent merger before they have to vote on it.
This is a proposal that needs careful thought, and I'd encourage all financial members of the Solitary Islands club to attend one of these meetings (at 6:00pm at the Yacht Club on either the 17th or 21st of February) so that they're in possession of all the facts before voting on a decision which will definitely affect their future in game fishing. This is not a simple decision that is being voted on, and club members need to have decided whether the result will be better or worse for them individually, and for the Coffs Coast game fishing community at large long before they walk into the Special General Meeting.
Meanwhile, here are a few images from the weekend, the most impressive of which is Rachel Cox' blue marlin - nice work team Hoo Kares! There are more photos coming from the Ballina crew, so readers will have to excuse me for filling it up in the meantime with inconsequential screen shots of two black marlin jumping off John Stafford's rod on Foreign Exchange last Friday - it only shows how sparse the good news is, which for February, is nothing short of ridiculous!
On Friday, Hemingway went to the edge of the shelf and fished north looking for action. Skipper Marcus Blackwell found thousands of flying fish busting up with birds and dolphins all active, although there wasn't a thing showing on the sounder - it was all surface activity, but that should have meant a marlin bonanza. However, despite hours of dropping live baits and dragging lures around all this, they never saw a marlin.
At the same time, Foreign Exchange was working in shallower water along Marlin Alley east of South Solitary Island. Again, we saw plenty of flying fish, but once again there was no bait on the sounder, and instead of having black marlin leaping in the boat as you'd expect at this time of year, it was almost as dead.... gorgeous, but no meaningful February action.
It wasn't helped by a localised sea breeze that blew 15-20 knots most of the day in close, despite it glassing off out where Hemingway was just to the northeast - go figure that one out. Where the wind was blowing strong, the lures were all over the place in the slop, so it wasn't surprising that the two black marlin we raised had trouble getting the lures in their mouths and never hooked up properly, despite both pulling a bit of string before jumping off.
But.. it gets worse. The next day was a club competition day for both Coffs-based clubs, and between the two groups, there were 17 boats out working the shelf looking for marlin - one of the best turnouts for months. Again, there were plenty of flying fish around, but again, the sea breeze blew up much stronger than forecast in close, and made the conditions very difficult for working lures, leaving most boats trying to drop live baits down the where the marlin were avoiding the choppy surface conditions.
This worked for Seaborn, who tagged a nice black marlin after just 10 minutes connected via 15kg line. It seemed there were more sharks out there than marlin though, with several boats losing livies (and terminal tackle) to sharks, where once again, it should have been crawling with marlin.
Alcatraz was trying to find some action in close at one stage, and they all watched in surprise as a big pack of whaler sharks cruised through the area - naturally grabbing all their live baits and busting their tackle. Ditto Back N Blue, which had a hammerhead grab both their live baits, chopping off the terminal tackle in the process. And Foreign Exchange drove over a decent sized hammer cruising around where there would normally have been marlin. Who said sharks were endangered...???
Fortunately, later in the day, Hoo Kares fishing down off SWR latched onto a blue marlin which Rachel Terrasson (the Solitary Islands GFC's leading female angler now...) dealt nicely with despite the rough conditions out there.
There wasn't much else going on, although Sneaky Pete did get a 15+kg spanish mackerel into the boat, and there was a small wahoo and YFT tagged as well, and several fish were dropped.
Another couple of blues were raised by the Ballina contingent, with Andrew McLennan tagging a 100kg model after dropping an earlier one.
What does the fact that 17 game boats working the shelf on the Coffs Coast at prime time in February but only tagging two marlin between them mean...? For that amount of effort, crew involvement, diesel expended, lure hours in the water... etc...etc, you could correctly claim that the entire fleet result for that day would normally be what just one boat would rack up on a good February day on its own. It's hard to describe it as less than absolutely terrible fishing, more in tune with the past couple of very poor years than the sort of result that we were all accustomed to and would have expected several years ago...
And of course, just to rub it in, this morning (Sunday) has dawned clear and calm after the previous two days blowing out at double the forecast wind, and the forecast for the next two days looks great now.
Of course, these last couple of years of poor fishing may be at least partially related to the steady decline in the membership of both the Coffs Harbour based clubs, and that has in turn inspired some radical thinking as far as the future of big game fishing on the north coast of NSW is concerned. As a result, the Coffs Harbour Game Fishing Club and the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club have been talking merger, which may make sense. The SIGFC is having a Special General Meeting to discuss just this matter on the 28th of February. Prior to that meeting, the club committee will be holding information and Q&A nights in order to ensure that members attending the GM will be fully informed on the pros and cons of any subsequent merger before they have to vote on it.
This is a proposal that needs careful thought, and I'd encourage all financial members of the Solitary Islands club to attend one of these meetings (at 6:00pm at the Yacht Club on either the 17th or 21st of February) so that they're in possession of all the facts before voting on a decision which will definitely affect their future in game fishing. This is not a simple decision that is being voted on, and club members need to have decided whether the result will be better or worse for them individually, and for the Coffs Coast game fishing community at large long before they walk into the Special General Meeting.
Meanwhile, here are a few images from the weekend, the most impressive of which is Rachel Cox' blue marlin - nice work team Hoo Kares! There are more photos coming from the Ballina crew, so readers will have to excuse me for filling it up in the meantime with inconsequential screen shots of two black marlin jumping off John Stafford's rod on Foreign Exchange last Friday - it only shows how sparse the good news is, which for February, is nothing short of ridiculous!
Thursday, 8th February
It's late Summer... and the game fishing potential is as good as it's been this season on the Solitary Islands coastline.
The forecast for the next few days is excellent, the current is flowing down the edge of the continental shelf bringing water from both tropical Queensland and the middle of the Coral Sea as you can see in the screen shot from the latest FishTrack SST chart on the left, and this weekend is a local club competition day.
On a diversionary note, how many boat owners have had a load of contaminated fuel in their tanks...?? One of your worst nightmares right...??
After getting a shot of water in Foreign Exchange's diesel tank recently, most of the past week has been spent pulling the fuel delivery system apart, draining the tank multiple times, and looking at a lot of nasty water and toxic bacteria in the drain results. Every evening meant not being allowed in the house by my wife until my clothes had all been put through the heavy duty cycle in the washer and I'd scrubbed myself raw under the outdoor shower to get rid on the stink.
After yet another day in the bilges covered in diesel and skinning knuckles yesterday, what we hope was the last of the water was removed. Ordering special tools, multiple filter changes, treating the tank with litres of Fuel Doctor (priced about the same as liquid gold) ... the list goes on.
Many thanks to Ben Thwaites from Thwaites Marine for his help and advice.
And so, back to the fun side of boat ownership...
With a little under 6 weeks to go to the local Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament and all three types of marlin being caught regularly off the Solitary Islands, the outlook for this popular and innovative game fishing weekend is as good as it's ever been. The tournament is a relatively low cost blue marlin oriented two-day competition that historically has drawn boats and anglers from up and down the east coast, and is one of those must-do events that you won't want to miss. The tournament has a few different and extremely user-friendly rules, and is a unique teams event that has proven to be extremely popular with competitors
Entry forms should be available any day on the Solitary Islands GFC website.
Finally, a great photo of Pip Marshall with her first ever marlin, a 273cm (short) blue, the story of which can be found below in the last Logbook entry. Look for a short article on this super effort in the next edition of BlueWater.
The forecast for the next few days is excellent, the current is flowing down the edge of the continental shelf bringing water from both tropical Queensland and the middle of the Coral Sea as you can see in the screen shot from the latest FishTrack SST chart on the left, and this weekend is a local club competition day.
On a diversionary note, how many boat owners have had a load of contaminated fuel in their tanks...?? One of your worst nightmares right...??
After getting a shot of water in Foreign Exchange's diesel tank recently, most of the past week has been spent pulling the fuel delivery system apart, draining the tank multiple times, and looking at a lot of nasty water and toxic bacteria in the drain results. Every evening meant not being allowed in the house by my wife until my clothes had all been put through the heavy duty cycle in the washer and I'd scrubbed myself raw under the outdoor shower to get rid on the stink.
After yet another day in the bilges covered in diesel and skinning knuckles yesterday, what we hope was the last of the water was removed. Ordering special tools, multiple filter changes, treating the tank with litres of Fuel Doctor (priced about the same as liquid gold) ... the list goes on.
Many thanks to Ben Thwaites from Thwaites Marine for his help and advice.
And so, back to the fun side of boat ownership...
With a little under 6 weeks to go to the local Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament and all three types of marlin being caught regularly off the Solitary Islands, the outlook for this popular and innovative game fishing weekend is as good as it's ever been. The tournament is a relatively low cost blue marlin oriented two-day competition that historically has drawn boats and anglers from up and down the east coast, and is one of those must-do events that you won't want to miss. The tournament has a few different and extremely user-friendly rules, and is a unique teams event that has proven to be extremely popular with competitors
Entry forms should be available any day on the Solitary Islands GFC website.
Finally, a great photo of Pip Marshall with her first ever marlin, a 273cm (short) blue, the story of which can be found below in the last Logbook entry. Look for a short article on this super effort in the next edition of BlueWater.
Weekend 27th and 28th January
Have you ever had a day out on the water where everybody out there is talking about how the fishing was just like it was "in the good old days"...?
Well, off the Solitary Islands this Australia Day weekend past, that's just what happened.
Saturday was a competition day for the Solitary Islands GFC, and in addition to the usual suspects, there were several other game boats out trying their luck on a day where the optimistic forecast actually happened, and we had glamour conditions all day, with a hot bite to match.
James McGinty's Alcatraz with first time game fishermen Brent and Wayne Hogarth on the deck found juvenile black marlin biting straight out the front of Coffs Harbour along the "Marlin Alley" stretch, tagging one soon after fishing started.
This was just the start... Clayton Livingston drove Seaborn right into a patch of water in the same area that had bait balls the likes of which haven't been seen around here for years - bait being hammered from below by sharks and dolphins, with marlin cruising the periphery. The bait was thick, hiding under the nearest boat in an attempt to escape the carnage.
A couple of live bait bridled onto circle hooks was all it took to get regular hookups of hammerheads, whalers, and striped and black marlin! This continued most of the day for Alcatraz and Seaborn, and the most telling comment on the radio as this hot bite kept up was "...just like the good old days".
This is a bit of a telling comment on the state of the fishing here the last few years, with these big bait balls seen less and less, and the bite being less predictable thanks to uncharacteristic flow breakdowns in the East Australian Current and a disappointing cycle of unseasonally strong summer southerlies and northerlies.
...And I won't talk about the effects of the wall of death 100 miles out in the ocean.
All this was forgotten on Saturday though, when the game fishing really was just like everybody who's been fishing the Coffs Coast for any length of time could recall... days like this week after week.
While all this was going on, Bill Reider's She's a Dream dropped four marlin in succession to earn the hard luck prize for the day.
Foreign Exchange was a bit further north of the bait ball action, so when a (very big) dorsal fin charged up behind the long rigger then switched to crash tackle mode on the shotgun, the fact that this occurred in just 50 fathoms meant my brain immediately assigned the dorsal to the only possible answer... a large striped marlin, right...?
Wrong... !! Never make assumptions like that until you've had a good look at the fish. It was big, and it was as tough as nails, giving first time marlin angler Pip Marshall (the largest thing she'd ever caught prior to this was toadfish) a serious workout on her 24 kg rig for 1 hour and 50 minutes. It jumped a few times, but its dorsal was always folded back, and it was never side on, so my brain just kept saying striped marlin... helluva big striped marlin!
After having the leader at the boat several times only to have the fish power away - which should have been a clue - we finally got it tagged and belatedly realised it was a blue marlin... of course! The fish measured 273cm short, which put it around the 200kg mark. The idea had originally been to give Pip a gentle introduction to marlin fishing by finding her a juvenile black, but of course Murphy's Law got in the way of that, and she ended up instead with what may well be the largest blue she'll ever catch. That's game fishing...
And Pip wasn't the only female angler in the fray, with Rachel Cox tagging a nice whaler shark on Matt Munro's Hoo Kares.
Other boats in the middle of the action had similar stories of hookups and misses, but the final tally had Seaborn tagging one striped marlin, two black marlin, and one hammerhead shark as best of the day. Alcatraz came a close second in the lineup, tagging two black marlin and one hammerhead shark. There had to double that number of hookups, and there were definitely more fish lost and jumped off than the fleet managed to tag, but that always leaves plenty of stories for the Marlin Bar.
Hell of a day... and yep, just like the old days!
The fish were there the next day too, although the bait balls weren't - Foreign Exchange slipped out for a quick morning fish on Sunday and went 3/2/1 on juvenile Blacks.
Just a few of the photos from the weekend below - more will be added when other boats send their pics...
Well, off the Solitary Islands this Australia Day weekend past, that's just what happened.
Saturday was a competition day for the Solitary Islands GFC, and in addition to the usual suspects, there were several other game boats out trying their luck on a day where the optimistic forecast actually happened, and we had glamour conditions all day, with a hot bite to match.
James McGinty's Alcatraz with first time game fishermen Brent and Wayne Hogarth on the deck found juvenile black marlin biting straight out the front of Coffs Harbour along the "Marlin Alley" stretch, tagging one soon after fishing started.
This was just the start... Clayton Livingston drove Seaborn right into a patch of water in the same area that had bait balls the likes of which haven't been seen around here for years - bait being hammered from below by sharks and dolphins, with marlin cruising the periphery. The bait was thick, hiding under the nearest boat in an attempt to escape the carnage.
A couple of live bait bridled onto circle hooks was all it took to get regular hookups of hammerheads, whalers, and striped and black marlin! This continued most of the day for Alcatraz and Seaborn, and the most telling comment on the radio as this hot bite kept up was "...just like the good old days".
This is a bit of a telling comment on the state of the fishing here the last few years, with these big bait balls seen less and less, and the bite being less predictable thanks to uncharacteristic flow breakdowns in the East Australian Current and a disappointing cycle of unseasonally strong summer southerlies and northerlies.
...And I won't talk about the effects of the wall of death 100 miles out in the ocean.
All this was forgotten on Saturday though, when the game fishing really was just like everybody who's been fishing the Coffs Coast for any length of time could recall... days like this week after week.
While all this was going on, Bill Reider's She's a Dream dropped four marlin in succession to earn the hard luck prize for the day.
Foreign Exchange was a bit further north of the bait ball action, so when a (very big) dorsal fin charged up behind the long rigger then switched to crash tackle mode on the shotgun, the fact that this occurred in just 50 fathoms meant my brain immediately assigned the dorsal to the only possible answer... a large striped marlin, right...?
Wrong... !! Never make assumptions like that until you've had a good look at the fish. It was big, and it was as tough as nails, giving first time marlin angler Pip Marshall (the largest thing she'd ever caught prior to this was toadfish) a serious workout on her 24 kg rig for 1 hour and 50 minutes. It jumped a few times, but its dorsal was always folded back, and it was never side on, so my brain just kept saying striped marlin... helluva big striped marlin!
After having the leader at the boat several times only to have the fish power away - which should have been a clue - we finally got it tagged and belatedly realised it was a blue marlin... of course! The fish measured 273cm short, which put it around the 200kg mark. The idea had originally been to give Pip a gentle introduction to marlin fishing by finding her a juvenile black, but of course Murphy's Law got in the way of that, and she ended up instead with what may well be the largest blue she'll ever catch. That's game fishing...
And Pip wasn't the only female angler in the fray, with Rachel Cox tagging a nice whaler shark on Matt Munro's Hoo Kares.
Other boats in the middle of the action had similar stories of hookups and misses, but the final tally had Seaborn tagging one striped marlin, two black marlin, and one hammerhead shark as best of the day. Alcatraz came a close second in the lineup, tagging two black marlin and one hammerhead shark. There had to double that number of hookups, and there were definitely more fish lost and jumped off than the fleet managed to tag, but that always leaves plenty of stories for the Marlin Bar.
Hell of a day... and yep, just like the old days!
The fish were there the next day too, although the bait balls weren't - Foreign Exchange slipped out for a quick morning fish on Sunday and went 3/2/1 on juvenile Blacks.
Just a few of the photos from the weekend below - more will be added when other boats send their pics...
Thursday, 25th January
Things have been looking up the last couple of days, with a steady flow of reports of juvenile black marlin being tagged on the Coffs Coast.
Better than Vegas tagged one on Wednesday, and Black N Blue tagged a couple this morning, and were then back at the marina shortly after midday - a great morning's fishing in any scenario.
All boats this week have also been coming back with some good by-catch for dinner, with a really hot mahimahi bite.
Sultan Linjawi is taking his boat Matador down to Port Macquarie today for slipping, and is fishing on the way. By midday, they'd tagged a 120kg blue marlin and jumped off another, and with some current flow starting to spin up along the shelf, this could signal the resumption of more typical January game fishing for a while... if only the wind will give us a break.
The black marlin have been biting solidly on lures for a few days now, and this could be the pattern for a while, with live-baiting not as successful as would often be the case with the little blacks on other parts of the NSW coast.
This despite the afternoon sea "breezes" exceeding the forecast maximum strength by at least 10 knots every day and making conditions out there beyond midday more or less unfishable, and extremely uncomfortable. One of these days, they'll get it right...
The outlook for the competition weekend ahead isn't wonderful, with the wind tending southeasterly by Sunday and blowing from that direction for the next week on the long range forecasts.
Better than Vegas tagged one on Wednesday, and Black N Blue tagged a couple this morning, and were then back at the marina shortly after midday - a great morning's fishing in any scenario.
All boats this week have also been coming back with some good by-catch for dinner, with a really hot mahimahi bite.
Sultan Linjawi is taking his boat Matador down to Port Macquarie today for slipping, and is fishing on the way. By midday, they'd tagged a 120kg blue marlin and jumped off another, and with some current flow starting to spin up along the shelf, this could signal the resumption of more typical January game fishing for a while... if only the wind will give us a break.
The black marlin have been biting solidly on lures for a few days now, and this could be the pattern for a while, with live-baiting not as successful as would often be the case with the little blacks on other parts of the NSW coast.
This despite the afternoon sea "breezes" exceeding the forecast maximum strength by at least 10 knots every day and making conditions out there beyond midday more or less unfishable, and extremely uncomfortable. One of these days, they'll get it right...
The outlook for the competition weekend ahead isn't wonderful, with the wind tending southeasterly by Sunday and blowing from that direction for the next week on the long range forecasts.
Tuesday, 23rd January
The forecasts weren't too bad for Sunday and Monday, so we decided to fish both days.
Sunday turned into a glamour day, and conditions were good out on the top edge of the shelf, with birds working, a lot of flying fish action, and good midwater bait. There turned out to be a good morning bite, absolutely no action at the midday high tide, and then a late afternoon bite. There's still no current flowing, and despite pretty good quality water and 26.5 ocean temps, the total lack of blue marlin in the mix wasn't too surprising.
Foreign Exchange benefitted from the morning bite tagging a very fat striped marlin, and as a reward for perseverance, Glen Booth's Wicked Weasel picked up a latecomer striped marlin around 1600.
Foreign Exchange had already put a 10kg mahimahi on ice shortly after we started fishing, and soon after had one early hit from a stripe that spat the hook after pulling off a couple of hundred metres of string.
But the second marlin hooked up more solidly, and after giving angler John Stafford a surprisingly hard time on 24kg gear for 50 minutes, we got it tagged and released in good shape - probably about a 100kg fish. As it swam away, John suggested retiring to the Marlin Bar for coffee, which as it turned out, would have been very smart, because we never saw anything else all day.
Not so Wicked Weasel ,who found a still-hungry 80kg striped marlin late in the afternoon, giving angler Liam Williams a nice reward for sitting out a long day. The Weasel had spent most of the morning rounding up a winter's supply of snapper bait in the form of striped tuna, but as noted above, the blues that would normally be charging around eating these simply weren't to be seen.
On Monday, the forecast was looking for good conditions in the morning, with a strong sea breeze forecast in the afternoon. In the end, the sea breeze started early, and blew harder than the forecast, making life fairly miserable out on the edge of the shelf. Foreign Exchange and Black N Blue went out to find things quite a bit different from the previous day, with poor water quality, a complete lack of the flying fish that had been there in good numbers the day before, and no morning marlin bite.
Around midday, John Stafford got to play briefly with a striped marlin that took about 300m of string and gave a very good impression of being solidly hooked before doing the windscreen wiper routine and throwing the hook... 1/1/0. An hour later, what (from a half second glimpse) looked like a black marlin grabbed this week's popular lure (a pink Jennings Gamefish jethead) and pulled it off the rigger for a couple of seconds before disappearing. A second pass over there same spot brought a (the same...?) black marlin up again which took a big swipe at the lure, missed completely, and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Black N Blue went inshore to get away from the really rough wind chop, and briefly hooked a black marlin before retiring.
Finding it too rough outside, Foreign Exchange followed BnB inshore and snagged dinner in the form of a 14kg Wahoo in the only decent patch of blue water we'd seen all day.
Continuing inshore to South Solitary Island, we found a smoother patch of water out of which a nice juvenile black marlin charged the pink lure again and hooked up solid - so solid it turned out, that the hook had swung around and impaled the fish right between the eyes and into its skull. This was Sam French's first day back after shoulder reconstruction surgery last winter, but he showed he still had the edge that all good game fishermen have by doing a very slick job with the fish that had stripped off the entire 300m of 24kg topshot leaving Sam looking at a spool full of dacron after it's first run. We got it all back in 20 minutes however, and the fish swam away quite happily despite probably having the migraine of the century.
At the time of writing at midday on Tuesday, Black N Blue and Better than Vegas are out chancing their luck again in blustery conditions. The black marlin are clearly here in decent numbers now, but today they're all suffering from that all-too-common "teflon mouth syndrome". Both boats have raised and seemingly hooked blacks on both live bait and lures, but all the fish have jumped off before getting to the boat. Rob Lang reckoned that by late morning, BnB was about 0-10 and had gone back to trolling lures hoping that something would stick. Very frustrating... but that's game fishing, and where the juvenile blacks are concerned, you never seem to be able to predict what they're going to do from one day to the next.
Sunday turned into a glamour day, and conditions were good out on the top edge of the shelf, with birds working, a lot of flying fish action, and good midwater bait. There turned out to be a good morning bite, absolutely no action at the midday high tide, and then a late afternoon bite. There's still no current flowing, and despite pretty good quality water and 26.5 ocean temps, the total lack of blue marlin in the mix wasn't too surprising.
Foreign Exchange benefitted from the morning bite tagging a very fat striped marlin, and as a reward for perseverance, Glen Booth's Wicked Weasel picked up a latecomer striped marlin around 1600.
Foreign Exchange had already put a 10kg mahimahi on ice shortly after we started fishing, and soon after had one early hit from a stripe that spat the hook after pulling off a couple of hundred metres of string.
But the second marlin hooked up more solidly, and after giving angler John Stafford a surprisingly hard time on 24kg gear for 50 minutes, we got it tagged and released in good shape - probably about a 100kg fish. As it swam away, John suggested retiring to the Marlin Bar for coffee, which as it turned out, would have been very smart, because we never saw anything else all day.
Not so Wicked Weasel ,who found a still-hungry 80kg striped marlin late in the afternoon, giving angler Liam Williams a nice reward for sitting out a long day. The Weasel had spent most of the morning rounding up a winter's supply of snapper bait in the form of striped tuna, but as noted above, the blues that would normally be charging around eating these simply weren't to be seen.
On Monday, the forecast was looking for good conditions in the morning, with a strong sea breeze forecast in the afternoon. In the end, the sea breeze started early, and blew harder than the forecast, making life fairly miserable out on the edge of the shelf. Foreign Exchange and Black N Blue went out to find things quite a bit different from the previous day, with poor water quality, a complete lack of the flying fish that had been there in good numbers the day before, and no morning marlin bite.
Around midday, John Stafford got to play briefly with a striped marlin that took about 300m of string and gave a very good impression of being solidly hooked before doing the windscreen wiper routine and throwing the hook... 1/1/0. An hour later, what (from a half second glimpse) looked like a black marlin grabbed this week's popular lure (a pink Jennings Gamefish jethead) and pulled it off the rigger for a couple of seconds before disappearing. A second pass over there same spot brought a (the same...?) black marlin up again which took a big swipe at the lure, missed completely, and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Black N Blue went inshore to get away from the really rough wind chop, and briefly hooked a black marlin before retiring.
Finding it too rough outside, Foreign Exchange followed BnB inshore and snagged dinner in the form of a 14kg Wahoo in the only decent patch of blue water we'd seen all day.
Continuing inshore to South Solitary Island, we found a smoother patch of water out of which a nice juvenile black marlin charged the pink lure again and hooked up solid - so solid it turned out, that the hook had swung around and impaled the fish right between the eyes and into its skull. This was Sam French's first day back after shoulder reconstruction surgery last winter, but he showed he still had the edge that all good game fishermen have by doing a very slick job with the fish that had stripped off the entire 300m of 24kg topshot leaving Sam looking at a spool full of dacron after it's first run. We got it all back in 20 minutes however, and the fish swam away quite happily despite probably having the migraine of the century.
At the time of writing at midday on Tuesday, Black N Blue and Better than Vegas are out chancing their luck again in blustery conditions. The black marlin are clearly here in decent numbers now, but today they're all suffering from that all-too-common "teflon mouth syndrome". Both boats have raised and seemingly hooked blacks on both live bait and lures, but all the fish have jumped off before getting to the boat. Rob Lang reckoned that by late morning, BnB was about 0-10 and had gone back to trolling lures hoping that something would stick. Very frustrating... but that's game fishing, and where the juvenile blacks are concerned, you never seem to be able to predict what they're going to do from one day to the next.
Saturday, 20th January
After a week of atrocious southerly winds shut down all fishing on the Coffs Coast, today dawned a lot better, and 9 boats took to the water, 7 from the Coffs Harbour club fishing their monthly competition, plus two others.
However, the pickings were slim, not helped by some leftover southeasterly slop and a lack of good current flow, with no reports of marlin even being seen by any of the club boats by mid afternoon.
But... after finding some marlin hanging around a patch of dollies yesterday, the Better then Vegas crew knew exactly where to look today, and came up with the very pretty 80kg striped marlin shown on the left, caught by angler Flin Young on a 24kg rig. A little before that, skipper Pete English also found Flin a good wahoo, so all the signs of being decent marlin water were there, and well done Vegas and Flin for a great result.
Tomorrow's forecast is a little friendlier than today, and Monday has a more "normal" nor'easter sea breeze in the frame, so Foreign Exchange is planning a run, and there will no doubt be a few others out there as well tomorrow.
However, the pickings were slim, not helped by some leftover southeasterly slop and a lack of good current flow, with no reports of marlin even being seen by any of the club boats by mid afternoon.
But... after finding some marlin hanging around a patch of dollies yesterday, the Better then Vegas crew knew exactly where to look today, and came up with the very pretty 80kg striped marlin shown on the left, caught by angler Flin Young on a 24kg rig. A little before that, skipper Pete English also found Flin a good wahoo, so all the signs of being decent marlin water were there, and well done Vegas and Flin for a great result.
Tomorrow's forecast is a little friendlier than today, and Monday has a more "normal" nor'easter sea breeze in the frame, so Foreign Exchange is planning a run, and there will no doubt be a few others out there as well tomorrow.
Monday, 15th January
The northern NSW coast is still experiencing some atrocious weather that won't allow game fishing for most of this coming week. A southerly gusting up to 40 knots blew through yesterday, and now we have steady winds of 20+ knots forecast until Thursday, with an accompanying southerly swell forecast to reach 5 metres on Tuesday.
The silver lining may be a reinvigorated EAC that might finally bring a hot bite down the coast by the weekend... maybe.
The short video clip below is some drone footage taken of Marc Sams' game boat fishing off Ballina recently. Drone footage (both video and stills) is making an incredible difference when edited into game fishing videos, but of course, in addition to being very expensive toys, these drones are no easy thing to take off and land back on a game boat with outrigger poles, rods, and all kinds of obstacles cluttering up the space that a drone needs to launch and record from/to. And then of course, in these days of ever-reducing crew numbers on most game boats, who can spare anyone to drive the drone around, especially when the action's hot and heavy...? A dilemma, but videos like this show just show how a short piece of drone footage gives a totally different perspective - imagine what it would look like as a big marlin crash tackles a lure right in front of the drone!
The silver lining may be a reinvigorated EAC that might finally bring a hot bite down the coast by the weekend... maybe.
The short video clip below is some drone footage taken of Marc Sams' game boat fishing off Ballina recently. Drone footage (both video and stills) is making an incredible difference when edited into game fishing videos, but of course, in addition to being very expensive toys, these drones are no easy thing to take off and land back on a game boat with outrigger poles, rods, and all kinds of obstacles cluttering up the space that a drone needs to launch and record from/to. And then of course, in these days of ever-reducing crew numbers on most game boats, who can spare anyone to drive the drone around, especially when the action's hot and heavy...? A dilemma, but videos like this show just show how a short piece of drone footage gives a totally different perspective - imagine what it would look like as a big marlin crash tackles a lure right in front of the drone!
Saturday, 13th January
After originally telling us for a week or more that today was going to be blown out and generally too blustery to fish on the Coffs Coast, a couple of the forecast models had some sort of late miraculous epiphany at about the same time today dawned relatively calm, and suddenly forecast a pretty good day. SeaBreeze gutted it out and kept predicting 20 knots out of the north all day despite no sign of a whitecap anywhere to the horizon since midday. Thanks for nothing guys... even 24 hours' notice might have enabled many of us to put a crew together and take advantage of what looks to be some promising water conditions out there.
Speaking of promising water conditions, just take a look at the water in the photo sent today by Aaron Jennings - that's if you can drag your eyes away from the Yellowfin he has draped over his knees!
The fish slammed one of his Coffs Special Vuaki Flyer lures, and after the usual tough as nails 2-hour YFT fight on just 15kg line, ended up back on the dock where it weighed in at 70kg gutted and gilled...! Damned nice fish on light tackle... just look at those huge sickles!
The only thing wrong with this picture is that Aaron - and all the big YFT apparently - are in Fiji. I haven't seen one this big off Coffs for a couple of years now... of course there are some being unloaded by the longliners most weeks in Coffs Harbour, but there just haven't been any making it through the wall of death and reaching the edge of our strip of the continental shelf for a long time. And until someone can convince the government to ban longlining within Australia's EEZ, the odds of catching tuna like this on this part of the coast at least, are decreasing with every season that passes.
Speaking of promising water conditions, just take a look at the water in the photo sent today by Aaron Jennings - that's if you can drag your eyes away from the Yellowfin he has draped over his knees!
The fish slammed one of his Coffs Special Vuaki Flyer lures, and after the usual tough as nails 2-hour YFT fight on just 15kg line, ended up back on the dock where it weighed in at 70kg gutted and gilled...! Damned nice fish on light tackle... just look at those huge sickles!
The only thing wrong with this picture is that Aaron - and all the big YFT apparently - are in Fiji. I haven't seen one this big off Coffs for a couple of years now... of course there are some being unloaded by the longliners most weeks in Coffs Harbour, but there just haven't been any making it through the wall of death and reaching the edge of our strip of the continental shelf for a long time. And until someone can convince the government to ban longlining within Australia's EEZ, the odds of catching tuna like this on this part of the coast at least, are decreasing with every season that passes.
Monday, 8th January
Quite a good weekend of fishing just passed on the northern NSW coast, not helped off Coffs by a strong northerly that blew the bite away on Saturday, but great off Yamba where the breeze stayed near calm as you can see in the video below.
This is a short video of a big blue marlin that materialises out of nowhere and tries to eat the teaser just behind Scott Klinger's Ghetto before it switches over to a rigger lure. Scott's crew were all newbies, and so this game fishing stuff was a first for them, which possibly explains the surprised voice asking "What was that..??!" after the blue smashes the teaser the first time... the ensuing mayhem is also understandable given the green crew, but they'll get better given a few more outings. As you can see, this blue jumped off after a minute or so, as did the next one they hooked, but they finally tagged one later in the day.
This is a short video of a big blue marlin that materialises out of nowhere and tries to eat the teaser just behind Scott Klinger's Ghetto before it switches over to a rigger lure. Scott's crew were all newbies, and so this game fishing stuff was a first for them, which possibly explains the surprised voice asking "What was that..??!" after the blue smashes the teaser the first time... the ensuing mayhem is also understandable given the green crew, but they'll get better given a few more outings. As you can see, this blue jumped off after a minute or so, as did the next one they hooked, but they finally tagged one later in the day.
And for something completely different ... Foreign Exchange's juvenile black marlin last Friday...
Sunday, 7th January
Yesterday sadly typified the difficult weather that can so often make fishing the water off Coffs Harbour such a challenge. It blew 25 knots and was rough as hell all afternoon, killing most of what could have been a good bite after the midday high tide.
Frustratingly, just 60 nautical miles to the north off Yamba, it was dead calm all day, and with identical water, the bite was hot. Scott Klinger and his crew on Ghetto had a great day, which started when they decided to stop for a quick deep drop on the way out to the marlin grounds and came up with a big bass groper for their trouble before their day had even started - that's Mitch Watters holding the groper, which as you can see, was no lightweight.
Next up they put the marlin gear out and went 3/3/1 on blues, and I'll have some excellent video of the blues' antics to post in a few days. The blue that they did tag shown in the photo being held by angler Darren Cooke measured 230 short, which puts it around 110kg. There were a few dollies in the mix, and on variety alone, that made Scott and his crew the best performers for the Solitary Island GFC's competition day.
There were 8 boats fishing the comp day all up, which wasn't a bad number, but as mentioned, the conditions off Coffs were very poor. Before the wind really blew up hard, Cameron Sweeting tagged a black marlin from his boat Sweet One II, and out on the edge of the shelf, Glen Booth's Wicked Weasel did the same.
The Weasel also dropped a blue marlin which ran hard and almost spooled them before spitting the hook.
She's a Dream had a couple of hits that didn't work out, so sadly, they didn't get a chance to avenge the mayhem that had spoiled their fun the day before.
But once the wind blew up it was hard going and not the slightest bit enjoyable, so most of the boats quit early and slipped back into the harbour, while the handful that remained saw nothing to justify having gutted it out to the end in that rubbish.
Frustratingly, just 60 nautical miles to the north off Yamba, it was dead calm all day, and with identical water, the bite was hot. Scott Klinger and his crew on Ghetto had a great day, which started when they decided to stop for a quick deep drop on the way out to the marlin grounds and came up with a big bass groper for their trouble before their day had even started - that's Mitch Watters holding the groper, which as you can see, was no lightweight.
Next up they put the marlin gear out and went 3/3/1 on blues, and I'll have some excellent video of the blues' antics to post in a few days. The blue that they did tag shown in the photo being held by angler Darren Cooke measured 230 short, which puts it around 110kg. There were a few dollies in the mix, and on variety alone, that made Scott and his crew the best performers for the Solitary Island GFC's competition day.
There were 8 boats fishing the comp day all up, which wasn't a bad number, but as mentioned, the conditions off Coffs were very poor. Before the wind really blew up hard, Cameron Sweeting tagged a black marlin from his boat Sweet One II, and out on the edge of the shelf, Glen Booth's Wicked Weasel did the same.
The Weasel also dropped a blue marlin which ran hard and almost spooled them before spitting the hook.
She's a Dream had a couple of hits that didn't work out, so sadly, they didn't get a chance to avenge the mayhem that had spoiled their fun the day before.
But once the wind blew up it was hard going and not the slightest bit enjoyable, so most of the boats quit early and slipped back into the harbour, while the handful that remained saw nothing to justify having gutted it out to the end in that rubbish.
Friday, 5 January
The best forecast for any day of the week brought the hard core players out today, and the results were encouraging, although in the case of Bill Reider's She's a Dream, quite disastrous... more on that later.
The Coffs Coast Sportfishing team got a later than usual start, but found the action out on the top edge of the shelf soon enough, raising a brute of a striped marlin that finally took a pitch bait after smacking the short rigger half a dozen times without hooking up. The fish gave them a lot of curry for the better part of an hour before agreeing to be tagged. Rob Lang put the fish at 100kg - big for a stripe - and as tough as nails.
After the stripe, Black N Blue tagged a nice black marlin in the same area - that's the fish jumping nicely in the photos below.
Having got ⅔ of a slam, Rob wasn't keen to go deep and look for the blue marlin that probably weren't there given the absence of current, and despite raising another fish a little later, that was it for them.
Alcatraz finally tagged a black marlin down off Crescent Head after transitting most of the way to Port Macquarie without seeing a thing.
Meanwhile, one of the local boats, 666, was flat out raising 5 juvenile blacks in close without hooking up a single one - bad luck.
But... not as bad a She's a Dream, which lost one black marlin after it went mental, crossed over and cut a line, taking off with an expensive lure. But... this wasn't the end of Bill Reider's lousy (and expensive) day...
A while later, he hooked up on another black marlin, and everything was going well until the fish was within a few feet of the tag pole, when an explosion of teeth burst out of the water under one of the outriggers, grabbed the large teaser lure that Bill had rigged off the middle rigger guide, and took the teaser and half of the outrigger pole with it. The rigger went off like a shotgun as it snapped, the black marlin decided to leave the scene with some alacrity, and the whole lot left them with two lost lures, two lost black marlin, one lost teaser lure, and a busted rigger pole... when you have a bad day, it comes in spades!
Meanwhile, Foreign Exchange was droning around in marlin alley and everywhere else that seemed like a good idea but without seeing a single marlin. We did have a mystery caller at one stage, but never saw it, and we jumped off a smallish dollie up near the FAD.
Things were looking pretty dismal until late afternoon when we drove over an area of promising bait activity, and sure enough, up came a black marlin, grabbing a lure and pulling about 20m of string before departing.
About 15 minutes later, another black came and made a pass at the same Jennings Flying Fish lure before also disappearing, but when we doubled back and drove over the same spot, up he came again, smashing the shotgun ("Excaliber"... but that's another story), hooking up nicely with no histrionics, and giving John Stafford a bit of curry for 25 minutes before coming in to be tagged.
So.,.. every boat out there saw marlin, which is the good news... the bad news is that when we see She's a Dream out there tomorrow, she'll be a bit lop-sided!
The Coffs Coast Sportfishing team got a later than usual start, but found the action out on the top edge of the shelf soon enough, raising a brute of a striped marlin that finally took a pitch bait after smacking the short rigger half a dozen times without hooking up. The fish gave them a lot of curry for the better part of an hour before agreeing to be tagged. Rob Lang put the fish at 100kg - big for a stripe - and as tough as nails.
After the stripe, Black N Blue tagged a nice black marlin in the same area - that's the fish jumping nicely in the photos below.
Having got ⅔ of a slam, Rob wasn't keen to go deep and look for the blue marlin that probably weren't there given the absence of current, and despite raising another fish a little later, that was it for them.
Alcatraz finally tagged a black marlin down off Crescent Head after transitting most of the way to Port Macquarie without seeing a thing.
Meanwhile, one of the local boats, 666, was flat out raising 5 juvenile blacks in close without hooking up a single one - bad luck.
But... not as bad a She's a Dream, which lost one black marlin after it went mental, crossed over and cut a line, taking off with an expensive lure. But... this wasn't the end of Bill Reider's lousy (and expensive) day...
A while later, he hooked up on another black marlin, and everything was going well until the fish was within a few feet of the tag pole, when an explosion of teeth burst out of the water under one of the outriggers, grabbed the large teaser lure that Bill had rigged off the middle rigger guide, and took the teaser and half of the outrigger pole with it. The rigger went off like a shotgun as it snapped, the black marlin decided to leave the scene with some alacrity, and the whole lot left them with two lost lures, two lost black marlin, one lost teaser lure, and a busted rigger pole... when you have a bad day, it comes in spades!
Meanwhile, Foreign Exchange was droning around in marlin alley and everywhere else that seemed like a good idea but without seeing a single marlin. We did have a mystery caller at one stage, but never saw it, and we jumped off a smallish dollie up near the FAD.
Things were looking pretty dismal until late afternoon when we drove over an area of promising bait activity, and sure enough, up came a black marlin, grabbing a lure and pulling about 20m of string before departing.
About 15 minutes later, another black came and made a pass at the same Jennings Flying Fish lure before also disappearing, but when we doubled back and drove over the same spot, up he came again, smashing the shotgun ("Excaliber"... but that's another story), hooking up nicely with no histrionics, and giving John Stafford a bit of curry for 25 minutes before coming in to be tagged.
So.,.. every boat out there saw marlin, which is the good news... the bad news is that when we see She's a Dream out there tomorrow, she'll be a bit lop-sided!
Wednesday, 3rd January
Take another look at the photo of the bronzed up "blue" marlin shown in the 1 January entry below...
There were several questions came in about whether it was really a blue as the skipper had called it, so when in doubt, look up the identification charts and books, and then if still in doubt, go to the big man himself, Dr. Julian Pepperell, who came back with the following answer after I sent him photos :
Hi Richard
It’s a blue. Shape of dorsal (i,e pointed) plus its height, around two thirds of body depth, plus what looks to be a very large anal fin. All = blue.
And yes, blues show this characteristic bronzing much more than blacks, but the latter do occasionally (although not to this extent in my memory).
Thanks for the feedback on the article. Nice to know someone is out there reading my jottings…. :)
Cheers
Julian
________________________________
Julian Pepperell
Pepperell Research & Consulting Pty Ltd
PO Box 1475 Noosaville BC
QLD 4566 Australia
Ph: 07 5471 0327 Mob: 0418 613396
Frankly, it's a very difficult call just from the photos provided, and there are still sound arguments both ways if you study the identification publications. But while it's not an easy call from the photos, just remember that if there's any doubt about this when you have a fish like this at the boat, simply reach down and try to fold a pectoral fin if the fish cooperates... and all the ambiguity will disappear.
There were several questions came in about whether it was really a blue as the skipper had called it, so when in doubt, look up the identification charts and books, and then if still in doubt, go to the big man himself, Dr. Julian Pepperell, who came back with the following answer after I sent him photos :
Hi Richard
It’s a blue. Shape of dorsal (i,e pointed) plus its height, around two thirds of body depth, plus what looks to be a very large anal fin. All = blue.
And yes, blues show this characteristic bronzing much more than blacks, but the latter do occasionally (although not to this extent in my memory).
Thanks for the feedback on the article. Nice to know someone is out there reading my jottings…. :)
Cheers
Julian
________________________________
Julian Pepperell
Pepperell Research & Consulting Pty Ltd
PO Box 1475 Noosaville BC
QLD 4566 Australia
Ph: 07 5471 0327 Mob: 0418 613396
Frankly, it's a very difficult call just from the photos provided, and there are still sound arguments both ways if you study the identification publications. But while it's not an easy call from the photos, just remember that if there's any doubt about this when you have a fish like this at the boat, simply reach down and try to fold a pectoral fin if the fish cooperates... and all the ambiguity will disappear.
Tuesday, 2nd January
Things are definitely staring to stir off Coffs...
The Coffs Coast Sportfishing team were out there today, and after keeping their charter customers busy catching 50+ dollies on light tackle around the fish trap floats, they came in to where all the bait was stacked up (see the screen shot from Rob Lang's sounder on the left) and caught a nice 40kg juvenile black marlin... and all that by midday.
The blacks weren't interested in live baits, but were all over lures (in this case a Moldcraft), which is often the case here.
In addition to the black marlin they tagged, Black N Blue saw a couple of free jumpers out around the FAD, so it seems fairly safe to say that the blacks have arrived. They're also being caught in decent numbers off Yamba, and there were reports of some off Port Macquarie as well on New Year's Day, so in short - they're here!
Marcus Blackwell apparently missed a blue yesterday while driving Hemingway around the bottom of the shelf, but it might be a day or two before there's a confirmed blue marlin bite in numbers that will get everyone's attention, but it can't be long in coming now.
The Coffs Coast Sportfishing team were out there today, and after keeping their charter customers busy catching 50+ dollies on light tackle around the fish trap floats, they came in to where all the bait was stacked up (see the screen shot from Rob Lang's sounder on the left) and caught a nice 40kg juvenile black marlin... and all that by midday.
The blacks weren't interested in live baits, but were all over lures (in this case a Moldcraft), which is often the case here.
In addition to the black marlin they tagged, Black N Blue saw a couple of free jumpers out around the FAD, so it seems fairly safe to say that the blacks have arrived. They're also being caught in decent numbers off Yamba, and there were reports of some off Port Macquarie as well on New Year's Day, so in short - they're here!
Marcus Blackwell apparently missed a blue yesterday while driving Hemingway around the bottom of the shelf, but it might be a day or two before there's a confirmed blue marlin bite in numbers that will get everyone's attention, but it can't be long in coming now.
Monday, 1st January
HAPPY NEW YEAR... From the Flybridge... to all our followers and supporters.
Great news from the Ballina contingent today.
Erstwhile Ballina big game angler Andrew McLennan went out today into a weak but promising breakthrough of the EAC and smashed 'em!! Today's FishTrack satellite shots show a promising - albeit tentative - restart of current flow down from the border to about Yamba. There's still a fair bit of the EAC being diverted out into the Tasman off the border, but if the eddy that's causing this continues to weaken, we may see a better defined current breakthrough back down the edge of the shelf over the next week.
Anyway, Andrew and his mates on On Strike went out today and went 2/2/1 on juvenile blacks, followed by 3/3/2 on blue marlin, the biggest estimated at about 270kg. As a bonus, there were a couple of nice mahimahi and a wahoo thrown into the mix for a new year's day fish feed back home for the crew.
This day's fishing had all the hoped-for big game and sportfish for a typical hot January day, so this is a great sign of things to come on the Coffs Coast!!
On Strike's blacks and blues were all raised along the same area on the edge of the shelf off Ballina between 110 and 140fa. The water colour was excellent as the photos below show, and at 26.5C is was blue marlin perfect. After releasing the first blue, they threw the gear back in the water and hooked up a second blue within 300 metres of there same spot - that's a hot blue marlin bite by any definition, and is much like the stories coming from the Gold Coast over the past couple of months. Hopefully, all that will translate down here when the current consolidates.
The blue marlin in the photos measured about 230 short, and made 6 passes at the shotgun before finally hooking up - most unlike a blue to hang in there for so long - it must have really loved that lure! It jumped around and went berserk for a while after hooking up and had obviously tired itself out big time doing so as the total bronze job shows.
This is excellent news, and if the weather cooperates and the current strengthens, the Coffs Coast should be the next to fire.
Great news from the Ballina contingent today.
Erstwhile Ballina big game angler Andrew McLennan went out today into a weak but promising breakthrough of the EAC and smashed 'em!! Today's FishTrack satellite shots show a promising - albeit tentative - restart of current flow down from the border to about Yamba. There's still a fair bit of the EAC being diverted out into the Tasman off the border, but if the eddy that's causing this continues to weaken, we may see a better defined current breakthrough back down the edge of the shelf over the next week.
Anyway, Andrew and his mates on On Strike went out today and went 2/2/1 on juvenile blacks, followed by 3/3/2 on blue marlin, the biggest estimated at about 270kg. As a bonus, there were a couple of nice mahimahi and a wahoo thrown into the mix for a new year's day fish feed back home for the crew.
This day's fishing had all the hoped-for big game and sportfish for a typical hot January day, so this is a great sign of things to come on the Coffs Coast!!
On Strike's blacks and blues were all raised along the same area on the edge of the shelf off Ballina between 110 and 140fa. The water colour was excellent as the photos below show, and at 26.5C is was blue marlin perfect. After releasing the first blue, they threw the gear back in the water and hooked up a second blue within 300 metres of there same spot - that's a hot blue marlin bite by any definition, and is much like the stories coming from the Gold Coast over the past couple of months. Hopefully, all that will translate down here when the current consolidates.
The blue marlin in the photos measured about 230 short, and made 6 passes at the shotgun before finally hooking up - most unlike a blue to hang in there for so long - it must have really loved that lure! It jumped around and went berserk for a while after hooking up and had obviously tired itself out big time doing so as the total bronze job shows.
This is excellent news, and if the weather cooperates and the current strengthens, the Coffs Coast should be the next to fire.
Friday, 29th December
Despite over a month of watching the strong downwelling eddy off the border take the EAC and divert it away from its normal path down the edge of the continental shelf off NSW, very little has changed, and it looks like a while yet before this eddy will weaken enough to release its grip on the current and bring game fish down south of the border in any meaningful numbers.
This is depressing news, but we have no choice other than to sit on our hands while the boats up on the Gold Coast keep on keeping on with the game fish bonanza that the cut-off current keeps providing for them.
One of those to benefit from all this up on the Gold Coast was lure maker Aaron Jennings, who went out for this week and smashed 'em. On the first day, they caught four marlin (3 blues and a black), not to mention a brace of very nice mahimahi, the likes of which I haven't seen down here for months. To rub it in, they also caught a nice wahoo as as bonus.
Aaron did note that the second day they went out, the bite had gone stone cold, with plenty of marlin being seen free-jumping and finning around, but none of them interested in biting.
Check out the size of the bull mahimahi specimens in the photos below. We'll be missing out on this great fishing until that damned eddy backs off and gives us a fishing season...
Meanwhile, the final Solitary Islands GFC club competition day of the calendar year looks like only a 50:50 option this weekend with less than encouraging winds forecast.
What do NSW north coast game fishermen have to do to catch a break here ...??
This is depressing news, but we have no choice other than to sit on our hands while the boats up on the Gold Coast keep on keeping on with the game fish bonanza that the cut-off current keeps providing for them.
One of those to benefit from all this up on the Gold Coast was lure maker Aaron Jennings, who went out for this week and smashed 'em. On the first day, they caught four marlin (3 blues and a black), not to mention a brace of very nice mahimahi, the likes of which I haven't seen down here for months. To rub it in, they also caught a nice wahoo as as bonus.
Aaron did note that the second day they went out, the bite had gone stone cold, with plenty of marlin being seen free-jumping and finning around, but none of them interested in biting.
Check out the size of the bull mahimahi specimens in the photos below. We'll be missing out on this great fishing until that damned eddy backs off and gives us a fishing season...
Meanwhile, the final Solitary Islands GFC club competition day of the calendar year looks like only a 50:50 option this weekend with less than encouraging winds forecast.
What do NSW north coast game fishermen have to do to catch a break here ...??
Thursday, 21st December
So... it's been a while since I had anything to say about marlin off the Solitary Islands...
Take it from me, when you're sitting on the wild NW Atlantic coast of Ireland at the winter solstice as I am while writing this Logbook entry, you're a hell of a long way from where the real marlin action is, with the closest blue marlin probably cruising around a couple of thousand miles to the south off the Azores.
It's also a really long way from the Marlin Bar and the regular flow of rumours and news that pass through that joint...
Still, while I'm at the end of a fairly long pipeline - 16,829 kilometres to be precise - to the Coffs Coast, there's a pretty strong signal that's hard to miss, and it's more or less sending the message that the game fishing on the northern NSW coast is less than exciting. Given that there's a red hot bite and a 6 month long - and still ongoing - blue marlin convention anywhere from the border to Fraser Island, it's clearly pretty hard for NSW game fishermen to stomach as they read reports of 11 from 14 blues and so forth on the Gold Coast on a near daily basis.
Worse still, while the blue marlin bite wasn't this sensational on the Gold Coast last year, the dearth of action and the environmental similarities off the Coffs Coast are starting to sound a lot like Groundhog Day again...
The screen shot from today's Fishtrack current and SST chart shows another intense downwelling eddy off the border that's taken control of the EAC and diverted it away from the continental shelf and hundreds of miles out into the ocean east of Australia - almost identical to what happened at the same time last year. No marlin are going to take that ride out into the middle of nowhere when they can stay on the Gold Coast filling up on bait.
Interestingly, there's also a fairly dynamic little upwelling eddy that's formed off Wooli and which is probably bringing a fairly nutrient rich stream of water into the flow that's streaming up from the central Tasman and running up the edge of the shelf off Coffs.
In the perfect world, this would possibly result in a good striped marlin bite on the edge of the shelf off Coffs, and maybe even some YFT action off the 2000 fathom line between Coffs and SWR. That's pretty speculative though ... but if a half dozen of the itinerant coastal longliners we occasionally see suddenly turn up in Coffs Harbour, there might be some substance to it.
The local Coffs Solitary Islands GFC has a couple of competition days coming up in the latter half of December, and while conditions leave a lot to be desired, it's not unreasonable to suppose that the occasional adventurous blue marlin and a few juvenile blacks might ignore the good life on the Gold Coast and venture down to the farthest fields off Coffs, and bring some relief to long-suffering northern NSW anglers.
Good luck to everybody venturing out into the big blue, and seasons greetings to all the regular visitors to this website...
Take it from me, when you're sitting on the wild NW Atlantic coast of Ireland at the winter solstice as I am while writing this Logbook entry, you're a hell of a long way from where the real marlin action is, with the closest blue marlin probably cruising around a couple of thousand miles to the south off the Azores.
It's also a really long way from the Marlin Bar and the regular flow of rumours and news that pass through that joint...
Still, while I'm at the end of a fairly long pipeline - 16,829 kilometres to be precise - to the Coffs Coast, there's a pretty strong signal that's hard to miss, and it's more or less sending the message that the game fishing on the northern NSW coast is less than exciting. Given that there's a red hot bite and a 6 month long - and still ongoing - blue marlin convention anywhere from the border to Fraser Island, it's clearly pretty hard for NSW game fishermen to stomach as they read reports of 11 from 14 blues and so forth on the Gold Coast on a near daily basis.
Worse still, while the blue marlin bite wasn't this sensational on the Gold Coast last year, the dearth of action and the environmental similarities off the Coffs Coast are starting to sound a lot like Groundhog Day again...
The screen shot from today's Fishtrack current and SST chart shows another intense downwelling eddy off the border that's taken control of the EAC and diverted it away from the continental shelf and hundreds of miles out into the ocean east of Australia - almost identical to what happened at the same time last year. No marlin are going to take that ride out into the middle of nowhere when they can stay on the Gold Coast filling up on bait.
Interestingly, there's also a fairly dynamic little upwelling eddy that's formed off Wooli and which is probably bringing a fairly nutrient rich stream of water into the flow that's streaming up from the central Tasman and running up the edge of the shelf off Coffs.
In the perfect world, this would possibly result in a good striped marlin bite on the edge of the shelf off Coffs, and maybe even some YFT action off the 2000 fathom line between Coffs and SWR. That's pretty speculative though ... but if a half dozen of the itinerant coastal longliners we occasionally see suddenly turn up in Coffs Harbour, there might be some substance to it.
The local Coffs Solitary Islands GFC has a couple of competition days coming up in the latter half of December, and while conditions leave a lot to be desired, it's not unreasonable to suppose that the occasional adventurous blue marlin and a few juvenile blacks might ignore the good life on the Gold Coast and venture down to the farthest fields off Coffs, and bring some relief to long-suffering northern NSW anglers.
Good luck to everybody venturing out into the big blue, and seasons greetings to all the regular visitors to this website...
Sunday, 10th December
I had an interesting conversation today with George Blackwell. Regular readers of this column may recall that George was until a couple of years ago, a keen local game fisherman in Coffs Harbour, frequently seen crewing on Hemingway and Foreign Exchange.
Recently, George was able to cash in on both his skills as a chef and as a game fishing crewman and spent the last season on Kestelle as a pro, fishing the Cairns Heavy Tackle Black Marlin season, and just about everything on between along the Queensland coast. Needless to say, after a season fishing hard for big blacks off the Reef in FNQ, George has a lot of great stories to tell, as well as a wealth of experience up there mixing it with the big boys, and I can see a series of interviews at the Marlin Bar coming up while George hangs out down here before Kestelle's 2018 season campaign begins. Watch out for "The Blackwell Tapes".
One thing that George did elaborate on was the potential for an expanded game fishing scene off Fraser Island in the spring. Extremely good structure and the proximity of the continental shelf edge to the northern tip of Fraser Island looks like it harbours a much bigger marlin fishery than many people realised, and that the potential for black marlin, blue marlin, and even striped marlin as well as great light tackle sportfishing for pelagics has hardly been touched by the sound of it.
George mentioned that despite the ample current shown in the SST screenshot below, the current actual faded away last week to much less than is depicted below, and when it dropped off, the marlin bite pretty much came to an end as well. So much for the accuracy of the satellite shots that all this is based on. More likely the satellite info is pretty good, but the algorithms used to analyse what the satellite is actually looking at still leave much to be desired.
Recently, George was able to cash in on both his skills as a chef and as a game fishing crewman and spent the last season on Kestelle as a pro, fishing the Cairns Heavy Tackle Black Marlin season, and just about everything on between along the Queensland coast. Needless to say, after a season fishing hard for big blacks off the Reef in FNQ, George has a lot of great stories to tell, as well as a wealth of experience up there mixing it with the big boys, and I can see a series of interviews at the Marlin Bar coming up while George hangs out down here before Kestelle's 2018 season campaign begins. Watch out for "The Blackwell Tapes".
One thing that George did elaborate on was the potential for an expanded game fishing scene off Fraser Island in the spring. Extremely good structure and the proximity of the continental shelf edge to the northern tip of Fraser Island looks like it harbours a much bigger marlin fishery than many people realised, and that the potential for black marlin, blue marlin, and even striped marlin as well as great light tackle sportfishing for pelagics has hardly been touched by the sound of it.
George mentioned that despite the ample current shown in the SST screenshot below, the current actual faded away last week to much less than is depicted below, and when it dropped off, the marlin bite pretty much came to an end as well. So much for the accuracy of the satellite shots that all this is based on. More likely the satellite info is pretty good, but the algorithms used to analyse what the satellite is actually looking at still leave much to be desired.
Friday, 8th December
Groundhog Day...?
The FishTrack SST and Current chart screenshot shown on the left is a sight we've all seen in this part of the world a little too often in recent years to be anything but very disappointing.
We know there are big numbers of blue and juvenile black marlin bottled up between the Gold Coast and Fraser Island, but with the East Australian Current being almost completely diverted out into the middle of the Tasman, we're not going to see much if any of that action down on the northern NSW coast anytime soon.
This happened around this time last year, and the end result was the worst game fishing season in memory here, so we can only hope that the current breaks away and flows down the edge of the continental shelf soon and we don't suffer any long term effects this summer... Once we see normal current flow, the marlin will follow, but the timing on the duration and strength of the eddies responsible for diverting the current can be anything from one week to one month, so...
On Wednesday, showing an unusually impressive triumph of optimism over experience, both Better than Vegas and Hemingway went out to try to prove that what the satellites are showing us really isn't so... but despite glamour conditions, good looking water, plenty of bait including patches of striped tuna, and a large dose of optimism, skippers Pete English and Marcus Blackwell couldn't raise a thing. This is really bad news for Coffs Coast game fishermen, but unless the occasional hopeful crew goes out for a look like Pete and Marcus did, we'll never know what's really happening out there, so more power to them for giving it a run.
We can only assume it's just another speed bump and it'll turn around...
Of course, some blokes can't stand just waiting for things to get better without at least doing everything in their power to make something happen, and if they've got a trailer boat, they'll do what Ballina stalwart Andrew McClellan did... he packed his boat up, drove his rig up to Fraser Island midweek, and snagged the nice healthy 150kg blue marlin show in the photo below. Since then, he's tangled with some juvenile black marlin, and another blue marlin, all in just a couple of days, and the latter fish have all been hooked up within a stone's throw of the coastline. Fraser Island is without doubt the hot spot this spring... Way to go Andrew!!!
The FishTrack SST and Current chart screenshot shown on the left is a sight we've all seen in this part of the world a little too often in recent years to be anything but very disappointing.
We know there are big numbers of blue and juvenile black marlin bottled up between the Gold Coast and Fraser Island, but with the East Australian Current being almost completely diverted out into the middle of the Tasman, we're not going to see much if any of that action down on the northern NSW coast anytime soon.
This happened around this time last year, and the end result was the worst game fishing season in memory here, so we can only hope that the current breaks away and flows down the edge of the continental shelf soon and we don't suffer any long term effects this summer... Once we see normal current flow, the marlin will follow, but the timing on the duration and strength of the eddies responsible for diverting the current can be anything from one week to one month, so...
On Wednesday, showing an unusually impressive triumph of optimism over experience, both Better than Vegas and Hemingway went out to try to prove that what the satellites are showing us really isn't so... but despite glamour conditions, good looking water, plenty of bait including patches of striped tuna, and a large dose of optimism, skippers Pete English and Marcus Blackwell couldn't raise a thing. This is really bad news for Coffs Coast game fishermen, but unless the occasional hopeful crew goes out for a look like Pete and Marcus did, we'll never know what's really happening out there, so more power to them for giving it a run.
We can only assume it's just another speed bump and it'll turn around...
Of course, some blokes can't stand just waiting for things to get better without at least doing everything in their power to make something happen, and if they've got a trailer boat, they'll do what Ballina stalwart Andrew McClellan did... he packed his boat up, drove his rig up to Fraser Island midweek, and snagged the nice healthy 150kg blue marlin show in the photo below. Since then, he's tangled with some juvenile black marlin, and another blue marlin, all in just a couple of days, and the latter fish have all been hooked up within a stone's throw of the coastline. Fraser Island is without doubt the hot spot this spring... Way to go Andrew!!!
Tuesday, 5th December
There's a rather ominous ocean current and mesoscale eddy interaction setting up off Byron Bay at the moment, and there's not much good coming from it...
This time it's a large clockwise turning eddy that's driving most of the flow of the East Australian Current well out into the Tasman Sea, completely bypassing the northern NSW coast in the process. Regrettably, we've seen this before last summer, when a similar disruption of the current combined with particularly poor weather systems bringing alternating strong northerly and southerly winds to our coast more or less trashed the fishing for weeks at a time.
Hopefully, this current disruption will be short-lived and within a week or so, the eddy will weaken and the EAC will go back to flowing down the edge of the continental shelf. But until it does, the fishing here is likely to be sub-par, and the blue marlin that have been firing up off Fraser Island, as well as the juvenile black marlin coming down from the sub-tropics could have their travel plans delayed.
And still on the doom and gloom theme... as if the lack of good EAC flow here wasn't enough, the weather this week is forecast to deliver very limited fishing opportunities out on the edge of the continental shelf, particularly this coming Saturday when local Coffs Harbour clubs are planning to have their monthly competition outings. Things may change, but they'd better do so fast...
PARTY TIME...! Notwithstanding whether the club competition day actually happens or not on Saturday, there's still an excellent chance for game fishermen from the Coffs Coast to get together at the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club's end of year Christmas party on Saturday evening. The venue for the party will be at Attitude at the Jetty, where well-known restauranteur and local game fisherman Marcus Blackwell has organised an excellent menu for the partygoers that for just $30 per person which includes a free beverage on top of plates of crispy pork belly, salt and pepper calamari, sliders, crunchy chips and assorted other mouth-watering dishes that can't help but make for a great evening where we can at least talk about game fishing even if we haven't been doing much of it lately. See you there...!
This time it's a large clockwise turning eddy that's driving most of the flow of the East Australian Current well out into the Tasman Sea, completely bypassing the northern NSW coast in the process. Regrettably, we've seen this before last summer, when a similar disruption of the current combined with particularly poor weather systems bringing alternating strong northerly and southerly winds to our coast more or less trashed the fishing for weeks at a time.
Hopefully, this current disruption will be short-lived and within a week or so, the eddy will weaken and the EAC will go back to flowing down the edge of the continental shelf. But until it does, the fishing here is likely to be sub-par, and the blue marlin that have been firing up off Fraser Island, as well as the juvenile black marlin coming down from the sub-tropics could have their travel plans delayed.
And still on the doom and gloom theme... as if the lack of good EAC flow here wasn't enough, the weather this week is forecast to deliver very limited fishing opportunities out on the edge of the continental shelf, particularly this coming Saturday when local Coffs Harbour clubs are planning to have their monthly competition outings. Things may change, but they'd better do so fast...
PARTY TIME...! Notwithstanding whether the club competition day actually happens or not on Saturday, there's still an excellent chance for game fishermen from the Coffs Coast to get together at the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club's end of year Christmas party on Saturday evening. The venue for the party will be at Attitude at the Jetty, where well-known restauranteur and local game fisherman Marcus Blackwell has organised an excellent menu for the partygoers that for just $30 per person which includes a free beverage on top of plates of crispy pork belly, salt and pepper calamari, sliders, crunchy chips and assorted other mouth-watering dishes that can't help but make for a great evening where we can at least talk about game fishing even if we haven't been doing much of it lately. See you there...!
Sunday, 3 December
There was an encouraging message between the lines in this morning's Black Marlin Blog headline by Kelly Dalling-Fallon. She noted that with the one degree centigrade increase in the ocean temperature off Fraser Island yesterday, the hot bite that's been a feature of fishing there for the past month started to evaporate. With slightly cooler water visible on the Satellite SST detail to the south of Fraser, it was no surprise to also read that another boat fishing 40 nautical miles south of Fraser had done well.
Does this mean that the blue marlin that have been lighting up the ocean off Fraser are on the move south...???
Hopefully, the answer is yes, and that now they've been driven away from Fraser by the influx of uncomfortably warm Coral Sea water moving in there, we'll see an uptick in the bite off the Gold Coast in the next few days, followed by the arrival of blues in meaningful numbers south of the border in a week or two off the Coffs Coast.
Of course, that's only one of the factors that will draw marlin to the south, the other important one being the presence of something to feed on. The beautiful but empty ocean off Coffs is going to have to fill up a bit with all the usual activity and food before the blues get serious about visiting here. After seeing striped tuna, sauries and flying fish in decent numbers only very briefly in November before it turned into a desert again out there, the return of good bait will be the key. Now, game fishermen will be paying very close attention to the reappearance of good bait before expecting the bite to hot up...
And if it all coincides with the simultaneous arrival of the juvenile black marlin run, maybe December will produce a grand slam or two to kick off Christmas festivities and some sustained action in the new year.
Does this mean that the blue marlin that have been lighting up the ocean off Fraser are on the move south...???
Hopefully, the answer is yes, and that now they've been driven away from Fraser by the influx of uncomfortably warm Coral Sea water moving in there, we'll see an uptick in the bite off the Gold Coast in the next few days, followed by the arrival of blues in meaningful numbers south of the border in a week or two off the Coffs Coast.
Of course, that's only one of the factors that will draw marlin to the south, the other important one being the presence of something to feed on. The beautiful but empty ocean off Coffs is going to have to fill up a bit with all the usual activity and food before the blues get serious about visiting here. After seeing striped tuna, sauries and flying fish in decent numbers only very briefly in November before it turned into a desert again out there, the return of good bait will be the key. Now, game fishermen will be paying very close attention to the reappearance of good bait before expecting the bite to hot up...
And if it all coincides with the simultaneous arrival of the juvenile black marlin run, maybe December will produce a grand slam or two to kick off Christmas festivities and some sustained action in the new year.
Wednesday, 29th November
...And the beat goes on... at least it does up off Fraser Island, where game boats are having a blinder, with day after day of big marlin catches.
But there's not much happening just to the south on the Gold Coast, and absolutely nothing happening south of the border down to the Coffs Coast and beyond.
No serious action (other than some great bottom fishing) reported by the Ballina crew, and even when Black N Blue skipper Rob Lang couldn't sit on his hands any longer watching the perfect fishing weather roll past day after day and went out for a look on Tuesday, drove all around through just more of the same that we've all been seeing for days now. They found the same sterile ocean that's been producing nothing by way of game fishing action for any of the boats trying to break the cycle and get into a hot bite here off Coffs for far too long now. Empty but gorgeous water up to 26C, no baitfish, no flying fish, no birds working anything on the surface, no pilot whales, nada, nil, zip, zero. There was a moment of brief excitement when a small striped marlin came up for a look in 80 fathoms on the way back to Coffs, but that sure didn't make up for weather and water which just a few years ago would have had the reels running hot at this time of year.
So it's groundhog day on the continental shelf here... we're all just getting up each morning, looking at the near-perfect weather, checking the satellite shots that show nothing's changed with the current still skilfully avoiding bringing us some of that sub-tropical Coral Sea water and the blue marlin that are in it, and then going to bed hoping that tomorrow will show us sign of a hot bite.
And if it doesn't change soon, what's going to happen to the annual juvenile black marlin migration down the NSW coast...?
But there's not much happening just to the south on the Gold Coast, and absolutely nothing happening south of the border down to the Coffs Coast and beyond.
No serious action (other than some great bottom fishing) reported by the Ballina crew, and even when Black N Blue skipper Rob Lang couldn't sit on his hands any longer watching the perfect fishing weather roll past day after day and went out for a look on Tuesday, drove all around through just more of the same that we've all been seeing for days now. They found the same sterile ocean that's been producing nothing by way of game fishing action for any of the boats trying to break the cycle and get into a hot bite here off Coffs for far too long now. Empty but gorgeous water up to 26C, no baitfish, no flying fish, no birds working anything on the surface, no pilot whales, nada, nil, zip, zero. There was a moment of brief excitement when a small striped marlin came up for a look in 80 fathoms on the way back to Coffs, but that sure didn't make up for weather and water which just a few years ago would have had the reels running hot at this time of year.
So it's groundhog day on the continental shelf here... we're all just getting up each morning, looking at the near-perfect weather, checking the satellite shots that show nothing's changed with the current still skilfully avoiding bringing us some of that sub-tropical Coral Sea water and the blue marlin that are in it, and then going to bed hoping that tomorrow will show us sign of a hot bite.
And if it doesn't change soon, what's going to happen to the annual juvenile black marlin migration down the NSW coast...?
Monday, 27th November
Gorgeous weather is still happening on the Coffs Coast, but sadly, nobody's bothering to chase game fish until the disappointingly empty water out beyond the Solitary Islands is swept away by the East Australian Current and replaced by a tropical flow that's got some life in it. Let's hope that's soon while this incredible fishing weather is still in the frame.
Meanwhile, here's a short video of the lads on Foreign Exchange doing their thing with last Friday's blue marlin... the fish was taken on John Stafford's favourite "Excaliber" 24kg outfit, running a Jennings Gamefish Vuaki Flyer flying fish lure on the shotgun.
I know there's a brief burst of salty language in the middle, but game fishermen will understand that it seemed completely appropriate under the circumstances.
Meanwhile, here's a short video of the lads on Foreign Exchange doing their thing with last Friday's blue marlin... the fish was taken on John Stafford's favourite "Excaliber" 24kg outfit, running a Jennings Gamefish Vuaki Flyer flying fish lure on the shotgun.
I know there's a brief burst of salty language in the middle, but game fishermen will understand that it seemed completely appropriate under the circumstances.
Sunday, 26th November
The northern NSW coast is in the middle of one of the most perfect weeks of game fishing weather for years, with 6 days straight now having forecasts with less than 10 knots of winds all day. It didn't always work out that way, with 15 knots featuring on more than one occasion, but it was close, with Friday actually being the most incredible day out there for years. It's been generally fishable for days in a row now, and anglers haven't seen anything like that for years.
However, as so often is the case in this part of the world, all the elements that contribute to memorable days chasing marlin always seem to have trouble coming together at the same time... in this case, the most important element of all was missing - there were almost no marlin.
Perfect weather, perfect water, plenty of boats fishing, but the water was near totally empty. There was no bait in the beautiful 25 degree cobalt blue current water (see the completely empty sounder screen shot below...), and almost no pelagic fish, including marlin.
For three days, there were 5, then 1, then 14 boats out fishing, which amounts to about 180 hours of boat time on the water, and somewhere in the vicinity of 900 lure hours... with only 5 marlin raised and one tagged. Whichever way you try to put lipstick on that pig, it was terrible fishing.
Probably typical of most boats fishing over those three days, we saw a handful of flying fish (instead of dozens), and no large baitballs... there were no birds actually working surface pelagic activity at any time over those three days, and we caught one small mahimahi, then finally we saw one lone marlin, which as the exception, we caught and successfully tagged and released after being measured at 270cm (short), which put it at a handy 180kg.
But while being lucky enough to drive over one of the very few marlin on the entire stretch of coast was a great reward for the persistence of Foreign Exchange's exceptional crew over those three days, it didn't put much gloss on what should have been a red hot bite.
The water that was flowing down the coast at a less-then-ideal 3 knots was being swept in largely from the middle of the Tasman Sea rather than the sub-tropics , and while that should have been responsible for - at the very least - a good striped marlin bite, the fact that it held almost no baitfish at all meant that all the perfect water in the world wasn't going to produce marlin when there was nothing for them to eat in it. Where is all the bait?
Puzzling times... and very, very disappointing for the Coffs Coast game fishing community.
However, as so often is the case in this part of the world, all the elements that contribute to memorable days chasing marlin always seem to have trouble coming together at the same time... in this case, the most important element of all was missing - there were almost no marlin.
Perfect weather, perfect water, plenty of boats fishing, but the water was near totally empty. There was no bait in the beautiful 25 degree cobalt blue current water (see the completely empty sounder screen shot below...), and almost no pelagic fish, including marlin.
For three days, there were 5, then 1, then 14 boats out fishing, which amounts to about 180 hours of boat time on the water, and somewhere in the vicinity of 900 lure hours... with only 5 marlin raised and one tagged. Whichever way you try to put lipstick on that pig, it was terrible fishing.
Probably typical of most boats fishing over those three days, we saw a handful of flying fish (instead of dozens), and no large baitballs... there were no birds actually working surface pelagic activity at any time over those three days, and we caught one small mahimahi, then finally we saw one lone marlin, which as the exception, we caught and successfully tagged and released after being measured at 270cm (short), which put it at a handy 180kg.
But while being lucky enough to drive over one of the very few marlin on the entire stretch of coast was a great reward for the persistence of Foreign Exchange's exceptional crew over those three days, it didn't put much gloss on what should have been a red hot bite.
The water that was flowing down the coast at a less-then-ideal 3 knots was being swept in largely from the middle of the Tasman Sea rather than the sub-tropics , and while that should have been responsible for - at the very least - a good striped marlin bite, the fact that it held almost no baitfish at all meant that all the perfect water in the world wasn't going to produce marlin when there was nothing for them to eat in it. Where is all the bait?
Puzzling times... and very, very disappointing for the Coffs Coast game fishing community.
Wednesday, 22nd November
For those of you who didn't spend $200+ on a special drag tension gauge for setting the drag on your rigs, and who use something a little less accurate like basic Shimano analog scales as I do, you no doubt wonder about accuracy and regular calibration. I calibrate my drag scales using a known weight and some digital bathroom scales, but I find that because my drag scales are essentially just a basic uncompensated spring, the readings vary as a function of how warm or cold the scales are, so have to be constantly recalibrated.
With that in mind, I found this set of digital luggage scales at Aldi yesterday - for $10! I've since tested them on various known weights I have at home, and they are extremely accurate - certainly more that is required for setting drag on game reels. I didn't find any error over 0.03 kg.
Hell of a deal compared to what an expensive set of drag scales from your fishing supplies mail order outlet would cost.
With that in mind, I found this set of digital luggage scales at Aldi yesterday - for $10! I've since tested them on various known weights I have at home, and they are extremely accurate - certainly more that is required for setting drag on game reels. I didn't find any error over 0.03 kg.
Hell of a deal compared to what an expensive set of drag scales from your fishing supplies mail order outlet would cost.
Tuesday 21st November
With a near-perfect moon phase, a midday high tide, and excellent water on the edge of the shelf, the fishing should be pretty hot out there off the Solitaries at the moment.
And once again, the weather forecast for the rest of the week is damned good, with Thursday to Saturday currently in the frame with light morning offshore breezes and a northeast sea breeze of less than 15 knots in the afternoons. If this comes to pass as predicted, this will provide Coffs Coast game fishermen with more potentially good game fishing days in just two weeks than we had all last summer!
There strength of the EAC is a bit of a concern, but on balance, who cares when everything else is looking so promising...?! Besides, when it runs strong, there are usually small areas of current-induced upwellings and eddies along the edge of the shelf around the Canyons that can have a very hot bite (such as up at The Hole - if you can struggle up there in that current) provided you can just find them while they're happening..
And now to a bit of fun to summarise last week's fishing...
And once again, the weather forecast for the rest of the week is damned good, with Thursday to Saturday currently in the frame with light morning offshore breezes and a northeast sea breeze of less than 15 knots in the afternoons. If this comes to pass as predicted, this will provide Coffs Coast game fishermen with more potentially good game fishing days in just two weeks than we had all last summer!
There strength of the EAC is a bit of a concern, but on balance, who cares when everything else is looking so promising...?! Besides, when it runs strong, there are usually small areas of current-induced upwellings and eddies along the edge of the shelf around the Canyons that can have a very hot bite (such as up at The Hole - if you can struggle up there in that current) provided you can just find them while they're happening..
And now to a bit of fun to summarise last week's fishing...
Monday, 20th November
This is the second week in a row where the forecast has at least three days of excellent fishing weather in the frame as the week starts out!
It's great news for anglers on the Coffs Coast who have been hoping for better conditions following the lousy start to the season, and to see 6+ days of good weather over the space of 2 weeks is better than anything we've experienced for the last couple of years.
Unless things change for the worse, there will be a string of calm mornings followed by moderate sea breezes in the afternoon - classic marlin fishing weather.
There is a slight hiccup (of course... it's never going to be that perfect) out there at the moment in the form of the largest downwelling mesoscale oceanic eddy I've ever seen positioned 150nm southeast of Coffs Harbour - shown in the screen shot from FishTrack above. Fortunately, this eddy has formed well south of where they usually spin up at this time of year (off Cape Byron), so it's not disturbing the path of the East Australian Current anywhere north of SWR.
When these big summer downwelling eddies form north of the the Coffs Coast, they tend to drag the EAC offshore and all the marlin in it simply bypass Coffs and the fishing here goes to hell. However, while this eddy is extremely large at about 280nm across, it's positioned to our southeast, and is therefore not dragging the current away, but is in fact pinning it hard against the shelf instead.
The downside is that it's pushing so much extra Tasman Sea water onto the coast that its turbocharging the current which looks to be flowing in excess of 4 knots. This may produce some excellent striped marlin fishing on top of the shelf, but as we've seen before, when it flows that fast - and despite it being full of great looking 25C weather - the blue marlin often just keep riding the bus and don't stop off to visit us here.
Of course there's only one way to find out what's really happening out there, and with a forecast that is presently promising great fishing conditions from Wednesday onwards, it's to be hoped that plenty of boats take the chance to find out.
And for anyone wanting to see what a good marlin strike on the Jennings Gamefish lure on our short rigger last week looked like...
It's great news for anglers on the Coffs Coast who have been hoping for better conditions following the lousy start to the season, and to see 6+ days of good weather over the space of 2 weeks is better than anything we've experienced for the last couple of years.
Unless things change for the worse, there will be a string of calm mornings followed by moderate sea breezes in the afternoon - classic marlin fishing weather.
There is a slight hiccup (of course... it's never going to be that perfect) out there at the moment in the form of the largest downwelling mesoscale oceanic eddy I've ever seen positioned 150nm southeast of Coffs Harbour - shown in the screen shot from FishTrack above. Fortunately, this eddy has formed well south of where they usually spin up at this time of year (off Cape Byron), so it's not disturbing the path of the East Australian Current anywhere north of SWR.
When these big summer downwelling eddies form north of the the Coffs Coast, they tend to drag the EAC offshore and all the marlin in it simply bypass Coffs and the fishing here goes to hell. However, while this eddy is extremely large at about 280nm across, it's positioned to our southeast, and is therefore not dragging the current away, but is in fact pinning it hard against the shelf instead.
The downside is that it's pushing so much extra Tasman Sea water onto the coast that its turbocharging the current which looks to be flowing in excess of 4 knots. This may produce some excellent striped marlin fishing on top of the shelf, but as we've seen before, when it flows that fast - and despite it being full of great looking 25C weather - the blue marlin often just keep riding the bus and don't stop off to visit us here.
Of course there's only one way to find out what's really happening out there, and with a forecast that is presently promising great fishing conditions from Wednesday onwards, it's to be hoped that plenty of boats take the chance to find out.
And for anyone wanting to see what a good marlin strike on the Jennings Gamefish lure on our short rigger last week looked like...
Thursday, 16th November
Two days of glamour game fishing weather off the Solitary Islands have finally seen a good start to the weather blighted game fishing season off Coffs Harbour.
The weather was near-perfect, the water was cobalt blue and 25C in the East Australian Current, and while slow, the fishing was very predictable, with a good marlin bite two hours after the tide turned on both days, and even more predictable by all being around 100 fathoms on the edge of the continental shelf.
Foreign Exchange lost a large blue marlin after a one-in-a- million gear failure, but went on the tag a consolation shortbill spearfish on the first day. After being joined by Hemingway and Matador on Wednesday, it was much like groundhog day, with perfect water, although no bait or bird activity to speak of in the morning, and a sudden blue and striped marlin bite at the Coffs Canyons starting exactly 2 hours after the bottom of the tide.
John Stafford on Foreign Exchange got the ball rolling mid-afternoon when a 110kg striped marlin decided it had to eat the Jennings Vuaki flying fish imitation on the shotgun, and it was tagged 35 minutes later after putting on a great show... video of that in a few days. This was the longest striped marlin I've ever seen, and I originally called it at 120kg on the radio, but on reflection wrote it up on the tag card as 110. A good fish regardless, although I was mildly puzzled the next day when I was told that calling any striped marlin over 100kg in Coffs Harbour will have people questioning your credibility...
Before that, Hemingway had a visit from a large (Marcus estimated 200+) blue marlin that looked to be well hooked, ran around all over the ocean, and then spat the hook. However, the Hemingway team made up for it shortly when Beau kept up the pace by tagging a 70kg striped marlin.
Down to the south, and also in 100 fathoms, skipper Sultan Linjawi thought he'd made a bad choice by not hanging around the Coffs Canyons and instead taking Matador all the way down to the Nambucca Canyons. But in the end it was a good idea, because they hooked the first fish they saw, a handy blue marlin of 120kg that was tagged and sent on its way to complete a day when every game boat out there tagged a marlin - not bad after all.
The weather was near-perfect, the water was cobalt blue and 25C in the East Australian Current, and while slow, the fishing was very predictable, with a good marlin bite two hours after the tide turned on both days, and even more predictable by all being around 100 fathoms on the edge of the continental shelf.
Foreign Exchange lost a large blue marlin after a one-in-a- million gear failure, but went on the tag a consolation shortbill spearfish on the first day. After being joined by Hemingway and Matador on Wednesday, it was much like groundhog day, with perfect water, although no bait or bird activity to speak of in the morning, and a sudden blue and striped marlin bite at the Coffs Canyons starting exactly 2 hours after the bottom of the tide.
John Stafford on Foreign Exchange got the ball rolling mid-afternoon when a 110kg striped marlin decided it had to eat the Jennings Vuaki flying fish imitation on the shotgun, and it was tagged 35 minutes later after putting on a great show... video of that in a few days. This was the longest striped marlin I've ever seen, and I originally called it at 120kg on the radio, but on reflection wrote it up on the tag card as 110. A good fish regardless, although I was mildly puzzled the next day when I was told that calling any striped marlin over 100kg in Coffs Harbour will have people questioning your credibility...
Before that, Hemingway had a visit from a large (Marcus estimated 200+) blue marlin that looked to be well hooked, ran around all over the ocean, and then spat the hook. However, the Hemingway team made up for it shortly when Beau kept up the pace by tagging a 70kg striped marlin.
Down to the south, and also in 100 fathoms, skipper Sultan Linjawi thought he'd made a bad choice by not hanging around the Coffs Canyons and instead taking Matador all the way down to the Nambucca Canyons. But in the end it was a good idea, because they hooked the first fish they saw, a handy blue marlin of 120kg that was tagged and sent on its way to complete a day when every game boat out there tagged a marlin - not bad after all.
Sunday, 12th November
The coming week is starting to shape up as one of the best so far in this relatively young season, with light easterly breezes all afternoon for several days in succession, and the best chance yet this spring of two or three days of consecutive fishing. Of course, it may not matter much if the bait and therefore the big fish aren't out there, but with good tides, excellent moon phase, low swell, good current flow bringing 24C+ water to the edge of our continental shelf off the Solitary Islands all in the frame next week, the odds would surely have to be in favour of a good bite developing.
There will certainly be several boats taking advantage of this, and the midweek looks best despite that usually limiting the number of boats.
I got into a discussion recently about blue marlin techniques, and specifically, a very well-written article in Marlin Magazine by Bonze Fleet about blue marlin fishing. Most of what's written in this article makes sense, although I'm also convinced that regional circumstances, subtle variations in blue marlin behaviour in different oceans and climates, and migration behaviour in different hemispheres all mean that what might work in one ocean and location may not be the as perfect a technique in another.
After reading reports of preferred and successful blue marlin techniques in use from Hawaii, the Azores, Tonga, Africa and Australia's east and west coasts, it becomes obvious that while the use of lures is the overarching starting point for blue marlin angling, there's a fair degree of divergence after that.
That said, I think serious blue marlin anglers and skippers need to read as much as they can from successful blue marlin skippers to glean the basics about which techniques to use as a starting point.
As most blue marlin fishermen know, while live or skip baiting is clearly the most successful technique used on large black marlin, and a mix (usually depending on the conditions on any given day) of live baiting and lures both work on striped marlin and juvenile blacks, it's generally acknowledged that lure fishing is by far the secret to real success when chasing blue marlin.
And regardless of what some of the detractors of lure fishing think, getting blue marlin up to strike a lure is one of the toughest and rewarding challenges in game fishing.
This is the starting assumption articulated by Bonze Fleet in his article about Blue Marlin, which can be read by clicking on this link.
Skippers and anglers should also take a long look through Steve Campbell's benchmark book "Blue Marlin Magic" before assuming that everything in the Marlin Magazine article will work for them, and then talk to local successful blue marlin anglers before deciding what techniques to use in their campaigns along the edge of Australia's east coast where the blue marlin fishing is some of the toughest, but most rewarding there is.
There will certainly be several boats taking advantage of this, and the midweek looks best despite that usually limiting the number of boats.
I got into a discussion recently about blue marlin techniques, and specifically, a very well-written article in Marlin Magazine by Bonze Fleet about blue marlin fishing. Most of what's written in this article makes sense, although I'm also convinced that regional circumstances, subtle variations in blue marlin behaviour in different oceans and climates, and migration behaviour in different hemispheres all mean that what might work in one ocean and location may not be the as perfect a technique in another.
After reading reports of preferred and successful blue marlin techniques in use from Hawaii, the Azores, Tonga, Africa and Australia's east and west coasts, it becomes obvious that while the use of lures is the overarching starting point for blue marlin angling, there's a fair degree of divergence after that.
That said, I think serious blue marlin anglers and skippers need to read as much as they can from successful blue marlin skippers to glean the basics about which techniques to use as a starting point.
As most blue marlin fishermen know, while live or skip baiting is clearly the most successful technique used on large black marlin, and a mix (usually depending on the conditions on any given day) of live baiting and lures both work on striped marlin and juvenile blacks, it's generally acknowledged that lure fishing is by far the secret to real success when chasing blue marlin.
And regardless of what some of the detractors of lure fishing think, getting blue marlin up to strike a lure is one of the toughest and rewarding challenges in game fishing.
This is the starting assumption articulated by Bonze Fleet in his article about Blue Marlin, which can be read by clicking on this link.
Skippers and anglers should also take a long look through Steve Campbell's benchmark book "Blue Marlin Magic" before assuming that everything in the Marlin Magazine article will work for them, and then talk to local successful blue marlin anglers before deciding what techniques to use in their campaigns along the edge of Australia's east coast where the blue marlin fishing is some of the toughest, but most rewarding there is.
Friday, 10th November
It looks like being a fairly nondescript weekend, and quite likely, another abandoned Solitary Islands GFC competition day. Never say never of course, but after more than a week of moderate to strong southerly winds, it's going to be hideous out there on the edge of the shelf, even if it's half decent on the beach.
It's a shame that we still get very little by way of glamour days here... if one thing is near perfect, you can probably safely assume that another critical game fishing factor will be out of synch and boats will be forced to sit it out. This doesn't mean that a bit of combat fishing isn't a bad idea at times, but you've also got to make the decision on whether you want to blow a load of diesel on marginal conditions with reduced chances of raising fish, or wait until the odds are more in your favour.
Saturday will have good tides, an OK moon phase for marlin fishing, excellent current with 24C+ water flowing along the shelf, and likely some serious numbers of blue and striped marlin out there keen to play if only it was calm enough to stir upon some decent surface action.
Curiously, after a week of strong winds and a big low passing across the south end of the Tasman, the screen shot from Windguru on the left shows probably the longest swell period I've ever seen here, with the usual 7-10 seconds we see more frequently stretching out to 12-16 seconds, which is really something. A shame there will be a nasty short wind swell overlaying it, because with a groundswell like that, it could be 5 metres high, and as long as there's no wind chop on top of it, not be uncomfortable.
In this case, the groundswell's less than 2 metres, so the only uncomfortable part of it will be the wind chop plus the effect of the current pushing into it and thus standing that mess up.
Fortunately, the forecast for later next week promises several days of excellent fishing weather... so stay tuned.
It's a shame that we still get very little by way of glamour days here... if one thing is near perfect, you can probably safely assume that another critical game fishing factor will be out of synch and boats will be forced to sit it out. This doesn't mean that a bit of combat fishing isn't a bad idea at times, but you've also got to make the decision on whether you want to blow a load of diesel on marginal conditions with reduced chances of raising fish, or wait until the odds are more in your favour.
Saturday will have good tides, an OK moon phase for marlin fishing, excellent current with 24C+ water flowing along the shelf, and likely some serious numbers of blue and striped marlin out there keen to play if only it was calm enough to stir upon some decent surface action.
Curiously, after a week of strong winds and a big low passing across the south end of the Tasman, the screen shot from Windguru on the left shows probably the longest swell period I've ever seen here, with the usual 7-10 seconds we see more frequently stretching out to 12-16 seconds, which is really something. A shame there will be a nasty short wind swell overlaying it, because with a groundswell like that, it could be 5 metres high, and as long as there's no wind chop on top of it, not be uncomfortable.
In this case, the groundswell's less than 2 metres, so the only uncomfortable part of it will be the wind chop plus the effect of the current pushing into it and thus standing that mess up.
Fortunately, the forecast for later next week promises several days of excellent fishing weather... so stay tuned.
Thursday, 9th November
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One look at these new 24-inch wheels and and you can tell they're pretty special. These are the new Veem propellors that are being fitted to Black N Blue as I type this Logbook entry. Readers will recall that BnB's original props gave up the ghost after being exposed to some pretty extreme electrolysis from a nearby alloy boat that was spewing loose voltage all over the place down at the Coffs marina, and by the time they were removed from the boat, they were basically beyond repair.
Veem props are all the go if you're into the absolute latest naval technology, Computational Fluid Dynamics design, 5-axis laser guided milling, and so forth. These props maximise speed, minimise fuel consumption, and for game fishermen, their Sportfishing series minimises cavitation and visible tip vortexes to give you a very clean wake at trolling speeds. Every prop is custom designed and manufactured for each specific boat, engine and mission combination, so whatever boat you run, whatever horsepower you're putting through them, and whatever you do with your boat is all factored in, and only once the company has a full profile do they adapt the design to your boat and go ahead and produce the prop. Nothing off the shelf about these beautiful wheels... What's not to like (other than the cost of course...) ??!! |
Wednesday, 8th November
And the screen shot from Windguru pretty m much says it all... let's hope it changes, but if it doesn't, the Coffs Coast is looking at south to southeast winds which, while not that strong, will sustain sloppy offshore conditions through the weekend and beyond.
So instead of dwelling on our lousy weather, some recommended reading from NOAA... https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/news/the_grander_blue_marlin-a_young_giant.php. This isn an article that tells the story of a 1200+lb blue marlin caught off Hawaii in 2009. When the head of the fish was dissected and the otolith bones examined, the fish was found to be only 20 years old. This is pretty remarkable given that large whales can be 100+ years old, and even those big Mangrove Jacks I see lurking under my boat in the marina can live beyond 40 years of age and still only weigh 5-6kg.
So instead of dwelling on our lousy weather, some recommended reading from NOAA... https://www.pifsc.noaa.gov/news/the_grander_blue_marlin-a_young_giant.php. This isn an article that tells the story of a 1200+lb blue marlin caught off Hawaii in 2009. When the head of the fish was dissected and the otolith bones examined, the fish was found to be only 20 years old. This is pretty remarkable given that large whales can be 100+ years old, and even those big Mangrove Jacks I see lurking under my boat in the marina can live beyond 40 years of age and still only weigh 5-6kg.
Tuesday, 7th November
Here we go again...?
Despite excellent water coming down past Coffs in the EAC, the forecast for the next 10 days has constant southeast winds day after day... not strong enough to make life uncomfortable on the beach, but enough to provide days of the sloppy southeasterly wind swell that makes game fishing on the shelf a totally forgettable experience. Besides, the marlin usually won't bite in those conditions. The screen shot from FishTrack on the left shows just how good the water and current are at the moment, with 25C water off Wooli, and 24.6C water at the Coffs Canyons. And the screen shot on the right shows a pool of 27C water up off Cape Moreton, east of Brisbane. Pretty unusual to see those sort of temperatures up there at this time of year, and it's sure going to provide some more exciting fishing for the Gold Coast boats in a day or so. Hopefully, it's also pointing to an early start to the serious blue marlin fishing south of the border. That said, if we keep seeing persistent southeasterlies here, it's not going to make much difference... So, we're once again only slightly removed from good marlin action to our north... they're catching quite a few fish up on the Gold Coast at the moment, continuing a very steady spring bite. We now have the same water that's been producing marlin up there spilling down to the Coffs Coast, and if you look seawards from any high spot of land here, you'll see very nice coloured sub-tropical shades of blue on the horizon - that's the same horizon that's as rough as hell and punctuated by whitecaps. |
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Monday, 30th October
The game fishing good Samaritan award for the month goes to skipper Andrew McClennan from Ballina. He was fishing off the Tweed Canyons and caught a nice blue marlin that had a longliner circle hook in its mouth... plus the whole trace which the fish had apparently busted off at the clip. After tagging the marlin, they removed the circle hook (no easy job when its attached to a seriously pissed off marlin) and send it on its way. It would have been easy to just cut the trace and leave the hook there, but they carefully took the hook out, and you can bet that the fish is much better off without it.
I know it's my favourite soapbox subject, but the sooner the authorities in Australia totally ban longlining in the Australian EEZ, the better off the marine biomass and the rest of both the sportfishing and local commercial fishing industry will be !
There's a very good documentary story available on the web that describes the astonishing top down beneficial effect that rebuilding the peak predator (the wolf) numbers in Yellowstone Park had on the entire Rocky Mountain ecosystem in that part of Wyoming. It's not drawing too long a bow to suggest that banning longlining in the Australian EEZ and thus starting the rebuilding of the marine food chain would have a similar effect. By eliminating the unsustainable havoc caused by longliners, the peak pelagic fish like sharks, marlin, and tuna could recover to their natural levels, and the flow-on effect right down the biomass would likely be astonishing, not to mention an order of magnitude improvement to the GDP from a resurgent recreational fishing industry
.
Meanwhile, the Solitary Islands GFC had their first competition day on Saturday. The first should have occurred in early September, but almost two months of poor weather has delayed it up to now. It was a great day to be on the water, but sadly, despite once having 200 members and 28 game boats when the club first formed, only four boats set out to fish this competition day. Just a few years back when the club was first established, there would have been at least a dozen...
Anyway, the water conditions were mixed, with the EAC off to the northeast where Foreign Exchange headed to see what was up there. Big mistake...!
As things transpired, the action was on the edge of the shelf at the Coffs Canyons, where there was a bit of a marlin convention. Geeza tagged a nice blue marlin early in the day, and then Alcatraz ended up fighting the things off, going 3 from 5 including a double (that didn't last, but was no doubt pretty exciting for a little while until one of the fish fell off...). By tagging two striped marlin and one blue marlin, the Alcatraz team tagged exactly half the number of competition fish that won the entire season last year. Mind you, it was the worst season on record last year, but tagging half the number of last season's winning fish in just one day does get your attention!
So... things are looking up for the delayed, but now well underway 2017/18 season.
After being totally skunked in the Saturday comp, Foreign Exchange went out again on Sunday to try to redeem a bit of our bruised egos, but once again had a very frustrating day. But at least we raised fish this time - one striped marlin and one blue marlin - but the stripe dithered and never hit a lure despite making three passes at the shotgun, and the blue (hard to be sure, but it behaved like a blue...) hooked up nicely, but then spat the hook after just 30 seconds.
Adding insult to injury, we drove past a couple of circling shearwaters I'd seen from a distance and found a very big blue marlin finning along surfing downswell under the birds. I'd like to think that this fish raised us...
It was probably the biggest blue marlin I'd ever seen off Coffs, and the top of the tail fin that was above the surface was every bit of 30 inches long... the crew reckoned that the tail might have been 6ft from tip to tip!
She stayed on the surface until we were about 5 metres away, then slid underneath the lures which were dragged right past her face. Of course, when you're the peak predator out there, nothing scares you, and very little interests you - including our lures. Hell of a sight...!
The photos below are screen shots from our Garmin VIRB, with the arrow pointing to the large dorsal just before the second marlin of the day hit the rigger lure, and the second photo shows it a split second later as it strikes.
Game fishing... as everyone knows, hours of droning, moments of excitement!
I know it's my favourite soapbox subject, but the sooner the authorities in Australia totally ban longlining in the Australian EEZ, the better off the marine biomass and the rest of both the sportfishing and local commercial fishing industry will be !
There's a very good documentary story available on the web that describes the astonishing top down beneficial effect that rebuilding the peak predator (the wolf) numbers in Yellowstone Park had on the entire Rocky Mountain ecosystem in that part of Wyoming. It's not drawing too long a bow to suggest that banning longlining in the Australian EEZ and thus starting the rebuilding of the marine food chain would have a similar effect. By eliminating the unsustainable havoc caused by longliners, the peak pelagic fish like sharks, marlin, and tuna could recover to their natural levels, and the flow-on effect right down the biomass would likely be astonishing, not to mention an order of magnitude improvement to the GDP from a resurgent recreational fishing industry
.
Meanwhile, the Solitary Islands GFC had their first competition day on Saturday. The first should have occurred in early September, but almost two months of poor weather has delayed it up to now. It was a great day to be on the water, but sadly, despite once having 200 members and 28 game boats when the club first formed, only four boats set out to fish this competition day. Just a few years back when the club was first established, there would have been at least a dozen...
Anyway, the water conditions were mixed, with the EAC off to the northeast where Foreign Exchange headed to see what was up there. Big mistake...!
As things transpired, the action was on the edge of the shelf at the Coffs Canyons, where there was a bit of a marlin convention. Geeza tagged a nice blue marlin early in the day, and then Alcatraz ended up fighting the things off, going 3 from 5 including a double (that didn't last, but was no doubt pretty exciting for a little while until one of the fish fell off...). By tagging two striped marlin and one blue marlin, the Alcatraz team tagged exactly half the number of competition fish that won the entire season last year. Mind you, it was the worst season on record last year, but tagging half the number of last season's winning fish in just one day does get your attention!
So... things are looking up for the delayed, but now well underway 2017/18 season.
After being totally skunked in the Saturday comp, Foreign Exchange went out again on Sunday to try to redeem a bit of our bruised egos, but once again had a very frustrating day. But at least we raised fish this time - one striped marlin and one blue marlin - but the stripe dithered and never hit a lure despite making three passes at the shotgun, and the blue (hard to be sure, but it behaved like a blue...) hooked up nicely, but then spat the hook after just 30 seconds.
Adding insult to injury, we drove past a couple of circling shearwaters I'd seen from a distance and found a very big blue marlin finning along surfing downswell under the birds. I'd like to think that this fish raised us...
It was probably the biggest blue marlin I'd ever seen off Coffs, and the top of the tail fin that was above the surface was every bit of 30 inches long... the crew reckoned that the tail might have been 6ft from tip to tip!
She stayed on the surface until we were about 5 metres away, then slid underneath the lures which were dragged right past her face. Of course, when you're the peak predator out there, nothing scares you, and very little interests you - including our lures. Hell of a sight...!
The photos below are screen shots from our Garmin VIRB, with the arrow pointing to the large dorsal just before the second marlin of the day hit the rigger lure, and the second photo shows it a split second later as it strikes.
Game fishing... as everyone knows, hours of droning, moments of excitement!
Friday, 27th October
Finally, it seems we may be in line for a fishable competition day here on the Coffs Coast. After almost two months of weather blow-outs, this Saturday's forecast indicates that we may finally be in for a classic summer pattern day, with a light offshore breeze in the morning, swinging to a moderate sea breeze in the afternoon.
The East Australian Current is flowing strongly, but is being diverted to the southeast by a large downwelling eddy positioned east of Yamba that has pulled the current away from the edge off the Solitary Islands. The main body of warm (24.5C) water doesn't really start until about 2000 fathoms 25 miles east of South Solitary Island, but there is slightly warmer water about 10 miles closer to shore. The canyons only have water at about 21.8C on them, and no current. That doesn't mean there won't be fish there, as the striped marlin like those temps, so it will probably be more about bait location than anything else.
While regular game fishermen know only too well what is meant by the term, readers who aren't too familiar with the expression "bill-wrapped" may be interested in the photo above from the GanderWatch.com website...
It's a nice underwater shot of a grander black marlin caught this week off Mozambique, and it's a classic bill-wrap hookup.
Marlin often take a slash at prey with their bill, stunning it, or breaking its back so that it becomes immobile when they first strike, after which they circle back and eat it. The fish are deadly accurate, and will usually hit the fish (or in this case, the lure) right across the head, despite the lure moving through the water at a fair clip.
Once the fish hits a lure this way, the hook often flips around as the marlin makes its strike and as the bill drags across the leader, the leader will wrap once or twice around the fish's bill, and with any luck, the point of the hook then digs into the bill and the fish is trapped by the hook embedding in the bill. This is actually the best way of doing little or no damage to the marlin, but conversely, it is also one of the least secure ways to hook a fish, because the bill of a marlin is extremely hard keratin material - much like a rhino horn. No matter how sharp the hook, it's almost impossible for the hook to dig far enough into the bill to sink the barb and thus secure the hook. But the fish will still stay hooked up if there is just one or two wraps of line around the bill keeping the point of the hook securely embedded. However, with only the tip of the hook sticking into the bill, it's not hard to see that if the fish gets any slack line at all during the fight, it only has to shake its head, and this very tenuous hookup will come to nothing as the leader slackens, the wrap unravels, and point of the hook comes free.
And of course there's the worst kind of bill wrap that we see quite frequently, when a marlin takes a swipe at a lure, but the trace only takes a couple of wraps around the bill and temporarily locks over itself without the hook actually digging in. These "hookups" can last anywhere from 3 seconds to 3 minutes, but the outcome in 99% of these bill wraps is for the trace to just slacken off when the fish jumped or turns, and the wrap comes undone... and good bye fish.
All too often, we hear of marlin hooking up, and then dropping the hook after everything looked good and the fish has been apparently securely hooked. When a marlin inexplicably drops off after settling down and the fight progressing normally, the leader will often have the telltale signs of a bill wrap when it's wound back to the boat.
I always consider that any angler, skipper, and traceman team who are able to keep steady pressure on a bill-wrapped fish long enough to get it to the boat and tagged have done an excellent job. Other than a battle with a huge fish that can overwhelm an angler, fighting a bill-wrapped fish is a very difficult exercise, where a really careful touch and good skill are needed by the whole team to achieve a successful outcome.
Most bill-wrapped fish brought to the boat are easy to release, with the hook usually just falling off the bill as soon as the line is unwrapped, and the fish swimming away with no damage to its mouth.
The East Australian Current is flowing strongly, but is being diverted to the southeast by a large downwelling eddy positioned east of Yamba that has pulled the current away from the edge off the Solitary Islands. The main body of warm (24.5C) water doesn't really start until about 2000 fathoms 25 miles east of South Solitary Island, but there is slightly warmer water about 10 miles closer to shore. The canyons only have water at about 21.8C on them, and no current. That doesn't mean there won't be fish there, as the striped marlin like those temps, so it will probably be more about bait location than anything else.
While regular game fishermen know only too well what is meant by the term, readers who aren't too familiar with the expression "bill-wrapped" may be interested in the photo above from the GanderWatch.com website...
It's a nice underwater shot of a grander black marlin caught this week off Mozambique, and it's a classic bill-wrap hookup.
Marlin often take a slash at prey with their bill, stunning it, or breaking its back so that it becomes immobile when they first strike, after which they circle back and eat it. The fish are deadly accurate, and will usually hit the fish (or in this case, the lure) right across the head, despite the lure moving through the water at a fair clip.
Once the fish hits a lure this way, the hook often flips around as the marlin makes its strike and as the bill drags across the leader, the leader will wrap once or twice around the fish's bill, and with any luck, the point of the hook then digs into the bill and the fish is trapped by the hook embedding in the bill. This is actually the best way of doing little or no damage to the marlin, but conversely, it is also one of the least secure ways to hook a fish, because the bill of a marlin is extremely hard keratin material - much like a rhino horn. No matter how sharp the hook, it's almost impossible for the hook to dig far enough into the bill to sink the barb and thus secure the hook. But the fish will still stay hooked up if there is just one or two wraps of line around the bill keeping the point of the hook securely embedded. However, with only the tip of the hook sticking into the bill, it's not hard to see that if the fish gets any slack line at all during the fight, it only has to shake its head, and this very tenuous hookup will come to nothing as the leader slackens, the wrap unravels, and point of the hook comes free.
And of course there's the worst kind of bill wrap that we see quite frequently, when a marlin takes a swipe at a lure, but the trace only takes a couple of wraps around the bill and temporarily locks over itself without the hook actually digging in. These "hookups" can last anywhere from 3 seconds to 3 minutes, but the outcome in 99% of these bill wraps is for the trace to just slacken off when the fish jumped or turns, and the wrap comes undone... and good bye fish.
All too often, we hear of marlin hooking up, and then dropping the hook after everything looked good and the fish has been apparently securely hooked. When a marlin inexplicably drops off after settling down and the fight progressing normally, the leader will often have the telltale signs of a bill wrap when it's wound back to the boat.
I always consider that any angler, skipper, and traceman team who are able to keep steady pressure on a bill-wrapped fish long enough to get it to the boat and tagged have done an excellent job. Other than a battle with a huge fish that can overwhelm an angler, fighting a bill-wrapped fish is a very difficult exercise, where a really careful touch and good skill are needed by the whole team to achieve a successful outcome.
Most bill-wrapped fish brought to the boat are easy to release, with the hook usually just falling off the bill as soon as the line is unwrapped, and the fish swimming away with no damage to its mouth.
Thursday, 26th October
OK... so we're 48 hours away from what is shaping up to be the first fishable game fishing club competition day since the season started almost 2 months ago.
The EAC is flowing nicely, albeit taking a minor dart out to deeper water as it approaches the Coffs Coast, but it has 25C water in it as it crosses the border to the north, and 24C water abeam Wooli.
The forecast says that both Saturday and Sunday are typically good days for game fishing, so there's a backup should Saturday fall in a heap. Light breezes forecast both mornings, a moderate seabreeze developing each afternoon, but by and large, good days compared to the rubbish weather that's blighted all attempts to get the season kick started so far.
Results this week have been mixed from the couple of boats that fished south of the border, with blue marlin caught off Ballina as reported below, but Better than Vegas getting skunked off Coffs a couple of days ago, so it's going to be a real lottery out there with very little to go on other than luck and the skippers' ideas of where fish might be.
Stay tuned and be ready...
The EAC is flowing nicely, albeit taking a minor dart out to deeper water as it approaches the Coffs Coast, but it has 25C water in it as it crosses the border to the north, and 24C water abeam Wooli.
The forecast says that both Saturday and Sunday are typically good days for game fishing, so there's a backup should Saturday fall in a heap. Light breezes forecast both mornings, a moderate seabreeze developing each afternoon, but by and large, good days compared to the rubbish weather that's blighted all attempts to get the season kick started so far.
Results this week have been mixed from the couple of boats that fished south of the border, with blue marlin caught off Ballina as reported below, but Better than Vegas getting skunked off Coffs a couple of days ago, so it's going to be a real lottery out there with very little to go on other than luck and the skippers' ideas of where fish might be.
Stay tuned and be ready...
Tuesday, 24th October
While we all anxiously watch the ever-changing forecast for the coming weekend game fishing competition day, there's a new short article posted on the Coastal Venturi Effect that constantly plays havoc with the strength of the wind blowing along the Coffs Coast. It might help explain to some readers just why we seem to have localised winds blowing off Coffs Harbour that all too often exceed the forecast wind by a significant amount.
Monday, 23rd October
As if to verify my thoughts on game fishing just about anywhere north of 30 South as expressed in the Fishtrack screen shot shown in yesterday's entry, Ballina locals Marc Sams and Andrew McClellan decided to take advantage of today's forecast and go and chase marlin in Andrew's new boat.
Under the circumstances, their plan was probably flawless.... take the boat up to Tweed Heads, launch it there where everybody has been catching marlin all winter, then fish down south to Ballina. They drove out into less than stellar conditions, but at least it was fishable, and as soon as they got the the edge of the shelf, things calmed down noticeably. After arriving at the Tweed Canyons and getting the lures out in 150fa in nice blue water at 23.7C, they only had to wait 15 minutes on the run south when they drove straight over two blue marlin, both of which obliged by hooking up - a double blue marlin hookup! Hell of a way to start the season... I tell you, the fishing up at the border and beyond continues to impress! Anyway, with only two of them on board, things got pretty busy, but the two fish settled in, and it was only about halfway through the festivities that Andrew's fish spat the hook after giving a good impression of being solidly hooked up for some time. They eventually got Marc's blue in and tagged and released, but not until it had inflicted the first battle scar on Andrew's brand new gelcoat. The fish was about 2.3m short, which put it around the 110kg mark. Unfortunately, it was bleeding from the gills despite turning up at the boat hooked in the mouth, so it had probably swallowed the lure and the hook might have done a bit of damage before slipping back up its throat and grabbing the jaw. Still, hopefully it will survive and go on to cruise along the NSW coast with all the other blues that seem to be in these pulses of good 24C water that have started to show up on the radar in the last couple of weeks. Well done Andrew and Sam... neither are members of local Coffs clubs, but any blue marlin south of the border is newsworthy at the moment, and should provide some very real encouragement to local anglers planning to fish this coming Saturday's club competition... if only of course, this diabolical weather just gives us half a break. |
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Sunday, 22nd October
Things have been little improved since the last entry in the logbook, with more of the southerly winds that trash up the ocean off the Coffs Coast, and just for good measure, more rain than anyone who was complaining here recently about the dry conditions would have been wishing for.
While it's obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek, the doctored FishTrack SST shot from yesterday says it all as far as the past few days went.
Still, the week ahead has some days in the lineup that are looking reasonably fishable, and the East Australian Current is pushing good 24C water down the northern NSW coast. The last time we had a pulse of water like that slide down the edge of the continental shelf a couple of weeks ago, Scott Klinger fishing out of Yamba just to our north raised 5 marlin.
If anyone can find crew on a weekday, then tomorrow would be worth a run out to the edge to meet that pulse of 24C water as it passes Coffs.
Meanwhile, at least there's some good news - even though it's from the other side of the planet.
Erstwhile French marine biologist and game fisherman Bill François has also been battling lousy weather in the Mediterranean where regular readers will know that among his many game fishing exploits, he fishes for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. With only one decent weather day in two weeks recently, Bill and his crew went out and managed a very nice 4-4-4 on bluefin, all mid-60 to mid-80 kilo range. The bluefin can change mood from one day to the next, hammering lures one minute, then ignoring them the next day. In this instance, Bill got these fish cubing. Nice work Bill...!
Great photo from Bill of one of the larger of the four fish below.
While it's obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek, the doctored FishTrack SST shot from yesterday says it all as far as the past few days went.
Still, the week ahead has some days in the lineup that are looking reasonably fishable, and the East Australian Current is pushing good 24C water down the northern NSW coast. The last time we had a pulse of water like that slide down the edge of the continental shelf a couple of weeks ago, Scott Klinger fishing out of Yamba just to our north raised 5 marlin.
If anyone can find crew on a weekday, then tomorrow would be worth a run out to the edge to meet that pulse of 24C water as it passes Coffs.
Meanwhile, at least there's some good news - even though it's from the other side of the planet.
Erstwhile French marine biologist and game fisherman Bill François has also been battling lousy weather in the Mediterranean where regular readers will know that among his many game fishing exploits, he fishes for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. With only one decent weather day in two weeks recently, Bill and his crew went out and managed a very nice 4-4-4 on bluefin, all mid-60 to mid-80 kilo range. The bluefin can change mood from one day to the next, hammering lures one minute, then ignoring them the next day. In this instance, Bill got these fish cubing. Nice work Bill...!
Great photo from Bill of one of the larger of the four fish below.
Saturday, 14th October
A very, very disappointing day out game fishing yesterday... probably shouldn't have gone with a southeast wind in the forecast, but with visiting anglers wanting to see a marlin, the boat needing to get its feet wet, and the eternal optimism that Coffs Coast game fishermen are increasingly finding necessary, we went for a run. Mistake!
The forecast for the edge of the continental shelf said 8-12 knots from the east southeast, which is pretty true for what was happening on the beach, but we drove out into 15g18 knots and some incredible southeast slop for a very rough trip to the edge, where things were only marginally better. The water was cool, but clear, and running downswell was the only way to fish comfortably, but after all, we were there, so why not...?
The wind dropped off at 1000 and started to look promising with the seas calming down, when rain squalls and 18knots of wind wiped out the briefly promising conditions.
No sign of a bite then, and despite the conditions belatedly clearing up and calming down by 1400, it was too late. No birds working, no dolphins, and the large columns of bait on the top edge of the continental shelf were totally marlin free. Even the birds and dolphins weren't interested in any of the large schools of bait.
No current flow at all on the deep side of the shelf out to 500 fathoms, and only a light downhill current on the top of the shelf. 23C in the current, and getting colder the further out you went.
The final insult was not being able to even pull a mahimahi off any of the trap floats.
When will this end...?? With just one of the boats fishing to the north on the Gold Coast going 6-5-3 on blue marlin yesterday, we might as well be on another planet.
I know most readers have seen the cartoon on the left before.... but sadly, it's just as relevant now as when I first published it in The Logbook over a year ago...
And while we're talking about lousy weather and the inevitable segue some proponents would make into the climate change discussion, here's some excellent reading on the subject...
Firstly, there is only one molecule of CO2 for every 2500 molecules of other gases in the atmosphere.
Secondly, objective analysis of data reveals a high probability that the correlation between CO2 concentration and temperature in the atmosphere is zero. In other words, CO2 has no effect on temperature.
Thirdly, comparison of rates of change of atmospheric CO2 relative to temperature provides a significant possibility that temperature controls the rate of change of CO2 concentration rather than the opposite.
Fourthly, dissolved CO2 in the oceans of the world far exceeds CO2 in the atmosphere, and as noted above, CO2 stored and released from the oceans is a function of the ocean temperature, not the opposite.
Finally, the auto-correlation function for the temperature and rate of change of CO2 consists of a periodic signal of 42 months - this is exactly the period for the El Niño effect, and there's an emerging argument that El Niño driven temperature change in fact drives CO2 variations.
The forecast for the edge of the continental shelf said 8-12 knots from the east southeast, which is pretty true for what was happening on the beach, but we drove out into 15g18 knots and some incredible southeast slop for a very rough trip to the edge, where things were only marginally better. The water was cool, but clear, and running downswell was the only way to fish comfortably, but after all, we were there, so why not...?
The wind dropped off at 1000 and started to look promising with the seas calming down, when rain squalls and 18knots of wind wiped out the briefly promising conditions.
No sign of a bite then, and despite the conditions belatedly clearing up and calming down by 1400, it was too late. No birds working, no dolphins, and the large columns of bait on the top edge of the continental shelf were totally marlin free. Even the birds and dolphins weren't interested in any of the large schools of bait.
No current flow at all on the deep side of the shelf out to 500 fathoms, and only a light downhill current on the top of the shelf. 23C in the current, and getting colder the further out you went.
The final insult was not being able to even pull a mahimahi off any of the trap floats.
When will this end...?? With just one of the boats fishing to the north on the Gold Coast going 6-5-3 on blue marlin yesterday, we might as well be on another planet.
I know most readers have seen the cartoon on the left before.... but sadly, it's just as relevant now as when I first published it in The Logbook over a year ago...
And while we're talking about lousy weather and the inevitable segue some proponents would make into the climate change discussion, here's some excellent reading on the subject...
Firstly, there is only one molecule of CO2 for every 2500 molecules of other gases in the atmosphere.
Secondly, objective analysis of data reveals a high probability that the correlation between CO2 concentration and temperature in the atmosphere is zero. In other words, CO2 has no effect on temperature.
Thirdly, comparison of rates of change of atmospheric CO2 relative to temperature provides a significant possibility that temperature controls the rate of change of CO2 concentration rather than the opposite.
Fourthly, dissolved CO2 in the oceans of the world far exceeds CO2 in the atmosphere, and as noted above, CO2 stored and released from the oceans is a function of the ocean temperature, not the opposite.
Finally, the auto-correlation function for the temperature and rate of change of CO2 consists of a periodic signal of 42 months - this is exactly the period for the El Niño effect, and there's an emerging argument that El Niño driven temperature change in fact drives CO2 variations.
Wednesday, 11th October
It's becoming acutely frustrating watching the forecast for this weekend changing back and forth between fishable and nasty every 24 hours or so for the past week.
Once again, it's now gone from good for the weekend yesterday to a nasty southeasterly of over 20 knots from Saturday to Monday, pretty much trashing any game fishing options if it doesn't change for the better.
Southeasterlies really are a nasty wind on the Coffs Coast, blowing into the East Australian Current, usually standing the swell up and generating a huge amount of random short period chop that just has boats falling off the back of waves and slapping into short troughs, and that's before you even start to consider the fact that the bite usually shuts down whenever there's a breeze with a southerly component blowing here.
Maybe it will change again in the 48 hours remaining before the clubs go out for their scheduled competition day on Saturday.
On the glass-half-full side of the page, local game boat Better than Vegas was out today and raised an encouraging collection of fish. Two striped marlin, one of which just mouthed a lure and left, the other charging in to hit a lure but never hooking up, and that action was punctuated by a hit from a mako shark and a mahimahi.
So at least they're out there - and that's despite current flowing uphill, and water temperatures much lower than expected because the pool of great 24C water that had been sitting off the coast had gone.
That said, with a forecast that indicates marginally fishable conditions on Friday, a boat that hasn't had a swim for too long, some frustrated anglers who are prepared to give it a go, and encouraged by Better than Vegas' results, Foreign Exchange is planning to get out there for a look before it all goes to hell again... stay tuned.
Once again, it's now gone from good for the weekend yesterday to a nasty southeasterly of over 20 knots from Saturday to Monday, pretty much trashing any game fishing options if it doesn't change for the better.
Southeasterlies really are a nasty wind on the Coffs Coast, blowing into the East Australian Current, usually standing the swell up and generating a huge amount of random short period chop that just has boats falling off the back of waves and slapping into short troughs, and that's before you even start to consider the fact that the bite usually shuts down whenever there's a breeze with a southerly component blowing here.
Maybe it will change again in the 48 hours remaining before the clubs go out for their scheduled competition day on Saturday.
On the glass-half-full side of the page, local game boat Better than Vegas was out today and raised an encouraging collection of fish. Two striped marlin, one of which just mouthed a lure and left, the other charging in to hit a lure but never hooking up, and that action was punctuated by a hit from a mako shark and a mahimahi.
So at least they're out there - and that's despite current flowing uphill, and water temperatures much lower than expected because the pool of great 24C water that had been sitting off the coast had gone.
That said, with a forecast that indicates marginally fishable conditions on Friday, a boat that hasn't had a swim for too long, some frustrated anglers who are prepared to give it a go, and encouraged by Better than Vegas' results, Foreign Exchange is planning to get out there for a look before it all goes to hell again... stay tuned.
Tuesday, 10th October
This week, Cairns game boat Hellraiser was fishing the outer reef for heavy tackle black marlin and had a helluva day (pun intended...). The fishing was excellent, but the photos were spectacular, largely thanks to them using a drone to record the action once the fish was close to the boat.
There's little doubt that drones are the stepping stone to a new level of awesome game fishing photos and video, and without one, most of what once impressed you about marlin videos and game fishing action is going to seem pretty plain vanilla from now on.
In the two photos below, you can see the drone getting right in the face of the big black marlin as it runs away from the boat at one stage, and the second photo is what the drone was recording - typical of what you get with a drone. You can just imagine what the video is going to look like!
There's little doubt that drones are the stepping stone to a new level of awesome game fishing photos and video, and without one, most of what once impressed you about marlin videos and game fishing action is going to seem pretty plain vanilla from now on.
In the two photos below, you can see the drone getting right in the face of the big black marlin as it runs away from the boat at one stage, and the second photo is what the drone was recording - typical of what you get with a drone. You can just imagine what the video is going to look like!
Monday, 9th October
I spent some time yesterday afternoon having a sports drink and a chat on the back of Aspro - a 40ft Blackwatch beautifully rigged for game fishing that hails from the south coast of NSW and was paling through Coffs Harbour. The owner, Geoff Brookes, is one of the south coast's better known game fishing charter skippers, and he was taking his boat down home after spending the cooler winter months fishing out of Mooloolaba.
While doing what game fishermen do - talking about marlin fishing - Geoff mentioned that the last season on the south coast was the worst he's seen in many years of game fishing, and laid the blame squarely on the two big commercial fishing operations that have the most impact on game fishing on the east coast.
Firstly, the large commercial factory trawler Geelong Star spent much of last season fishing for baitfish off the south coast, and in that relatively short time apparently devastated the baitfish stocks to the point where the usual bait balls that attract the striped marlin and YFT simply weren't to be seen anywhere. Of course you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out that the marlin are there on their annual circuit of the Tasman and Coral Seas to feed and breed, and if there's nothing to eat, they'll go elsewhere.
Apparently the days of sitting on the once-plentiful bait balls off Bermagui and looking over the side to see half a dozen blue streaks working the edges of the bait are just a memory, as are the days of catching yellowfin tuna in numbers. Hopefully not a permanent situation.
As if that wasn't enough, the longliners are now often setting their lines in just 80 fathoms and catching most of the remaining YFT before the fish travel very far up the coast - certainly before the game boats have a chance to get among what's left of them.
The only bright spot was the appearance of some big bluefin tuna recently, but it hasn't made up for the lack of striped marlin or yellowfin, and so while Aspro used to focus mainly on game fishing charters, they're now doing mostly bottom-bashing trips for the punters.
So if these wrecking ball super trawler operators can convince the government to continue to license their giant boats with their giant nets to sweep the pelagic bait off the continental shelf up here on the north coast, it's anyone's guess where the blue and juvenile black marlin will go to find the food that brings them down from the north on their annual passage along the edge of the shelf off Coffs Harbour...
But enough negativity... the forecast for next weekend's competition day has improved enough to start looking fishable after originally looking like hell as shown on the Windguru screen shot below. If the improved forecast for next Saturday holds, there should be a reasonable quorum of frustrated game fishermen out there to see what's shaking, and if that recent report from Yamba was the start of a decent bite here, maybe there'll be some good news for a change.
Also... a report from Ballina just to hand from Andrew McLennan. They went out hoping to find the sort of action that Scott Klinger drove into off Yamba, but despite finding very large schools of sauries along the top of the shelf in 35fa, couldn't find any water over 20C, so they pressed on out over the edge. However, despite driving into 22.5C water out in 250fa, there was no action - no bait, no birds, no dolphins, and certainly no marlin. The consolation prize came in the form of a decent feed of snapper and pearl perch when they stopped to drop a few baits down on one of the reefs, but it was still surprising that there was no billfish action.
While doing what game fishermen do - talking about marlin fishing - Geoff mentioned that the last season on the south coast was the worst he's seen in many years of game fishing, and laid the blame squarely on the two big commercial fishing operations that have the most impact on game fishing on the east coast.
Firstly, the large commercial factory trawler Geelong Star spent much of last season fishing for baitfish off the south coast, and in that relatively short time apparently devastated the baitfish stocks to the point where the usual bait balls that attract the striped marlin and YFT simply weren't to be seen anywhere. Of course you don't have to be a rocket scientist to work out that the marlin are there on their annual circuit of the Tasman and Coral Seas to feed and breed, and if there's nothing to eat, they'll go elsewhere.
Apparently the days of sitting on the once-plentiful bait balls off Bermagui and looking over the side to see half a dozen blue streaks working the edges of the bait are just a memory, as are the days of catching yellowfin tuna in numbers. Hopefully not a permanent situation.
As if that wasn't enough, the longliners are now often setting their lines in just 80 fathoms and catching most of the remaining YFT before the fish travel very far up the coast - certainly before the game boats have a chance to get among what's left of them.
The only bright spot was the appearance of some big bluefin tuna recently, but it hasn't made up for the lack of striped marlin or yellowfin, and so while Aspro used to focus mainly on game fishing charters, they're now doing mostly bottom-bashing trips for the punters.
So if these wrecking ball super trawler operators can convince the government to continue to license their giant boats with their giant nets to sweep the pelagic bait off the continental shelf up here on the north coast, it's anyone's guess where the blue and juvenile black marlin will go to find the food that brings them down from the north on their annual passage along the edge of the shelf off Coffs Harbour...
But enough negativity... the forecast for next weekend's competition day has improved enough to start looking fishable after originally looking like hell as shown on the Windguru screen shot below. If the improved forecast for next Saturday holds, there should be a reasonable quorum of frustrated game fishermen out there to see what's shaking, and if that recent report from Yamba was the start of a decent bite here, maybe there'll be some good news for a change.
Also... a report from Ballina just to hand from Andrew McLennan. They went out hoping to find the sort of action that Scott Klinger drove into off Yamba, but despite finding very large schools of sauries along the top of the shelf in 35fa, couldn't find any water over 20C, so they pressed on out over the edge. However, despite driving into 22.5C water out in 250fa, there was no action - no bait, no birds, no dolphins, and certainly no marlin. The consolation prize came in the form of a decent feed of snapper and pearl perch when they stopped to drop a few baits down on one of the reefs, but it was still surprising that there was no billfish action.
Sunday, 8th October
The 5-3-0 result off Yamba that I mentioned in the Logbook earlier this week turned out to be one of the Solitary Islands GFC's newest boats, Ghetto, with skipper Scott Klinger out for a day with crew Damien Cliffe. Ghetto is based in Yamba, so it makes sense that they were the first to report some action so far this season.
I got the original story second hand and hadn't known to check with Scott, so here's the word directly from the skipper...
They obviously had a good day despite not tagging a single fish. These are the first marlin that I've heard of this season south of the Queensland border, which is most encouraging. Good water and current, and they had 5 fish up in the spread during the day. Four of them were striped marlin that spent a lot of time swatting lures for minutes on end in one case, and when two of them did hook up, it was typical bill-wrap or mouthing stuff, with the fish pulling a bit of string and then dropping off just when they thought there was a solid hookup.
The fish that did hook up well turned out to be the only blue marlin of the day (great news that the blues are working their way down..!!), but when they got it close to the boat the line simply went slack and the fish disappeared. They never saw what happened, but when they pulled the line in, it was sliced cleanly just 6 inches down from the swivel - nowhere near the marlin. Bit early for a wahoo, and probably too far away from the marlin to have been a shark... so who knows??
Regardless of the zero result, it was a hell of a day's fishing for a local game boat, and the best day of the season to be reported so far.
I got the original story second hand and hadn't known to check with Scott, so here's the word directly from the skipper...
They obviously had a good day despite not tagging a single fish. These are the first marlin that I've heard of this season south of the Queensland border, which is most encouraging. Good water and current, and they had 5 fish up in the spread during the day. Four of them were striped marlin that spent a lot of time swatting lures for minutes on end in one case, and when two of them did hook up, it was typical bill-wrap or mouthing stuff, with the fish pulling a bit of string and then dropping off just when they thought there was a solid hookup.
The fish that did hook up well turned out to be the only blue marlin of the day (great news that the blues are working their way down..!!), but when they got it close to the boat the line simply went slack and the fish disappeared. They never saw what happened, but when they pulled the line in, it was sliced cleanly just 6 inches down from the swivel - nowhere near the marlin. Bit early for a wahoo, and probably too far away from the marlin to have been a shark... so who knows??
Regardless of the zero result, it was a hell of a day's fishing for a local game boat, and the best day of the season to be reported so far.
Saturday, 7th October
The Windguru screen shot of this week's forecast for the Coffs North Canyons on the left shows the classic Northern NSW coastal forecast dilemma which seems to have been a feature of game fishing here for the past couple of years... a couple of days of near perfect game fishing weather during the working week, with a transition to poor conditions on weekends.
This is all very well if you're retired, and if your crew members are either self-employed or retired and therefore free to fish whenever a weather window like this opens up. But for the average angler, the weekday is a workday, and the weekends are for the fun stuff, so it's what's forecast for Saturdays and Sundays that gets their attention.
I should note that in the extremely dynamic meteorological environment we live with here, the forecast shown on the left will almost certainly change between now and next weekend, and only rarely does a forecast trend that appears on the timeline a week out ever last and become reality.
Compare this to well-known locations with more stable climatic conditions and a far less volatile coastal environment where you can plan an outdoor BBQ, game fishing day, or surfing trip a month in advance... like on the southern California coast, where you know it's going to dawn clear and calm with glass-off conditions offshore and only a light sea breeze late in the afternoon month after month. Ditto in Hawaii or almost any other mid-Pacific island, where for at least six months of the year the tradewinds will push through in the afternoon after a tranquil start to the day. It's like Groundhog Day in those places, and having fished and lived in California, Hawaii, Vanuatu, and even Darwin to name a few of those great angling locations with stable and even Groundhog Day climate regularity, I sure do miss them.
So far, the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club has lost roughly 30% of its nominated Saturday competition days here on the Coffs Coast of NSW for the past three years in a row. So far this season, we're running at 100%, although that can only change for the better, and as our season is only one month old, it's hardly a fair statistic.
And while the underlying climate itself doesn't really seem to be changing in any meaningful way here, the volatility and variability sure seems to be heading upward...
The latest satellite shots show 23C water has moved southwards this week and is now sitting off the Solitary Islands. So if any boats do get out during the calmer days forecast for later this week, maybe some of that action reported off Yamba midweek will be waiting out there for them.
This is all very well if you're retired, and if your crew members are either self-employed or retired and therefore free to fish whenever a weather window like this opens up. But for the average angler, the weekday is a workday, and the weekends are for the fun stuff, so it's what's forecast for Saturdays and Sundays that gets their attention.
I should note that in the extremely dynamic meteorological environment we live with here, the forecast shown on the left will almost certainly change between now and next weekend, and only rarely does a forecast trend that appears on the timeline a week out ever last and become reality.
Compare this to well-known locations with more stable climatic conditions and a far less volatile coastal environment where you can plan an outdoor BBQ, game fishing day, or surfing trip a month in advance... like on the southern California coast, where you know it's going to dawn clear and calm with glass-off conditions offshore and only a light sea breeze late in the afternoon month after month. Ditto in Hawaii or almost any other mid-Pacific island, where for at least six months of the year the tradewinds will push through in the afternoon after a tranquil start to the day. It's like Groundhog Day in those places, and having fished and lived in California, Hawaii, Vanuatu, and even Darwin to name a few of those great angling locations with stable and even Groundhog Day climate regularity, I sure do miss them.
So far, the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club has lost roughly 30% of its nominated Saturday competition days here on the Coffs Coast of NSW for the past three years in a row. So far this season, we're running at 100%, although that can only change for the better, and as our season is only one month old, it's hardly a fair statistic.
And while the underlying climate itself doesn't really seem to be changing in any meaningful way here, the volatility and variability sure seems to be heading upward...
The latest satellite shots show 23C water has moved southwards this week and is now sitting off the Solitary Islands. So if any boats do get out during the calmer days forecast for later this week, maybe some of that action reported off Yamba midweek will be waiting out there for them.
Thursday, 5 October
With regular reports of marlin being caught off Fraser Island by well-known Gold Coast boat Mistress, it's pretty much a sure thing that the fish are concentrated up there waiting for a breakthrough. This will inevitably happen, but in the meantime, the occasional isolated burst of action does take place when we get a pulse of good water that washes down the edge of the continental shelf as far south as northern NSW.
It's now about the time of year when intermittent reports of blue marlin being raised south of the Queensland border start to filter through, and while it may be a false start, a report today of a boat out of Yamba finding good water and going 5-3-0 on mystery marlin, with one confirmed blue lost near the boat is extremely encouraging.
We may have had more confirmation if Hemingway hadn't popped a cooling water hose on the way out of the harbour at Coffs this morning. While it earned skipper Marcus Blackwell a mention in this season's Golden Paddle awards after he was towed back to harbour, it looks like his trouble was only a sticking cap release valve on the coolant tank, and that the engine wasn't fried.
With glamour days like today and yesterday going begging without anybody out there dragging lures around, this is exactly the time of year when the possibilities are endless and the game fleet skippers start to get a bit antsy waiting for a few fishable days on weekends when crew are available.
Stay tuned...
It's now about the time of year when intermittent reports of blue marlin being raised south of the Queensland border start to filter through, and while it may be a false start, a report today of a boat out of Yamba finding good water and going 5-3-0 on mystery marlin, with one confirmed blue lost near the boat is extremely encouraging.
We may have had more confirmation if Hemingway hadn't popped a cooling water hose on the way out of the harbour at Coffs this morning. While it earned skipper Marcus Blackwell a mention in this season's Golden Paddle awards after he was towed back to harbour, it looks like his trouble was only a sticking cap release valve on the coolant tank, and that the engine wasn't fried.
With glamour days like today and yesterday going begging without anybody out there dragging lures around, this is exactly the time of year when the possibilities are endless and the game fleet skippers start to get a bit antsy waiting for a few fishable days on weekends when crew are available.
Stay tuned...
Tuesday, 3rd October
I've had a bit of feedback about the water colour and quality issues I've been whining about below, and the Ekman effect that is at the heart of it. You can read about Ekman elsewhere on this website. Many people simply want to put it down to floodwater plumes from coastal rivers, or algal blooms, which in many cases the water discolouration seen along the continental shelf can in fact be. But when there's been no rain for weeks and the algae and chlorophyl blooms do not show up on the satellite images, the only culprit is the rolling over of the shelf water which results from continuous northerly winds.
I thought I'd just try to show how stark the contrast can be by going back through my photo library to some of the extremes on the colour scale. The photos of brown water were taken last week, and the cobalt "marlin blue" shots interspersed were taken at various times over the past couple of years on the sort of day that lifts your spirits and takes your breath away. No photoshopping here either.
I thought I'd just try to show how stark the contrast can be by going back through my photo library to some of the extremes on the colour scale. The photos of brown water were taken last week, and the cobalt "marlin blue" shots interspersed were taken at various times over the past couple of years on the sort of day that lifts your spirits and takes your breath away. No photoshopping here either.
Monday, 2nd October
While there have been no attention-grabbing news items relating to game fishing off the Solitary Coast this past week, at least daylight summer time has arrived. The extra hour that game fishermen gain to fish their summer schedule means that competitions start and finish in a better daylight window that still allows them to get back to the marina, clean their boats up, and get to the Marlin Bar during daylight hours. Not that the fish care mind you, but there's a lot to be said for starting daily competitions closer to dawn while the fish are still hungry and looking for early action.
This weekend past I've been working with a new game fishing club software package from itsfishing.com. This is a very handy program that allows a club to maintain membership databases, scoring programs, tournament operations files, and all manner of information all in a package that uses its own cloud storage to allow club administration and its members to access a huge amount of information, including pointscores, and will shortly allow (via a soon-to-be-released mobile phone app) anglers to log on to check tournament scores in real time. In a few months, they should even be able to check out the position in real time of other boats in the club fleet, much like they can at the moment using the AIS system. .
And what's happening out there on the edge of the continental shelf...? Nothing to report, but there might be a boat or two heading out later this week if the forecast holds. The countdown to the first marlin of the season is now on... maybe clubs should have a special award for this... it might see crews get into it sooner.
Alcatraz travelled from Yamba to Coffs Harbour today, but didn't fish. However, skipper James McGinty saw plenty of surface bait on the way down, so given that there was none at all out there a few days ago, this is a positive sign, and with a lot of rain overnight, 24C water off the northern NSW coast, and reasonable current flow, next weekend's good forecast could encourage some boats to go out and fish in pretty positive conditions...
This weekend past I've been working with a new game fishing club software package from itsfishing.com. This is a very handy program that allows a club to maintain membership databases, scoring programs, tournament operations files, and all manner of information all in a package that uses its own cloud storage to allow club administration and its members to access a huge amount of information, including pointscores, and will shortly allow (via a soon-to-be-released mobile phone app) anglers to log on to check tournament scores in real time. In a few months, they should even be able to check out the position in real time of other boats in the club fleet, much like they can at the moment using the AIS system. .
And what's happening out there on the edge of the continental shelf...? Nothing to report, but there might be a boat or two heading out later this week if the forecast holds. The countdown to the first marlin of the season is now on... maybe clubs should have a special award for this... it might see crews get into it sooner.
Alcatraz travelled from Yamba to Coffs Harbour today, but didn't fish. However, skipper James McGinty saw plenty of surface bait on the way down, so given that there was none at all out there a few days ago, this is a positive sign, and with a lot of rain overnight, 24C water off the northern NSW coast, and reasonable current flow, next weekend's good forecast could encourage some boats to go out and fish in pretty positive conditions...
Tuesday, 26th September
We ran Foreign Exchange down from Yamba to Coffs Harbour yesterday. The forecast was less than encouraging, but we pushed out over the Clarence River bar anyway, and drove into a nasty ocean that was rough, green, totally uninviting, and more or less unfishable thanks to a strong northerly and a 2-3 metre groundswell. And it was empty... or at least that's what it seemed. If conditions had been better, there might have been marlin, but they weren't coming up to play on the surface in that lot.
After several hours of being rolled around and watching lures flying out of the waves with no sign of bait or surface activity, a 2kg striped tuna with lofty ambitions hooked up on a Jennings Flyer lure with an 8/0 hook that should never have fitted into its mouth.
Even after the weather finally calmed down to a less blustery 15 knots, we arrived off the Coffs Coast to find that the last few days of northerly breezes had induced a strong Ekman effect, and the water inside 50 fathoms had rolled over. We were driving through brown/green sludge that was the worst colour we'd ever seen out there... so we pulled the gear in and motored into Coffs.
The weather continues to thwart attempts to get the game fishing season started here, and much more of these all-too-familiar conditions will have a dire effect on the already low morale of Coffs game fishermen. Hopefully, this too will pass...
After several hours of being rolled around and watching lures flying out of the waves with no sign of bait or surface activity, a 2kg striped tuna with lofty ambitions hooked up on a Jennings Flyer lure with an 8/0 hook that should never have fitted into its mouth.
Even after the weather finally calmed down to a less blustery 15 knots, we arrived off the Coffs Coast to find that the last few days of northerly breezes had induced a strong Ekman effect, and the water inside 50 fathoms had rolled over. We were driving through brown/green sludge that was the worst colour we'd ever seen out there... so we pulled the gear in and motored into Coffs.
The weather continues to thwart attempts to get the game fishing season started here, and much more of these all-too-familiar conditions will have a dire effect on the already low morale of Coffs game fishermen. Hopefully, this too will pass...
Sunday, 24th September
The average game fisherman is always trying to consider the multiple factors that seem to have an influence on the way the big fish we chase behave. While many of these factors such as weather, food, ocean temperatures and currents are pretty much a no-brainer, they're just some of the things under the "environment" umbrella that we don't always take full advantage of.
In this case, let's talk about the structure of the ocean floor. We all know that the sub-surface terrain is a big part of the game fishing puzzle, and everyone with a sounder, a GPS plotter and a local marine map database knows that undersea structure often has a huge effect on the presence of marlin, particularly when that structure interacts with currents, tides, and bait aggregations. Undersea structure can hold bait, cause nutrient upwellings, provide protection, or even possibly (as is already suspected with migratory patterns) provide landmarks and waypoints that appear to have been used by the collective "memory" of whales and other oceanic species as they move around the oceans of the world.
Contemporary GPS plotters use digital databases that can often be hopelessly out of date if they've just been sitting in your plotter for a year or two without updating. And while this didn't used to be such a big deal given the paucity of reliable information and the currency of undersea terrain data just a decade ago, this has changed very much in recent years.
There are oceanic survey ships that gather 3D seafloor terrain data in unheard of quantities, with astonishing accuracy, every time they go to sea. Other shipping and even recreational vessels with the latest generation of sounders and plotters also store information about every metre of seafloor they pass over and then upload that to central databases every time the vessel owner plugs the plotter chip into a reader back home.
Think about the recent search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which disappeared over the Indian Ocean a couple of years back. There have been Australian, Dutch, Malaysian and Chinese search vessels mapping every inch of the ocean floor out there along the projected flight path for two years after the aircraft disappeared. These vessels were using very sophisticated 3D mapping sonar to record every rock out there, and while they unfortunately didn't find the jet, they collected some of the most accurate midocean floor mapping data ever collated. Like all the other undersea terrain data collected from multiple sources every day, much of this ends up in databases that are accessible to the companies that sell us the map chips for our plotters.
Most organisations that produce map data for our plotters now put out daily updates that can be written onto the map cards we use anytime we take them home and care to plug them in. For example, the Navionics card I use is able to access new data every day, and each data set shows minor improvements, all gleaned from everything from specialised hydrographic survey ships to recreational boats cruising around out there. Over the space of even just a month, more detailed contour and structure data slowly appears on the seafloor charts after the raw data from all these sources is massaged and incorporated into the database.
So if you're not using a current plotter chipset that displays the latest seafloor data and which can be updated frequently using the constantly improved database available to the companies providing these cards for our plotters, you're really missing out.
But... all is not lost. Another user of the same seafloor database with its constantly upgraded information is Google. So even if you don't have one of the latest data cards in your plotter, or if you don't subscribe to an update service, you should spend a couple of hours looking over the Oceans subset of Google Earth. You might be astonished by what you see there. Ridges, canyons, huge valleys and complex seafloor structure that the data cards from the last generation of navigation plotters simply never showed us. You can sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil and make a list of all the surprising structure that you never knew was out there in your local piece of ocean, or which you've been unable to visualise even with the latest seafloor data. You can then add these marks to your plotter library.
Google Earth puts all this wealth of data into an easily understood presentation that you can pick over and take notes of the location of the sort of structure you think might help you find marlin. It won't be as accurate as the 1m contours you'll find on the latest datasets from Navionics and others, but the detail is still adequate to help you plan trips and visits to potential hotspots. Probably the best things bout the Google Earth presentation is that it allows you to visualise the layout of your local patch of ocean in a glance.
And if you have a few marks that constantly produce fish for you, but which your plotter simply shows as plain vanilla seafloor, go and have a look at the same spot on Google Earth, and you might suddenly be presented with the real reason why this mark has been a place where you consistently raise game fish.
The screen shot below shows the Google Earth ocean floor depiction off the Solitary Islands. The plotter I first used when I started fishing in this area showed the edge of the continental shelf as a very unremarkable dropoff with little by way of structural features, with only very minor canyon and ridge definition, and what looked for all the world like a very disappointing environment for gamefish.
But look at what was really there all along...
In this case, let's talk about the structure of the ocean floor. We all know that the sub-surface terrain is a big part of the game fishing puzzle, and everyone with a sounder, a GPS plotter and a local marine map database knows that undersea structure often has a huge effect on the presence of marlin, particularly when that structure interacts with currents, tides, and bait aggregations. Undersea structure can hold bait, cause nutrient upwellings, provide protection, or even possibly (as is already suspected with migratory patterns) provide landmarks and waypoints that appear to have been used by the collective "memory" of whales and other oceanic species as they move around the oceans of the world.
Contemporary GPS plotters use digital databases that can often be hopelessly out of date if they've just been sitting in your plotter for a year or two without updating. And while this didn't used to be such a big deal given the paucity of reliable information and the currency of undersea terrain data just a decade ago, this has changed very much in recent years.
There are oceanic survey ships that gather 3D seafloor terrain data in unheard of quantities, with astonishing accuracy, every time they go to sea. Other shipping and even recreational vessels with the latest generation of sounders and plotters also store information about every metre of seafloor they pass over and then upload that to central databases every time the vessel owner plugs the plotter chip into a reader back home.
Think about the recent search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which disappeared over the Indian Ocean a couple of years back. There have been Australian, Dutch, Malaysian and Chinese search vessels mapping every inch of the ocean floor out there along the projected flight path for two years after the aircraft disappeared. These vessels were using very sophisticated 3D mapping sonar to record every rock out there, and while they unfortunately didn't find the jet, they collected some of the most accurate midocean floor mapping data ever collated. Like all the other undersea terrain data collected from multiple sources every day, much of this ends up in databases that are accessible to the companies that sell us the map chips for our plotters.
Most organisations that produce map data for our plotters now put out daily updates that can be written onto the map cards we use anytime we take them home and care to plug them in. For example, the Navionics card I use is able to access new data every day, and each data set shows minor improvements, all gleaned from everything from specialised hydrographic survey ships to recreational boats cruising around out there. Over the space of even just a month, more detailed contour and structure data slowly appears on the seafloor charts after the raw data from all these sources is massaged and incorporated into the database.
So if you're not using a current plotter chipset that displays the latest seafloor data and which can be updated frequently using the constantly improved database available to the companies providing these cards for our plotters, you're really missing out.
But... all is not lost. Another user of the same seafloor database with its constantly upgraded information is Google. So even if you don't have one of the latest data cards in your plotter, or if you don't subscribe to an update service, you should spend a couple of hours looking over the Oceans subset of Google Earth. You might be astonished by what you see there. Ridges, canyons, huge valleys and complex seafloor structure that the data cards from the last generation of navigation plotters simply never showed us. You can sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil and make a list of all the surprising structure that you never knew was out there in your local piece of ocean, or which you've been unable to visualise even with the latest seafloor data. You can then add these marks to your plotter library.
Google Earth puts all this wealth of data into an easily understood presentation that you can pick over and take notes of the location of the sort of structure you think might help you find marlin. It won't be as accurate as the 1m contours you'll find on the latest datasets from Navionics and others, but the detail is still adequate to help you plan trips and visits to potential hotspots. Probably the best things bout the Google Earth presentation is that it allows you to visualise the layout of your local patch of ocean in a glance.
And if you have a few marks that constantly produce fish for you, but which your plotter simply shows as plain vanilla seafloor, go and have a look at the same spot on Google Earth, and you might suddenly be presented with the real reason why this mark has been a place where you consistently raise game fish.
The screen shot below shows the Google Earth ocean floor depiction off the Solitary Islands. The plotter I first used when I started fishing in this area showed the edge of the continental shelf as a very unremarkable dropoff with little by way of structural features, with only very minor canyon and ridge definition, and what looked for all the world like a very disappointing environment for gamefish.
But look at what was really there all along...
Friday, 22nd September
Game fishing anglers on the Coffs Coast of NSW will have been looking anxiously at the forecast for the coming weekend when a local club competition is scheduled... but in vain as it turns out. A strong northerly wind is due to blow most of the weekend, and that's almost certainly going to be the end of any thoughts of finally getting out to see what's shaking on the edge of the continental shelf.
All is not lost however, because the forecast for next Monday and Tuesday is excellent, so anyone with the flexibility to blow off the day in the office and go chase marlin might be well rewarded.
The forecast has light winds in the frame on both days, the EAC is flowing downhill, the moon phase is excellent, and the tides couldn't be better, with a flooding tide in the morning and a high just before midday - in the perfect game fishing world, it doesn't get much better. Of course, this presupposes that there might be a marlin or two out there to complete the picture, and this early in the season, that's anybody's guess. But regardless, a day out in those conditions should be delightful, and a sickle fin in the spread will be a bonus.
Foreign Exchange will be fishing from Yamba to Coffs on Monday, and if the forecast holds, we'll be out around the canyons again on Tuesday... stay tuned.
All is not lost however, because the forecast for next Monday and Tuesday is excellent, so anyone with the flexibility to blow off the day in the office and go chase marlin might be well rewarded.
The forecast has light winds in the frame on both days, the EAC is flowing downhill, the moon phase is excellent, and the tides couldn't be better, with a flooding tide in the morning and a high just before midday - in the perfect game fishing world, it doesn't get much better. Of course, this presupposes that there might be a marlin or two out there to complete the picture, and this early in the season, that's anybody's guess. But regardless, a day out in those conditions should be delightful, and a sickle fin in the spread will be a bonus.
Foreign Exchange will be fishing from Yamba to Coffs on Monday, and if the forecast holds, we'll be out around the canyons again on Tuesday... stay tuned.
Tuesday, 19th September - Part Deux
Just got through with an extremely interesting debrief with Wayne Spalding about the Moreton Bay GFC team's exploits at the HIBT in Kona, Hawaii. Here's a summary of the discussion.
Wayne and his team mates raised 7 blue marlin during the tournament, and if they'd tagged them all, the results would have been significantly different, but luck wasn't with them this year. Wayne was on strike when they tagged their first blue, which put the team into a tie for third place, and the following day, Wayne was on strike again when they got another blue up to the back of the boat, but it threw the hook before it could be tagged... and it was all a slow drift downhill from there. A great tournament and a fun time though apparently.
Hookup and conversion rates appeared on the face of it to be lower than what we see here off Coffs Harbour when chasing blue marlin, and there were clearly some major differences in the way the Hawaiian marlin boats fish when compared to how things are done here. Maybe the fish behave differently in Hawaiian waters, hence the quite sharp differences in fishing techniques; but whatever else, it sure was an education according to Wayne.
Here are just a few of the major differences Wayne observed:
- Firstly, they often use similar sized lures as blue marlin anglers on the Gold Coast, but the photos I saw looked to be of lures a bit smaller than what we use down on the Coffs Coast. This could possibly be because the average blue was a bit smaller in the waters off Kona - plenty of small males, and just a handful of large females.
- Then they run them a lot further from the boat than we do, and sometimes at a higher speed - for example, the short corner was always run on the fourth pressure wave, with everything beyond that. Here, we have our short rigger on the fourth wave, with the two corners both inside that.
- Next, the hooks were generally sharp-pointed, but the blades were not as sharp. and the barbs were not shortened at all. Even when they are sharpened, they seem to be more rounded rather than fine-pointed in some cases. Wayne surmises that this is the type of point they more commonly use on the hooks they fish with outside the HIBT, which are usually set on 130lb gear, which is the usual Hawaii charter boat standard.
- Then, full strike drag is set on all rigs in the spread, and only after a fish is hooked up do they immediately back the drag off a little - this is the exact opposite of what we do here on my boat.
- When a fish hooks up, nobody guns their boat even slightly to get the fish clear of the spread and keep pressure on the fish. Instead, the skipper turns in the direction of the strike in order to set up a belly so that the belly pressure helps hold the hook. Got to think about that one a bit more...!
Wayne and his team watched numerous marlin hit lures but fail to hook up during the tournament.
The first thing I found to agree with in Wayne's narrative is that nobody uses double hook rigs on marlin there, just single, stiff rigged hooks, but as mentioned above, frequently smaller than here, with the point left very thick, albeit sharp. Here on the NSW north coast, many of us use 7/0 for juvenile blacks, 8/0 for striped marlin, and 10/0 for blue marlin, even throwing the occasional 12/0 rigged lure into the water if we think there might be a big one around.
While at the HIBT, the guys met numerous game fishing legends, not the least of whom were Joe Yee, arguably one of the most famous Hawaiian lure makers ever, and John Lau from PNG. John gave Wayne a lure that will doubtless get a run as soon as Wayne's big 36ft BW Nomad heads out the Southport Seaway next.
Wayne and his team mates raised 7 blue marlin during the tournament, and if they'd tagged them all, the results would have been significantly different, but luck wasn't with them this year. Wayne was on strike when they tagged their first blue, which put the team into a tie for third place, and the following day, Wayne was on strike again when they got another blue up to the back of the boat, but it threw the hook before it could be tagged... and it was all a slow drift downhill from there. A great tournament and a fun time though apparently.
Hookup and conversion rates appeared on the face of it to be lower than what we see here off Coffs Harbour when chasing blue marlin, and there were clearly some major differences in the way the Hawaiian marlin boats fish when compared to how things are done here. Maybe the fish behave differently in Hawaiian waters, hence the quite sharp differences in fishing techniques; but whatever else, it sure was an education according to Wayne.
Here are just a few of the major differences Wayne observed:
- Firstly, they often use similar sized lures as blue marlin anglers on the Gold Coast, but the photos I saw looked to be of lures a bit smaller than what we use down on the Coffs Coast. This could possibly be because the average blue was a bit smaller in the waters off Kona - plenty of small males, and just a handful of large females.
- Then they run them a lot further from the boat than we do, and sometimes at a higher speed - for example, the short corner was always run on the fourth pressure wave, with everything beyond that. Here, we have our short rigger on the fourth wave, with the two corners both inside that.
- Next, the hooks were generally sharp-pointed, but the blades were not as sharp. and the barbs were not shortened at all. Even when they are sharpened, they seem to be more rounded rather than fine-pointed in some cases. Wayne surmises that this is the type of point they more commonly use on the hooks they fish with outside the HIBT, which are usually set on 130lb gear, which is the usual Hawaii charter boat standard.
- Then, full strike drag is set on all rigs in the spread, and only after a fish is hooked up do they immediately back the drag off a little - this is the exact opposite of what we do here on my boat.
- When a fish hooks up, nobody guns their boat even slightly to get the fish clear of the spread and keep pressure on the fish. Instead, the skipper turns in the direction of the strike in order to set up a belly so that the belly pressure helps hold the hook. Got to think about that one a bit more...!
Wayne and his team watched numerous marlin hit lures but fail to hook up during the tournament.
The first thing I found to agree with in Wayne's narrative is that nobody uses double hook rigs on marlin there, just single, stiff rigged hooks, but as mentioned above, frequently smaller than here, with the point left very thick, albeit sharp. Here on the NSW north coast, many of us use 7/0 for juvenile blacks, 8/0 for striped marlin, and 10/0 for blue marlin, even throwing the occasional 12/0 rigged lure into the water if we think there might be a big one around.
While at the HIBT, the guys met numerous game fishing legends, not the least of whom were Joe Yee, arguably one of the most famous Hawaiian lure makers ever, and John Lau from PNG. John gave Wayne a lure that will doubtless get a run as soon as Wayne's big 36ft BW Nomad heads out the Southport Seaway next.
Tuesday, 19th September
The forecast for the local competition day scheduled for this Saturday is looking less than inspiring, and it's starting to look like the second consecutive loss of a competition day due to marginal weather, or lack of a quorum, or both. .... that could potentially result in over 10% of the in-hours game fishing season lost so far before anyone has wet a line. That is of course unless the weather cleans up its act quickly over the next few days.
Weather problems pale into insignificance however, when you look at some of the unscheduled maintenance and equipment problems that are affecting local game boats.
Foreign Exchange has only just recovered from one of those "Murphy's Law" moments when a raw water hose blew in exactly the wrong place and poured salt water into the turbo intake, requiring replacement of all the intake valves.
Top Shelf just blew a big V8 motor that now requires a complete rebuild.
Alcatraz is stuck up in Brisbane after planned maintenance uncovered a major osmosis problem under the cockpit deck. It's almost fixed now, but the extra (and unnecessary) few thousand dollars required to fix the problem (caused by a very badly managed repair earlier in the boat's life) and the additional time to rebuild the deck have kept the boat out of action for the first month of the fishing season.
Not to be outdone, well-known local game boat Black N Blue went north yesterday to have a bit of regular maintenance done at Yamba, and when the boat was lifted out of the water, it didn't take more than a superficial inspection to discover that both props were toast. This is another example of poor management practice at the marina where BnB lives, where a large alloy boat in poor repair was allowed to remain moored amongst the charter boat fleet with shore power connected while leaking all manner of stray voltage into the water for over a year. The upshot of this was that two commercial charter boats moored next to the offending hulk suffered severe electrolysis damage to their underwater running gear - BnB being one. Despite initial repairs, it's now become apparent that the damage was more severe than anybody realised, and BnB's props are now in such poor condition that they're only good for scrap and further repair is no longer an option. If you've priced the cost of a pair of custom wheels for a high performance game boat recently, you'll know just how big a deal an unforeseen expense of this nature can be.
The worst of the damage can be seen in the photo above. Just look at the electrolysis pitting along the blade root - that's about where a fracture line would form under load!
The upside of this sad tale is that at least the props on Black N Blue held together until the problem was discovered... but can you imagine the damage that could be caused (right up to and including sinking...) by a blade fracturing off a prop like this at high cruise RPM...??
Weather problems pale into insignificance however, when you look at some of the unscheduled maintenance and equipment problems that are affecting local game boats.
Foreign Exchange has only just recovered from one of those "Murphy's Law" moments when a raw water hose blew in exactly the wrong place and poured salt water into the turbo intake, requiring replacement of all the intake valves.
Top Shelf just blew a big V8 motor that now requires a complete rebuild.
Alcatraz is stuck up in Brisbane after planned maintenance uncovered a major osmosis problem under the cockpit deck. It's almost fixed now, but the extra (and unnecessary) few thousand dollars required to fix the problem (caused by a very badly managed repair earlier in the boat's life) and the additional time to rebuild the deck have kept the boat out of action for the first month of the fishing season.
Not to be outdone, well-known local game boat Black N Blue went north yesterday to have a bit of regular maintenance done at Yamba, and when the boat was lifted out of the water, it didn't take more than a superficial inspection to discover that both props were toast. This is another example of poor management practice at the marina where BnB lives, where a large alloy boat in poor repair was allowed to remain moored amongst the charter boat fleet with shore power connected while leaking all manner of stray voltage into the water for over a year. The upshot of this was that two commercial charter boats moored next to the offending hulk suffered severe electrolysis damage to their underwater running gear - BnB being one. Despite initial repairs, it's now become apparent that the damage was more severe than anybody realised, and BnB's props are now in such poor condition that they're only good for scrap and further repair is no longer an option. If you've priced the cost of a pair of custom wheels for a high performance game boat recently, you'll know just how big a deal an unforeseen expense of this nature can be.
The worst of the damage can be seen in the photo above. Just look at the electrolysis pitting along the blade root - that's about where a fracture line would form under load!
The upside of this sad tale is that at least the props on Black N Blue held together until the problem was discovered... but can you imagine the damage that could be caused (right up to and including sinking...) by a blade fracturing off a prop like this at high cruise RPM...??
Monday, 18th September
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We're only 6 days out from the next Solitary Islands GFC competition day, and the forecasters seem to be having mixed feelings about what's going to happen - nothing new for this part of the world, where forecasting still seems to be a real challenge.
So far, their assorted forecasts for Saturday are frustratingly mixed, with 20-30 knot northerlies on the one hand, and at least one of the forecasting websites holding out for a quiet day with just 3 knots of breeze at midday... hopefully, they'll eventually reach a consensus that will allow skippers and crews to decide on whether to head out to the marlin grounds, or stay tied up at the marina. The East Australian Current appears to be wimping out though, with no flow to our north, and the prospect of good sub-tropical water flowing down from the border this week becoming increasingly poor. To our south though, there's a marked uphill current flow off Sydney, and the boats that were prepared to deal with the strong winds offshore were rewarded with some big bluefin tuna. The southern bluefin historically don't venture north of SWR, and it's been a very long time since there were any reports of any being caught on our stretch of coast. At the same time, the yellowfin tunas that were being caught in big numbers off Nambucca and SWR last week have moved south. However, when the current is pushing southern bluefin up to the Sydney and Central Coast areas, there is often a flush of striped marlin activity off the north coast, and with the water temperatures off Coffs cooling slightly over the past few days as the EAC dropped away, targeting striped marlin here this week might pay dividends. After all, "Mistress" has been having an excellent couple of weeks up off Fraser Island, and today's catch was 4/4/4 on striped marlin, so if the things are up there in those sort of numbers, the chances of them being down here have got to be good. So... place your bets on the Saturday weather... nobody really seems to know what it's going to be at this stage, so your guess is as good as anyone else's. Finally... back to dredges, my theme of the month. Here's a link to a very good article about dredges from Marlin Magazine... http://www.marlinmag.com/tips-for-dredge-fishing-billfish?src=SOC&dom=fb |
Saturday, 16th September
Unlike some of the glamour marlin fishing locations in the tropics (Hawaii, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, PNG...etc), the weather on the coast here can be pretty fractious at times, and while overall, the climate on the north coast of NSW is widely acknowledged to be one of the most liveable in the world, the conditions off our coast can be markedly different than on the beach. For example, it can be a great day for surfing and BBQs with an offshore breeze on the beach, blue skies, and great swell, but at the same time, it can be a horror day out on the edge of the continental shelf at the marlin grounds. Other days can be spectacular both on the beach and out to sea, with glassoff conditions from the beach to beyond the continental shelf... but the variability is such that you often never really know what sort of day to expect until the day before a lot of the time, or sometimes, only when you wake up in the morning, regardless of how many supercomputers are doing the long term forecasting.
So when my local game fishing club has a schedule that designates two Saturday's per month as our much-anticipated game fishing competition days but won't countenance the concept of sliding or rescheduling them to avoid unfishable conditions, or take advantage of the appearance of rare perfect days in the lineup, it can be pretty frustrating for some.
No doubt this is a common problem that a lot of clubs in different locations have, and it's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't situations. If you reschedule or declare catchup days to take advantage of good weather and avoid (or make up for) poor conditions, you face understandable resistance from anglers with conflicting priorities such as family commitments and other weekend activities where their weekends are planned out weeks if not months in advance in summer. Fair enough...
But on the other side of that coin, those of us with the flexibility to fish weekend competition days at short notice and who live for game fishing, are potentially missing opportunities to fish in the best weather and conditions with other club boats. As a consequence, we find ourselves having to drag our crews out into sometimes poor conditions on scheduled competition days when you know the bite is going to be non-existent and the ride's going to be horrible, only to find that the anglers and skippers who complain so loudly against the idea of taking advantage of better weather by moving competition days around a bit won't join us on those very days they insist we fish...
That's a lose-lose for anglers and their clubs in my view, and while I can understand everyone's differing perspectives on this hot-button issue, the bottom line is that real game fishermen (and women) want to go game fishing in a club atmosphere with plenty of boats out there to compete against on days when the sun is shining, the winds are light, and the marlin are biting... not stay tied up on unfishable and inflexible scheduled comp days .
Meanwhile... There's a new short blurb about thoughts on teaser dredges posted on the website today under the Game Fishing tab... here's a quick link.
So when my local game fishing club has a schedule that designates two Saturday's per month as our much-anticipated game fishing competition days but won't countenance the concept of sliding or rescheduling them to avoid unfishable conditions, or take advantage of the appearance of rare perfect days in the lineup, it can be pretty frustrating for some.
No doubt this is a common problem that a lot of clubs in different locations have, and it's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't situations. If you reschedule or declare catchup days to take advantage of good weather and avoid (or make up for) poor conditions, you face understandable resistance from anglers with conflicting priorities such as family commitments and other weekend activities where their weekends are planned out weeks if not months in advance in summer. Fair enough...
But on the other side of that coin, those of us with the flexibility to fish weekend competition days at short notice and who live for game fishing, are potentially missing opportunities to fish in the best weather and conditions with other club boats. As a consequence, we find ourselves having to drag our crews out into sometimes poor conditions on scheduled competition days when you know the bite is going to be non-existent and the ride's going to be horrible, only to find that the anglers and skippers who complain so loudly against the idea of taking advantage of better weather by moving competition days around a bit won't join us on those very days they insist we fish...
That's a lose-lose for anglers and their clubs in my view, and while I can understand everyone's differing perspectives on this hot-button issue, the bottom line is that real game fishermen (and women) want to go game fishing in a club atmosphere with plenty of boats out there to compete against on days when the sun is shining, the winds are light, and the marlin are biting... not stay tied up on unfishable and inflexible scheduled comp days .
Meanwhile... There's a new short blurb about thoughts on teaser dredges posted on the website today under the Game Fishing tab... here's a quick link.
Thursday, 14th September
Day 3 of the HIBT... and the Moreton Bay GFC team are hanging in about halfway down the pointscore, but having a lousy run of luck. There isn't a very strong bite at all, and the blues seem to be on valium... weak bites, weak hookups that don't last long, and a very low hit rate among the fleet.
Wayne Spalding reports that after a promising start that had a fish up in the first 30 minutes on the water, it didn't hook up, and they never saw another fish all day.
Other boats aren't faring much better, although the first marlin weighed in the tournament went up today (tournament rules - no captures with fish under 300lbs) was a 486lb fish was caught after a 4:00+ hour fight on 37kg gear. The best part of that story is that the angler who caught it had only very recently had triple bypass heart surgery. Think about that ... 4 hours attached to a 486lb blue marlin and your heart hasn't even had a chance to break in the three new coronary arteries that were just patched on... gutsy stuff!!
Things are somewhat different in Hawaii, where as a rule, the marlin anglers use slightly smaller lures with hooks a size or two smaller than the average used by blue marlin fishermen in our part of the world on the NSW north coast. They obviously have to try to do it a little differently given that it seems from the evidence that at this time of year, all the marlin around Kona have teflon mouths...
Wayne Spalding reports that after a promising start that had a fish up in the first 30 minutes on the water, it didn't hook up, and they never saw another fish all day.
Other boats aren't faring much better, although the first marlin weighed in the tournament went up today (tournament rules - no captures with fish under 300lbs) was a 486lb fish was caught after a 4:00+ hour fight on 37kg gear. The best part of that story is that the angler who caught it had only very recently had triple bypass heart surgery. Think about that ... 4 hours attached to a 486lb blue marlin and your heart hasn't even had a chance to break in the three new coronary arteries that were just patched on... gutsy stuff!!
Things are somewhat different in Hawaii, where as a rule, the marlin anglers use slightly smaller lures with hooks a size or two smaller than the average used by blue marlin fishermen in our part of the world on the NSW north coast. They obviously have to try to do it a little differently given that it seems from the evidence that at this time of year, all the marlin around Kona have teflon mouths...
Tuesday, 12 September
A glamour day on the Solitary Coast, with glass off conditions, blue water, blue skies, and looking "fishy".
All the news at the moment is about tournaments across the Pacific...
Steve Campbell says it's the same great weather in Tonga, where he and the "Blue Marlin Magic" team are attempting a come-from-behind surge in the last day of the TIBT in Tonga. The opposition team on board "Watchdog" had a blinder of a day yesterday, going 29/23/15 on billfish, which means they must have had marlin lining up in their wake to take a turn at swotting a lure. Hard to beat those numbers, but it goes to show just how much luck and right place/right time goes into game fishing! Good luck Steve...
Meanwhile, Wayne Spalding and the rest of the team from the Moreton Bay GFC are trying to find a similar red hot hot bite to the north on the other side of the Equator off Kona on Day 1 of the HIBT. Anglers reading this probably already know that the HIBT is a tournament where teams swap boats every day, so not only do you need to drive into a hot bite, you also need to be out with a skipper and crew who are having a good run of luck as well - lots of variables!
Back here, the EAC is feeding 24C water past the Sunshine Coast, but the forecast for the week ahead still has too many days with strongish winds to get really excited about.
Yesterday, I made a striped tuna profile dredge to try out this season. The photo above shows the prototype - reckon it's going to take another 50rpm to drag this through the water! And speaking of dredges, the photo below shows the deckie on "Topshape" - the boat that Wayne is fishing the HIBT in today - putting out their dredge.... there's got to be something to this dredge business.
All the news at the moment is about tournaments across the Pacific...
Steve Campbell says it's the same great weather in Tonga, where he and the "Blue Marlin Magic" team are attempting a come-from-behind surge in the last day of the TIBT in Tonga. The opposition team on board "Watchdog" had a blinder of a day yesterday, going 29/23/15 on billfish, which means they must have had marlin lining up in their wake to take a turn at swotting a lure. Hard to beat those numbers, but it goes to show just how much luck and right place/right time goes into game fishing! Good luck Steve...
Meanwhile, Wayne Spalding and the rest of the team from the Moreton Bay GFC are trying to find a similar red hot hot bite to the north on the other side of the Equator off Kona on Day 1 of the HIBT. Anglers reading this probably already know that the HIBT is a tournament where teams swap boats every day, so not only do you need to drive into a hot bite, you also need to be out with a skipper and crew who are having a good run of luck as well - lots of variables!
Back here, the EAC is feeding 24C water past the Sunshine Coast, but the forecast for the week ahead still has too many days with strongish winds to get really excited about.
Yesterday, I made a striped tuna profile dredge to try out this season. The photo above shows the prototype - reckon it's going to take another 50rpm to drag this through the water! And speaking of dredges, the photo below shows the deckie on "Topshape" - the boat that Wayne is fishing the HIBT in today - putting out their dredge.... there's got to be something to this dredge business.
Saturday, 9th September
Waiting...waiting..
Waiting for news from Wayne Spalding and his team of anglers from the Moreton Bay GFC who start fishing the HIBT tomorrow. Wayne reckons the weather is perfect, the bars are full, and there are game boats fishing within sight of shore out the front of Kona. Stay tuned...
We're also waiting for a break here on the Coffs Coast. Today was supposed to be the opening in-hours competition day of the Solitary Islands GFC's 2017/18 game fishing season, but the wind and swell have more or less wiped out the day despite the blue sky and the excellent performance of the EAC, which is running nicely down the edge of the continental shelf as today's satellite composite from FishTrack shows - lot's of potential there. There will be consolation beers and a bit of a social get together at the Marlin Bar at Attitude down at the marina this afternoon... at least we'll get to talk about game fishing even if the conditions won't let us actually do it.
There's an excellent video clip of an interview with Hawaiian game fisherman Ryan Thurner on the BlueWater fishing website that makes a good point. You can view it at https://www.facebook.com/BlueWatermagazine/videos/1575017962518917/
As regular visitors to this website know, I often bang on about the anecdotal evidence that indicates just how big an impact longlining within the Australian EEZ has on our game fishing. Ryan talks about the Pacific longliners, their floating FADs, and their rapacious activity, describing how frequently he and his fellow Hawaiian game fishermen catch blue marlin with longliner circle hooks in their mouths. What he doesn't mention directly is the fact that while they're catching significant numbers of blues that have been released by longliners and survived, the unanswered question that hangs in the air like the 800lb gorilla in the corner of the room is... just how many blues caught by the longliners sink dead to the bottom after they're cut off....?
Ryan also talks about how the YFT are being caught in such numbers by the longliners operating off Hawaii that fewer numbers of the YFT out there - and therefore the blue marlin that follow the YFT schools - are making it into Hawaiian waters and the areas where the recreational game fishermen operate. The interview stops abruptly when a blue marlin materialises in the spread of the boat (Marlin Magic II) where the interview is being recorded... great way to finish..!
Again, and at the risk of boring readers to death, the GDP contribution of longlining to the economies of both Hawaii and Australia are much smaller than the GDP contribution of the recreational game fishing industry, and the sooner longlining is banned, the better off our sport, the local economy, and the health of the oceanic ecosystem will be. If just one or two Australian politicians were avid game fishermen, or even understood the numbers involved, we might see longlining within our EEZ consigned to the dustbin of history...
LATER... A great evening at the Marlin Bar at the marina. Nobody fished thanks to the lousy conditions, but with great burgers and beer and some good company, the day ended up being much better than it started.
Waiting for news from Wayne Spalding and his team of anglers from the Moreton Bay GFC who start fishing the HIBT tomorrow. Wayne reckons the weather is perfect, the bars are full, and there are game boats fishing within sight of shore out the front of Kona. Stay tuned...
We're also waiting for a break here on the Coffs Coast. Today was supposed to be the opening in-hours competition day of the Solitary Islands GFC's 2017/18 game fishing season, but the wind and swell have more or less wiped out the day despite the blue sky and the excellent performance of the EAC, which is running nicely down the edge of the continental shelf as today's satellite composite from FishTrack shows - lot's of potential there. There will be consolation beers and a bit of a social get together at the Marlin Bar at Attitude down at the marina this afternoon... at least we'll get to talk about game fishing even if the conditions won't let us actually do it.
There's an excellent video clip of an interview with Hawaiian game fisherman Ryan Thurner on the BlueWater fishing website that makes a good point. You can view it at https://www.facebook.com/BlueWatermagazine/videos/1575017962518917/
As regular visitors to this website know, I often bang on about the anecdotal evidence that indicates just how big an impact longlining within the Australian EEZ has on our game fishing. Ryan talks about the Pacific longliners, their floating FADs, and their rapacious activity, describing how frequently he and his fellow Hawaiian game fishermen catch blue marlin with longliner circle hooks in their mouths. What he doesn't mention directly is the fact that while they're catching significant numbers of blues that have been released by longliners and survived, the unanswered question that hangs in the air like the 800lb gorilla in the corner of the room is... just how many blues caught by the longliners sink dead to the bottom after they're cut off....?
Ryan also talks about how the YFT are being caught in such numbers by the longliners operating off Hawaii that fewer numbers of the YFT out there - and therefore the blue marlin that follow the YFT schools - are making it into Hawaiian waters and the areas where the recreational game fishermen operate. The interview stops abruptly when a blue marlin materialises in the spread of the boat (Marlin Magic II) where the interview is being recorded... great way to finish..!
Again, and at the risk of boring readers to death, the GDP contribution of longlining to the economies of both Hawaii and Australia are much smaller than the GDP contribution of the recreational game fishing industry, and the sooner longlining is banned, the better off our sport, the local economy, and the health of the oceanic ecosystem will be. If just one or two Australian politicians were avid game fishermen, or even understood the numbers involved, we might see longlining within our EEZ consigned to the dustbin of history...
LATER... A great evening at the Marlin Bar at the marina. Nobody fished thanks to the lousy conditions, but with great burgers and beer and some good company, the day ended up being much better than it started.
Monday, 4 September
No news here at the moment, despite some glamour weather.
But over in Moroccan waters, things are different... French angling correspondent Bill François has just completed four days of white marlin fishing there, and despite bad weather, he went 37/23/17 on whites, and countless dollies. Bill was disappointed, as this was pretty much half his total over the same period last year. They saw a lot more fish, because when you raise one white marlin over there, it comes with two or three mates. I can definitely see a contingent from here going over to try that sort of fishing in the future.
We've also got another representative from the Gold Coast heading for Hawaii this week to fish the HIBT. Wayne Spalding was previously a member of the Solitary Islands GFC, and has moved north of the border along with his lovely BW36 now based in Southport. Wayne and a couple of mates from the Gold Coast GFC have formed a team and will be fishing the big HIBT in Kona next week, and we're all looking forward to a report (maybe even a win...?) and photos later this month.
But over in Moroccan waters, things are different... French angling correspondent Bill François has just completed four days of white marlin fishing there, and despite bad weather, he went 37/23/17 on whites, and countless dollies. Bill was disappointed, as this was pretty much half his total over the same period last year. They saw a lot more fish, because when you raise one white marlin over there, it comes with two or three mates. I can definitely see a contingent from here going over to try that sort of fishing in the future.
We've also got another representative from the Gold Coast heading for Hawaii this week to fish the HIBT. Wayne Spalding was previously a member of the Solitary Islands GFC, and has moved north of the border along with his lovely BW36 now based in Southport. Wayne and a couple of mates from the Gold Coast GFC have formed a team and will be fishing the big HIBT in Kona next week, and we're all looking forward to a report (maybe even a win...?) and photos later this month.
Saturday, 2 September
Despite all those "positive" signs mentioned in the previous entry, it still isn't firing out there. Coffs boat Black N Blue went out looking specifically for yellowfin tuna, and found the spot where the longliners have been catching YFT like crazy this past week. Skipper Rob Lang even ran for 8 nautical miles along a longline set down near SWR, and came up skunked.
This is really bad news, but at least BnB ran through beautiful water at near perfect YFT temperatures, so if the elusive buggers had been anywhere in the vicinity, they'd have found them. the consolation prize was an 8kg mahimahi on the way back, but it's easy to understand why this empty ocean is making game fishermen nervous after last season's wipeout.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, Frenchman Bill François is getting stuck into the white marlin off Morocco. On the first day of fishing, Bill and his team raised 11, hooked 6, and tagged 3. That's a good day in anyone's book, but my teeth fell out when he went on to tell me about a neighbouring boat that went... wait for it... 40/30/23.......!!!!!!! Can you even imagine what a day on a game boat would be like fighting 30 marlin?
The white marlin are a very close relative of the striped marlin, and the main technique there is bait and switch, but the fish do come up to skirted lures as well.
Bill mentioned that during the day out on the water, they came across a "bio-degradable" FAD... a dead cow floating in the water. Shades of the Coffs Coast after big floods up in the Clarence catchment! Anyway, the mahimahi were thick around the carcass, but they couldn't get a live bait through the dollies to the marlin that were probably working underneath that lot.
More stories from Bill when he reports in next...
Meanwhile, the weather has conspired to maroon Foreign Exchange up in Southport instead of being snug up against the jetty in Yamba while its skipper goes down to Melbourne. Better luck next week...?
This is really bad news, but at least BnB ran through beautiful water at near perfect YFT temperatures, so if the elusive buggers had been anywhere in the vicinity, they'd have found them. the consolation prize was an 8kg mahimahi on the way back, but it's easy to understand why this empty ocean is making game fishermen nervous after last season's wipeout.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, Frenchman Bill François is getting stuck into the white marlin off Morocco. On the first day of fishing, Bill and his team raised 11, hooked 6, and tagged 3. That's a good day in anyone's book, but my teeth fell out when he went on to tell me about a neighbouring boat that went... wait for it... 40/30/23.......!!!!!!! Can you even imagine what a day on a game boat would be like fighting 30 marlin?
The white marlin are a very close relative of the striped marlin, and the main technique there is bait and switch, but the fish do come up to skirted lures as well.
Bill mentioned that during the day out on the water, they came across a "bio-degradable" FAD... a dead cow floating in the water. Shades of the Coffs Coast after big floods up in the Clarence catchment! Anyway, the mahimahi were thick around the carcass, but they couldn't get a live bait through the dollies to the marlin that were probably working underneath that lot.
More stories from Bill when he reports in next...
Meanwhile, the weather has conspired to maroon Foreign Exchange up in Southport instead of being snug up against the jetty in Yamba while its skipper goes down to Melbourne. Better luck next week...?
Wednesday, 30th August
Finally, all the signs are positive.
The current is flowing smoothly down from Queensland again thanks to last week's southerlies, there's a beautiful little upwelling eddy set up off SWR that's pushing cool, nutrient laden water up along the edge of the shelf south of Coffs, and judging by the YFT catches being rumoured, this water is attracting tuna like crazy. Probably striped marlin as well.
The juvenile blacks are going crazy from Cairns to Townsville, the blues are biting off Fraser Island, and the spring weather's been the best seen here for years.
Game on this weekend if the weather behaves.
Our erstwhile Mediterranean correspondent, Bill François is going to Morocco today, and if the white marlin bite there is as hot as it's been on the eastern side of the Atlantic for the past month off the Bahamas, he's in for a challenging time.
Bill says that the Atlantic bluefin tuna season in the Mediterranean has been about as bad as our marlin season was off the coast here last season, which, as all local anglers know, was about as bad as it could get...so maybe all these things are somehow connected.
Bill mentioned that despite the lousy BFT season in the Med, the most successful lure he had was a special tuna lure made for him by Aaron Jennings of Jennings Gamefish Lures. The purple bullet lure was loaned out by Bill to a mate, who promptly hooked up on a Mediterranean spearfish at exactly the same time as an outrigger malfunction saw the line wrapped around the rod tip without anyone noticing. Yep... splash.. BANG!!... and the 24kg line snapped and Bill's favourite lure was last seen heading for Africa still attached to the spearfish.
The current is flowing smoothly down from Queensland again thanks to last week's southerlies, there's a beautiful little upwelling eddy set up off SWR that's pushing cool, nutrient laden water up along the edge of the shelf south of Coffs, and judging by the YFT catches being rumoured, this water is attracting tuna like crazy. Probably striped marlin as well.
The juvenile blacks are going crazy from Cairns to Townsville, the blues are biting off Fraser Island, and the spring weather's been the best seen here for years.
Game on this weekend if the weather behaves.
Our erstwhile Mediterranean correspondent, Bill François is going to Morocco today, and if the white marlin bite there is as hot as it's been on the eastern side of the Atlantic for the past month off the Bahamas, he's in for a challenging time.
Bill says that the Atlantic bluefin tuna season in the Mediterranean has been about as bad as our marlin season was off the coast here last season, which, as all local anglers know, was about as bad as it could get...so maybe all these things are somehow connected.
Bill mentioned that despite the lousy BFT season in the Med, the most successful lure he had was a special tuna lure made for him by Aaron Jennings of Jennings Gamefish Lures. The purple bullet lure was loaned out by Bill to a mate, who promptly hooked up on a Mediterranean spearfish at exactly the same time as an outrigger malfunction saw the line wrapped around the rod tip without anyone noticing. Yep... splash.. BANG!!... and the 24kg line snapped and Bill's favourite lure was last seen heading for Africa still attached to the spearfish.
Tuesday, 29th August
With the start of the best 9 months of the local game fishing season on the northern NSW coast upon us, it's time to do a final check of boats ahead of the Solitary Islands club's boat safety BBQ, coming up next Sunday (2nd of September). Among all the usual stuff that the club checks before certifying boats approved to fish the season, is radios.
Most of us used to (or still do) have an old marine (27mhz) CB radio on board. These were all the go years ago, but since then, marine band VHF has become the standard. Even though 27Mhz radios aren't in wide use any more, a lot of boats still have them.
However, not having even picked up the microphone on Foreign Exchange's old radio for years, it's being replaced shortly by a second VHF marine band radio, which will give us another 25W radio as backup along with the handheld VHF that we also carry.
For several years now, SIGFC anglers and many other VHF marine band users on the north coast have had the very considerable advantage of using the club's VHF repeater system that was installed several years ago thanks to the efforts of club committee member Pete Mallia. Pete cobbled together a very reliable repeater system that is mounted on a communications tower 314 meters above sea level on a mountain behind Coffs Harbour.
I should note that while it was built by the Solitary Islands club, it repeats on a public frequency, and so is there for the use of all comers.
Sadly, that includes some of the rabble you hear out there using it and breaking just about every protocol for radio use by employing terrible non-standard radio techniques, not to mention some totally unacceptable language and expletives on a public frequency.
Many users are also probably unaware that marine VHF radio operators are required to be licensed... and while it's obvious that a large number of users have never done a radio course and almost certainly aren't complying with the requirement to be licensed, it's probably no big deal... at least until the water police ask you for your VHF radio operators license when they do that surprise inspection on your boat one of these days.
However, it would still be nice to hear the unlicensed operators using the correct protocols.
The chart shown on the left is a computer generated range prediction chart for boats using the SIGFC repeater system on VHF duplex channel 81. The chart shows theoretical ranges based on antenna position and local terrain blocking. VHF range is a direct function of the height of both antennas (the repeater station, and the boat) above sea level, but is always direct line of sight. So if there's a hill in the way between your boat and the antenna on the repeater station on the hill, even if you're trying to talk to a boat you can see just a couple of hundred yards away, forget it, you probably won't hear anything, and you won't be able to communicate until you get out from behind d the terrain shadow.
The chart pretty much guarantees at least 25 nautical mile crystal clear reception range to a boat with an antenna at sea level and no rocks or buildings in the way, and good reception to at least 50 nautical miles.
This in turn assures almost every boat operating from Coffs on a normal fishing day continuous communications regardless of where they are.
It's only when you get close to the coast to the north or south that things start to get iffy and the hills in between start to cast a radio shadow. Which explains why a boat moored in the marina at Yamba can't communicate, but one parked outside the pub at Iluka just across the river can communicate without any interference.
For anyone interested, there's a formula for estimating the theoretical range of a 25-watt marine VHF transceiver based on line-of-sight and height of both antennas (the transmitting and receiving antennas). The formula is Range=√1.23 antenna height in feet. You have to work this out for both antennas, and sum them together. In other words, the SIGFC repeater antenna is 1,030 feet above sea level, so the theoretical range to an antenna at sea level is 35.5 nautical miles. However, let's say that the antenna on the boat is 10 feet above sea level on your flybridge mounting, then that means that the theoretical receiving range for your boat is 35.5 plus (√11.23) 3.3, or a total of 38.8 nautical miles.
Compare this to the pre-VHF repeater days, and the straight VHF range between two boats with 10ft high antennas out there talking directly to each other was only 6.6 nautical miles. Remember those days when sometimes every second boat on a sked call couldn't be raised by the sked boat, so there was a lot of relaying going on...? Sometimes, if the sked boat was off SWR, and a boat up near The Hole was trying to pass a sked position, it occasionally took a couple of different relays to get the response back.
Not any longer... which also explains why even with a 5-watt handheld, anyone sitting in a deckchair beside their swimming pool in Coffs can communicate (or even run the sked all day...) with any boat in the fleet out there on Channel 81 provided they are in direct line of sight with the repeater antenna on the mountain behind town.
I've said it beofre, but it's worth repeating... we all owe a debt of gratitude to Pete for not only setting this system up for us, but also for the hours he puts into maintaining it every year for us. So far, other than total grid power failures on the north coast, or the odd black box death, the only other times I can think of when we've had the repeater system go down has been after lightning strikes up on the hill - it's been that reliable. Once again, after maintenance this week, the system will be up and running ready for the first SIGFC competition day on September 9th.
Most of us used to (or still do) have an old marine (27mhz) CB radio on board. These were all the go years ago, but since then, marine band VHF has become the standard. Even though 27Mhz radios aren't in wide use any more, a lot of boats still have them.
However, not having even picked up the microphone on Foreign Exchange's old radio for years, it's being replaced shortly by a second VHF marine band radio, which will give us another 25W radio as backup along with the handheld VHF that we also carry.
For several years now, SIGFC anglers and many other VHF marine band users on the north coast have had the very considerable advantage of using the club's VHF repeater system that was installed several years ago thanks to the efforts of club committee member Pete Mallia. Pete cobbled together a very reliable repeater system that is mounted on a communications tower 314 meters above sea level on a mountain behind Coffs Harbour.
I should note that while it was built by the Solitary Islands club, it repeats on a public frequency, and so is there for the use of all comers.
Sadly, that includes some of the rabble you hear out there using it and breaking just about every protocol for radio use by employing terrible non-standard radio techniques, not to mention some totally unacceptable language and expletives on a public frequency.
Many users are also probably unaware that marine VHF radio operators are required to be licensed... and while it's obvious that a large number of users have never done a radio course and almost certainly aren't complying with the requirement to be licensed, it's probably no big deal... at least until the water police ask you for your VHF radio operators license when they do that surprise inspection on your boat one of these days.
However, it would still be nice to hear the unlicensed operators using the correct protocols.
The chart shown on the left is a computer generated range prediction chart for boats using the SIGFC repeater system on VHF duplex channel 81. The chart shows theoretical ranges based on antenna position and local terrain blocking. VHF range is a direct function of the height of both antennas (the repeater station, and the boat) above sea level, but is always direct line of sight. So if there's a hill in the way between your boat and the antenna on the repeater station on the hill, even if you're trying to talk to a boat you can see just a couple of hundred yards away, forget it, you probably won't hear anything, and you won't be able to communicate until you get out from behind d the terrain shadow.
The chart pretty much guarantees at least 25 nautical mile crystal clear reception range to a boat with an antenna at sea level and no rocks or buildings in the way, and good reception to at least 50 nautical miles.
This in turn assures almost every boat operating from Coffs on a normal fishing day continuous communications regardless of where they are.
It's only when you get close to the coast to the north or south that things start to get iffy and the hills in between start to cast a radio shadow. Which explains why a boat moored in the marina at Yamba can't communicate, but one parked outside the pub at Iluka just across the river can communicate without any interference.
For anyone interested, there's a formula for estimating the theoretical range of a 25-watt marine VHF transceiver based on line-of-sight and height of both antennas (the transmitting and receiving antennas). The formula is Range=√1.23 antenna height in feet. You have to work this out for both antennas, and sum them together. In other words, the SIGFC repeater antenna is 1,030 feet above sea level, so the theoretical range to an antenna at sea level is 35.5 nautical miles. However, let's say that the antenna on the boat is 10 feet above sea level on your flybridge mounting, then that means that the theoretical receiving range for your boat is 35.5 plus (√11.23) 3.3, or a total of 38.8 nautical miles.
Compare this to the pre-VHF repeater days, and the straight VHF range between two boats with 10ft high antennas out there talking directly to each other was only 6.6 nautical miles. Remember those days when sometimes every second boat on a sked call couldn't be raised by the sked boat, so there was a lot of relaying going on...? Sometimes, if the sked boat was off SWR, and a boat up near The Hole was trying to pass a sked position, it occasionally took a couple of different relays to get the response back.
Not any longer... which also explains why even with a 5-watt handheld, anyone sitting in a deckchair beside their swimming pool in Coffs can communicate (or even run the sked all day...) with any boat in the fleet out there on Channel 81 provided they are in direct line of sight with the repeater antenna on the mountain behind town.
I've said it beofre, but it's worth repeating... we all owe a debt of gratitude to Pete for not only setting this system up for us, but also for the hours he puts into maintaining it every year for us. So far, other than total grid power failures on the north coast, or the odd black box death, the only other times I can think of when we've had the repeater system go down has been after lightning strikes up on the hill - it's been that reliable. Once again, after maintenance this week, the system will be up and running ready for the first SIGFC competition day on September 9th.
Saturday, 26th August
Some things never change, and resistance to change is a very human characteristic which came into play at the recent NSWGFA AGM, where a motion to adopt the new IGFA Tackle Rule changes regarding line class was defeated. No doubt there were well-argued cases on both sides of this proposal, but I'm struggling to think of anything that could resoundingly defeat a proposal to basically follow the lead of the IGFA in this case.
Looking for faults in this rule change really only brings up a couple of trivial "what if...?" scenarios such as maybe one involving crossover of line upstream from the 5m line class section which might make it harder for a line burn through, or possibly because a rig set up in accordance with the new rule but using a dacron or braid main section would be less susceptible to stretch - whatever the consequences of that might mean.
Frankly, I have trouble seeing what was wrong with the idea, other than that it was not a subtle change, it was a big change. But it was only a big change as far as the mechanics of the line class rule are concerned - the practical effect would seem to be negligible, as the fish and angler were always going to be at the direct mercy of the last 5m of line that was always going to be the breaking strain weak link right up to the time the wireman grabbed the leader. But big rule changes are generally hard to sell in a sport. Still, as long as everyone's fishing to the same rules, it probably doesn't really matter much for now.. That said, not adopting an IGFA rule change puts NSWGFA into a minority, and probably sends a pretty conservative message to the rest of the worldwide game fishing community.
It will be up to non-NSWGFA affiliated clubs to now decide whether they wish to follow NSWGFA's rejection of the new rule, or to adopt the new IGFA rule for their own club competitions.
Another 48 hours of steady southerlies along the northern NSW coast... maybe this will be enough to bring the EAC back onto the shelf. Not that anglers will necessarily be all that keen for this to happen in a hurry given the recent excellent YFT catches being recorded by longliners operating just to the south of Coffs Harbour on the inside edge of the current as it's currently running. If there are yellowfin out there close enough for game boats as these fish are reported to be, maybe there will be striped marlin in numbers as well. It will definitely be worth a look as soon as the southerlies back off and the seas settle down.
Looking for faults in this rule change really only brings up a couple of trivial "what if...?" scenarios such as maybe one involving crossover of line upstream from the 5m line class section which might make it harder for a line burn through, or possibly because a rig set up in accordance with the new rule but using a dacron or braid main section would be less susceptible to stretch - whatever the consequences of that might mean.
Frankly, I have trouble seeing what was wrong with the idea, other than that it was not a subtle change, it was a big change. But it was only a big change as far as the mechanics of the line class rule are concerned - the practical effect would seem to be negligible, as the fish and angler were always going to be at the direct mercy of the last 5m of line that was always going to be the breaking strain weak link right up to the time the wireman grabbed the leader. But big rule changes are generally hard to sell in a sport. Still, as long as everyone's fishing to the same rules, it probably doesn't really matter much for now.. That said, not adopting an IGFA rule change puts NSWGFA into a minority, and probably sends a pretty conservative message to the rest of the worldwide game fishing community.
It will be up to non-NSWGFA affiliated clubs to now decide whether they wish to follow NSWGFA's rejection of the new rule, or to adopt the new IGFA rule for their own club competitions.
Another 48 hours of steady southerlies along the northern NSW coast... maybe this will be enough to bring the EAC back onto the shelf. Not that anglers will necessarily be all that keen for this to happen in a hurry given the recent excellent YFT catches being recorded by longliners operating just to the south of Coffs Harbour on the inside edge of the current as it's currently running. If there are yellowfin out there close enough for game boats as these fish are reported to be, maybe there will be striped marlin in numbers as well. It will definitely be worth a look as soon as the southerlies back off and the seas settle down.
Friday, 25th August
Game fishing skippers and anglers are always on the lookout for new bits of kit that might help them, with marlin... Whether it's a new lure style, the next generation of game reel, or some new electronics, anything that catches their eye will result in further investigation and possibly addition to the bag of tricks on their boat.
With that in mind, the appearance of dredges in photos of blue marlin catches is starting to become pretty common. Various types of teaser dredge have been around for quite some time, but with advances in special plastics, the ability to print very realistic profiles, markings, and holographic effects on fish shapes and combine them all into a lightweight dredge that looks like a school of baitfish zipping along in the wake of a boat is starting to look like it can't be ignored - by either skippers or marlin.
The photo on the left is from BillfishReport.com, and shows a 200+kg blue marlin caught by the crew of skipper Matt Bowman's Grander" off Madeira this week. Great fish... a nice example of an Atlantic blue, and a photo that once again reinforces the fact that the blue marlin fishing in the eastern sub-tropical Atlantic ocean is world class.
However, the dredge in the background is one of about a dozen I've seen just this week in photos of marlin from around the global hotspots. And while dredges are nothing new, billfish anglers are starting to regard them as absolutely essential to have in the spread - ideally with live baits rigged on them if you're fishing for sailfish and smaller marlin, but almost as good with black rubber tuna profiles (called "mudflaps" and "slappers") that you can see in the photo, or the holographic fish ribbons commonly seen in tackle shops these days.
This is a pretty expensive and, if rigging the dredge with live baits, labour intensive setup to use. Furthermore, given that many of the pro boats in the US can be dragging four dredges around at a time, clearing everything after a strike must be pretty hard work for the first couple of minutes..
Given the outrageous prices being charged for dredges at the moment, you've got to assume that demand is high.
BW36 Nomad skipper from the Gold Coast, Wayne Spalding and three of his mates are heading across to Hawaii to fish the HIBT in a few days. This is one of the premiere blue marlin fishing tournaments in the world, and all his mates in Australia certainly wish Wayne and his team good luck. One thing about the Hawaiian blue marlin scene that I'll be very interested too hear back from Wayne about will be the prevalence of dredges being towed behind the hot professional boats fishing the HIBT.
So you have to ask yourself... do they really attract marlin more than older style teasers, will they work on the marlin off our east coast ... especially the big blues?
I suppose there's only one way to find out - besides, you probably wanted to go and visit that game fishing mail order website one more time before the action starts here in earnest.
With that in mind, the appearance of dredges in photos of blue marlin catches is starting to become pretty common. Various types of teaser dredge have been around for quite some time, but with advances in special plastics, the ability to print very realistic profiles, markings, and holographic effects on fish shapes and combine them all into a lightweight dredge that looks like a school of baitfish zipping along in the wake of a boat is starting to look like it can't be ignored - by either skippers or marlin.
The photo on the left is from BillfishReport.com, and shows a 200+kg blue marlin caught by the crew of skipper Matt Bowman's Grander" off Madeira this week. Great fish... a nice example of an Atlantic blue, and a photo that once again reinforces the fact that the blue marlin fishing in the eastern sub-tropical Atlantic ocean is world class.
However, the dredge in the background is one of about a dozen I've seen just this week in photos of marlin from around the global hotspots. And while dredges are nothing new, billfish anglers are starting to regard them as absolutely essential to have in the spread - ideally with live baits rigged on them if you're fishing for sailfish and smaller marlin, but almost as good with black rubber tuna profiles (called "mudflaps" and "slappers") that you can see in the photo, or the holographic fish ribbons commonly seen in tackle shops these days.
This is a pretty expensive and, if rigging the dredge with live baits, labour intensive setup to use. Furthermore, given that many of the pro boats in the US can be dragging four dredges around at a time, clearing everything after a strike must be pretty hard work for the first couple of minutes..
Given the outrageous prices being charged for dredges at the moment, you've got to assume that demand is high.
BW36 Nomad skipper from the Gold Coast, Wayne Spalding and three of his mates are heading across to Hawaii to fish the HIBT in a few days. This is one of the premiere blue marlin fishing tournaments in the world, and all his mates in Australia certainly wish Wayne and his team good luck. One thing about the Hawaiian blue marlin scene that I'll be very interested too hear back from Wayne about will be the prevalence of dredges being towed behind the hot professional boats fishing the HIBT.
So you have to ask yourself... do they really attract marlin more than older style teasers, will they work on the marlin off our east coast ... especially the big blues?
I suppose there's only one way to find out - besides, you probably wanted to go and visit that game fishing mail order website one more time before the action starts here in earnest.
Wednesday, 23rd August
A few days ago, I suggested that the strong southerly that was forecast to blow up the coast for a couple of days early this week might push the EAC back onto the edge of the continental shelf, which it certainly helped do north of the Coffs Coast. But now the current is running gun barrel straight and dead southwards from Byron, which puts it about 35 nautical miles east of Coffs Harbour. So much for that theory...!
Although, the southerly at least straightened out the current, even if it didn't push it onto the shelf edge here, and despite there being no current this side of 2500fa, the FishTrack data still looks really positive for spring... probably better than at this time of year in the past few seasons.
So, if it stays this strong and nothing else interferes with it for a week or so, it might work its way in, and the slight uphill flow along the top of the shelf might even bring a few stripes up here ... just in time for the start of festivities in September.
Hey... if there's nobody out fishing, you can speculate like crazy and nobody can prove you wrong!
Although, the southerly at least straightened out the current, even if it didn't push it onto the shelf edge here, and despite there being no current this side of 2500fa, the FishTrack data still looks really positive for spring... probably better than at this time of year in the past few seasons.
So, if it stays this strong and nothing else interferes with it for a week or so, it might work its way in, and the slight uphill flow along the top of the shelf might even bring a few stripes up here ... just in time for the start of festivities in September.
Hey... if there's nobody out fishing, you can speculate like crazy and nobody can prove you wrong!
Tuesday, 22nd August
After a couple of days servicing reels, tying new double knots, and replacing any suspect wind-on leaders and swivel clips, there's nothing more to do other than get your crew fired up to be ready for Day 1 of the new game fishing season. Well, actually, there's always something else to do as every skipper knows, but looking just a couple of weeks ahead and trying to formulate a plan of attack as far as the start of the new season goes requires a bit of guesswork and a little local knowledge.
Recent years indicate that while it can be a bit patchy, there are often a few days of good bites out there in spring, and if you can pick the timing, just a couple of tagged marlin early in the season can set a boat up to be pretty competitive going into the summer period after Christmas. Striped marlin are the go-to fish in spring, and while you can be lucky and find the occasional large blue marlin making an early pass along the bottom of the shelf, the stripes hanging out on the top edge are where the points can be quickly accumulated in just one or two days of productive fishing once you find where the things are.
This can take a bit of unproductive droning around, but once you find your own version of Marlin Alley, the idea is to try to hit it hard while the bite is there and maybe jump thirty or forty thousand tag points out the front of the pack that still hasn't turned a reel.
Getting crew members back into the groove usually doesn't take much effort once they have a season or two under their collective belts, but as usual, many game fishing skippers are once again faced with having to find and break in new crew members to join them for the season. All the usual obstacles to crewing a game boat don't change, and usually fall under the following headings - not necessarily in any particular order...
* The Single Angler mindset... Almost all other forms of angling involve just one angler and his or her fishing gear, and the fish. The opposite is true of game fishing, which above all else, is a team sport. Sure, the charter operators and their customers all want to consider it more of a singular achievement, but for those of us involved in club recreational game fishing, we know that the person with the rod in their hand is no more important than those who clear the deck, trace and tag the fish, and the skipper driving the boat when it comes down to managing each strike from start to finish. New recruits to game fishing often fail to understand this, and can't see the value in helping someone else in the team get the glory, even though in most cases, everyone shares equally in both time on strike and the kudos on the podium at the end of the season. If they don't "get" it, they don't last.
* The Family Problem... Quite understandably, most of us have family and family commitments. People who work hard during the week rightly expect time shared with their significant other on weekends, and often take exception to being told that they won't be seeing their partner between dawn and dusk on one day most weekends in the summer months. Then of course, there are the increasingly time-consuming weekend activities of kids these days - they need to be taken to sporting activities, group events, and assisted with all the myriad things from help with homework to ballet classes that mean disappearing over the horizon all day in a game boat on Saturday is going to use up all your time credits before the season even gets started. There's not much that can be done about this - family and partners always come first, and that's all there is to it, and it can take game fishing completely off the bucket list for many.
* Seasickness... ask most people if they get seasick, and the answer will often be "Never!" After much experience with this, you soon become used to at least 50% of those who give you this answer hanging over the side for half the trip begging to be taken home or shot and dumped overboard. Chronic seasickness is not a laughing matter, and you have to develop a fairly fatalistic acceptance of the fact that while a great many would-be big game anglers may never have been airsick, carsick, or even seasick on cruise liners or tinnies up a river, they can turn into a bilious green mess out on the edge of the continental shelf. Game boats have a subtle corkscrew motion underway that upsets the middle ear quite easily, and when you combine that with the frequent wafting of diesel exhaust fumes across the deck, you can be confronted with someone who might normally have the seagoing constitution of Nelson spending the day on your boat frequently re-examining their last meal. There's nothing you can do about a susceptibility to seasickness, but if they're keen enough, new crew will try the usual cures, both chemical (makes them want to sleep all day), homeopathic (very limited success, although ginger works well..), or physical (the pressure point wristbands are remarkably successful in my experience).
* The Hero syndrome. There are some anglers who will tell you anything to get out on a game boat and chase marlin... and then once they get that all-important photo with a marlin bill in their hand and the head of a huge fish in the frame with their own after a successful battle, they never turn up again and go back to snapper fishing. These people drive me batshit... they tell you anything to get out, promise they'll be part of the crew for the season, and then once they have that photo, they're never available any more.
All that said... you will find that despite all of the above, there are reliable, keen, skilful anglers out there who make great crew members, and who like a beer at the marlin bar with their mates after a big the day on the water. When you find them, treat them well and make them feel valued. You can't succeed in game fishing without a small, tight knit, gun crew.
Recent years indicate that while it can be a bit patchy, there are often a few days of good bites out there in spring, and if you can pick the timing, just a couple of tagged marlin early in the season can set a boat up to be pretty competitive going into the summer period after Christmas. Striped marlin are the go-to fish in spring, and while you can be lucky and find the occasional large blue marlin making an early pass along the bottom of the shelf, the stripes hanging out on the top edge are where the points can be quickly accumulated in just one or two days of productive fishing once you find where the things are.
This can take a bit of unproductive droning around, but once you find your own version of Marlin Alley, the idea is to try to hit it hard while the bite is there and maybe jump thirty or forty thousand tag points out the front of the pack that still hasn't turned a reel.
Getting crew members back into the groove usually doesn't take much effort once they have a season or two under their collective belts, but as usual, many game fishing skippers are once again faced with having to find and break in new crew members to join them for the season. All the usual obstacles to crewing a game boat don't change, and usually fall under the following headings - not necessarily in any particular order...
* The Single Angler mindset... Almost all other forms of angling involve just one angler and his or her fishing gear, and the fish. The opposite is true of game fishing, which above all else, is a team sport. Sure, the charter operators and their customers all want to consider it more of a singular achievement, but for those of us involved in club recreational game fishing, we know that the person with the rod in their hand is no more important than those who clear the deck, trace and tag the fish, and the skipper driving the boat when it comes down to managing each strike from start to finish. New recruits to game fishing often fail to understand this, and can't see the value in helping someone else in the team get the glory, even though in most cases, everyone shares equally in both time on strike and the kudos on the podium at the end of the season. If they don't "get" it, they don't last.
* The Family Problem... Quite understandably, most of us have family and family commitments. People who work hard during the week rightly expect time shared with their significant other on weekends, and often take exception to being told that they won't be seeing their partner between dawn and dusk on one day most weekends in the summer months. Then of course, there are the increasingly time-consuming weekend activities of kids these days - they need to be taken to sporting activities, group events, and assisted with all the myriad things from help with homework to ballet classes that mean disappearing over the horizon all day in a game boat on Saturday is going to use up all your time credits before the season even gets started. There's not much that can be done about this - family and partners always come first, and that's all there is to it, and it can take game fishing completely off the bucket list for many.
* Seasickness... ask most people if they get seasick, and the answer will often be "Never!" After much experience with this, you soon become used to at least 50% of those who give you this answer hanging over the side for half the trip begging to be taken home or shot and dumped overboard. Chronic seasickness is not a laughing matter, and you have to develop a fairly fatalistic acceptance of the fact that while a great many would-be big game anglers may never have been airsick, carsick, or even seasick on cruise liners or tinnies up a river, they can turn into a bilious green mess out on the edge of the continental shelf. Game boats have a subtle corkscrew motion underway that upsets the middle ear quite easily, and when you combine that with the frequent wafting of diesel exhaust fumes across the deck, you can be confronted with someone who might normally have the seagoing constitution of Nelson spending the day on your boat frequently re-examining their last meal. There's nothing you can do about a susceptibility to seasickness, but if they're keen enough, new crew will try the usual cures, both chemical (makes them want to sleep all day), homeopathic (very limited success, although ginger works well..), or physical (the pressure point wristbands are remarkably successful in my experience).
* The Hero syndrome. There are some anglers who will tell you anything to get out on a game boat and chase marlin... and then once they get that all-important photo with a marlin bill in their hand and the head of a huge fish in the frame with their own after a successful battle, they never turn up again and go back to snapper fishing. These people drive me batshit... they tell you anything to get out, promise they'll be part of the crew for the season, and then once they have that photo, they're never available any more.
All that said... you will find that despite all of the above, there are reliable, keen, skilful anglers out there who make great crew members, and who like a beer at the marlin bar with their mates after a big the day on the water. When you find them, treat them well and make them feel valued. You can't succeed in game fishing without a small, tight knit, gun crew.
Monday, 21st August
The flood of recent news from the Atlantic covering large daily tag and release numbers of white marlin is extremely encouraging. Boats working the edge of the Gulfstream off the Bahamas are tagging 10+ whites a day right now at the peak of the season, and similar results will hopefully come in from the eastern side of the Atlantic where the white marlin season off Morocco is about the get underway. Stay tuned for reports from our erstwhile Mediterranean correspondent, Bill François, who fishes for whites off Morocco at this time of year before moving on to beat up the Atlantic bluefin tuna population in his home waters off the coast of France.
Why mention this...? After all, it's the other side of the world, a totally different ocean, and unrelated to what happens here. But is it ...?
The Atlantic white marlin is an extremely close relative of the striped marlin found in the Indian and Pacific oceans, and the two varieties of marlin share many similar characteristics and behaviour.
While it's admittedly an extremely long bow to draw, the glass-half-full approach to the apparent health of the Atlantic white marlin fishery may be - at least in part - a function of both the US government's severe restrictions on the catch and sale of billfish, and the limited access to the Atlantic Ocean by the fleets of rapacious longliners from Asian nations.
It's not the same in the Pacific of course, where even though the US billfish restrictions are probably having an effect as far as the numbers of striped marlin being delivered to the US domestic mainland market are concerned, the huge Asian longliner fleets continue to catch striped marlin wherever they can for sale and consumption in their home markets, quite often in complete disregard for treaty catch limit agreements.
Sadly, the Australian longliner fleet still catches and lands large numbers of striped marlin, although in fairness, there is a total catch weight limit of 351 tonnes of striped marlin in place for 2017/18 imposed for the East Australian Tuna and Billfish fishery by the Australian government. Regrettably, this figure is considered sustainable by our government, but if you look at the ongoing paucity of striped marlin tag and release results across the east Australian recreational gamefish fleet, you'd have to question any such fanciful "sustainable" classification.
Worse still, the total value of the East Australian Tuna and Billfish fishery was only $35 million last year - which includes both the tuna and the billfish, so the actual value of the striped marlin landed by the longliner fleet here is probably less than half that amount.
$35m is about the cost of 1.25 kilometres of the current Pacific Highway upgrade works program.
So where is this leading...? Ask yourself what the increased value to GDP of the recreational game fishery in Australia would be if the Australian government was to ban catching (within our 200nm EEZ) and the sale of striped marlin here, and if, as a consequence, the numbers of these fish recovered to similar levels they're seeing for white marlin in the Atlantic. Do you think that the additional value to the economy would exceed a relatively paltry $35m if game fishermen and game charter operators up and down our east coast could go out and be relatively sure of tagging half a dozen striped marlin on any given day in summer...?
While striped marlin are caught off the entire east coast, the most consistently productive and accessible section of the fishery extends from Fraser Island to the Victorian border, and supposedly, the NSW coast is the epicentre. Frankly, after the last few years, you could have fooled me.
Why mention this...? After all, it's the other side of the world, a totally different ocean, and unrelated to what happens here. But is it ...?
The Atlantic white marlin is an extremely close relative of the striped marlin found in the Indian and Pacific oceans, and the two varieties of marlin share many similar characteristics and behaviour.
While it's admittedly an extremely long bow to draw, the glass-half-full approach to the apparent health of the Atlantic white marlin fishery may be - at least in part - a function of both the US government's severe restrictions on the catch and sale of billfish, and the limited access to the Atlantic Ocean by the fleets of rapacious longliners from Asian nations.
It's not the same in the Pacific of course, where even though the US billfish restrictions are probably having an effect as far as the numbers of striped marlin being delivered to the US domestic mainland market are concerned, the huge Asian longliner fleets continue to catch striped marlin wherever they can for sale and consumption in their home markets, quite often in complete disregard for treaty catch limit agreements.
Sadly, the Australian longliner fleet still catches and lands large numbers of striped marlin, although in fairness, there is a total catch weight limit of 351 tonnes of striped marlin in place for 2017/18 imposed for the East Australian Tuna and Billfish fishery by the Australian government. Regrettably, this figure is considered sustainable by our government, but if you look at the ongoing paucity of striped marlin tag and release results across the east Australian recreational gamefish fleet, you'd have to question any such fanciful "sustainable" classification.
Worse still, the total value of the East Australian Tuna and Billfish fishery was only $35 million last year - which includes both the tuna and the billfish, so the actual value of the striped marlin landed by the longliner fleet here is probably less than half that amount.
$35m is about the cost of 1.25 kilometres of the current Pacific Highway upgrade works program.
So where is this leading...? Ask yourself what the increased value to GDP of the recreational game fishery in Australia would be if the Australian government was to ban catching (within our 200nm EEZ) and the sale of striped marlin here, and if, as a consequence, the numbers of these fish recovered to similar levels they're seeing for white marlin in the Atlantic. Do you think that the additional value to the economy would exceed a relatively paltry $35m if game fishermen and game charter operators up and down our east coast could go out and be relatively sure of tagging half a dozen striped marlin on any given day in summer...?
While striped marlin are caught off the entire east coast, the most consistently productive and accessible section of the fishery extends from Fraser Island to the Victorian border, and supposedly, the NSW coast is the epicentre. Frankly, after the last few years, you could have fooled me.
Saturday, 19th August
On the east coast of Australia, we're now just one month away from the Vernal Equinox, which happens at 0600 on 23 September. This is when the sun crosses the equator on its way southwards, and signals the astronomical start of spring. Numerous events are in motion and in synch with the sun's progress, including the movement of the average track followed by high pressure systems, which are presently following a fairly normal winter path along about 30 South for the first time in a while and giving us these extended periods of relatively calm days while diverting all but the strongest cold fronts south of Sydney.
Soon though, the path of the high pressure systems will move a little further south ahead of the sun, and expose the coast here to a more easterly influence on our prevailing summer breezes. Over the last couple of years, the highs have been positioned even further south of their usual summer path across the continent, which has brought brilliant weather to Tasmania, but exposed us here to the nasty alternating southerly/northerly wind effects that have been responsible in part for trashing our fishing.
As we saw last season, if it blows too hard from the south and southeast for too long here, the ocean turns to unfishable slop, and if we have extended periods of persistent northerlies, the EAC gets pushed out to sea away from the edge of the shelf, and we have the Eckman effect rolling the water over and turning it to that awful green/grey marlin-free muck that we saw all too often over the last couple of years.
While the dynamics of all the factors influencing our game fishing conditions is obviously more complex than this simple description (for example, I haven't even bothered to talk about El Niño...), the fact is that unless the average path of the atmospheric high pressure systems follows the usual summer track from west to east along about 35 South, our weather here won't be what we regard as "normal", and neither will the fishing conditions.
That said however, between the path of the high pressure systems this winter, and the recent dynamics of the EAC, the outlook is more positive than it's been for years in my view.
In addition to the seasonal path of the high pressure systems behaving more normally, another of our "normal" factors is starting to set up beautifully - the behaviour of the EAC. The East Australian Current is starting to run downhill (north to south) from the sub tropics in what used to be a fairly familiar pattern for spring. This has been going on for days now, and if it holds, could be a very positive sign for the season ahead. The current is flowing quite strongly south now, but the main body is still too far out to sea to be considered of any use to us here, and while it has a strong edge at 80 miles or so, it hasn't yet moved in to the edge of the shelf. In fact, there is uphill flow inside it along the north coast.
However, this weekend's strong southerly gale can only help reset the current by pushing it back towards its regular inshore track down the edge of the continental shelf, so all in all, it's a good thing. If the current is flowing down the edge of the shelf by this time next week, it would be a favourable indication of an early start to the season.
As I've mentioned recently on these pages, EAC water above 24C too soon can be a double-edged sword in that while it may bring an early hot bite, if the EAC gets too warm too soon, it can spawn the highly disruptive mesoscale downwelling eddy that has formed off the NSW/Qld border over the last couple of summers and screwed the current up royally for us on the NSW north coast. If however, that big eddy doesn't set up again this year, then the steady current flow that brings all the bait and the pelagics won't be diverted away from the edge of the shelf, and we could be looking at the sort of a season we haven't seen here for several years now.
With straight, steady current flow from Fraser Island down to Yamba this week, and 24C (think blue marlin trigger) water now passing Evans Head, it's entirely possible that September could surprise us all if we finally see a "normal" spring...
Solitary Blues.. and not about blue marlin.
No doubt regular visitors to this website who are involved in the Coffs Coast game fishing scene will be looking for some comments on recent deeply distressing membership management issues at the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club. Rather than feed the rumour mill and give this distracting issue oxygen that it doesn't deserve, suffice to say that unless you've spoken first hand to any of the people directly involved, you, like me, are probably not in possession of the facts... in which case, let the club's committee resolve this matter as they were elected to do. What is promising to be one of the best game fishing seasons in years starts in less than 2 weeks, and that's where every angler and skippers' focus should be right now.
Soon though, the path of the high pressure systems will move a little further south ahead of the sun, and expose the coast here to a more easterly influence on our prevailing summer breezes. Over the last couple of years, the highs have been positioned even further south of their usual summer path across the continent, which has brought brilliant weather to Tasmania, but exposed us here to the nasty alternating southerly/northerly wind effects that have been responsible in part for trashing our fishing.
As we saw last season, if it blows too hard from the south and southeast for too long here, the ocean turns to unfishable slop, and if we have extended periods of persistent northerlies, the EAC gets pushed out to sea away from the edge of the shelf, and we have the Eckman effect rolling the water over and turning it to that awful green/grey marlin-free muck that we saw all too often over the last couple of years.
While the dynamics of all the factors influencing our game fishing conditions is obviously more complex than this simple description (for example, I haven't even bothered to talk about El Niño...), the fact is that unless the average path of the atmospheric high pressure systems follows the usual summer track from west to east along about 35 South, our weather here won't be what we regard as "normal", and neither will the fishing conditions.
That said however, between the path of the high pressure systems this winter, and the recent dynamics of the EAC, the outlook is more positive than it's been for years in my view.
In addition to the seasonal path of the high pressure systems behaving more normally, another of our "normal" factors is starting to set up beautifully - the behaviour of the EAC. The East Australian Current is starting to run downhill (north to south) from the sub tropics in what used to be a fairly familiar pattern for spring. This has been going on for days now, and if it holds, could be a very positive sign for the season ahead. The current is flowing quite strongly south now, but the main body is still too far out to sea to be considered of any use to us here, and while it has a strong edge at 80 miles or so, it hasn't yet moved in to the edge of the shelf. In fact, there is uphill flow inside it along the north coast.
However, this weekend's strong southerly gale can only help reset the current by pushing it back towards its regular inshore track down the edge of the continental shelf, so all in all, it's a good thing. If the current is flowing down the edge of the shelf by this time next week, it would be a favourable indication of an early start to the season.
As I've mentioned recently on these pages, EAC water above 24C too soon can be a double-edged sword in that while it may bring an early hot bite, if the EAC gets too warm too soon, it can spawn the highly disruptive mesoscale downwelling eddy that has formed off the NSW/Qld border over the last couple of summers and screwed the current up royally for us on the NSW north coast. If however, that big eddy doesn't set up again this year, then the steady current flow that brings all the bait and the pelagics won't be diverted away from the edge of the shelf, and we could be looking at the sort of a season we haven't seen here for several years now.
With straight, steady current flow from Fraser Island down to Yamba this week, and 24C (think blue marlin trigger) water now passing Evans Head, it's entirely possible that September could surprise us all if we finally see a "normal" spring...
Solitary Blues.. and not about blue marlin.
No doubt regular visitors to this website who are involved in the Coffs Coast game fishing scene will be looking for some comments on recent deeply distressing membership management issues at the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club. Rather than feed the rumour mill and give this distracting issue oxygen that it doesn't deserve, suffice to say that unless you've spoken first hand to any of the people directly involved, you, like me, are probably not in possession of the facts... in which case, let the club's committee resolve this matter as they were elected to do. What is promising to be one of the best game fishing seasons in years starts in less than 2 weeks, and that's where every angler and skippers' focus should be right now.
Wednesday, 18th August
Ever since one of our local rod and reel maintenance stalwarts passed away unexpectedly a couple of years ago, it's been getting harder to have game fishing reels serviced on the north coast. Don't get me wrong...Tim from Coffs Harbour Reel Repairs does a great job, but he's now the only game in town, and will no doubt be getting busier as summer approaches.
The default option for many has always been to send reels away to Sydney or Cairns, but this usually involves inconveniently long timeframes, and given the weight of the average Tiagra, very high postage or courier costs.
So... with the start of the season rapidly approaching I took the plunge and risked covering the floor with miniature springs and loose ball bearings and decided to see just how difficult it was to service an 80W Tiagra.
In his excellent book "The Complete Guide to Game Fishing", local game fisherman and author Glen Booth discusses the servicing of game reels, and gives some excellent advice regarding the process. However, he concludes that given the relatively low cost of having it done professionally, the risks associated with doing it yourself didn't really warrant getting out the tools. And that's still a valid argument.
However, if you have confidence in your basic mechanical skills, Shimano do actually publish a step-by-step servicing guide for Tiagras, and frankly, it's excellent. And it's surprisingly simple!
I should stress that this is a servicing guide only, not an overhaul manual. Certain components such as the gear shifting mechanism and the SHD (Shimano Hydrothermal Drag) module should not be broken down without specialist tools and skills, and the servicing manual makes that very clear. That said, the servicing guide does walk you through a full service up to and including the replacement of bearings, carbon fibre drag washer, and the drag springs, so it takes you right through a normal annual servicing, plus the replacement of those items that sometimes show enough wear to warrant changing for new components. This is more than many anglers will need for the entire life of their reels, and assuming just normal wear and tear, would be all that's required over a 10-year reel life assuming it's properly looked after.
There are no special tools required for a normal annual servicing other than a T15 size Torx screwdriver. Other than that, just a set of small phillips head and regular screwdrivers, maybe a pair of small, soft needle-nosed pliers, soft rags, and as Glen Booth brilliantly suggests in his book, and empty egg carton.
The only thing you'll have to buy will be a tube of Shimano Ace-2 grease for bearings and shafts, and a tub of Shimano TBM grease for the drag plate and washer. Both of these will set you back about $25 each (and both are available from FTA), and will be all you need to service at least 25 reels.
Using any grease other than these (expensive) Shimano greases would not be at all smart given the huge stresses and high temperatures the critical reel components like bearings and drag systems have to deal with, and the need for correct lubrication of these parts cannot be overemphasised. Notwithstanding, I know that some reel repair and overhaul shops don't use the Shimano grease, and there are no doubt equivalent cheaper non-Shimano lubricants out there, but for the small number of overhauls you or I would do in the course of a year, why bother ..?
Anyway, in the end it took exactly one hour to break down (only to the extent required for servicing), clean, inspect, lubricate, and reassemble the 80W. In this case, the reel was in perfect shape and needed no replacement bearings or other components, so the whole process was relatively painless, and turned out not to be rocket science. Best of all, there were no screws left in the egg carton at the end, and the drag recalibrated and tested perfectly.
Of course, if the first blue we hook up on this or the other reels I'm now going to service is last seen heading for the horizon after one of the bearings I didn't refit correctly seizes and the line snaps, I'll be eating a lot of humble pie in front of crew members whose expressions will no doubt make Julie Bishop's famous death stare look quite benign.
The Tiagra servicing manual is attached and downloadable below. Even if you decide not to do this work yourself, it's worth a read. It has an excellent description of the work required to fully service a Tiagra, and even if you never do it yourself, knowing exactly what you're paying for is always good background knowledge.
The manual also has an excellent discussion on the linear drag buildup that takes place on all game reels as the line is stripped and the spool diameter decreases. This alone is essential reading for all game fishermen who are ever going to end up on a fish, because it gives a clear understanding of what considerations need to be in the back of an angler's (and skipper's...) mind when they're looking at a reel stripping down to less than half full while hooked up to a feisty marlin...
The default option for many has always been to send reels away to Sydney or Cairns, but this usually involves inconveniently long timeframes, and given the weight of the average Tiagra, very high postage or courier costs.
So... with the start of the season rapidly approaching I took the plunge and risked covering the floor with miniature springs and loose ball bearings and decided to see just how difficult it was to service an 80W Tiagra.
In his excellent book "The Complete Guide to Game Fishing", local game fisherman and author Glen Booth discusses the servicing of game reels, and gives some excellent advice regarding the process. However, he concludes that given the relatively low cost of having it done professionally, the risks associated with doing it yourself didn't really warrant getting out the tools. And that's still a valid argument.
However, if you have confidence in your basic mechanical skills, Shimano do actually publish a step-by-step servicing guide for Tiagras, and frankly, it's excellent. And it's surprisingly simple!
I should stress that this is a servicing guide only, not an overhaul manual. Certain components such as the gear shifting mechanism and the SHD (Shimano Hydrothermal Drag) module should not be broken down without specialist tools and skills, and the servicing manual makes that very clear. That said, the servicing guide does walk you through a full service up to and including the replacement of bearings, carbon fibre drag washer, and the drag springs, so it takes you right through a normal annual servicing, plus the replacement of those items that sometimes show enough wear to warrant changing for new components. This is more than many anglers will need for the entire life of their reels, and assuming just normal wear and tear, would be all that's required over a 10-year reel life assuming it's properly looked after.
There are no special tools required for a normal annual servicing other than a T15 size Torx screwdriver. Other than that, just a set of small phillips head and regular screwdrivers, maybe a pair of small, soft needle-nosed pliers, soft rags, and as Glen Booth brilliantly suggests in his book, and empty egg carton.
The only thing you'll have to buy will be a tube of Shimano Ace-2 grease for bearings and shafts, and a tub of Shimano TBM grease for the drag plate and washer. Both of these will set you back about $25 each (and both are available from FTA), and will be all you need to service at least 25 reels.
Using any grease other than these (expensive) Shimano greases would not be at all smart given the huge stresses and high temperatures the critical reel components like bearings and drag systems have to deal with, and the need for correct lubrication of these parts cannot be overemphasised. Notwithstanding, I know that some reel repair and overhaul shops don't use the Shimano grease, and there are no doubt equivalent cheaper non-Shimano lubricants out there, but for the small number of overhauls you or I would do in the course of a year, why bother ..?
Anyway, in the end it took exactly one hour to break down (only to the extent required for servicing), clean, inspect, lubricate, and reassemble the 80W. In this case, the reel was in perfect shape and needed no replacement bearings or other components, so the whole process was relatively painless, and turned out not to be rocket science. Best of all, there were no screws left in the egg carton at the end, and the drag recalibrated and tested perfectly.
Of course, if the first blue we hook up on this or the other reels I'm now going to service is last seen heading for the horizon after one of the bearings I didn't refit correctly seizes and the line snaps, I'll be eating a lot of humble pie in front of crew members whose expressions will no doubt make Julie Bishop's famous death stare look quite benign.
The Tiagra servicing manual is attached and downloadable below. Even if you decide not to do this work yourself, it's worth a read. It has an excellent description of the work required to fully service a Tiagra, and even if you never do it yourself, knowing exactly what you're paying for is always good background knowledge.
The manual also has an excellent discussion on the linear drag buildup that takes place on all game reels as the line is stripped and the spool diameter decreases. This alone is essential reading for all game fishermen who are ever going to end up on a fish, because it gives a clear understanding of what considerations need to be in the back of an angler's (and skipper's...) mind when they're looking at a reel stripping down to less than half full while hooked up to a feisty marlin...
Saturday, 12th August
The weather, and if you believe the SST chart below, the ocean, are both starting to look a lot like spring, which for mid-August is pretty remarkable.
However, if this is the way our new season here is going to unfold, bring it on by all means...
One thing that will no doubt be exercising the minds of game fishing skippers here is re-rigging of fishing gear.
Re-rigging is routine and relatively simple, and owners of game gear have only two or three choices.
Firstly, you can simply re-spool reels with a full load of IGFA rated monofilament line. Mono takes a beating from the sun, gets stressed during every fight with a fish, and has a definite use by date, which most of us agree is about 12 months in Australian conditions. Provided you use a quality line with an IGFA stamp on it, it's hard to go wrong. Prices of mono vary considerably, and while price and brand are factors that anglers take note of when buying replacement line, one of the most important considerations that many anglers tend to skip should be line diameter. Most game fishing mono is hard, dense line with good quality control and consistent breaking strain. It should also have good UV resistance properties. But... line diameter of say 37kg mono varies between about 0.85mm and 0.95mm, and the diameter of the line may actually affect how it handles abuse, and the amount of line you can fit on a spool. The latter doesn't really make more than 25m or so of difference per spool, but a line that's just a few hundredths of a millimetre thicker might be better able to withstand freak accidents like being briefly crossed over, or a swipe from a bill, a touch from a small pelagic like a striped tuna, or even just being hit by a piece of flotsam. If you run the first 50 metres or so of line on any reel through your fingers occasionally, it's sometimes surprising how many minute nicks you will feel in a piece of line that hasn't been trimmed back since the last big fish, or has been dragged around the ocean one time too many, even without being subject to a fight with a marlin.
Secondly, if you topshot your reels with a couple of hundred meters of mono over braided dacron, then replacing the topshot section doesn't involve much expense, and requires only minimum effort. When considering line diameter as mentioned above, then a topshot of thinner line doesn't materially affect how much line you can fit on a reel, so frankly, I usually topshot using one of the wider diameter IGFA monofilaments, because it's that topshot section that's going to take a bigger beating, get more UV exposure, and for that matter, probably be stretched harder during it's year on the reel, so the toughest (and therefore often the thickest diameter) topshot line you can load trumps the need for a thinner line of the same breaking strain in my view.
Thirdly, most skippers will be familiar with the new IGFA line class rule change that allows line of pretty much any class or construction to be used on game reels, but that the line class for competition points and record purposes will be defined by the first 5 meters (16.5ft) of line below the double, which must be a single, homogeneous piece of line. That's all fine, and we've all heard about it, but the last I heard, NSWGFA is procrastinating and has not yet ratified this rule change. So for those anglers wanting to rig to comply with the new IGFA rule, you'll need to determine what you club's policy is for this season. Several interstate associations have gone ahead and already ratified the new IGFA line class rule, which has made it a lot easier for anglers in those states to spool up with their preferred mix of line to comply with the new rule before their main season gets under way. Ask your club committee for a reading on this before deciding how to rig your outfits this season.
However, if this is the way our new season here is going to unfold, bring it on by all means...
One thing that will no doubt be exercising the minds of game fishing skippers here is re-rigging of fishing gear.
Re-rigging is routine and relatively simple, and owners of game gear have only two or three choices.
Firstly, you can simply re-spool reels with a full load of IGFA rated monofilament line. Mono takes a beating from the sun, gets stressed during every fight with a fish, and has a definite use by date, which most of us agree is about 12 months in Australian conditions. Provided you use a quality line with an IGFA stamp on it, it's hard to go wrong. Prices of mono vary considerably, and while price and brand are factors that anglers take note of when buying replacement line, one of the most important considerations that many anglers tend to skip should be line diameter. Most game fishing mono is hard, dense line with good quality control and consistent breaking strain. It should also have good UV resistance properties. But... line diameter of say 37kg mono varies between about 0.85mm and 0.95mm, and the diameter of the line may actually affect how it handles abuse, and the amount of line you can fit on a spool. The latter doesn't really make more than 25m or so of difference per spool, but a line that's just a few hundredths of a millimetre thicker might be better able to withstand freak accidents like being briefly crossed over, or a swipe from a bill, a touch from a small pelagic like a striped tuna, or even just being hit by a piece of flotsam. If you run the first 50 metres or so of line on any reel through your fingers occasionally, it's sometimes surprising how many minute nicks you will feel in a piece of line that hasn't been trimmed back since the last big fish, or has been dragged around the ocean one time too many, even without being subject to a fight with a marlin.
Secondly, if you topshot your reels with a couple of hundred meters of mono over braided dacron, then replacing the topshot section doesn't involve much expense, and requires only minimum effort. When considering line diameter as mentioned above, then a topshot of thinner line doesn't materially affect how much line you can fit on a reel, so frankly, I usually topshot using one of the wider diameter IGFA monofilaments, because it's that topshot section that's going to take a bigger beating, get more UV exposure, and for that matter, probably be stretched harder during it's year on the reel, so the toughest (and therefore often the thickest diameter) topshot line you can load trumps the need for a thinner line of the same breaking strain in my view.
Thirdly, most skippers will be familiar with the new IGFA line class rule change that allows line of pretty much any class or construction to be used on game reels, but that the line class for competition points and record purposes will be defined by the first 5 meters (16.5ft) of line below the double, which must be a single, homogeneous piece of line. That's all fine, and we've all heard about it, but the last I heard, NSWGFA is procrastinating and has not yet ratified this rule change. So for those anglers wanting to rig to comply with the new IGFA rule, you'll need to determine what you club's policy is for this season. Several interstate associations have gone ahead and already ratified the new IGFA line class rule, which has made it a lot easier for anglers in those states to spool up with their preferred mix of line to comply with the new rule before their main season gets under way. Ask your club committee for a reading on this before deciding how to rig your outfits this season.
Friday, 11th August
There's some very warm water moving down from the north at the moment, as the screen shot from today's FishTrack SST chart shows. Despite the EAC being somewhat messy and full of small eddies, it's still pushing a big warm water front out wide to the northeast which could make it here if the current straightens.
This is pretty early in the season for water in the 23-24C range, but if it has bait in it, the striped marlin might show up, and even blue marlin might be tempted to venture south of the border.
Regardless, the longliners will probably be out there around the leading edge of this formation, and the rumours of what they're picking up might hint at a bite of some sort off the Coffs Coast if the current plays the game.
With a Wednesday forecast predicting 30C and blue skies, this whole scenario is the sort of thing you'd expect to see in November, not August.
This is pretty early in the season for water in the 23-24C range, but if it has bait in it, the striped marlin might show up, and even blue marlin might be tempted to venture south of the border.
Regardless, the longliners will probably be out there around the leading edge of this formation, and the rumours of what they're picking up might hint at a bite of some sort off the Coffs Coast if the current plays the game.
With a Wednesday forecast predicting 30C and blue skies, this whole scenario is the sort of thing you'd expect to see in November, not August.
Tuesday, 8th August
The touchy subject of climate change is increasingly on the radar of fishermen everywhere, and is going to become a Marlin Bar discussion topic among Australia's game fishermen in due course - if it isn't already. There are definitely some manifestations of climate change which can already be seen in various oceans around the world, but the big picture is not as clear as some would have us believe.
Everyone has their own personal take on this subject, and while arguments abound about whether it's really happening at all, whether it's part of a natural long term cycle, whether it really is anthropomorphic, and how extreme it's likely to be are all subjects that are being argued for and against ferociously by scientists, politicians of all persuasions, activists, and extremists, including people like Al Gore, who is making a lot of money going around scaring people.
Suffice to say that at the moment, nobody really seems to know enough to one able to tell us where this will end and what the consequences will be.
However, evidence of (cyclical...?) warming trends are everywhere, not the least in our oceans. The appearance of persistent and highly disruptive mesoscale oceanic eddies off our east coast in recent years that have played havoc with the behaviour of the East Australian Current and with our game fishing seasons is just one example.
The eddies that seem to be responsible for the hijacking the EAC and diverting it away from its usual path down the edge of the continental shelf are a relatively new phenomenon - at least on the scale we're experiencing now. Doubtless, these eddies have always been present; but recently, they've been increasingly influential on marlin and tuna movements here and consequently, on our sport of game fishing.
The large oceanic eddies that we're seeing off our coasts are much like the barometric interaction in the world's atmosphere - driven by temperature dynamics, Coriolis, and the movement of air masses between climate zones. Both air and water behave as a fluid, and to focus in on a specific example, the similarities between an atmospheric tropical low pressure system and a downwelling mesoscale oceanic eddy are striking. For example, both feed on, and gain strength from, warm tropical or sub-tropical ocean water masses. When ocean temperatures just north or south of the Equator reach 27C, one of the triggers for the development of powerful low pressure systems in the atmosphere above these warm water pools is met, and the formation of cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons, or whatever their geographic location defines them as follows.
The same is true for the large downwelling eddies in the ocean - the formation, size, persistence and intensity of which is dependent on the flow of warm ocean water that feeds them. To this extent, the EAC can be its own worst enemy... the current brings warm tropical water down our coast, and that warm water triggers the formation of the large downwelling eddies that can then highjack and/or disrupt the current that has actually been largely responsible for their formation.
Thus, the earlier and warmer the flow of water in the EAC down the coast here, the more likely the frequency and intensity of the downwelling eddies that we've seen form off the NSW/Qld border that play havoc with the current and the gamefish in it.
Which is why the relatively early appearance of 24C water off the Gold Coast this month should be something we need to keep our eyes on. If it's a sign of early warm current flow which leads to unseasonally warm water flow to the region too early in the spring, it could drive the early formation of that powerful downwelling eddy to our north that we've seen play havoc with the marlin movement down the coast for the last couple of summers. Another summer of that disruption would be a disaster.
The question you have to ask yourself is whether this is moving the game fishing hot spots around... will the blue marlin hang around longer on the Gold Coast, will the giant black marlin hotspots move south down the Barrier Reef, will they be catching blue marlin in numbers off Bermagui all summer ...?? Who knows...
And it's not just happening here - there's a good piece sent to me by Marcus Blackwell about the movement of warmer water north along the European and UK coasts which has resulted in the appearance of huge numbers of squid and anchovies in UK waters, along with the movement of Atlantic bluefin tuna back into areas where they haven't been seen for decades. Read it at - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/28/climate-change-drawing-squid-anchovies-and-tuna-into-uk-waters.
Everyone has their own personal take on this subject, and while arguments abound about whether it's really happening at all, whether it's part of a natural long term cycle, whether it really is anthropomorphic, and how extreme it's likely to be are all subjects that are being argued for and against ferociously by scientists, politicians of all persuasions, activists, and extremists, including people like Al Gore, who is making a lot of money going around scaring people.
Suffice to say that at the moment, nobody really seems to know enough to one able to tell us where this will end and what the consequences will be.
However, evidence of (cyclical...?) warming trends are everywhere, not the least in our oceans. The appearance of persistent and highly disruptive mesoscale oceanic eddies off our east coast in recent years that have played havoc with the behaviour of the East Australian Current and with our game fishing seasons is just one example.
The eddies that seem to be responsible for the hijacking the EAC and diverting it away from its usual path down the edge of the continental shelf are a relatively new phenomenon - at least on the scale we're experiencing now. Doubtless, these eddies have always been present; but recently, they've been increasingly influential on marlin and tuna movements here and consequently, on our sport of game fishing.
The large oceanic eddies that we're seeing off our coasts are much like the barometric interaction in the world's atmosphere - driven by temperature dynamics, Coriolis, and the movement of air masses between climate zones. Both air and water behave as a fluid, and to focus in on a specific example, the similarities between an atmospheric tropical low pressure system and a downwelling mesoscale oceanic eddy are striking. For example, both feed on, and gain strength from, warm tropical or sub-tropical ocean water masses. When ocean temperatures just north or south of the Equator reach 27C, one of the triggers for the development of powerful low pressure systems in the atmosphere above these warm water pools is met, and the formation of cyclones, hurricanes, typhoons, or whatever their geographic location defines them as follows.
The same is true for the large downwelling eddies in the ocean - the formation, size, persistence and intensity of which is dependent on the flow of warm ocean water that feeds them. To this extent, the EAC can be its own worst enemy... the current brings warm tropical water down our coast, and that warm water triggers the formation of the large downwelling eddies that can then highjack and/or disrupt the current that has actually been largely responsible for their formation.
Thus, the earlier and warmer the flow of water in the EAC down the coast here, the more likely the frequency and intensity of the downwelling eddies that we've seen form off the NSW/Qld border that play havoc with the current and the gamefish in it.
Which is why the relatively early appearance of 24C water off the Gold Coast this month should be something we need to keep our eyes on. If it's a sign of early warm current flow which leads to unseasonally warm water flow to the region too early in the spring, it could drive the early formation of that powerful downwelling eddy to our north that we've seen play havoc with the marlin movement down the coast for the last couple of summers. Another summer of that disruption would be a disaster.
The question you have to ask yourself is whether this is moving the game fishing hot spots around... will the blue marlin hang around longer on the Gold Coast, will the giant black marlin hotspots move south down the Barrier Reef, will they be catching blue marlin in numbers off Bermagui all summer ...?? Who knows...
And it's not just happening here - there's a good piece sent to me by Marcus Blackwell about the movement of warmer water north along the European and UK coasts which has resulted in the appearance of huge numbers of squid and anchovies in UK waters, along with the movement of Atlantic bluefin tuna back into areas where they haven't been seen for decades. Read it at - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/28/climate-change-drawing-squid-anchovies-and-tuna-into-uk-waters.
Saturday, 5th August
The 24C water is steadily working its way south and is now off Ballina. With striped marlin being raised off Cape Moreton all the way down to the border this week, they must be active somewhere around the edge of the shelf off northern NSW as well, so find the bait, and it shouldn't be too hard to find the marlin.
With the best stretch of winter weather experienced for a long time off the Solitary Islands just now, anglers are seeing at least 3-4 days per week with decent weather windows for a day our on the edge of the continental shelf. This weekend has a three day window of near-perfect weather forecast from today through Monday, with barometric pressure high enough to move baitfish close to the surface, low to zero wind chop , and steady (albeit limited) current flow.
Sadly, after a fleet of five game boats fished all day off Coffs Harbour today, the news is that wherever the marlin are, it sure as hell isn't here, with no sign of gamefish up to and including the usually reliable but apparently non-existent 2-oclock bite!
With the best stretch of winter weather experienced for a long time off the Solitary Islands just now, anglers are seeing at least 3-4 days per week with decent weather windows for a day our on the edge of the continental shelf. This weekend has a three day window of near-perfect weather forecast from today through Monday, with barometric pressure high enough to move baitfish close to the surface, low to zero wind chop , and steady (albeit limited) current flow.
Sadly, after a fleet of five game boats fished all day off Coffs Harbour today, the news is that wherever the marlin are, it sure as hell isn't here, with no sign of gamefish up to and including the usually reliable but apparently non-existent 2-oclock bite!
Tuesday, 1st August
While it may be either a computer glitch, or just a short-lived breakthrough, the FishTrack satellite plot today shows that the EAC has started flowing downhill along the edge of the continental shelf from Fraser Island past Coffs Harbour and beyond. Water temps off Fraser are now above 24C, and off the north coast of NSW around 22.5C. If the current keeps flowing this way for a few more days, sea surface temperatures here could be expected to rise another half to even one degree, but more likely it will be a slower process. It's actually pretty early in the season for this sort of early current flow, but if it holds up, the week ahead could provide some interesting fishing out on the edge of the shelf. And the weather forecast is pretty good.
Members of the Coffs Harbour game fishing community have got a fairly important weekend ahead, with the usual monthly competition day for the CHGFC this Saturday, and the SIGFC AGM on Sunday.
Hopefully, the Coffs group will actually get enough boats out on Saturday for a quorum and a meaningful day on the water this time instead of leaving the Black N Blue team out there fishing on their own again...
The Solitary Islands club also needs a representative quorum at its AGM... members have to be fully financial for the coming season in order to be able to participate in the meeting and vote. Remember... it you don't end up with the committee you want to see running your club for the next year, and if you want a say in the operational decisions and strategic direction of your club for the coming season, you can't complain if you never attended.
Meanwhile, even though we're still some 6 weeks away from the Equinox, for the last couple of days we've seen fabulous weather on the NSW north coast, with spring temperatures in the mid to high 20s, blue skies, and light winds. Definitely striped marlin weather...
Members of the Coffs Harbour game fishing community have got a fairly important weekend ahead, with the usual monthly competition day for the CHGFC this Saturday, and the SIGFC AGM on Sunday.
Hopefully, the Coffs group will actually get enough boats out on Saturday for a quorum and a meaningful day on the water this time instead of leaving the Black N Blue team out there fishing on their own again...
The Solitary Islands club also needs a representative quorum at its AGM... members have to be fully financial for the coming season in order to be able to participate in the meeting and vote. Remember... it you don't end up with the committee you want to see running your club for the next year, and if you want a say in the operational decisions and strategic direction of your club for the coming season, you can't complain if you never attended.
Meanwhile, even though we're still some 6 weeks away from the Equinox, for the last couple of days we've seen fabulous weather on the NSW north coast, with spring temperatures in the mid to high 20s, blue skies, and light winds. Definitely striped marlin weather...
Friday, 28th July
Another good article on the ethical treatment of billfish before release in today's E-newsletter from the IGFA.
This is an ongoing campaign that some elements of the game fishing community need reminding about regularly, and it's good to see the IGFA on the ball. Generally, I believe that the habit of removing billfish from the water for hero photos is a habit that's increasingly restricted to a very small number of anglers, and most of them aren't members of game fishing clubs that know this practise is detrimental to the fish and bad PR for the sport.
Still, it never hurts to bang on about it in the hope that the message gets out to those bottom bashers who occasionally come up with a juvenile black marlin after dropping a live bait overboard, or the new recruits to the sport who get the erroneous impression that a photo of a marlin draped across their knees or the deck of their boat is better than a good video sequence of the fish in the water beside the boat...
You can read it at... /Users/user/Desktop/Billfish%20release%202017_JAS_web.webarchive
This is an ongoing campaign that some elements of the game fishing community need reminding about regularly, and it's good to see the IGFA on the ball. Generally, I believe that the habit of removing billfish from the water for hero photos is a habit that's increasingly restricted to a very small number of anglers, and most of them aren't members of game fishing clubs that know this practise is detrimental to the fish and bad PR for the sport.
Still, it never hurts to bang on about it in the hope that the message gets out to those bottom bashers who occasionally come up with a juvenile black marlin after dropping a live bait overboard, or the new recruits to the sport who get the erroneous impression that a photo of a marlin draped across their knees or the deck of their boat is better than a good video sequence of the fish in the water beside the boat...
You can read it at... /Users/user/Desktop/Billfish%20release%202017_JAS_web.webarchive
Wednesday, 26th July
A pretty frustrating yesterday... great forecast, and good indications from the satellite data... but the reality offshore on the edge of the shelf wasn't up to the forecast early in the day, although it did improve in the afternoon.
The day got off to a fantastic start when we were still cruising out on Black N Blue... and passing 100 fathoms, saw a striped marlin giving some bait hell on the surface - lots of whitewater, and a big sweeping slash as it chased after something. We slowed, dropped the lures in immediately, but sadly set the pattern for the day by not being able to raise the fish. Revisiting the same area later in the day we found a couple of miles of pretty exciting midwater bait being worked by gannets and pilot whales, but still never saw a marlin.
It was the same story while deep-dropping for groper and swordfish... looked good, plenty of excellent returns on the sounder where the deep feed layer was, and on the bottom in the small canyons and ledges on the edge of the shelf. But the bait was just being harassed by lots of junk that left the it looking like it had been chewed on by cookie-cutters without a single big bite.
The day got off to a fantastic start when we were still cruising out on Black N Blue... and passing 100 fathoms, saw a striped marlin giving some bait hell on the surface - lots of whitewater, and a big sweeping slash as it chased after something. We slowed, dropped the lures in immediately, but sadly set the pattern for the day by not being able to raise the fish. Revisiting the same area later in the day we found a couple of miles of pretty exciting midwater bait being worked by gannets and pilot whales, but still never saw a marlin.
It was the same story while deep-dropping for groper and swordfish... looked good, plenty of excellent returns on the sounder where the deep feed layer was, and on the bottom in the small canyons and ledges on the edge of the shelf. But the bait was just being harassed by lots of junk that left the it looking like it had been chewed on by cookie-cutters without a single big bite.
Monday, 24th July
Yet another sensational day off the Solitary Islands today... this is classic Coffs Harbour winter weather, and this year, it's been dramatically better than the summer just past. It looks and feels more like autumn around the Mediterranean, with mid-twenties daytime temps, cool nights, cloudless blue skies, light breezes and glass-off conditions from the beach to the horizon, where the water colour certainly looks above average.
Of course, the big question for game fishermen is whether they'll find any action out there in such perfect conditions, and there's only one way to find that out.
There were plenty of gannets working bait inshore when this photo was taken this morning looking north from the top of Muttonbird Island, so that's always a good sign, even if it doesn't give much of a clue about what's happening out on the edge of the continental shelf...
Of course, the big question for game fishermen is whether they'll find any action out there in such perfect conditions, and there's only one way to find that out.
There were plenty of gannets working bait inshore when this photo was taken this morning looking north from the top of Muttonbird Island, so that's always a good sign, even if it doesn't give much of a clue about what's happening out on the edge of the continental shelf...
Sunday, 23rd July
There's a very interesting situation with the EAC setting up off the east coast to our north at the moment...
Check out the composite screen shot from FishTrack reproduced above... The current is pushing into the coast from out in the middle of the Coral Sea well beyond the reef and only hits the coast briefly at Hervey Bay, before being swept out to sea again by a large upwelling mesoscale eddy off the Sunshine Coast. This upwelling eddy would load the current up with a lot of nutrient and would strongly attract bait and the whole pelagic food chain.
The current then travels well out to sea and bypasses the Gold Coast completely, only looping back into the edge of the continental shelf at Byron/Ballina. If we'd only seen this setup last summer... or the summer before!
If I lived in Ballina, Yamba or Coffs and saw this in summer, you could bet that the marlin boys would no doubt be out there at dawn fishing hard all day, because you'd just have to believe it should be loaded with billfish!
This sort of thing would have to produce a red hot bite at NSI and The Hole to our northeast, as any marlin riding the current would have only touched the coast briefly at the northern tip of Fraser Island, then been well offshore for a couple of days before finally getting back to where they'd prefer to be on the edge of the shelf between Byron and here.
This is the sort of thing we saw a couple of years back when the current was diverted offshore at the border, and never got back to the shelf until after the Central Coast, taking all the marlin away from here and bypassing the north coast completely, while firing up a great bite off Sydney and the south coast.
It's good to see some strong current flow in mid-winter, it's good to see 24C water near Byron, and it's good to see the current behaving this way for a change... if we see this here in spring and summer, we're in for a great season.
Needless to say, I was reminded this morning by one of the north coast's top game fishing skippers that experience has repeatedly shown us that these depictions on FishTrack and similar websites often can't be relied upon, and that what we're seeing here in 24 hours old at best. True enough... which always makes going out there both a gamble and a bit of an act of faith.
You could rush out to meet what looks on the charts like a hot bite only to find that in the preceding 24 hours, the currently has moved back out wide and left you with old slack water and no action at all. But at least there's always the excitement of thinking you might have cracked the code as the lures go in the water... and at least some of the time, we really do go out to where we believe the the charts are showing us we'll find the conditions we want and are rewarded by discovering that we've have landed right in the middle of the action.
Check out the composite screen shot from FishTrack reproduced above... The current is pushing into the coast from out in the middle of the Coral Sea well beyond the reef and only hits the coast briefly at Hervey Bay, before being swept out to sea again by a large upwelling mesoscale eddy off the Sunshine Coast. This upwelling eddy would load the current up with a lot of nutrient and would strongly attract bait and the whole pelagic food chain.
The current then travels well out to sea and bypasses the Gold Coast completely, only looping back into the edge of the continental shelf at Byron/Ballina. If we'd only seen this setup last summer... or the summer before!
If I lived in Ballina, Yamba or Coffs and saw this in summer, you could bet that the marlin boys would no doubt be out there at dawn fishing hard all day, because you'd just have to believe it should be loaded with billfish!
This sort of thing would have to produce a red hot bite at NSI and The Hole to our northeast, as any marlin riding the current would have only touched the coast briefly at the northern tip of Fraser Island, then been well offshore for a couple of days before finally getting back to where they'd prefer to be on the edge of the shelf between Byron and here.
This is the sort of thing we saw a couple of years back when the current was diverted offshore at the border, and never got back to the shelf until after the Central Coast, taking all the marlin away from here and bypassing the north coast completely, while firing up a great bite off Sydney and the south coast.
It's good to see some strong current flow in mid-winter, it's good to see 24C water near Byron, and it's good to see the current behaving this way for a change... if we see this here in spring and summer, we're in for a great season.
Needless to say, I was reminded this morning by one of the north coast's top game fishing skippers that experience has repeatedly shown us that these depictions on FishTrack and similar websites often can't be relied upon, and that what we're seeing here in 24 hours old at best. True enough... which always makes going out there both a gamble and a bit of an act of faith.
You could rush out to meet what looks on the charts like a hot bite only to find that in the preceding 24 hours, the currently has moved back out wide and left you with old slack water and no action at all. But at least there's always the excitement of thinking you might have cracked the code as the lures go in the water... and at least some of the time, we really do go out to where we believe the the charts are showing us we'll find the conditions we want and are rewarded by discovering that we've have landed right in the middle of the action.
Friday, 21st July
Monday's forecast has blue sky, light breezes, and warm air (for mid-winter) at 23C all happening at once... add warm water reaching 24C just north of here off Ballina, plus an upwelling eddy off the NSW north coast to all of the above, and maybe the bait that's been missing for a week after being here by the acre recently will reappear, along with the usual suspects... Looks like a helluva good day for a fish.
Thursday, 20th July
Still glorious winter weather... better than our summer just passed by almost any measure except of course temperature.
So... looking for positive signs about next summer's game fishing... there was great bait about a week ago, but almost none now. Not such a bad thing as long as it keeps reappearing regularly, but not much good if you make a trip out hoping to find both bait and the striped marlin that should be following it but come up empty on both counts as Hemingway did on Tuesday.
Water quality has generally been encouraging., although inconsistent.
The juvenile black marlin keep making the fishing news up on the Queensland north coast, which, if those early signs of plentiful numbers continue to gather momentum, should mean a good black marlin season here at the end of the year.
The weather... well, there have been some strong winds and big swells, but for over 50% of each month so far this winter, the days have been fishable, relatively calm, with low swell.
If you're not busy with seasonal boat maintenance, then there are always reels to be serviced and re-spooled, lures to be re-rigged, and rods to serviced and overhauled.
And finally, there's always club membership to renew, an AGM to attend, and of course... the ongoing struggle for good game fishing anglers to crew a game boat during the season ahead.
So... looking for positive signs about next summer's game fishing... there was great bait about a week ago, but almost none now. Not such a bad thing as long as it keeps reappearing regularly, but not much good if you make a trip out hoping to find both bait and the striped marlin that should be following it but come up empty on both counts as Hemingway did on Tuesday.
Water quality has generally been encouraging., although inconsistent.
The juvenile black marlin keep making the fishing news up on the Queensland north coast, which, if those early signs of plentiful numbers continue to gather momentum, should mean a good black marlin season here at the end of the year.
The weather... well, there have been some strong winds and big swells, but for over 50% of each month so far this winter, the days have been fishable, relatively calm, with low swell.
If you're not busy with seasonal boat maintenance, then there are always reels to be serviced and re-spooled, lures to be re-rigged, and rods to serviced and overhauled.
And finally, there's always club membership to renew, an AGM to attend, and of course... the ongoing struggle for good game fishing anglers to crew a game boat during the season ahead.
Tuesday, 18th July
An interesting three days, none of it involving fishing...
Foreign Exchange had to go to Brisbane for a new paint job, and without crew, there was no point in thinking about fishing - just getting there, but not in a hurry.
First day's run to Yamba was in calm weather. A very clear current surge around North Solitary Island (isn't that where all the interesting things are supposed to happen in winter...?), with 20.8C water, good colour change, but not a lot of bait in close along the 20fa line I was running north on.
Got the boat all snugged up at Yamba when the mother of all winter storms hit, blowing down tree limbs, and beating the hell out of everything with hail, microburst wind gusts, and lots of lightning; but when you're already sitting in the Yamba Tavern looking out at it all, it can storm as much as it likes...
The next day was damned cold leaving Yamba, but with a light southwest wind behind the boat, the going was great, with another half knot of groundspeed. The sun burst out passing Byron, but the water slowly got worse, and by the time the Seaway was in sight, the water was a very mediocre green. Whales everywhere, all along the coast in big numbers.
I ended up ignominiously parked beside a 56ft Viking at the Bayview Harbour marina, and that Viking made ForEx look like a tinny...
And what a gorgeous looking boat. It apparently catches marlin like crazy, and runs like a Swiss watch despite having 7000 hours on it. It looked like it had come out of the factory yesterday.
The next day was a joyride in glamour conditions along the inland passage to the big boatyard up the end of (very, very shallow) Eprapah Creek on Moreton Bay, where Lucas Main and his team of Brisbane Boat Painting wizards at the Redland City Marina are going to try some transmogrification (love that word...!!!) and give ForEx a new look.
Note to the Coffs slipway braintrust... Don't mess with an old technology Travellift! Just look at the Sealift system that lifted 5 boats out onto the hardstand in just 40 minutes while I watched... this thing can pluck any sized boat out of the water in 5 minutes flat without all the drama of slings and so forth.
Once we get the new paint sorted, the trip back will however, be all about game fishing... watch this space!!
Foreign Exchange had to go to Brisbane for a new paint job, and without crew, there was no point in thinking about fishing - just getting there, but not in a hurry.
First day's run to Yamba was in calm weather. A very clear current surge around North Solitary Island (isn't that where all the interesting things are supposed to happen in winter...?), with 20.8C water, good colour change, but not a lot of bait in close along the 20fa line I was running north on.
Got the boat all snugged up at Yamba when the mother of all winter storms hit, blowing down tree limbs, and beating the hell out of everything with hail, microburst wind gusts, and lots of lightning; but when you're already sitting in the Yamba Tavern looking out at it all, it can storm as much as it likes...
The next day was damned cold leaving Yamba, but with a light southwest wind behind the boat, the going was great, with another half knot of groundspeed. The sun burst out passing Byron, but the water slowly got worse, and by the time the Seaway was in sight, the water was a very mediocre green. Whales everywhere, all along the coast in big numbers.
I ended up ignominiously parked beside a 56ft Viking at the Bayview Harbour marina, and that Viking made ForEx look like a tinny...
And what a gorgeous looking boat. It apparently catches marlin like crazy, and runs like a Swiss watch despite having 7000 hours on it. It looked like it had come out of the factory yesterday.
The next day was a joyride in glamour conditions along the inland passage to the big boatyard up the end of (very, very shallow) Eprapah Creek on Moreton Bay, where Lucas Main and his team of Brisbane Boat Painting wizards at the Redland City Marina are going to try some transmogrification (love that word...!!!) and give ForEx a new look.
Note to the Coffs slipway braintrust... Don't mess with an old technology Travellift! Just look at the Sealift system that lifted 5 boats out onto the hardstand in just 40 minutes while I watched... this thing can pluck any sized boat out of the water in 5 minutes flat without all the drama of slings and so forth.
Once we get the new paint sorted, the trip back will however, be all about game fishing... watch this space!!
Monday, 10th July
After a week of weather that we'd have killed for back during our recent summer of rubbish, the lure of the shelf couldn't be resisted any longer, so I went out for a cruise to stir up the engine yesterday. No crew available though, which was a shame, because it looked incredibly "fishy" out there, so left the Tiagras behind and just took a couple of boat rods for an hour of so of bottom bashing and whale watching.
Not a whitecap in sight, winds less than 5 knots all day, very nice water at 21.5C, and acres of bait, with gannets diving everywhere around the boat as far as you could see. Every time I dropped the jigging rig down, it came up with a string full of slimies - in several cases a mixed string that had very nice big eye sardines on it as well. The gannets were so full they could barely take off, and the dolphins were obviously unable to eat anymore, just lazing around in the middle of it all, or swimming along with the whales.
And each time I dropped a hook with a strip of fresh bait to the bottom, it came back up with a nice Trag attached... great fishing for the table and freezer in absolutely beautiful weather.
Whales everywhere just now of course. Never seen so many, and even Migaloo was seen passing through earlier in the day, but I missed him.
However, what really got my attention was in 35 fathoms where there was one large ball of slimies that was being constantly harassed from below. Sprays of baitfish leaping out of the water every couple of minutes, but no sign of anything breaking through, so there was a very real chance it was striped marlin - at least that's what I wanted to believe. Times like that you need a good forward looking sonar just to give you a hint of what the predator was.
Lost one string full of slimies when there was a large hit on it, and it all disappeared.... could have been a shark of course.
Not a whitecap in sight, winds less than 5 knots all day, very nice water at 21.5C, and acres of bait, with gannets diving everywhere around the boat as far as you could see. Every time I dropped the jigging rig down, it came up with a string full of slimies - in several cases a mixed string that had very nice big eye sardines on it as well. The gannets were so full they could barely take off, and the dolphins were obviously unable to eat anymore, just lazing around in the middle of it all, or swimming along with the whales.
And each time I dropped a hook with a strip of fresh bait to the bottom, it came back up with a nice Trag attached... great fishing for the table and freezer in absolutely beautiful weather.
Whales everywhere just now of course. Never seen so many, and even Migaloo was seen passing through earlier in the day, but I missed him.
However, what really got my attention was in 35 fathoms where there was one large ball of slimies that was being constantly harassed from below. Sprays of baitfish leaping out of the water every couple of minutes, but no sign of anything breaking through, so there was a very real chance it was striped marlin - at least that's what I wanted to believe. Times like that you need a good forward looking sonar just to give you a hint of what the predator was.
Lost one string full of slimies when there was a large hit on it, and it all disappeared.... could have been a shark of course.
Saturday, 8th July
Well... the weather may be gorgeous here on shore, but it's not that great out on the edge of the shelf.
With nothing more than light breezes and near glassoff conditions on the beach, the edge of the shelf and beyond today was being trashed up by a 15-20 knot sou'westerly, that made the fishing pretty uncomfortable and killed off any action.
Coffs boat Black N Blue went wide to the deep water well beyond the shelf around 40 miles out, and bumped into nasty wind and a couple of longliners working their set out there. The ocean started off looking pretty good, but even the water quality went to hell after the breeze had been blowing for a while. BnB couldn't find a single tuna in the rough water, and even the longliners weren't doing any good. BnB skipper Rob Lang was listening to the longliners on the radio, and one bloke was bemoaning the fact that after clearing 900 empty hooks, they had one albacore tuna hooked up that got crash tackled and devoured by a shark before they could lift it into the boat!
Apparently, there are YFT further out, but there sure wasn't much where they were fishing today.
Unable to drop a swordfish rig in that slop, BnB came in closer looking for some striped marlin action on top of the shelf, but there was nothing happening there either.
Guess it isn't firing yet, but with everybody else sitting tied up here in the marina, there's not much chance of stirring up any action anyway.
I see the satellite shots showing a very large upwelling eddy set up wide off the Coffs Coast, and that usually brings a fair bot of pelagic action around the perimeter of an upwelling eddy, but the trick is finding out where the bite is setting up, and if it's out on the eastern side of the eddy, then that's out of reach of game boats.
With nothing more than light breezes and near glassoff conditions on the beach, the edge of the shelf and beyond today was being trashed up by a 15-20 knot sou'westerly, that made the fishing pretty uncomfortable and killed off any action.
Coffs boat Black N Blue went wide to the deep water well beyond the shelf around 40 miles out, and bumped into nasty wind and a couple of longliners working their set out there. The ocean started off looking pretty good, but even the water quality went to hell after the breeze had been blowing for a while. BnB couldn't find a single tuna in the rough water, and even the longliners weren't doing any good. BnB skipper Rob Lang was listening to the longliners on the radio, and one bloke was bemoaning the fact that after clearing 900 empty hooks, they had one albacore tuna hooked up that got crash tackled and devoured by a shark before they could lift it into the boat!
Apparently, there are YFT further out, but there sure wasn't much where they were fishing today.
Unable to drop a swordfish rig in that slop, BnB came in closer looking for some striped marlin action on top of the shelf, but there was nothing happening there either.
Guess it isn't firing yet, but with everybody else sitting tied up here in the marina, there's not much chance of stirring up any action anyway.
I see the satellite shots showing a very large upwelling eddy set up wide off the Coffs Coast, and that usually brings a fair bot of pelagic action around the perimeter of an upwelling eddy, but the trick is finding out where the bite is setting up, and if it's out on the eastern side of the eddy, then that's out of reach of game boats.
Thursday, 6th July
If only we'd had this weather on the Coffs Coast last summer! It's been a run of glamour days, with perfect inshore conditions, and the only swell of any consequence well out to sea on the edge of the shelf. No whitecaps day after day, with breezes generally below 10 knots, and the only whitewater out there being the ubiquitous eruptions of spray from some of the more boisterous members of the many passing pods of whales heading north for their winter calving/mating activities.
The weekend coming up looks to be smooth, clear, warm, and near perfect game fishing conditions... the only unknown is whether there are any game fish out there, but it sure looks "fishy" enough for a bit of an exploratory run out to Marlin Alley.
Ironically, our long distance game fishing associate Bill François from Paris is stuck in Sydney on his last free weekend of a month long work assignment and was hoping to come to Coffs to meet a few members of the Solitary Islands GFC and maybe have a day on the water looking for stripes. But... as luck would have it, it's one of the three big Oztag tournaments this weekend, and it's school holidays, and don't the bloody ripoff merchants running the airlines know it - all remaining seats between Sydney and Coffs have been $350 each way for weeks, which of course is more than anyone's prepared to pay for a day's fishing in Coffs. Bastards!
For members of the Solitary Islands GFC...
Don't forget that the club's Annual General Meeting is coming up, and anyone planning on attending should have their membership for the 2017/18 season all paid up if they plan to go to the meeting and vote for or against the multiple proposals that are going on the agenda, and to fill the committee vacancies.
There's a strong field of experienced game fishermen and women nominees for the club President and committee member positions, and it's my earnest hope that they can all be encouraged to pen a few paragraphs about who they are, their vision for the club's immediate future, and their hot button issues, and that we will see their candidate statements on the club website or here in The Logbook to help members familiarise themselves with who and what they're voting for come the AGM.
The next season starting on 1 September promises to be a fairly big year for the club in many ways - hopefully not the least of which will be a return to a summer of hot fishing when the "normal" conditions that we're been missing for the past couple of summers finally occurs.
There are already several agenda proposals that have been submitted before the 21-day agenda cutoff (14 July), and they refer to matters such as the allocation of points during club representation in tournaments away from Coffs Harbour, mandatory boat safety inspections, ANSA membership and affiliation (both club and individual), a new club membership structure that among other things, introduces a social membership category, and a couple more still to be posted.
If you have a matter that you want addressed at the AGM that you feel strongly enough about and which could help guide or improve club activities, rules, or strategic direction, then take the time to fill out an AGM proposal form (available on the club website under the AGM banner) and submit it to the club secretary before 14 July. Remember... per the NSW Fair Trading rules for incorporated clubs, you can't discuss or vote on any matter at the AGM that hasn't been submitted for placing on the meeting agenda less than 21 days before the AGM.
So if you've been grumbling about anything to do with the club operation or management over your post-fishing beer last season, this is one of those "submit your agenda proposal now, or forever hold your peace" moments
The weekend coming up looks to be smooth, clear, warm, and near perfect game fishing conditions... the only unknown is whether there are any game fish out there, but it sure looks "fishy" enough for a bit of an exploratory run out to Marlin Alley.
Ironically, our long distance game fishing associate Bill François from Paris is stuck in Sydney on his last free weekend of a month long work assignment and was hoping to come to Coffs to meet a few members of the Solitary Islands GFC and maybe have a day on the water looking for stripes. But... as luck would have it, it's one of the three big Oztag tournaments this weekend, and it's school holidays, and don't the bloody ripoff merchants running the airlines know it - all remaining seats between Sydney and Coffs have been $350 each way for weeks, which of course is more than anyone's prepared to pay for a day's fishing in Coffs. Bastards!
For members of the Solitary Islands GFC...
Don't forget that the club's Annual General Meeting is coming up, and anyone planning on attending should have their membership for the 2017/18 season all paid up if they plan to go to the meeting and vote for or against the multiple proposals that are going on the agenda, and to fill the committee vacancies.
There's a strong field of experienced game fishermen and women nominees for the club President and committee member positions, and it's my earnest hope that they can all be encouraged to pen a few paragraphs about who they are, their vision for the club's immediate future, and their hot button issues, and that we will see their candidate statements on the club website or here in The Logbook to help members familiarise themselves with who and what they're voting for come the AGM.
The next season starting on 1 September promises to be a fairly big year for the club in many ways - hopefully not the least of which will be a return to a summer of hot fishing when the "normal" conditions that we're been missing for the past couple of summers finally occurs.
There are already several agenda proposals that have been submitted before the 21-day agenda cutoff (14 July), and they refer to matters such as the allocation of points during club representation in tournaments away from Coffs Harbour, mandatory boat safety inspections, ANSA membership and affiliation (both club and individual), a new club membership structure that among other things, introduces a social membership category, and a couple more still to be posted.
If you have a matter that you want addressed at the AGM that you feel strongly enough about and which could help guide or improve club activities, rules, or strategic direction, then take the time to fill out an AGM proposal form (available on the club website under the AGM banner) and submit it to the club secretary before 14 July. Remember... per the NSW Fair Trading rules for incorporated clubs, you can't discuss or vote on any matter at the AGM that hasn't been submitted for placing on the meeting agenda less than 21 days before the AGM.
So if you've been grumbling about anything to do with the club operation or management over your post-fishing beer last season, this is one of those "submit your agenda proposal now, or forever hold your peace" moments
Sunday, 2nd July
Most of us are thinking about our gear at this time of year... what needs replacing, what needs servicing, what worked well, what needs to be changed... etc.
Speaking of new gear, here's a custom rod that was made in Melbourne for local skipper Rob Lang for use on his boat Black N Blue. This 24-37kg rod is made from a lightweight carbon fibre blank and set up as a stroker. However, the feature that really grabs your attention is the convertible titanium articulated butt section, which switches from a straight butt to a bent butt in a couple of seconds depending on how you plan to fish it. Not only is the butt section very light being made from the titanium alloy ($$$) more usually found in aerospace applications, but typical of this metal, it's much stronger than the usual aluminium alloy used in normal butts, so despite not looking very robust this unit is actually rated for reels set for up to 30kg of drag! Hell of a rig...
Now all we need is for one of the big reel makers to start turning out their top-of-the-line game reels in Titanium. Don't worry, it's coming, and they'll be less than half the weight of today's Tiagras... but you'll probably have to mortgage the house to buy a brace.
Speaking of new gear, here's a custom rod that was made in Melbourne for local skipper Rob Lang for use on his boat Black N Blue. This 24-37kg rod is made from a lightweight carbon fibre blank and set up as a stroker. However, the feature that really grabs your attention is the convertible titanium articulated butt section, which switches from a straight butt to a bent butt in a couple of seconds depending on how you plan to fish it. Not only is the butt section very light being made from the titanium alloy ($$$) more usually found in aerospace applications, but typical of this metal, it's much stronger than the usual aluminium alloy used in normal butts, so despite not looking very robust this unit is actually rated for reels set for up to 30kg of drag! Hell of a rig...
Now all we need is for one of the big reel makers to start turning out their top-of-the-line game reels in Titanium. Don't worry, it's coming, and they'll be less than half the weight of today's Tiagras... but you'll probably have to mortgage the house to buy a brace.
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Wednesday, 28th June
With the striped marlin providing a fair bit of action up on the Gold Coast this past week, there's every reason to assume the same should be happening out the front of Coffs. The currents favour striped marlin here at the moment, and even YFT out wider, but we won't know for sure until someone tries to stir them up out there.
The weather doesn't look too friendly until next week, and if the longer range forecast holds, it might be worth a shot on the weekend of the 8th/9th. Heaps of whales out the front right now, so to quote the old desk sergeant from "Hill Street Blues"... Be careful out there...
OK... and for the last time, here's the final, re-cut, re-edited (with English subtitles in place of the French version...) edition of the short video that's been entered in the French fishing short film festival held in Nice each July. A bit of blowing our horn, but the crew worked hard this past season in very poor conditions, and they deserve one more round of PR for it...
The weather doesn't look too friendly until next week, and if the longer range forecast holds, it might be worth a shot on the weekend of the 8th/9th. Heaps of whales out the front right now, so to quote the old desk sergeant from "Hill Street Blues"... Be careful out there...
OK... and for the last time, here's the final, re-cut, re-edited (with English subtitles in place of the French version...) edition of the short video that's been entered in the French fishing short film festival held in Nice each July. A bit of blowing our horn, but the crew worked hard this past season in very poor conditions, and they deserve one more round of PR for it...
Monday, 26th June
Kelly Fallon reported today on the Black Marlin Blog that with 24 boats and 72 anglers fishing a tournament out of Townsville, only four black marlin were caught. This is pretty disappointing given the number of rods that would have been in the water, but in fairness, it's also a bit early in the juvenile black marlin season up there, so it's unlikely to have fired just yet.
The usual rule of thumb is that whatever the Townsville game fishing community sees by way of juvenile black marlin between July-September is what we can expect to see down here off the Coffs Coast come December. Of course, that only works if the increasingly schizophrenic East Australian Current has a "normal" summer, and flows reliably enough to bring these fish down here within that timeframe.
It's another classic Coffs Harbour winter's day out there... blue skies, warm temps after a crisp morning, whales just about everywhere you look up and down the coast, with not a whitecap to be seen ... and of course it's midweek, and the forecast for the weekend is unfortunately less than stellar. However, it sure looks like the place for striped marlin and YFT...
And so it's time for a little burst of congratulations to the Foreign Exchange crew...
After the toughest game fishing season anybody's every heard of or experienced around these parts, the crew of Foreign Exchange persevered through a season punctuated by awful weather and hard fishing conditions to keep enough fish hooked up and tagged to win the trophies for the 2016/17 game fishing season for -
* Champion In-Hours Boat Tag and Release (the Clayton Livingston Perpetual Trophy)
* Champion Boat Most Marlin Tag and Release (the Matador Perpetual Trophy)
* Champion Male Angler Tag and Release (winner Sam French)
Congratulations to the gun crew - John Stafford, Vashy Dolezal, Sam French, and Paul Brodrick - who worked hard and hung in there in good weather and bad, and tagged over 80% of everything we hooked up! We couldn't all be at the presentation night, but Vashy and Sam did a great job representing us as the photos show. Congratulations also to assorted wives and girlfriends who never complained when we disappeared over the horizon to go and do this stuff.
Hell of a season...!
OK... so we also won another minor award for the longest tow-in after a breakdown. Many thanks to Marine Rescue... and we'll talk no more about that one.
The usual rule of thumb is that whatever the Townsville game fishing community sees by way of juvenile black marlin between July-September is what we can expect to see down here off the Coffs Coast come December. Of course, that only works if the increasingly schizophrenic East Australian Current has a "normal" summer, and flows reliably enough to bring these fish down here within that timeframe.
It's another classic Coffs Harbour winter's day out there... blue skies, warm temps after a crisp morning, whales just about everywhere you look up and down the coast, with not a whitecap to be seen ... and of course it's midweek, and the forecast for the weekend is unfortunately less than stellar. However, it sure looks like the place for striped marlin and YFT...
And so it's time for a little burst of congratulations to the Foreign Exchange crew...
After the toughest game fishing season anybody's every heard of or experienced around these parts, the crew of Foreign Exchange persevered through a season punctuated by awful weather and hard fishing conditions to keep enough fish hooked up and tagged to win the trophies for the 2016/17 game fishing season for -
* Champion In-Hours Boat Tag and Release (the Clayton Livingston Perpetual Trophy)
* Champion Boat Most Marlin Tag and Release (the Matador Perpetual Trophy)
* Champion Male Angler Tag and Release (winner Sam French)
Congratulations to the gun crew - John Stafford, Vashy Dolezal, Sam French, and Paul Brodrick - who worked hard and hung in there in good weather and bad, and tagged over 80% of everything we hooked up! We couldn't all be at the presentation night, but Vashy and Sam did a great job representing us as the photos show. Congratulations also to assorted wives and girlfriends who never complained when we disappeared over the horizon to go and do this stuff.
Hell of a season...!
OK... so we also won another minor award for the longest tow-in after a breakdown. Many thanks to Marine Rescue... and we'll talk no more about that one.
Sunday, 25th June
Back in Coffs Harbour after a couple of weeks in Tasmania - fantastic place, even in mid-winter.
Meanwhile, back here, the rain has stopped, the rough seas have gone, and its glamour weather from one day to the next this week.
Of course the big question is whether there are any striped marlin or maybe YFT around...? The view out to sea from the jet landing in Sydney this afternoon showed plenty of whales, and one big school of what could well have been YFT off Botany Bay, with many birds wheeling around, and plenty of large fish breaking the surface... maybe tuna... at least they were heading north.
There may not be much billfish or tuna action around here at the moment, but there sure as hell are some big cod... just take a look at this beauty caught by Black N Blue deckie Gerrard Billings out doing some bottom fishing on the edge...!!
Meanwhile, back here, the rain has stopped, the rough seas have gone, and its glamour weather from one day to the next this week.
Of course the big question is whether there are any striped marlin or maybe YFT around...? The view out to sea from the jet landing in Sydney this afternoon showed plenty of whales, and one big school of what could well have been YFT off Botany Bay, with many birds wheeling around, and plenty of large fish breaking the surface... maybe tuna... at least they were heading north.
There may not be much billfish or tuna action around here at the moment, but there sure as hell are some big cod... just take a look at this beauty caught by Black N Blue deckie Gerrard Billings out doing some bottom fishing on the edge...!!
Saturday, 10th June
Yesterday was just horrible weather, with more of the same forecast for a while. The view from the Marlin Bar over a morning coffee was grey - grey sky, grey ocean, grey rain! The only sign of any enjoyment out there was the shark biscuit boys having fun on the rock break off the north wall, and the procession of humpbacks heading north past South Solitary. The horizon was looking nasty.
The final cut of the 6-minute Solitary Coast Marlin Video that's being entered in the French Game Fishing Video Festival is now up for viewing on the Galleries/Video page of the website. Meanwhile, there's also a 60-second trailer based on the same entry below.
Sadly, both the trailer and the longer feature video only show Foreign Exchange's exploits, but it's certainly not for lack of trying to get video from other boats. It seems that while most boats have GoPros and the like, and at least one has a Towcam, nobody had much action video to offer to include in this year's entry for the French festival. This is understandable given the shockingly poor season we've just finished. Also, most boats have GoPros in waterproof cases, which means that they can't be constantly charged or therefore continuously run... so sadly, almost everyone misses the big strike and hookup moment.
The (cheaper than a Go Pro) Garmin VIRB we use doesn't need a waterproof case so it can be permanently hooked up to a power supply and is charging the whole time, so can be run for the entire day from leaving the harbour to getting back without missing a single strike or jumping fish. Don't but another GoPro until you've checked out these excellent Garmin cameras.
Maybe next year we can get a bit more footage from other boats to edit into future Solitary Coast entries to the French festival in Nice... and in the meantime, if anyone buys a drone to use with their boat, let me know.
The final cut of the 6-minute Solitary Coast Marlin Video that's being entered in the French Game Fishing Video Festival is now up for viewing on the Galleries/Video page of the website. Meanwhile, there's also a 60-second trailer based on the same entry below.
Sadly, both the trailer and the longer feature video only show Foreign Exchange's exploits, but it's certainly not for lack of trying to get video from other boats. It seems that while most boats have GoPros and the like, and at least one has a Towcam, nobody had much action video to offer to include in this year's entry for the French festival. This is understandable given the shockingly poor season we've just finished. Also, most boats have GoPros in waterproof cases, which means that they can't be constantly charged or therefore continuously run... so sadly, almost everyone misses the big strike and hookup moment.
The (cheaper than a Go Pro) Garmin VIRB we use doesn't need a waterproof case so it can be permanently hooked up to a power supply and is charging the whole time, so can be run for the entire day from leaving the harbour to getting back without missing a single strike or jumping fish. Don't but another GoPro until you've checked out these excellent Garmin cameras.
Maybe next year we can get a bit more footage from other boats to edit into future Solitary Coast entries to the French festival in Nice... and in the meantime, if anyone buys a drone to use with their boat, let me know.
Saturday, 3rd June
So... now we're into the off-season, and that means maintenance of boats and gear, a bit of bottom bashing for fresh snapper and pearlies - usually close inshore to avoid the leatherjackets that will soon be crawling all over the top of the shelf beyond about 20 fathoms - and a bit of sport fishing chasing the hoodlums out there.
Foreign Exchange is heading off to Brisbane at the end of the month for a new paint job. At least two other local boats that I know of have announced plans to spend some time on the Gold Coast this winter, where it looks like the marlin are going to stay bottled up for a while and provide action through the cooler months for boats fishing out of Southport.
Meanwhile, the water off the NSW north coast is pretty confused, with East Australian Current still not making it past the border and flowing out into the middle of the Coral Sea, and large flows of cooler water from the central Tasman moving up and down the coast here. The latter dynamic is probably going to provide the longliners that are sheltering from this week's southerly in Coffs another chance to smash the yellowfin 100 miles out before they get close enough to the coast for the recreational anglers to try for a few.
However, if they can avoid the longlines set out there, maybe a few striped marlin will move onto the edge of the shelf to provide some opportunities for local game fishermen to keep their hand in.
Only a little less than three weeks to the winter solstice folks, then the days start getting longer again...
Foreign Exchange is heading off to Brisbane at the end of the month for a new paint job. At least two other local boats that I know of have announced plans to spend some time on the Gold Coast this winter, where it looks like the marlin are going to stay bottled up for a while and provide action through the cooler months for boats fishing out of Southport.
Meanwhile, the water off the NSW north coast is pretty confused, with East Australian Current still not making it past the border and flowing out into the middle of the Coral Sea, and large flows of cooler water from the central Tasman moving up and down the coast here. The latter dynamic is probably going to provide the longliners that are sheltering from this week's southerly in Coffs another chance to smash the yellowfin 100 miles out before they get close enough to the coast for the recreational anglers to try for a few.
However, if they can avoid the longlines set out there, maybe a few striped marlin will move onto the edge of the shelf to provide some opportunities for local game fishermen to keep their hand in.
Only a little less than three weeks to the winter solstice folks, then the days start getting longer again...
Monday, 29th May
The attached ANSA News Bulletin is an excellent read that I'd recommend to all. It is extremely well written, and the summation of issues currently affecting both big game and sportfishers is clear and on point, and he covers issues that are critical in the ongoing management and oversight of fishing in Australian waters that impact all of us directly.
In particular, the demise of the fishing activities of the Dutch super trawler Geelong Star, and the new (and successful) campaign by the people associated with it to gain licences for pairs trawling of the same small pelagic species (slimy mackerel) that were targeted by the super trawler shows that these folks never give up, and that our game and sportfishing activities are once again under an existential threat that shouldn't be underestimated.
On the subject of ANSA membership and affiliation...
It is nothing short of astonishing that the current Solitary Islands GFC committee unilaterally decided - without club membership consultation - to abandon the club's affiliation with ANSA this year. Without belabouring the point here, ANSA was the only national recreational fishing body that supported the establishment of the SIGFC when the NSWGFA committee and several individuals associated with the NSW game fishing establishment were doing everything in their power to shut down the new club. Clearly, the crucial role that ANSA played in the club's genesis and the value of its continuing association with the club has been dismissed as unimportant by those committee members.
For the SIGFC committee to walk away from ANSA affiliation at this point in the history of the club shows no appreciation of the efforts of ANSA and John Burgess in particular to give the Solitary Islands club and its members the support and official national standing that has been such a major factor in the success of the club... shame on them.
I am strongly encouraged by the news that all members of the club intending to stand for committee positions at the upcoming AGM intend to reverse this egregious and mystifying decision as soon as they are elected to office.
In particular, the demise of the fishing activities of the Dutch super trawler Geelong Star, and the new (and successful) campaign by the people associated with it to gain licences for pairs trawling of the same small pelagic species (slimy mackerel) that were targeted by the super trawler shows that these folks never give up, and that our game and sportfishing activities are once again under an existential threat that shouldn't be underestimated.
On the subject of ANSA membership and affiliation...
It is nothing short of astonishing that the current Solitary Islands GFC committee unilaterally decided - without club membership consultation - to abandon the club's affiliation with ANSA this year. Without belabouring the point here, ANSA was the only national recreational fishing body that supported the establishment of the SIGFC when the NSWGFA committee and several individuals associated with the NSW game fishing establishment were doing everything in their power to shut down the new club. Clearly, the crucial role that ANSA played in the club's genesis and the value of its continuing association with the club has been dismissed as unimportant by those committee members.
For the SIGFC committee to walk away from ANSA affiliation at this point in the history of the club shows no appreciation of the efforts of ANSA and John Burgess in particular to give the Solitary Islands club and its members the support and official national standing that has been such a major factor in the success of the club... shame on them.
I am strongly encouraged by the news that all members of the club intending to stand for committee positions at the upcoming AGM intend to reverse this egregious and mystifying decision as soon as they are elected to office.
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Sunday, 28th May
Yesterday was the final in-hours competition day for the SIGFC and the CHGFC, and it was a beautiful day out to sea off Coffs Harbour - glamour conditions, with a glass-off late morning, excellent late season water at 24C, and what would normally have been perfect conditions for marlin. But the marlin have had little incentive to visit these waters throughout this disappointing summer, and that seems unlikely to change this side of next spring.
Still, despite there being no sign of any striped marlin for those fishing along the top of the shelf, Seaborn surprised everyone by calling in a blue marlin strike mid-morning out in 450 fathoms. The blue never hung around, but it sure got everyone's attention... a blue in late May??
An hour of so later, we had a nice hit by a large blue marlin on the Jennings flying fish lure on Foreign Exchange's short rigger in deeper water in much the same area, but despite what looked like a solid strike and the fish running off with the lure in its mouth and pulling a couple of hundred metres of line, it spat the lure and disappeared.
While that used up the crew's adrenalin allocation for the day, and at least reminded us what a marlin looked like in the spread, those two hits amounted to the only action for the day, and the season fizzled out much as it started.
And so ended the toughest game fishing season I've ever seen...
Atrocious weather more often than not, with howling northerlies and alternating southerlies making for pretty extreme conditions and too much combat fishing out on the edge of the continental shelf. The East Australian Current was cut off, diverted out to sea, or otherwise FUBAR for more days than it ever ran straight and true down the NSW north coast, and the game fish that would normally have come down with it simply stayed away most of this forgettable season.
We only caught a couple of mahimahi the whole summer, where you'd normally bring home a couple most trips. And never saw a single wahoo, which could usually be relied on to provide some great dinners for friends and neighbours. We saw just a couple of black marlin, but never hooked one up, a handful of striped marlin, and just a fraction of the numbers of blue marlin you'd normally raise in an average season. As far as other billfish like shortbill spearfish or sailfish go, we never saw a single one.
Still, that said, when you have a gun crew who show up through thick and thin and don't miss tagging any of the rare fish that we raised and hooked up, the results speak for themselves.
Well done to John Stafford, Paul Brodrick, Vashy Dolezal, and Sam French, who as a team, won the in-hours Champion Boat trophy for the Solitary Islands GFC's 2016/17 season. Sam picked up the Champion Angler trophy by being on strike at the right time, and by being a fast learner during this, his first season as a big game angler.
Well done all!
Here's to the persistent and diehard game fishermen of Coffs Harbour... a really hard season now over... come September and the start of the new season, it will be much better!
Today's Soapbox Thoughts:
While it's only an anecdotal observation at best, these poor fishing results may not be attributable just to the lousy angling conditions this summer. Given the near total absence of pelagics on the NSW north coast this past couple of years, and the presence of way too many (where just one is too many...) longliners operating out of Coffs Harbour and along the east coast of Australia in general, the sooner our politicians can be convinced to support and pass legislation that recognises the high value of a sustainable sportfishing industry and the low financial contribution of unsustainable longlining to the Australian economy, the better off we'll all be.
The apparent stress on the pelagic biomass that we've witnessed this summer past is getting harder to pass off as being related to other factors, and the sooner recreational groups lobby the federal government to pass a bill that bans all longlining activity within the Australian 200nm EEZ, as well as complimentary legislation identical to the IGFA sponsored billfish ban that is now law in the United States, the better off both we and our oceans will be.
Still, despite there being no sign of any striped marlin for those fishing along the top of the shelf, Seaborn surprised everyone by calling in a blue marlin strike mid-morning out in 450 fathoms. The blue never hung around, but it sure got everyone's attention... a blue in late May??
An hour of so later, we had a nice hit by a large blue marlin on the Jennings flying fish lure on Foreign Exchange's short rigger in deeper water in much the same area, but despite what looked like a solid strike and the fish running off with the lure in its mouth and pulling a couple of hundred metres of line, it spat the lure and disappeared.
While that used up the crew's adrenalin allocation for the day, and at least reminded us what a marlin looked like in the spread, those two hits amounted to the only action for the day, and the season fizzled out much as it started.
And so ended the toughest game fishing season I've ever seen...
Atrocious weather more often than not, with howling northerlies and alternating southerlies making for pretty extreme conditions and too much combat fishing out on the edge of the continental shelf. The East Australian Current was cut off, diverted out to sea, or otherwise FUBAR for more days than it ever ran straight and true down the NSW north coast, and the game fish that would normally have come down with it simply stayed away most of this forgettable season.
We only caught a couple of mahimahi the whole summer, where you'd normally bring home a couple most trips. And never saw a single wahoo, which could usually be relied on to provide some great dinners for friends and neighbours. We saw just a couple of black marlin, but never hooked one up, a handful of striped marlin, and just a fraction of the numbers of blue marlin you'd normally raise in an average season. As far as other billfish like shortbill spearfish or sailfish go, we never saw a single one.
Still, that said, when you have a gun crew who show up through thick and thin and don't miss tagging any of the rare fish that we raised and hooked up, the results speak for themselves.
Well done to John Stafford, Paul Brodrick, Vashy Dolezal, and Sam French, who as a team, won the in-hours Champion Boat trophy for the Solitary Islands GFC's 2016/17 season. Sam picked up the Champion Angler trophy by being on strike at the right time, and by being a fast learner during this, his first season as a big game angler.
Well done all!
Here's to the persistent and diehard game fishermen of Coffs Harbour... a really hard season now over... come September and the start of the new season, it will be much better!
Today's Soapbox Thoughts:
While it's only an anecdotal observation at best, these poor fishing results may not be attributable just to the lousy angling conditions this summer. Given the near total absence of pelagics on the NSW north coast this past couple of years, and the presence of way too many (where just one is too many...) longliners operating out of Coffs Harbour and along the east coast of Australia in general, the sooner our politicians can be convinced to support and pass legislation that recognises the high value of a sustainable sportfishing industry and the low financial contribution of unsustainable longlining to the Australian economy, the better off we'll all be.
The apparent stress on the pelagic biomass that we've witnessed this summer past is getting harder to pass off as being related to other factors, and the sooner recreational groups lobby the federal government to pass a bill that bans all longlining activity within the Australian 200nm EEZ, as well as complimentary legislation identical to the IGFA sponsored billfish ban that is now law in the United States, the better off both we and our oceans will be.
Wednesday, 24th May
Every year, a group of game fishing enthusiasts from France hold an annual short game fishing video festival that draws a surprising number of the public to view all the entries, and very high quality submissions. The festival only accepts videos up to 8 minutes long, so it's not a movie event, but it's very popular with the public nonetheless.
After seeing the amateurish results I get with a single camera fixed on the rocket launcher rail of my boat, the quality of the French fishing videos where they use multiple 4K cameras, towcams, and drones is in a totally different class, but it sure makes you realise that if you like videoing and editing up your escapades out there, there's a lot more to be done before you'll get the public to come to an exhibition of game fishing video clips.
Click on this link to view last year's festival winner... you can see what I mean by in a different class. It was filmed off Morocco where there are obviously a hell of a lot more marlin than we've seen here this past season.
After seeing the amateurish results I get with a single camera fixed on the rocket launcher rail of my boat, the quality of the French fishing videos where they use multiple 4K cameras, towcams, and drones is in a totally different class, but it sure makes you realise that if you like videoing and editing up your escapades out there, there's a lot more to be done before you'll get the public to come to an exhibition of game fishing video clips.
Click on this link to view last year's festival winner... you can see what I mean by in a different class. It was filmed off Morocco where there are obviously a hell of a lot more marlin than we've seen here this past season.
Sunday, 21st May
Current alert...!!
The latest current charts show a breakout flow down into NSW by the East Australian Current. It's not gun barrel straight down the shelf yet, and is still having a bit of a meander out to sea around the border, but if the latest depictions can be believed, there is some current flowing again.
With a glamour forecast for the middle of the week and a lousy southerly in the long range forecasts for the coming weekend, it doesn't look hopeful for the final competition day for the SIGFC. Instead, it looks to be worth a run out to the edge on Tuesday or Wednesday, but that's not much of an option for local boats unless they can find crew.
Alcatraz couldn't resist the good conditions, and went out to find good water, occasional current, and... no marlin. No marlin until they had given up at the end of the day and had stopped to pull in the lures for the run home, when a striped marlin followed one of the lures all the way to the boat. A couple of quick passes around the area produced no sign of the stealth stripe, so it's still pretty empty out there.
The latest current charts show a breakout flow down into NSW by the East Australian Current. It's not gun barrel straight down the shelf yet, and is still having a bit of a meander out to sea around the border, but if the latest depictions can be believed, there is some current flowing again.
With a glamour forecast for the middle of the week and a lousy southerly in the long range forecasts for the coming weekend, it doesn't look hopeful for the final competition day for the SIGFC. Instead, it looks to be worth a run out to the edge on Tuesday or Wednesday, but that's not much of an option for local boats unless they can find crew.
Alcatraz couldn't resist the good conditions, and went out to find good water, occasional current, and... no marlin. No marlin until they had given up at the end of the day and had stopped to pull in the lures for the run home, when a striped marlin followed one of the lures all the way to the boat. A couple of quick passes around the area produced no sign of the stealth stripe, so it's still pretty empty out there.
Wednesday, 17th May
While stories about anything but marlin usually don't get much space on this website, there's occasionally something really worthy of a mention that comes along, even if as in this case, it's about... wait for it... river monsters!
Occasional readers of this website column may recall that one of our farthest flung correspondents is French big game fisherman Bill Franćois.
Bill chases Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean in the northern summer, white marlin off Morocco in September, and occasionally gets away and fishes for blue marlin in places like Exmouth.
However, in the long, dark, cold winters in Europe, there's not a lot of game fishing going on for someone who works in Paris as Bill does.
So... even on those lousy grey Paris winter days, Bill can't help himself, so goes down to the Seine where it flows through the centre of the city during his lunch hour, and in the shadow of Notre Dame, he chases the huge river catfish that only a few of the local anglers know live there.
The photo on the left was taken after one of his more successful recent winter outings along the banks off the Seine. This big river catfish was caught on light spinning gear, and released back into the river after the photo was taken. Bill reckons they put up a hell of a fight.
Having spent over 20 winters in higher latitudes on both sides of the Atlantic where the sun doesn't come up until 0900, and disappears at 1600, I can assure you that this is the sort of angling that takes a hell of a lot of dedication - not unlike trying to find marlin in the Coffs Coast marlin free zone this summer... but at least we weren't freezing our arses off at the same time.
Sensational Bill... !
Occasional readers of this website column may recall that one of our farthest flung correspondents is French big game fisherman Bill Franćois.
Bill chases Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean in the northern summer, white marlin off Morocco in September, and occasionally gets away and fishes for blue marlin in places like Exmouth.
However, in the long, dark, cold winters in Europe, there's not a lot of game fishing going on for someone who works in Paris as Bill does.
So... even on those lousy grey Paris winter days, Bill can't help himself, so goes down to the Seine where it flows through the centre of the city during his lunch hour, and in the shadow of Notre Dame, he chases the huge river catfish that only a few of the local anglers know live there.
The photo on the left was taken after one of his more successful recent winter outings along the banks off the Seine. This big river catfish was caught on light spinning gear, and released back into the river after the photo was taken. Bill reckons they put up a hell of a fight.
Having spent over 20 winters in higher latitudes on both sides of the Atlantic where the sun doesn't come up until 0900, and disappears at 1600, I can assure you that this is the sort of angling that takes a hell of a lot of dedication - not unlike trying to find marlin in the Coffs Coast marlin free zone this summer... but at least we weren't freezing our arses off at the same time.
Sensational Bill... !
Saturday, 13th May
This miserable excuse for a game fishing season on the NSW north coast just can't end soon enough...
Four boats out fishing the SIGFC competition today - lousy morning, with rain and way more wind and sloppy conditions than forecast. It settled down a bit later, but never looked very fishy. The water was clear, but only 22.5C, and there was no current... still. There was a bit of bait around, but almost no birds looking interested, and a couple of dolphins came by, but it was still the same old empty expanse that we've been driving around in most of the summer.
The photo more or less sums it up - grey skies, steely water, empty spread. It's been like that half the summer, and we've got used to getting excited about seeing just one marlin on any outing, let alone the three or four that we used to run over a few years back. We amused ourselves by running an experimental new teaser that worked a treat... huge noisy thing on the end of that black line that left a massive smoke trail that you can see on the right hand side of the propwash, between the boat and the splash from the short corner lure. We also ran a big daisy chain on the other side, but all that fuss in front of the spread didn't raise a thing.
Better than Vegas did way better than the rest of us, driving over a couple... first hooking up a striped marlin early afternoon that ran around a bit, put on some aerobatics, then spat the hook after 5 minutes. Their next fish looked like a mid-sized black marlin that pulled some string before disappearing, but at least that gave them a chance to remind themselves what a marlin in the spread looked like. The rest of us have pretty much forgotten by now, and after today, are no closer to solving that dilemma.
Four boats out fishing the SIGFC competition today - lousy morning, with rain and way more wind and sloppy conditions than forecast. It settled down a bit later, but never looked very fishy. The water was clear, but only 22.5C, and there was no current... still. There was a bit of bait around, but almost no birds looking interested, and a couple of dolphins came by, but it was still the same old empty expanse that we've been driving around in most of the summer.
The photo more or less sums it up - grey skies, steely water, empty spread. It's been like that half the summer, and we've got used to getting excited about seeing just one marlin on any outing, let alone the three or four that we used to run over a few years back. We amused ourselves by running an experimental new teaser that worked a treat... huge noisy thing on the end of that black line that left a massive smoke trail that you can see on the right hand side of the propwash, between the boat and the splash from the short corner lure. We also ran a big daisy chain on the other side, but all that fuss in front of the spread didn't raise a thing.
Better than Vegas did way better than the rest of us, driving over a couple... first hooking up a striped marlin early afternoon that ran around a bit, put on some aerobatics, then spat the hook after 5 minutes. Their next fish looked like a mid-sized black marlin that pulled some string before disappearing, but at least that gave them a chance to remind themselves what a marlin in the spread looked like. The rest of us have pretty much forgotten by now, and after today, are no closer to solving that dilemma.
Monday, 8th May
So after a dubious and very controversial decision to shut down and demolish a functioning slipway - despite having refused for years to allow the operator to modernise and rebuild it - we now have the plans for a new boatyard/haulout facility that will supposedly be operating within 18 months. I certainly hope this is correct, but I'd sure like to see the business plan of the new operator (Birdon from Port Macquarie), because getting a worthwhile return on capital is going to require some alchemy skills and then some. Unless of course the NSW government, which was complicit in the questionable shutdown and demolition decision, plans to subsidise or underwrite the new operation in such a way as to make it commercially viable.
More power to the new operator though, and I'm all for them succeeding... the proposed new facility plan is shown above.
The most surprising feature is the use of a new 80-tonne class Travelift, which will be far better than the old slipway railway system, albeit still unable to lift large trawlers. However, when you look at the multi-million dollar cost of a new US made lift like this, or even a copycat version made in China, you need a far larger customer base than is currently moored in Coffs Marina, so the mystery of how it's going to pay for itself remains...
The design of the whole facility around a Travelift will bring the new Coffs boatyard into the modern marine maintenance era, and given the all-weather harbour we have, it might just be enough to bring boats from other ports here for maintenance and overhaul work - something the new yard will almost certainly have to attract to operate as a stand-alone financial success.
Above all, don't expect this to be cheap based on Birdon's record, or that you'll be able to do the work on your boat yourself as you could at the old slipway. In the end, there may still be a solid financial case for driving your boat the three hours up to Yamba for annual haulout maintenance.... but let's wait and see.
More power to the new operator though, and I'm all for them succeeding... the proposed new facility plan is shown above.
The most surprising feature is the use of a new 80-tonne class Travelift, which will be far better than the old slipway railway system, albeit still unable to lift large trawlers. However, when you look at the multi-million dollar cost of a new US made lift like this, or even a copycat version made in China, you need a far larger customer base than is currently moored in Coffs Marina, so the mystery of how it's going to pay for itself remains...
The design of the whole facility around a Travelift will bring the new Coffs boatyard into the modern marine maintenance era, and given the all-weather harbour we have, it might just be enough to bring boats from other ports here for maintenance and overhaul work - something the new yard will almost certainly have to attract to operate as a stand-alone financial success.
Above all, don't expect this to be cheap based on Birdon's record, or that you'll be able to do the work on your boat yourself as you could at the old slipway. In the end, there may still be a solid financial case for driving your boat the three hours up to Yamba for annual haulout maintenance.... but let's wait and see.
Sunday, 7th May
The screenshot in Friday's Logbook entry below hasn't changed - the EAC is still flowing down the Sunshine Coast at 26.5C, pooling up on the Gold Coast at 25.5C and holding all the marlin, then cutting off completely at the border and leaving us with empty 22.5C water and zero game fishing action down here.
The CHGFC had a makeup day today, and once again had a respectable turnout of 6 boats whose skippers proved that optimism and club spirit does still have a place in angling decisions even in the face of weeks of terrible fishing results. Sadly, they once again didn't find any marlin despite plenty of bait around the top edge of the shelf.
The forecast for next weekend when the SIGFC is scheduled to hold its penultimate competition day of the 2016/17 season is not shaping up well, with another of the bite killing southerlies we've been dealing with on and off all summer, so that current had better kick back into gear and start flowing downhill again, and the southerly move on quickly if this season is going to end with a bang instead of a whimper.
Meanwhile... did anyone notice that Al McGlashan just posted on his FB page a photo of a tosser from Victoria who hung a huge thresher shark? Al endorsed it with the comment - "Well done guys". The angler wasn't a member of any club, (and clearly hasn't heard of tag and release game fishing) so couldn't claim what could have been an Australian record, so you've got to ask yourself what the hell Al McG is doing endorsing the killing of a peak open ocean creature like this ...?? So much for Al being the big fisho and friend of the ocean when he reckons this is praiseworthy or responsible game fishing behaviour.
The CHGFC had a makeup day today, and once again had a respectable turnout of 6 boats whose skippers proved that optimism and club spirit does still have a place in angling decisions even in the face of weeks of terrible fishing results. Sadly, they once again didn't find any marlin despite plenty of bait around the top edge of the shelf.
The forecast for next weekend when the SIGFC is scheduled to hold its penultimate competition day of the 2016/17 season is not shaping up well, with another of the bite killing southerlies we've been dealing with on and off all summer, so that current had better kick back into gear and start flowing downhill again, and the southerly move on quickly if this season is going to end with a bang instead of a whimper.
Meanwhile... did anyone notice that Al McGlashan just posted on his FB page a photo of a tosser from Victoria who hung a huge thresher shark? Al endorsed it with the comment - "Well done guys". The angler wasn't a member of any club, (and clearly hasn't heard of tag and release game fishing) so couldn't claim what could have been an Australian record, so you've got to ask yourself what the hell Al McG is doing endorsing the killing of a peak open ocean creature like this ...?? So much for Al being the big fisho and friend of the ocean when he reckons this is praiseworthy or responsible game fishing behaviour.
Saturday, 6th May
Good luck to the CHGFC boats fishing their monthly comp today - gorgeous weather, but with the marlin unfriendly ocean conditions out there, it will take both a lot of skill and no small amount of good luck to find a billfish.
Of course, with the contrasting conditions and red hot bite going on up on the Gold Coast, we already know what the reports from up there are going to look like...
AFTERNOON REPORT: Seven boats fishing, and rumours of a couple of fish raised, but apparently nobody turned a reel... this terrible season continues.
Of course, with the contrasting conditions and red hot bite going on up on the Gold Coast, we already know what the reports from up there are going to look like...
AFTERNOON REPORT: Seven boats fishing, and rumours of a couple of fish raised, but apparently nobody turned a reel... this terrible season continues.
Friday, 5th May
Today and tomorrow are forecast to have excellent fishing weather and conditions here on the Solitary Coast, but nothing has changed with the ocean dynamics that would give a game fisherman any hope that there might be a bite here.
It's almost certain to still be a pelagic free desert out there, with the current still flowing uphill out wide, and empty water in close. If you're a fan of long tail and mac tuna, that's probably all that's out there unless you're lucky.
The FishTrack screenshot on the left shows the warm water with all the blue marlin milling around in it still bottled up and just sitting along the NSW/QLD border as it's been since mid-April.
Things are unlikely to change down here until that lot breaks free under the influence of a revitalised EAC. If it happens within a week or two, we may finally get a brief late season bite, or if the current stays cutoff like this, it's anyone's guess as to when we'll start catching marlin here again.
It's almost certain to still be a pelagic free desert out there, with the current still flowing uphill out wide, and empty water in close. If you're a fan of long tail and mac tuna, that's probably all that's out there unless you're lucky.
The FishTrack screenshot on the left shows the warm water with all the blue marlin milling around in it still bottled up and just sitting along the NSW/QLD border as it's been since mid-April.
Things are unlikely to change down here until that lot breaks free under the influence of a revitalised EAC. If it happens within a week or two, we may finally get a brief late season bite, or if the current stays cutoff like this, it's anyone's guess as to when we'll start catching marlin here again.
Wednesday, 3rd May.
Yesterday was World Tuna Day... that might help explain why there were none around the Coffs Coast. They must have been elsewhere celebrating... or were there just none left to celebrate?
Monday, 1st May
It's getting hard to be a believer in FishTrack's coastal current depictions of late. That current plot that I was blathering on about below is complete fantasy. There is no south to north current flow at all out there, or if there is, it's way out to sea well beyond where it's been plotted in the chart below.
We went out into a gorgeous morning hoping to find yellowfin and striped marlin all over the place thanks to a couple of knots of uphill current, and found nothing. Intermittent current flow downhill at no more than half a knot, decent water, 23.5C, but apart from a couple of pygmy sperm whales and a half dozen extra large flying fish, there was nothing. Nothing on the sounder all day, no bait on the surface, not a single dolphin sighted all day, not a bird working from one horizon to the other, and sure as hell no marlin or tuna.
What a rubbish season...!!
We went out into a gorgeous morning hoping to find yellowfin and striped marlin all over the place thanks to a couple of knots of uphill current, and found nothing. Intermittent current flow downhill at no more than half a knot, decent water, 23.5C, but apart from a couple of pygmy sperm whales and a half dozen extra large flying fish, there was nothing. Nothing on the sounder all day, no bait on the surface, not a single dolphin sighted all day, not a bird working from one horizon to the other, and sure as hell no marlin or tuna.
What a rubbish season...!!
Saturday, 29th April
I doubt many readers have ever seen a situation as extensive and dynamic as this on the northern NSW/southern Queensland coast. We've all experienced localised south to north reverse current flow many times before, but to see such an extensive reverse flow system running up the continental shelf being fed from multiple deep ocean sources is almost unprecedented.
You could take two views of this... firstly, that it will trash the game fishing here for a while, or alternatively, that it might bring on the strongest striped marlin and yellowfin tuna bite seen here for a long time.
Only one way to find out of course, but first the weather is going to have to cooperate.
And if anyone was looking for the Flybridge article in today's Advocate, it didn't make it into print, which means they've broken the agreement I had with the editor - for the last time. It is however, available on the Weekly Flybridge page of this website, and will continue to feature there... but no more in the newspaper.
You could take two views of this... firstly, that it will trash the game fishing here for a while, or alternatively, that it might bring on the strongest striped marlin and yellowfin tuna bite seen here for a long time.
Only one way to find out of course, but first the weather is going to have to cooperate.
And if anyone was looking for the Flybridge article in today's Advocate, it didn't make it into print, which means they've broken the agreement I had with the editor - for the last time. It is however, available on the Weekly Flybridge page of this website, and will continue to feature there... but no more in the newspaper.
Tuesday, 25th April
So last night's question was ... how do you make an exciting video when the marlin sucks in the lure instead of crash-tackling it, never jumps even once, and arrives at the boat in great shape, but half asleep...? Answer... London Symphony Orchestra, a lot of tongue-in-cheek, and the KISS principle.
Monday, 24th April
Such a perfect weekend out at sea! Probably the most sublime weather and sea conditions I've ever seen on the Coffs Coast for two days running, and today looks like more of the same.
Best water colour you could ever hope for, and the ocean was totally glassed off all Sunday, but it was pretty empty. Saturday's blue marlin filled the ForEx team with enthusiasm, so we went looking for a bonus marlin on Sunday, but despite driving around in superb conditions all day, there wasn't a sign of any action.
Saturday's blue was caught on the shotgun, using an Aaron Jennings Vuaki Flyer Flying Fish lure, 24kg rig, 12 minutes from hookup to tag, approx 150kg. Angler John (the Ancient Mariner) Stafford, deckie and wireman Sam (Calendar boy) French.
The slideshow below has photos from Saturday and Sunday combined...
Best water colour you could ever hope for, and the ocean was totally glassed off all Sunday, but it was pretty empty. Saturday's blue marlin filled the ForEx team with enthusiasm, so we went looking for a bonus marlin on Sunday, but despite driving around in superb conditions all day, there wasn't a sign of any action.
Saturday's blue was caught on the shotgun, using an Aaron Jennings Vuaki Flyer Flying Fish lure, 24kg rig, 12 minutes from hookup to tag, approx 150kg. Angler John (the Ancient Mariner) Stafford, deckie and wireman Sam (Calendar boy) French.
The slideshow below has photos from Saturday and Sunday combined...
LATE NEWS: Hemingway went out today into the same ideal conditions, finding plenty of activity, but no sign of a marlin. The blues are obviously scattered, and thin on the ground.
Saturday, 23rd April
Persistence finally paid off today when Foreign Exchange went out to another rough morning (great forecast - NOT) on the shelf to fish the SIGFC Saturday competition, only to find that almost nobody else had bothered.
Thumbs up to Hoo Kares and Sneaky Pete for making a competition out of it after others who said they'd be fishing didn't show.
The story was no different at the CHGFC, which had declared a comp day only to have just one boat - Black N Blue - show up to fish. I felt for Rob Land and his crew who went to the trouble to get out there only to find that nobody else from that club bothered. Not much club spirit there...
Our plan was to fish wide given that no marlin had been seen in close for weeks. In fact, we were rigged for striped marlin and YFT but saw no sign of them even though we went out as far as 2400fa.
But while we were making our way along an underwater ridgeline up north, the shotgun with the small Jennings Flyer striped marlin lure went off with a real bang, and it was game on. Convinced it was a big tuna, nobody broke into a sweat, but just as I gunned the boat and Sam French cleared the long rigger, a huge sickle fin broke the surface, and went tearing past the boat at 30 knots just a few yards away. The obvious thought was that "our" marlin had doubled back and was blasting past with a huge belly in the line, which was still screaming out astern.
Not so as it turned out.... it was a second big marlin that was apparently (according to the leader scuff marks) just about to swallow the lure when we pulled it out of its mouth!!! Almost a double on blues.
The other fish stayed about 10m below the surface and never jumped, but when John Stafford got it to the boat, it astonished us all by turning out to be a well behaved blue marlin of about 150kg...!
At almost the same time, Black N Blue provided a WTF moment. They were drifting on 400fa with a swordfish rig down deep when suddenly, just a few yards behind the boat, a blue marlin broke the surface chasing a school of flying fish. and not a lure of surface livie in the water! No doubt there was a lot of mumbling on board BnB...
Hell of a day....!
And it seems that the blues are still around.
Thumbs up to Hoo Kares and Sneaky Pete for making a competition out of it after others who said they'd be fishing didn't show.
The story was no different at the CHGFC, which had declared a comp day only to have just one boat - Black N Blue - show up to fish. I felt for Rob Land and his crew who went to the trouble to get out there only to find that nobody else from that club bothered. Not much club spirit there...
Our plan was to fish wide given that no marlin had been seen in close for weeks. In fact, we were rigged for striped marlin and YFT but saw no sign of them even though we went out as far as 2400fa.
But while we were making our way along an underwater ridgeline up north, the shotgun with the small Jennings Flyer striped marlin lure went off with a real bang, and it was game on. Convinced it was a big tuna, nobody broke into a sweat, but just as I gunned the boat and Sam French cleared the long rigger, a huge sickle fin broke the surface, and went tearing past the boat at 30 knots just a few yards away. The obvious thought was that "our" marlin had doubled back and was blasting past with a huge belly in the line, which was still screaming out astern.
Not so as it turned out.... it was a second big marlin that was apparently (according to the leader scuff marks) just about to swallow the lure when we pulled it out of its mouth!!! Almost a double on blues.
The other fish stayed about 10m below the surface and never jumped, but when John Stafford got it to the boat, it astonished us all by turning out to be a well behaved blue marlin of about 150kg...!
At almost the same time, Black N Blue provided a WTF moment. They were drifting on 400fa with a swordfish rig down deep when suddenly, just a few yards behind the boat, a blue marlin broke the surface chasing a school of flying fish. and not a lure of surface livie in the water! No doubt there was a lot of mumbling on board BnB...
Hell of a day....!
And it seems that the blues are still around.
Thursday, 20th April
Wildcard weekend... good forecast with light winds.
The EAC is AFU though, so the same dreadful water that's been swilling around off the Coffs Coast for the last week or two is still likely to be doing the same out there on the weekend.
The weekend Advocate game fishing Flybridge column has been posted, but don 't rush to read it, as it's just a fluff piece filling space that I unfortunately can't fill with fresh marlin photos and great stories from the week that was. A couple of interesting statistics about the East Australian Current (does anyone remember the EAC? It's what used to bring us all the marlin!) though. Someone raise a billfish for me... please.
The EAC is AFU though, so the same dreadful water that's been swilling around off the Coffs Coast for the last week or two is still likely to be doing the same out there on the weekend.
The weekend Advocate game fishing Flybridge column has been posted, but don 't rush to read it, as it's just a fluff piece filling space that I unfortunately can't fill with fresh marlin photos and great stories from the week that was. A couple of interesting statistics about the East Australian Current (does anyone remember the EAC? It's what used to bring us all the marlin!) though. Someone raise a billfish for me... please.
Tuesday, 18th April
The Ancient Mariner succinctly pointed out today that the season results for big game fishermen on the northern NSW coast - in particular off the Solitary/Coffs Coast - are the reason our bar bills have been so high this year - we're quite obviously drowning our sorrows, not celebrating our successes...!!
So true.
The two (...thank you FishTrack) charts below show why this is the case, and they're typical of what we've been seeing in multiple manifestations since September 2016 when our season started. One chart shows very clearly where all the marlin are concentrated - in the warm water that's built up into a massive pool up off S.E. Queensland because the East Australian Current isn't flowing any further than the border. The other shows just how effectively the current hits a brick wall, cuts off totally not allowing any EAC water at all to pass down the NSW coast, and thus concentrates all the pelagic activity into the stretch from Fraser Island to Southport.
This explains the ongoing hot bite up there, and why anglers got smashed out off the Gold and Sunshine Coasts last weekend - again!
There's nothing we can do about it, it's just mother nature's way of flipping us the finger... all we can do is hope that the combination of lousy winds, increasingly influential deep ocean eddies, and the apparent hijacking of the "normal" seasonal cycle don't persist into the next season.
Meanwhile, some of the best weather to grace the Coffs Coast over any autumn and Easter period for a long time continues. If game fishermen here can work out where and how to take advantage of it and find the pelagics that seem to be totally absent from our waters, please let the rest of us in on the secret...
So true.
The two (...thank you FishTrack) charts below show why this is the case, and they're typical of what we've been seeing in multiple manifestations since September 2016 when our season started. One chart shows very clearly where all the marlin are concentrated - in the warm water that's built up into a massive pool up off S.E. Queensland because the East Australian Current isn't flowing any further than the border. The other shows just how effectively the current hits a brick wall, cuts off totally not allowing any EAC water at all to pass down the NSW coast, and thus concentrates all the pelagic activity into the stretch from Fraser Island to Southport.
This explains the ongoing hot bite up there, and why anglers got smashed out off the Gold and Sunshine Coasts last weekend - again!
There's nothing we can do about it, it's just mother nature's way of flipping us the finger... all we can do is hope that the combination of lousy winds, increasingly influential deep ocean eddies, and the apparent hijacking of the "normal" seasonal cycle don't persist into the next season.
Meanwhile, some of the best weather to grace the Coffs Coast over any autumn and Easter period for a long time continues. If game fishermen here can work out where and how to take advantage of it and find the pelagics that seem to be totally absent from our waters, please let the rest of us in on the secret...
Sunday, 16th April
It can be the best 5-day forecast you've seen for months... as noted below. However, if you can't find a marlin on a gorgeous day when everything else seems to be right, then it's hard to stay enthusiastic.
We went out on a lovely morning, drove through 12 miles of greenish brown muck that stayed at 22C from the harbour to 55 fathoms, and then pushed into a sharp colour and temperature break that went to blue water at 24C in the space of a few hundred metres. It sure looked fishy all of a sudden, but it wasn't to be. After driving out to 1000 fathoms and everywhere else in between, we never saw a marlin.
There were lots of very lost juvenile muttonbirds flapping around looking for mummy, dolphins everywhere, pilot whales, and occasional flying fish, rat mahimahi, and other tempting marlin snack food, but we never turned a reel or saw a fin.
It was just another disappointing bookend to a lousy season, and you can't dress it up any other way.
If there's going to be a late bite, it would be nice to see it get underway before crew morale hits rock bottom...
You've just got to keep plugging away though, because it's too early to quit... maybe Black N Blue will do better today.
LATER: Not to be... it was worse than yesterday if that's possible - worse water, even less activity, no pelagics, no marlin
The photo above shows the only piece of decent entertainment we had all day, when a bulk carrier went past with a pod of dolphins having a ball using the energy in the bow pressure wave to launch themselves airborne ahead of the ship.
And for those of us who can barely remember what a marlin looks like, here's a story that says a lot...
Ernest Hemingway with his sons and a single day's catch of blue marlin. Of course in those days, he killed them all, and did so with relish. Today, we tag 'em, swim them until they're happy and healthy, take a couple of photos, then let them go to do their thing and keep the biomass and the eco chain intact. The biggest difference - apart from the fact that Hemingway killed them all - is that what he caught and has hanging behind him in one day, represents our total tag and release total of blue marlin in the 8 months of this season... think about that one.
We went out on a lovely morning, drove through 12 miles of greenish brown muck that stayed at 22C from the harbour to 55 fathoms, and then pushed into a sharp colour and temperature break that went to blue water at 24C in the space of a few hundred metres. It sure looked fishy all of a sudden, but it wasn't to be. After driving out to 1000 fathoms and everywhere else in between, we never saw a marlin.
There were lots of very lost juvenile muttonbirds flapping around looking for mummy, dolphins everywhere, pilot whales, and occasional flying fish, rat mahimahi, and other tempting marlin snack food, but we never turned a reel or saw a fin.
It was just another disappointing bookend to a lousy season, and you can't dress it up any other way.
If there's going to be a late bite, it would be nice to see it get underway before crew morale hits rock bottom...
You've just got to keep plugging away though, because it's too early to quit... maybe Black N Blue will do better today.
LATER: Not to be... it was worse than yesterday if that's possible - worse water, even less activity, no pelagics, no marlin
The photo above shows the only piece of decent entertainment we had all day, when a bulk carrier went past with a pod of dolphins having a ball using the energy in the bow pressure wave to launch themselves airborne ahead of the ship.
And for those of us who can barely remember what a marlin looks like, here's a story that says a lot...
Ernest Hemingway with his sons and a single day's catch of blue marlin. Of course in those days, he killed them all, and did so with relish. Today, we tag 'em, swim them until they're happy and healthy, take a couple of photos, then let them go to do their thing and keep the biomass and the eco chain intact. The biggest difference - apart from the fact that Hemingway killed them all - is that what he caught and has hanging behind him in one day, represents our total tag and release total of blue marlin in the 8 months of this season... think about that one.
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Saturday, 15th April
Day 1... of the best looking 5-day weather window for months. The 26C pulse of water that was off Yamba yesterday has moved down and is now straight out the front of Coffs. If the water quality is good, anything could happen out there.
Of course, it requires crew, but that problem should be solved tomorrow for those of us who couldn't get out today.
Of course, it requires crew, but that problem should be solved tomorrow for those of us who couldn't get out today.
Thursday, 13th April
Is it possible that a late season window is opening this weekend?
There's been a southerly blowing all week, which usually suppresses any marlin bite, but this is slightly different, and just maybe, this is worth looking at.
Saturday and Sunday are both forecast to see the wind swinging to the north, staying light under 10 knots most of the day, and then this trend sets the pattern for most of the following five days.
The EAC is still disrupted to the north, but it's a situation that we've seen before to our south this summer. The current is actually being diverted away from the coast up at Fraser Island, after which it eddies around well out in the Coral Sea, it's flowing back onto the Coffs Coast. We saw the current being diverted away from the coast up at the border during the summer, and after bypassing Coffs completely and wandering around out in the Tasman, it flowed back onto the central and south coast and had marlin in it. Maybe it's not too late to be our turn for a week or two.
There's 26C water up off Ballina, and that's flowing down in this direction just in time for the weekend.
It could all be quite empty of course, but it just could be the conditions we need for a late season marlin bite, and it looks like staying that way until about next Thursday... only one way to find out.
There's been a southerly blowing all week, which usually suppresses any marlin bite, but this is slightly different, and just maybe, this is worth looking at.
Saturday and Sunday are both forecast to see the wind swinging to the north, staying light under 10 knots most of the day, and then this trend sets the pattern for most of the following five days.
The EAC is still disrupted to the north, but it's a situation that we've seen before to our south this summer. The current is actually being diverted away from the coast up at Fraser Island, after which it eddies around well out in the Coral Sea, it's flowing back onto the Coffs Coast. We saw the current being diverted away from the coast up at the border during the summer, and after bypassing Coffs completely and wandering around out in the Tasman, it flowed back onto the central and south coast and had marlin in it. Maybe it's not too late to be our turn for a week or two.
There's 26C water up off Ballina, and that's flowing down in this direction just in time for the weekend.
It could all be quite empty of course, but it just could be the conditions we need for a late season marlin bite, and it looks like staying that way until about next Thursday... only one way to find out.
Tuesday, 11th April
Yesterday was a real glamour day on the Solitary Coast. The photo on the left shows the early evening view from the Marlin Bar where we sat discussing the marlin that we'd skilfully avoided over the past two days in Marlin Alley...
Light breezes, warm temps, and perfect fishing weather. But would you have gone out a third time after having spent two fruitless days droning around a nasty coloured empty ocean...?
Well... after reviewing the overnight satellite shots, I'm sitting here kicking myself for not going out on Monday. You can see both the true colour and SST depictions of the Coffs strip below in the slideshow of two screenshots from FishTrack this morning, and it tells the story without need of any additional narractive. Look closely at the true colour pic, and you can see the sharp dark green/blue water boundary clearly.
But after the worst weekend of April fishing ever experienced, how many times do you drag your crew of enthusiastic big game anglers out into what has been an empty ocean just to keep proving that it's empty? Or was it...?
After all, 34 boats competing in the Garmin tournament off the Gold coast could only tag 7 fish, and local GC anglers are lamenting the fact that you can only expect to raise one fish a day there at the moment, so if there's no hot bite up north either.
The trouble is that the eternal optimist would have taken a gamble that something might have happened here, and after looking at these overnight shots, it's pretty clear that it quite possibly did.
Suddenly, the current is behaving much better now, the green water has been pushed onto the top of the continental shelf, and there's a strong, clear colour and temperature break lying perfectly along the deep edge of the shelf right off Coffs Harbour, with a beautiful warm water pulse of blue water anchored along the entire Coffs Coast strip from Wooli to SWR.
Add to that the fact that longliners spent some time yesterday and again this morning unloading some large (50kg and upwards) yellowfin tuna here, and it's probably enough to send even the most cynical skipper out once again. If only we'd known...
Monday, 9th April
OK... while there may be a late bite between now and winter, unless it's the hottest late bite in living memory, it won't change the fact that this season is lost.
And it's not only here.... by early afternoon today, a major game fishing tournament on the Gold Coast with 30+ boats competing had only tagged 3 fish.
Admittedly, one day does not a season make.... but like so many other days this summer past, it was just plain dead out off Coffs today. After patrolling marlin alley in light winds and with pretty good water for 7 hours today, we saw no bait either on the surface, or the sounder (blank screen all day - never seen it like that on the sounder...). Not a single bird was seen working any surface activity, the few dolphins were bored and just cruising, and there were absolutely no marlin to be seen.
Between the terrible weather all summer, the northern rivers flooding, the almost continuous disruption of the EAC, and the lack of any hot bite at all during the entire season, there's no way anybody would invest the money in a game boat and all the fishing gear needed to chase gamefish off the Coffs Coast if every year was like this.
Roll on September... it has to be better.
And it's not only here.... by early afternoon today, a major game fishing tournament on the Gold Coast with 30+ boats competing had only tagged 3 fish.
Admittedly, one day does not a season make.... but like so many other days this summer past, it was just plain dead out off Coffs today. After patrolling marlin alley in light winds and with pretty good water for 7 hours today, we saw no bait either on the surface, or the sounder (blank screen all day - never seen it like that on the sounder...). Not a single bird was seen working any surface activity, the few dolphins were bored and just cruising, and there were absolutely no marlin to be seen.
Between the terrible weather all summer, the northern rivers flooding, the almost continuous disruption of the EAC, and the lack of any hot bite at all during the entire season, there's no way anybody would invest the money in a game boat and all the fishing gear needed to chase gamefish off the Coffs Coast if every year was like this.
Roll on September... it has to be better.
Sunday, 9th April
The bad news just never stops... firstly, the meteorologists continue to treat the Coffs Coast like the dark side of the moon, and will be happy to prove to anyone venturing out to sea off this place that their forecasts will never match the actual weather.
Despite forecasts on multiple sites ordering yesterday's winds up to a max of 8g11, the four boats competing in club competition days drove out into 15g20 with horrible SE slop that was coming through clears and had boats falling off the back. Almost unfishable, and for the two boats that stayed and toughed it out (in fairness... the others got too wet, or ended up with seasick crew) slowly saw the weather moderate. That said, the only place on the Coffs Coast where the wind was actually 8g11 all day must have been in the Marlin Bar, because it was still blowing above the forecast wind strength when we gave up at 1500.
But weather aside, it was just weird out there... it started off nicely when a good sized blue marlin crash tackled a lure behind Black N Blue and got airborne on departure, but sadly, it spat the hook shortly after. The biggest shock was finding a blue marlin in just 45 fathoms!
But the weirdest was yet to come.... Right on the dot of 1400, the Coffs Coast's famous "2-Oclock Bite" almost kicked in (except for the "bite" part) and a marlin came up and sat under Black N Blue's short rigger lure... and sat there... and sat there. This went on for minutes with no strike... but wait... it gets stranger still. At the same time, 6 miles away, another big marlin (probably a blue by the look of it), again in just 45 fathoms, did exactly the same behind the short rigger lure in Foreign Exchange's spread. And it also just sat there, and sat there... looked at the lure from different angles, ignored the stuff we dropped past its face, never lit up at all, and never hit anything, skulking away about three minutes later!
How bizarre is that...? Blue marlin in 45 fathoms, only one out off three fish actually striking lures while the other two acted like zombies, and everyone left scratching their heads and heading home.
Things really aren't right on the northern NSW coast, which is really starting to turn into the Twilight Zone!!!
Unable to resist this whole craziness, Foreign Exchange is going back out to 45 fathoms today to see if there are any more stealth blues where they've never been seen before...
Despite forecasts on multiple sites ordering yesterday's winds up to a max of 8g11, the four boats competing in club competition days drove out into 15g20 with horrible SE slop that was coming through clears and had boats falling off the back. Almost unfishable, and for the two boats that stayed and toughed it out (in fairness... the others got too wet, or ended up with seasick crew) slowly saw the weather moderate. That said, the only place on the Coffs Coast where the wind was actually 8g11 all day must have been in the Marlin Bar, because it was still blowing above the forecast wind strength when we gave up at 1500.
But weather aside, it was just weird out there... it started off nicely when a good sized blue marlin crash tackled a lure behind Black N Blue and got airborne on departure, but sadly, it spat the hook shortly after. The biggest shock was finding a blue marlin in just 45 fathoms!
But the weirdest was yet to come.... Right on the dot of 1400, the Coffs Coast's famous "2-Oclock Bite" almost kicked in (except for the "bite" part) and a marlin came up and sat under Black N Blue's short rigger lure... and sat there... and sat there. This went on for minutes with no strike... but wait... it gets stranger still. At the same time, 6 miles away, another big marlin (probably a blue by the look of it), again in just 45 fathoms, did exactly the same behind the short rigger lure in Foreign Exchange's spread. And it also just sat there, and sat there... looked at the lure from different angles, ignored the stuff we dropped past its face, never lit up at all, and never hit anything, skulking away about three minutes later!
How bizarre is that...? Blue marlin in 45 fathoms, only one out off three fish actually striking lures while the other two acted like zombies, and everyone left scratching their heads and heading home.
Things really aren't right on the northern NSW coast, which is really starting to turn into the Twilight Zone!!!
Unable to resist this whole craziness, Foreign Exchange is going back out to 45 fathoms today to see if there are any more stealth blues where they've never been seen before...
Friday, 7th April
The weekend prospects for game fishing off the Coffs Coast are intriguing... lots of possibility, but all a function of what the currents are really doing out there, and how strong the southeasterly is going to blow on Saturday.
There's supposedly a great mix of Coral and Tasman Seas water going on, and it's all then pushing straight onto the coast out the front of Coffs. At 24.5C, it's quite a bit cooler than we've had here this summer, and that could bring some good striped marlin action if the floodwaters give us a break.
Here's a fascinating new Vuaki Flyer lure that should prove deadly on striped marlin in clear water - it was made for skipper Clayton Livingston, so just ask the crew of Seaborn how it goes this Saturday during the Solitary Islands GFC competition day.
There's supposedly a great mix of Coral and Tasman Seas water going on, and it's all then pushing straight onto the coast out the front of Coffs. At 24.5C, it's quite a bit cooler than we've had here this summer, and that could bring some good striped marlin action if the floodwaters give us a break.
Here's a fascinating new Vuaki Flyer lure that should prove deadly on striped marlin in clear water - it was made for skipper Clayton Livingston, so just ask the crew of Seaborn how it goes this Saturday during the Solitary Islands GFC competition day.
Thursday, 6th April
Finally! Sunshine... but it's looking fairly intermittent, and the southeasterly is still blowing. The forecast has the wind backing off enough to fish on Saturday, and is forecast to be particularly favourable on Sunday, when there's to be a swing to a northeast breeze and warmer sunny conditions. So fishing could be a possibility, but there might be a fair bit of dirty water out there to get through first, and some weird current once you're off the edge of the shelf. It will be a real lottery out there, and the ads of finding a hot bite are going to be pretty slim, but as always, you're not going to see marlin sitting on the beach or watching the footy.
It's interesting to note that one of the larger Ulladulla based tuna longliners suddenly appeared in the Coffs Harbour marina yesterday... is it just passing through, or it is here to go out and fish the cooler Tasman Sea water that's being pushed onto this section of coast? Best guess is the latter, and if true, then there just may be some decent striped marlin in that mix, or even a few YFT larger than the very few footballs that have been seen this entire summer .
Speaking of dirty water and striped marlin, Aaron Jennings has sent down a few lures that are identical to the Vuaki Flyer flying fish lures that proved to be so successful for Heavy Tackle Challenge winner Seaborn recently. These lures are brightly coloured and can't be missed in murky water, and with their deep pusher heads (strongly reminiscent of McGoo profiles) and offset trace holes, dance around making enough fuss to get the attention of any pelagic that comes into the spread for a look.
There are three sizes ideally suited to striped and larger black marlin - 10.5 inch, 9.5 inch, and 8.5 inch, and two head shapes - classic curved trumpet with a sharp lipped cup, and a more rounded aerodynamic pusher head. They come with red or orange eyes, yellow, blue or yellow/blue head colours, and all have the blue/green/yellow skirt pattern that has been working so well here. All have blue scale pattern mylar wings.
They cost $69, $59, and $49 each for the three sizes respectively. Get in touch if you want one...
It's interesting to note that one of the larger Ulladulla based tuna longliners suddenly appeared in the Coffs Harbour marina yesterday... is it just passing through, or it is here to go out and fish the cooler Tasman Sea water that's being pushed onto this section of coast? Best guess is the latter, and if true, then there just may be some decent striped marlin in that mix, or even a few YFT larger than the very few footballs that have been seen this entire summer .
Speaking of dirty water and striped marlin, Aaron Jennings has sent down a few lures that are identical to the Vuaki Flyer flying fish lures that proved to be so successful for Heavy Tackle Challenge winner Seaborn recently. These lures are brightly coloured and can't be missed in murky water, and with their deep pusher heads (strongly reminiscent of McGoo profiles) and offset trace holes, dance around making enough fuss to get the attention of any pelagic that comes into the spread for a look.
There are three sizes ideally suited to striped and larger black marlin - 10.5 inch, 9.5 inch, and 8.5 inch, and two head shapes - classic curved trumpet with a sharp lipped cup, and a more rounded aerodynamic pusher head. They come with red or orange eyes, yellow, blue or yellow/blue head colours, and all have the blue/green/yellow skirt pattern that has been working so well here. All have blue scale pattern mylar wings.
They cost $69, $59, and $49 each for the three sizes respectively. Get in touch if you want one...
Tuesday, 4th April
Really... really, over this weather... but shouldn't complain, as they're really doing it tough up around the northern rivers where they copped a pasting and horrible floods.
But wait.... look at what's happening on our doorstep!
The screenshot on the left is from FishTrack's best guess at what's happening out off the NSW north coast today.
If correct - and given the near total cloud cover for a week, it's a big "if" - then what it's showing us could actually be a big break for the Solitary Islands game fishing grounds. There's a peculiar double clockwise upwelling eddy parked off the Queensland border that appears to have totally highjacked the EAC and is pushing all the northern rivers floodwater up the coast to Queensland waters and out wide into the Coral Sea, saving our coast from the mess that is north of the border.
At the same time, a big counter-clockwise downwelling eddy here is dragging cleaner (but much cooler) Tasman Sea water from the mid Tasman onto our coast and keeping it brown water free. This could be a big setup for a hot striped marlin and even YFT bite here this weekend when the wind is finally going to back off, the sun come out, and again, if the long range forecast can be believed, bring us a 27C glamour day on Sunday.
It's been such a weird and freaky season that anything is possible in the closing stages, so this scenario might not be as far out as it sounds.
Time to check out the rigging of those favourite striped marlin lures that the fish can't stay away from, and get the crew to block off this Sunday on their social calendar! Maybe....
But wait.... look at what's happening on our doorstep!
The screenshot on the left is from FishTrack's best guess at what's happening out off the NSW north coast today.
If correct - and given the near total cloud cover for a week, it's a big "if" - then what it's showing us could actually be a big break for the Solitary Islands game fishing grounds. There's a peculiar double clockwise upwelling eddy parked off the Queensland border that appears to have totally highjacked the EAC and is pushing all the northern rivers floodwater up the coast to Queensland waters and out wide into the Coral Sea, saving our coast from the mess that is north of the border.
At the same time, a big counter-clockwise downwelling eddy here is dragging cleaner (but much cooler) Tasman Sea water from the mid Tasman onto our coast and keeping it brown water free. This could be a big setup for a hot striped marlin and even YFT bite here this weekend when the wind is finally going to back off, the sun come out, and again, if the long range forecast can be believed, bring us a 27C glamour day on Sunday.
It's been such a weird and freaky season that anything is possible in the closing stages, so this scenario might not be as far out as it sounds.
Time to check out the rigging of those favourite striped marlin lures that the fish can't stay away from, and get the crew to block off this Sunday on their social calendar! Maybe....
Thursday, 30th March
Just beating the wind and rain this morning, a longliner docked in Coffs Harbour after fishing off the edge of the continental shelf off Yamba, and unloaded... 100 large yellowfin tuna! Where the hell have they been while we've been flailing around in terrible fishing conditions lately?
Wednesday, 29th March
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This speaks for itself - the entire summer forecast for the Coffs Coast, the marlin fishing on the Coffs Coast, and the water quality on the Coffs Coast... enough said.
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Tuesday, 28th March
Well... all that work to set up a great tournament, all that anticipation and excitement at the thought of another great competition out on the water, and it turned out to be a highly disappointing continuation of the very poor game fishing that has plagued the Coffs Coast all summer.
It wouldn't be too hard to put lipstick on this pig, but better to be straightforward...
The migrating blue and black marlin that sweep down the northern NSW coast each summer have been largely absent, and even the normally reliable striped marlin bite has been stone cold.
This all came to a head over the weekend when 20 boats competing in this year's Heavy Tackle Challenge could only tag just 4 marlin between them in very tough fishing conditions.
Winds blew from every direction and only settled down around midday during the two days of the tournament. Combine that with record rains along the NSW north coast earlier this month that saw nasty green floodwater spilling out and covering the whole of the continental shelf, and you can appreciate that almost anywhere competitors went was pretty much devoid of fish.
Out wide, a fractious performance by the East Australian Current saw mixed areas of beautiful blue water that had acres of frigate tuna and sauries scattered beyond 500 fathoms, but despite a handful of boats marking the odd marlin down deep, nobody could raise one, let alone stir up a strike.
In the end, all four fish tagged were raised along the green edge of the (at times) nasty smelling floodwater boundary on the edge of the shelf, and most boats never turned a reel.
This doesn't detract in the slightest from the winning boat Seaborn's efforts and success at raising and tagging one juvenile black and a striped marlin in very difficult conditions. Skipper Clayton Livingston, and crew Billy Livingston, Andrew Barter and Dylan Steel did a hell of a job finding the two marlin it took to win when the rest of us were floundering around in a marlin free ocean wondering what the hell had happened, during what is normally the month of the year with some of the most exciting marlin fishing you could wish for.
In the end, competitors trolled for a fleet total of about 1200 nautical miles - or 5,700 lure miles - for four tagged marlin... it doesn't get much worse than that.
Of course, this is probably just one of those blips at the bottom of one of nature's typical boom and bust cycles, and the sooner the 2017/18 game fishing season rolls around, the better.
The photo below is the highlight of the tournament - a beautifully lit up, very healthy striped marlin that was the $8000 first place fish being swum by Billy Livingston just prior to release. In fact, it made such a fuss beside the boat that the GoPro Billy was wearing on his head was last seen heading to the bottom after the fish shook him so hard that the camera flew off his head.
It wouldn't be too hard to put lipstick on this pig, but better to be straightforward...
The migrating blue and black marlin that sweep down the northern NSW coast each summer have been largely absent, and even the normally reliable striped marlin bite has been stone cold.
This all came to a head over the weekend when 20 boats competing in this year's Heavy Tackle Challenge could only tag just 4 marlin between them in very tough fishing conditions.
Winds blew from every direction and only settled down around midday during the two days of the tournament. Combine that with record rains along the NSW north coast earlier this month that saw nasty green floodwater spilling out and covering the whole of the continental shelf, and you can appreciate that almost anywhere competitors went was pretty much devoid of fish.
Out wide, a fractious performance by the East Australian Current saw mixed areas of beautiful blue water that had acres of frigate tuna and sauries scattered beyond 500 fathoms, but despite a handful of boats marking the odd marlin down deep, nobody could raise one, let alone stir up a strike.
In the end, all four fish tagged were raised along the green edge of the (at times) nasty smelling floodwater boundary on the edge of the shelf, and most boats never turned a reel.
This doesn't detract in the slightest from the winning boat Seaborn's efforts and success at raising and tagging one juvenile black and a striped marlin in very difficult conditions. Skipper Clayton Livingston, and crew Billy Livingston, Andrew Barter and Dylan Steel did a hell of a job finding the two marlin it took to win when the rest of us were floundering around in a marlin free ocean wondering what the hell had happened, during what is normally the month of the year with some of the most exciting marlin fishing you could wish for.
In the end, competitors trolled for a fleet total of about 1200 nautical miles - or 5,700 lure miles - for four tagged marlin... it doesn't get much worse than that.
Of course, this is probably just one of those blips at the bottom of one of nature's typical boom and bust cycles, and the sooner the 2017/18 game fishing season rolls around, the better.
The photo below is the highlight of the tournament - a beautifully lit up, very healthy striped marlin that was the $8000 first place fish being swum by Billy Livingston just prior to release. In fact, it made such a fuss beside the boat that the GoPro Billy was wearing on his head was last seen heading to the bottom after the fish shook him so hard that the camera flew off his head.
Wednesday, 22nd March
Well... with only three days to the start of the Heavy Tackle Challenge, the weather is now looking very promising. Saturday actually seems to have winds of less than 10 knots during daylight hours, and even Sunday only has a bit of a moderate wind early, settling to near-calm by midday.
With good tides, excellent moon phase, and the promise of some of the Gold Coast activity making its way down here with the (now) well behaved East Australian Current, the only real unknown is what the water quality will be like out on the edge of the continental shelf and beyond after all the rains and flooding along the northern coast.
With no real chance to get out and see what and where the action is out there, this competition is going to see all competitors throwing lines out on Saturday morning on a very level playing field indeed.
Luck is going to play a part, and if anyone fancies themselves as a marlin whisperer, this will be a great time to test that...
Gear re-rigged...? Drags set for serious competition...? Crew up to speed...? Game on!!
With good tides, excellent moon phase, and the promise of some of the Gold Coast activity making its way down here with the (now) well behaved East Australian Current, the only real unknown is what the water quality will be like out on the edge of the continental shelf and beyond after all the rains and flooding along the northern coast.
With no real chance to get out and see what and where the action is out there, this competition is going to see all competitors throwing lines out on Saturday morning on a very level playing field indeed.
Luck is going to play a part, and if anyone fancies themselves as a marlin whisperer, this will be a great time to test that...
Gear re-rigged...? Drags set for serious competition...? Crew up to speed...? Game on!!
Tuesday, 21st March
I'm not sure if anyone read an article in one of the weekend newspaper magazines, but it was about a free diver who lives on Norfolk Island who said that this summer, Norfolk waters out there in the middle of the southern Coral Sea had greater concentrations of bait than he'd ever seen. Maybe this is the source of the big sucking noise that has pulled most of the Coffs Coast marlin away from their usual haunts on the edge of our continental shelf. After all, it's pretty much straight east of here, and only a couple of day's swim for a marlin in a hurry to the next big meal...
Monday, 20th March
6 DAYS TO THE HEAVY TACKLE CHALLENGE...!
It's probably time to acknowledge that the Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament is in some mysterious way linked to the occurrence of weather phenomena that initially promise to wipe the tournament out, and then about the time that all hope of decent fishing weather over the weekend of the event is lost and crews are throwing their hands in the air, the forecasts often as not miraculously clear, and everyone relaxes and gets to go fishing after all.
And so after a week of horrific forecasts and sinking spirits among the local game fishing community, that seems to be what's happened once again with this year's tournament.
This has been the pattern for three out of the last five HTC competitions, so someone up there really likes us, or more likely, is getting some laughs out of messing with our heads.
Sadly, I believe that there's probably a 50% chance that this could well all go backwards to a forecast that again threatens a tournament wipeout, but it's impossible to see a trend in this extremely unstable weather outlook for now.
Regardless, the EAC seems to be bending back in from looping out into the Tasman, and is shaping up to run straight down the edge of the shelf by mid week.
The other unknown seems to be just how much floodwater will be out there, and where the brown/blue boundary will be... and of course, where the hell the marlin are going to show up.
And so after a week of horrific forecasts and sinking spirits among the local game fishing community, that seems to be what's happened once again with this year's tournament.
This has been the pattern for three out of the last five HTC competitions, so someone up there really likes us, or more likely, is getting some laughs out of messing with our heads.
Sadly, I believe that there's probably a 50% chance that this could well all go backwards to a forecast that again threatens a tournament wipeout, but it's impossible to see a trend in this extremely unstable weather outlook for now.
Regardless, the EAC seems to be bending back in from looping out into the Tasman, and is shaping up to run straight down the edge of the shelf by mid week.
The other unknown seems to be just how much floodwater will be out there, and where the brown/blue boundary will be... and of course, where the hell the marlin are going to show up.
Sunday, 19th March
Now that was a bout of seriously foul weather! Not as destructive as a real east coast low that tracks along the border to our north for a few days, but nasty enough to have hopefully given the Dept of Lands and the Haslin Corporation some heightened incentive to stop dragging their feet and get on with completing the Coffs North Breakwall rebuild project. This work stopped before Christmas, and still hasn't restarted, so the original timeline for the completion of these works has now been rendered irrelevant. The only question left is will the projected finish date be pushed back weeks or months?
Moving on to things game fishing... nothing to report of course.
The ocean has been horrible outside the harbour for the better part of a week now, and yesterday's gusting 35-knot southeasterly really trashed it. The wind is near calm this morning, although the ocean's still a mess, and there's another southerly due to blow in midweek to literally and metaphorically rain on our tournament parade again.
Throw the megalitres of flood water and debris now flowing into the sea from the northern rivers into the overall weather outlook, and now would probably be a good time to use that money you're saving on diesel over the latter half of summer to go out and buy that drone you've been thinking about for your boat. It's the latest must-have accessory, and only half the price of the new digital, touchscreen sounder electronics upgrade you were contemplating.
There's some fantastic game boat drone video out there, and with the cost of these things continuing to go down, and the control software improving to the point where the newest models can land autonomously on your deck while you're underway, what's not to enjoy. Besides, when you're not using it for videoing your club's game fishing activities, you can annoy the hell out of that nosey neighbour, or just sit on the beach and be the first to photograph Migaloo when the humpbacks head north again.
Moving on to things game fishing... nothing to report of course.
The ocean has been horrible outside the harbour for the better part of a week now, and yesterday's gusting 35-knot southeasterly really trashed it. The wind is near calm this morning, although the ocean's still a mess, and there's another southerly due to blow in midweek to literally and metaphorically rain on our tournament parade again.
Throw the megalitres of flood water and debris now flowing into the sea from the northern rivers into the overall weather outlook, and now would probably be a good time to use that money you're saving on diesel over the latter half of summer to go out and buy that drone you've been thinking about for your boat. It's the latest must-have accessory, and only half the price of the new digital, touchscreen sounder electronics upgrade you were contemplating.
There's some fantastic game boat drone video out there, and with the cost of these things continuing to go down, and the control software improving to the point where the newest models can land autonomously on your deck while you're underway, what's not to enjoy. Besides, when you're not using it for videoing your club's game fishing activities, you can annoy the hell out of that nosey neighbour, or just sit on the beach and be the first to photograph Migaloo when the humpbacks head north again.
Friday, 17th March
8 DAYS TO THE HEAVY TACKLE CHALLENGE !
Looking nervously at the forecast for the Coffs Coast next weekend...? Don't... if it doesn't change before the tournament, the outlook for the two days of competition is grim and more or less unfishable.
But how many times has this tournament been run on great days with reasonable game fishing conditions after having looked like hell a week before...? Often enough.
However, with the wind and continuing rain forecast for the week leading up to the tournament, plus the chance of another East Coast Low developing over the next 24 hours, I for one am starting to run out of happy pills... and scotch!
The screen shot above shows the lead up week ahead of the Heavy Tackle Challenge - southerlies gusting to 40 knots today and tomorrow, switching immediately with no calm day in between to 20 knot northerlies and rain for the whole week. As if that's not bad enough, Friday dawns with a howling southeasterly, which will chop it up something fierce and kill any marlin bite stone dead.
And then... the screen shot below shows the Saturday and Sunday forecasts for the tournament... a strong southeasterly with rain and total cloud cover on the first day of competition, switching to a strong southwesterly on the competition Sunday, which if that actually happens will make it so rough on the edge of the shelf it will be completely unfishable.
Of course, none of this may happen, but if it does, it will wipe out the tournament... so for once, it wouldn't be unreasonable to hope that the meteorologists and their computers have got this entirely wrong.
But how many times has this tournament been run on great days with reasonable game fishing conditions after having looked like hell a week before...? Often enough.
However, with the wind and continuing rain forecast for the week leading up to the tournament, plus the chance of another East Coast Low developing over the next 24 hours, I for one am starting to run out of happy pills... and scotch!
The screen shot above shows the lead up week ahead of the Heavy Tackle Challenge - southerlies gusting to 40 knots today and tomorrow, switching immediately with no calm day in between to 20 knot northerlies and rain for the whole week. As if that's not bad enough, Friday dawns with a howling southeasterly, which will chop it up something fierce and kill any marlin bite stone dead.
And then... the screen shot below shows the Saturday and Sunday forecasts for the tournament... a strong southeasterly with rain and total cloud cover on the first day of competition, switching to a strong southwesterly on the competition Sunday, which if that actually happens will make it so rough on the edge of the shelf it will be completely unfishable.
Of course, none of this may happen, but if it does, it will wipe out the tournament... so for once, it wouldn't be unreasonable to hope that the meteorologists and their computers have got this entirely wrong.
Wednesday, 15th March
And on yet another day when we needed to get out to the edge of the continental shelf to see what the marlin are doing after days of contrary winds, rain, and weird current events out there, it comes bucketing down! Unless crews can get a clear day or two over the next week to go out and check out the ocean conditions and the game fishing activity, the tournament is going to be a real challenge with little or no current results to base a competition action plan on... turn left or right at the edge?... fish deep or shallow...?... search for Blues, Stripes or Blacks...?... Flip a coin!
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I've just re-rigged all my heavy tackle outfits with fresh topshots and leaders ready for the big competition, as most skippers entering the tournament will probably also have done. We've been using Goodger wind-ons on Foreign Exchange for years now, and Carol Goodger's ongoing product improvement program has come up with a new generation of leaders that really look the goods. We've never lost a marlin to a leader failure since I started using these leaders, and the latest generation of 500lb class Spectra wind-ons that have just gone onto my 37kg corner outfits look about as good as this sort of gear gets.
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Monday, 13th March
12 DAYS TO THE HEAVY TACKLE CHALLENGE
What strong northerly...?? The minute the atmosphere gets a little unstable around here, the meteorologists start ducking for cover and revert to dartboard forecasting. Today was supposed to be blowing, but it's calm.
It looks more like easterlies during the week - when was the last time we had straight easterlies - but with the possibility of a fishable 2-day window this Thursday and/or Friday before another weird easterly is predicted for the coming weekend. If that eventuates, there should be a core contingent out there at the end of the week to see what the hell's going on with the fish and the current.
The marlin fishing up on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts over the weekend was damned good... if the weather settles here and the EAC gets with the program, all that action should turn up here a few days before the local tournament.
At present, the current is doing a loop around an upwelling eddy off the border and hitting the coast again at the southern edge of the Coffs Coast. These upwelling eddies are not seen off the coast here too often, and they bring a lot of pelagic activity with them (as distinct from the empty downwelling eddies we see disrupting our fishing more frequently), so what's happening out there could be the precursor to a strong marlin bite here in the next week.
It looks more like easterlies during the week - when was the last time we had straight easterlies - but with the possibility of a fishable 2-day window this Thursday and/or Friday before another weird easterly is predicted for the coming weekend. If that eventuates, there should be a core contingent out there at the end of the week to see what the hell's going on with the fish and the current.
The marlin fishing up on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts over the weekend was damned good... if the weather settles here and the EAC gets with the program, all that action should turn up here a few days before the local tournament.
At present, the current is doing a loop around an upwelling eddy off the border and hitting the coast again at the southern edge of the Coffs Coast. These upwelling eddies are not seen off the coast here too often, and they bring a lot of pelagic activity with them (as distinct from the empty downwelling eddies we see disrupting our fishing more frequently), so what's happening out there could be the precursor to a strong marlin bite here in the next week.
Friday, 10th March .....15 DAYS TO THE HEAVY TACKLE CHALLENGE
So... with the week long southerly blast just starting to ease, we get a few hours respite before a strong northerly supposedly rolls in on Monday - great! This season has seen the absolute worst game fishing summer. Lousy winds, strong Ekman effect again and again, EAC all over the place... the marlin are obviously pretty confused. I sure am...!
However, nature is a strange beast, and after waiting for a break all summer, maybe we'll still see the bite light up along the north coast in time for the upcoming tournament if the conditions just settle down to what we're used to seeing over a typical March .
The Heavy Tackle Challenge is only two weeks away. Members of the host club should all be signed up by now - after all, they should be showing support for this competition above all else...
Once the weather settles in a week or so, a few big blues carrying newly acquired tags will be all it will take to secure the sort of support needed to get the tournament numbers up... it won't happen without some good news to publicise.
And here's an anecdote for the real game fishermen... I heard today about a potential starter for the HTC having decided not to enter the tournament because there were no individual trophies - specifically a womens' prize. There are some people out there who just don't understand that game fishing is all about the boat and its whole team, and that's precisely why the HTC doesn't have individual trophies. Spare me from trophy hunters...
However, nature is a strange beast, and after waiting for a break all summer, maybe we'll still see the bite light up along the north coast in time for the upcoming tournament if the conditions just settle down to what we're used to seeing over a typical March .
The Heavy Tackle Challenge is only two weeks away. Members of the host club should all be signed up by now - after all, they should be showing support for this competition above all else...
Once the weather settles in a week or so, a few big blues carrying newly acquired tags will be all it will take to secure the sort of support needed to get the tournament numbers up... it won't happen without some good news to publicise.
And here's an anecdote for the real game fishermen... I heard today about a potential starter for the HTC having decided not to enter the tournament because there were no individual trophies - specifically a womens' prize. There are some people out there who just don't understand that game fishing is all about the boat and its whole team, and that's precisely why the HTC doesn't have individual trophies. Spare me from trophy hunters...
Sunday, 5th March
Some cruel wag was out on the jetty at Coffs Harbour the other day when we were towed in after blowing a cooling hose and force feeding salt water down the turbocharger. This is the photo they took, which was even more cruelly captioned along the lines of "Foreign Exchange caught pushing the Marine Rescue boat back into the harbour".
Sadly, this sort of thing happens sometimes in the power boat game, and Murphy's Law says that of course, the hose that blows will be the one that can do the most expensive damage in the process, not the one that just pours a few litres into the bilge and causes no other harm.
Another killer weather day today, but after yesterday's dismal results, I'm not on tenterhooks waiting for the phone calls and photos of big marlin beside boats...
Notwithstanding, and even if it's this late, given the slightest cooperation from the fractious East Australian Current, there is going to be a hot blue marlin bite here this summer. It might last 2 months, it might last 2 weeks, but it will restore my faith in this great game fishing destination. All that has to happen is for it to hit us between the eyes over the weekend of the upcoming Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament, and all the sins of the first half of the season that wasn't will be forgiven...
Sadly, this sort of thing happens sometimes in the power boat game, and Murphy's Law says that of course, the hose that blows will be the one that can do the most expensive damage in the process, not the one that just pours a few litres into the bilge and causes no other harm.
Another killer weather day today, but after yesterday's dismal results, I'm not on tenterhooks waiting for the phone calls and photos of big marlin beside boats...
Notwithstanding, and even if it's this late, given the slightest cooperation from the fractious East Australian Current, there is going to be a hot blue marlin bite here this summer. It might last 2 months, it might last 2 weeks, but it will restore my faith in this great game fishing destination. All that has to happen is for it to hit us between the eyes over the weekend of the upcoming Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament, and all the sins of the first half of the season that wasn't will be forgiven...
Saturday, 4th March
Absolutely beautiful weather on the Coffs Coast today - light winds, clear skies, and a great day to be out game fishing. Hopefully, the reports from the edge of the shelf later this afternoon will be all positive.
Meanwhile, there's some good reading in a recent article in Marlin Magazine about blue marlin fishing on the Gold Coast. You can read it at - http://www.marlinmag.com/australia-blue-marlin-fishing-gold-coast?src=SOC&dom=fb#page-5.
Be warned though, it's a bit of an infomercial... there's a lot of product placement in the story, and while the angling tales are great, the article tends to make it sound like it's a lot easier than we know it to be. Still, they have had a much better blue marlin season up there than we've seen south of the border, and as long as you pick the right day and are prepared to burn the diesel to cruise out to the deep side of the continental shelf that's so much further offshore up there, then you can certainly have a blinder out from Southport - just not every day.
That said, I think that a more analytical apples to apples comparison between an average summer up there, and an average summer down here, factoring in the relatively huge fleet of boats that fishes up there but making an allowance for the additional fishing time per trip you get down here, a more objective picture would emerge...
And while I may be less than convinced by the Gold Coast's glowing press in the MM article, it's hard to swing the spotlight down here and make a big deal about how well things are going here on the NSW north coast... because the fishing is quite simply dismal. It's early March, and the marlin would/should normally be jumping into your boat out there right now, but reports - or more correctly, the lack of reports - from boats out fishing this gorgeous Saturday indicate that the bite is still pretty dead. There was no significant action off Ballina despite excellent water and a slight drift of downhill current, and the story off Coffs was much the same. When will this end...??!!
Meanwhile, there's some good reading in a recent article in Marlin Magazine about blue marlin fishing on the Gold Coast. You can read it at - http://www.marlinmag.com/australia-blue-marlin-fishing-gold-coast?src=SOC&dom=fb#page-5.
Be warned though, it's a bit of an infomercial... there's a lot of product placement in the story, and while the angling tales are great, the article tends to make it sound like it's a lot easier than we know it to be. Still, they have had a much better blue marlin season up there than we've seen south of the border, and as long as you pick the right day and are prepared to burn the diesel to cruise out to the deep side of the continental shelf that's so much further offshore up there, then you can certainly have a blinder out from Southport - just not every day.
That said, I think that a more analytical apples to apples comparison between an average summer up there, and an average summer down here, factoring in the relatively huge fleet of boats that fishes up there but making an allowance for the additional fishing time per trip you get down here, a more objective picture would emerge...
And while I may be less than convinced by the Gold Coast's glowing press in the MM article, it's hard to swing the spotlight down here and make a big deal about how well things are going here on the NSW north coast... because the fishing is quite simply dismal. It's early March, and the marlin would/should normally be jumping into your boat out there right now, but reports - or more correctly, the lack of reports - from boats out fishing this gorgeous Saturday indicate that the bite is still pretty dead. There was no significant action off Ballina despite excellent water and a slight drift of downhill current, and the story off Coffs was much the same. When will this end...??!!
Thursday, 2nd March
Here we go again... more big EAC meanderings and diversion. The main body of current is way out to sea, and probably taking most of the Coral Sea marlin (blues and juvenile blacks) out wide with it and bypassing the NSW north coast completely. There's a small amount of slack inshore flow past the Coffs Coast, but we're probably missing 90% of the main flow of the EAC, and assuming most of the fish are in the main flow, then the next time they'll be hitting the edge of the continental shelf is going to be down on the Central Coast. Hopefully this won't last long, but while it does, local game fishermen are going to be faced with another period of "long days, lots of diesel, and maybe one shot if we're lucky" scenarios that are becoming all too familiar here.
Meanwhile, S.E. Queensland anglers and everybody down south of us make out like bandits...
The forecast for the next few days has beautiful game fishing weather lined up day after day until next week, when several days of very strong southerlies are looming. The only upside is that if it blows hard for several days from the south, the miscreant EAC might be forced to behave properly, swing back to the coast, and flow straight down the edge of the shelf... bringing the marlin back with it.
Saturday, 25th February
I'm writing this when we should be out game fishing, but the story below explains why we're in the marina with our engine hatch open today instead.
That said, it was disappointing to see that the Solitary Islands GFC couldn't even raise a quorum of three boats to fish today's competition, so it was declared a non-event. 5-10 years ago, despite a stronger than forecast (but still fishable) breeze, at least 10 boats would have been out there in February, but there's a lack of serviceable boats and a bit of an undercurrent of "blah" after this horrible season.
But the fish are there, you've just got to work hard for them, and you need more than the usual luck to drive over one.
The conditions on Friday were the sort of thing you only see on a handful of days each summer off Coffs. Winds near calm all day, and even the seabreeze in the afternoon barely raised a whitecap. Cobalt blue water out on the edge, but... yep, pretty much empty, which for February just has you shaking your head in disbelief. There was a thin line of occasional bait around 40fa, a bit of stuff on the bottom in 60fa, but the only flying fish we saw was in 35fa, and that beautiful electric blue water out wide was generally devoid of bird life, dolphins or any baitfish.
Black N Blue raised what skipper Rob Lang called a pretty big blue out beyond 1000fa in good water. It hit and seemed to have hooked up solid, but was gone after a couple of hundred metres or so - who knows why, but probably one of the usual culprits - hook pulled or bill-wrapped.
We stooged around in glamour water on a sea barely ruffled by the light breeze, and right at 1400 (yep... that good old 2-oclock bite again!!) finally drove over a very fat blue marlin that made a totally stealth attack, simply swiping the lure from below the surface with no splash or even a hole in the water. The lure spun around his face a couple of times and then dug into his bill, and as long as the pressure on the fish was even, we weren't going to lose him. Paul (Billfishman) Brodrick did a nice job on the fish, which once it realised it was hooked put on a hell of a show a couple of hundred metres behind the boat, charging around for several minutes before finally going deep and needing a fair bit of boat and reel work to get it alongside and tagged. Like every other blue marlin we've caught on Foreign Exchange this summer, the fish was very thick and fat - wherever in the Coral Sea they've been eating, they've been finding a lot more bait than there is around the Solitary Coast this season. It would have tipped the scales at about 180kg, and took 25 minutes to get in after the standup gear had to be adjusted to account for all the FIFO camp food in the NT that Paul's been eating!
The last two photos in the slideshow show the second I discovered that the motor was very unhappy on the way home, and then the tow home... now Foreign Exchange needs a valve job... groan!
The breakdown and tow back is NOT in the video clip now available for viewing in the website's Video Gallery
That said, it was disappointing to see that the Solitary Islands GFC couldn't even raise a quorum of three boats to fish today's competition, so it was declared a non-event. 5-10 years ago, despite a stronger than forecast (but still fishable) breeze, at least 10 boats would have been out there in February, but there's a lack of serviceable boats and a bit of an undercurrent of "blah" after this horrible season.
But the fish are there, you've just got to work hard for them, and you need more than the usual luck to drive over one.
The conditions on Friday were the sort of thing you only see on a handful of days each summer off Coffs. Winds near calm all day, and even the seabreeze in the afternoon barely raised a whitecap. Cobalt blue water out on the edge, but... yep, pretty much empty, which for February just has you shaking your head in disbelief. There was a thin line of occasional bait around 40fa, a bit of stuff on the bottom in 60fa, but the only flying fish we saw was in 35fa, and that beautiful electric blue water out wide was generally devoid of bird life, dolphins or any baitfish.
Black N Blue raised what skipper Rob Lang called a pretty big blue out beyond 1000fa in good water. It hit and seemed to have hooked up solid, but was gone after a couple of hundred metres or so - who knows why, but probably one of the usual culprits - hook pulled or bill-wrapped.
We stooged around in glamour water on a sea barely ruffled by the light breeze, and right at 1400 (yep... that good old 2-oclock bite again!!) finally drove over a very fat blue marlin that made a totally stealth attack, simply swiping the lure from below the surface with no splash or even a hole in the water. The lure spun around his face a couple of times and then dug into his bill, and as long as the pressure on the fish was even, we weren't going to lose him. Paul (Billfishman) Brodrick did a nice job on the fish, which once it realised it was hooked put on a hell of a show a couple of hundred metres behind the boat, charging around for several minutes before finally going deep and needing a fair bit of boat and reel work to get it alongside and tagged. Like every other blue marlin we've caught on Foreign Exchange this summer, the fish was very thick and fat - wherever in the Coral Sea they've been eating, they've been finding a lot more bait than there is around the Solitary Coast this season. It would have tipped the scales at about 180kg, and took 25 minutes to get in after the standup gear had to be adjusted to account for all the FIFO camp food in the NT that Paul's been eating!
The last two photos in the slideshow show the second I discovered that the motor was very unhappy on the way home, and then the tow home... now Foreign Exchange needs a valve job... groan!
The breakdown and tow back is NOT in the video clip now available for viewing in the website's Video Gallery
Friday, 24th February
The report from the edge yesterday was discouraging... to say the least. Bizarre would also cover it. Here we are in February, with no bait, no proper current, no good water, and no marlin. Pete English finally found cobalt water out in 1000fa, but just below the surface was a counter current that was cooler and nothing to do with the EAC, which is still cutoff up around the border. All "our" billfish and other pelagics - yes, where the hell are all the mahimahi and wahoo - are totally missing in action when historically, we should be right into the thick of it now. Instead, it's dead out there, and it seems that you can burn all the diesel you like, but it's not going to take you to fish which simply aren't there. If the season doesn't fire soon, it will be a real tragedy for local game fishermen... the flip side is that it's probably just part of the natural cycle of things, so there's no point in losing sleep over it.
LATE FRIDAY: Obviously got a bit grumpy about the lack of marlin during prime marlin time on Friday morning when I wrote the above, so we went fishing, and... read on in the Saturday entry above!
Meanwhile, readers may remember the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 passed in the US and enforced since then. It has done big things to save Pacific billfish from sale in the US, and stopped all countries harvesting and selling these fish to the US seafood market. There were a couple of well-meaning exemptions for traditional anglers in Hawaii and some Pacific islands who were still allowed to sell billfish into their local home markets, but of course the greed factor quickly overcame the ethics of locals and intention of the bill, so Hawaiians and islanders from US Pacific territories were selling billfish into the US market and this loophole was soon being exploited by all and sundry.
The legislation was just strengthened recently by a further amendment which closed that loophole... read the press release from the IGFA below...
SENATORS INTRODUCE BILL TO PROTECT BILLFISH Amendment Clarifies Intent of 2012 Conservation Act
February 16, 2017. A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation yesterday to amend the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012, making it clear that the original intent of the BCA was to prohibit sales of any marlin, spearfish or sailfish in the mainland United States, regardless of who catches them or where. The bill was filed by Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).
“On behalf of anglers and conservationists around the country, we are grateful to these four senators for stepping up and taking this action,” said IGFA president Rob Kramer and Wild Oceans president Ken Hinman in a joint statement. “This simple bill, although called a ‘technical amendment,’ will ensure that billfish receive the full protections from commercial exploitation that the Billfish Conservation Act intended.”
The landmark law has been in force since 2013, preventing an estimated 30,000 foreign-caught billfish a year from being sold in U.S. markets on the mainland, where U.S. commercial fishermen have been prohibited from selling blue, white and striped marlin, spearfish and sailfish for decades.
The Act, however, provides an exemption for the “traditional fisheries and markets” of Hawaii and Pacific island territories. The authors of the BCA said at the time that the exemption was meant for local sales and consumption only, but the law itself was silent on whether or not fish could be sold outside Hawaii, creating a loophole that needed to be closed.
The senate bill would not only close mainland markets to all Pacific billfish including those caught under the Hawaii exemption, it would strengthen enforcement of the billfish prohibition nationwide while minimizing regulatory costs.
IGFA (www.igfa.org) and Wild Oceans (wildoceans.org) partnered to form the Take Marlin Off the Menu campaign in 2009, working together to pass the BCA and ever since to make sure it is implemented as intended.
If only a similar piece of legislation could be passed covering the Australian market and fishing industry...!!!
LATE FRIDAY: Obviously got a bit grumpy about the lack of marlin during prime marlin time on Friday morning when I wrote the above, so we went fishing, and... read on in the Saturday entry above!
Meanwhile, readers may remember the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012 passed in the US and enforced since then. It has done big things to save Pacific billfish from sale in the US, and stopped all countries harvesting and selling these fish to the US seafood market. There were a couple of well-meaning exemptions for traditional anglers in Hawaii and some Pacific islands who were still allowed to sell billfish into their local home markets, but of course the greed factor quickly overcame the ethics of locals and intention of the bill, so Hawaiians and islanders from US Pacific territories were selling billfish into the US market and this loophole was soon being exploited by all and sundry.
The legislation was just strengthened recently by a further amendment which closed that loophole... read the press release from the IGFA below...
SENATORS INTRODUCE BILL TO PROTECT BILLFISH Amendment Clarifies Intent of 2012 Conservation Act
February 16, 2017. A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation yesterday to amend the Billfish Conservation Act of 2012, making it clear that the original intent of the BCA was to prohibit sales of any marlin, spearfish or sailfish in the mainland United States, regardless of who catches them or where. The bill was filed by Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Joe Manchin (D-WV).
“On behalf of anglers and conservationists around the country, we are grateful to these four senators for stepping up and taking this action,” said IGFA president Rob Kramer and Wild Oceans president Ken Hinman in a joint statement. “This simple bill, although called a ‘technical amendment,’ will ensure that billfish receive the full protections from commercial exploitation that the Billfish Conservation Act intended.”
The landmark law has been in force since 2013, preventing an estimated 30,000 foreign-caught billfish a year from being sold in U.S. markets on the mainland, where U.S. commercial fishermen have been prohibited from selling blue, white and striped marlin, spearfish and sailfish for decades.
The Act, however, provides an exemption for the “traditional fisheries and markets” of Hawaii and Pacific island territories. The authors of the BCA said at the time that the exemption was meant for local sales and consumption only, but the law itself was silent on whether or not fish could be sold outside Hawaii, creating a loophole that needed to be closed.
The senate bill would not only close mainland markets to all Pacific billfish including those caught under the Hawaii exemption, it would strengthen enforcement of the billfish prohibition nationwide while minimizing regulatory costs.
IGFA (www.igfa.org) and Wild Oceans (wildoceans.org) partnered to form the Take Marlin Off the Menu campaign in 2009, working together to pass the BCA and ever since to make sure it is implemented as intended.
If only a similar piece of legislation could be passed covering the Australian market and fishing industry...!!!
Thursday, 23rd February
A very mixed day out on the edge of the shelf yesterday - mostly horrible!
The wind was calm enough inside 30fa, but overnight had whipped up a nasty, confused slop beyond. The EAC has been pretty much totally cut off (again... groan!) up at the border, and the water off Coffs at the moment is foul, stale, green and empty. There is about 2.5 knots of flow going downhill, but the current plots show that it's not the EAC - just Tasman Sea water coming up from down south and being turned around off Evans Head to flow back to the south along the shelf. Of course, that could change in 24 hours if the current comes back, but until that happens, the only cheerful thing out there is the sound of the oil companies cheering while you drive around burning diesel in an empty ocean.
It was so rough for most of the day that I doubt any self respecting marlin would bother with it frankly.
We had one enquiry from what was probably a striped marlin based on the hit - it was so rough on the surface that the fish waited until the lure had dived, struck it underwater, missed, bill wrapped, and pulled 30m of string before shaking its head and throwing the wrap without ever hooking up.
And that sports fans, was the end of our day.
We droned around in mediocre water that never once looked fishy after that without seeing any bait on the sounder, not a single flying fish, no birds, and no sign of any life at all.
Typical of our summer so far - the first multi-day weather window with good moon phase and tides for months, and the current cuts off and leaves us with a foul coloured desert out there. It can only get better...!
The wind was calm enough inside 30fa, but overnight had whipped up a nasty, confused slop beyond. The EAC has been pretty much totally cut off (again... groan!) up at the border, and the water off Coffs at the moment is foul, stale, green and empty. There is about 2.5 knots of flow going downhill, but the current plots show that it's not the EAC - just Tasman Sea water coming up from down south and being turned around off Evans Head to flow back to the south along the shelf. Of course, that could change in 24 hours if the current comes back, but until that happens, the only cheerful thing out there is the sound of the oil companies cheering while you drive around burning diesel in an empty ocean.
It was so rough for most of the day that I doubt any self respecting marlin would bother with it frankly.
We had one enquiry from what was probably a striped marlin based on the hit - it was so rough on the surface that the fish waited until the lure had dived, struck it underwater, missed, bill wrapped, and pulled 30m of string before shaking its head and throwing the wrap without ever hooking up.
And that sports fans, was the end of our day.
We droned around in mediocre water that never once looked fishy after that without seeing any bait on the sounder, not a single flying fish, no birds, and no sign of any life at all.
Typical of our summer so far - the first multi-day weather window with good moon phase and tides for months, and the current cuts off and leaves us with a foul coloured desert out there. It can only get better...!
Tuesday, 21st February
A big few days ahead for Solitary Coast game fishermen... four days of forecast weather with winds less than 12 knots all day (do we really believe that...??) will be all it takes to get game boats out. And all the longliners fuelled up and left the harbour yesterday, so they must feel that there's a big window out there. Mind you, the East Australian Current is is acting fairly strange, largely cut off again to our north, with a lot of cooler Tasman water flowing uphill just 80 miles to the east, so no doubt the main game for the longliners will be yellowfin tuna down wide of SWR.
Off Coffs though, the annual guessing game of "when are the little blacks arriving...?" is in full swing, with anglers packing their tinnies and heading down to fish the perennial black marlin hot spot off the Smokey Cape gaol ruins this weekend, and boats heading out from Coffs Harbour planning on spending the day drifting live baits around the inshore bait balls.
A couple of days ago, Marcus Blackwell was out in Hemingway and was surprised to see a little black that he reckoned wouldn't have weighed more than 5kg dripping wet trying to tackle a rigger lure that was as big as it was... so the few that have arrived are certainly keen!
The seasonal dilemma though will still be whether to go where the big fish are, or play with the juvenile black marlin in close... pointscore, or adrenalin??!!
Off Coffs though, the annual guessing game of "when are the little blacks arriving...?" is in full swing, with anglers packing their tinnies and heading down to fish the perennial black marlin hot spot off the Smokey Cape gaol ruins this weekend, and boats heading out from Coffs Harbour planning on spending the day drifting live baits around the inshore bait balls.
A couple of days ago, Marcus Blackwell was out in Hemingway and was surprised to see a little black that he reckoned wouldn't have weighed more than 5kg dripping wet trying to tackle a rigger lure that was as big as it was... so the few that have arrived are certainly keen!
The seasonal dilemma though will still be whether to go where the big fish are, or play with the juvenile black marlin in close... pointscore, or adrenalin??!!
Sunday, 19th February
OK.... here it comes! The Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club's annual Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament - the only open game fishing competition between Port Macquarie and the border is only a month away.
To all those game fishermen who've been sitting on the fence this summer, it's time to get with the program and start fishing instead of leaving your boat tied up at the marina while your crew loses interest. Just because it's been a slow summer so far doesn't mean it's going to stay that way, so get out there, get back into it, and sign up for the Heavy Tackle Challenge...
The paperwork and entry forms for the HTC are now available on the SIGFC website, and there's a bonus draw prize for $1000 if you get your entry in early... so to quote Lara Bingle.. "Where the bloody hell are you...?"
To all those game fishermen who've been sitting on the fence this summer, it's time to get with the program and start fishing instead of leaving your boat tied up at the marina while your crew loses interest. Just because it's been a slow summer so far doesn't mean it's going to stay that way, so get out there, get back into it, and sign up for the Heavy Tackle Challenge...
The paperwork and entry forms for the HTC are now available on the SIGFC website, and there's a bonus draw prize for $1000 if you get your entry in early... so to quote Lara Bingle.. "Where the bloody hell are you...?"
Thursday, 16th February
This week has suddenly become a lot more newsworthy than most of the summer to date thank heavens, and there seems to be a pretty good vibe out there on the shelf, even if it's still not what you'd call red hot by any stretch of the imagination.
The weekend produced more reports of marlin than any previous weekend this year, and when combined with yesterday's news, it seems as if things are looking up.
Black N Blue, Better than Vegas and Hemingway headed out on Wednesday with a great forecast and all of them saw marlin. Like a few other boats, Foreign Exchange would have been there had it not been for the perennial midweek crew shortage dramas.
The waning moon was still pretty strong, and that probably helped explain why the fish weren't too hungry first up, and only started to get interested around midday.
First up, BnB raised a 130kg blue, which was duly tagged and sent on its way, and meanwhile, both Vegas and Hemingway had enquiries. Marcus said that the first shot they had left a big (marlin-sized) hole in the water without either he or George getting a decent look at the culprit, and Pete English had a marlin up that pulled a bit of string but never hooked up.
Later, while I was actually talking to Marcus on the phone - he was telling me it looked fishy, but had gone pretty quiet - I heard George yell, followed immediately by the scream of a reel in the background, after which the line went dead, and I didn't hear from the Hemingway boys until an hour and a half later. The fish turned out to be a big (for this part of the world) 120kg black marlin, which went nuts about halfway through the fight and apparently tail-wrapped itself in the process.
It look a lot of effort to get the fish to the boat needless to say, and it looked to be on its last legs when they got it alongside... However, to their credit, they swam the fish for 30 minutes and got it back to good health, finally releasing what might otherwise have been a lost fish. That's Marcus swimming the black in the photo above.
So another marlin lived to grow and fight another day... Nice work guys!
And while the few black marlin seen so far have generally been bigger and further out to sea than normal, maybe these large ones are the vanguard, and it will only be a few more days before the usual influx of juveniles hits the inshore reefs and bait grounds.
One of the most interesting things this summer has been the near complete lack of any other game species. There was a week or so when there were some big mahimahi caught, but since then, the dollies have either been tiny, or simply not there. There have been a few football YFT, but not a single report of one over 15kg that I'm aware of. I think I've had just one report of a wahoo so far, when normally, they would feature on almost every trip to the shelf this side of December. No confirmed reports at all of shortbill spearfish or sailfish either, so the mystery is still there, and so far unexplained.
Maybe the pundits are right - the season will be late, but big when it hits. Here's hoping...
An advance copy of Saturday's Advocate column has just been posted... just click on this link. A short word about the Advocate column... what you read on this website is the original unedited column copy as submitted to The Advocate. You may see a different version of it published in the newspaper, but that will always be because the editorial team may change the column around, including drop out some wording or photos in order to fit it into the space that's been allocated on the already cramped sports pages. So if you see a difference between what I post here, and what gets printed in the paper, it will always be because of the sub-editors' doing their thing, not any changes I make.
The weekend produced more reports of marlin than any previous weekend this year, and when combined with yesterday's news, it seems as if things are looking up.
Black N Blue, Better than Vegas and Hemingway headed out on Wednesday with a great forecast and all of them saw marlin. Like a few other boats, Foreign Exchange would have been there had it not been for the perennial midweek crew shortage dramas.
The waning moon was still pretty strong, and that probably helped explain why the fish weren't too hungry first up, and only started to get interested around midday.
First up, BnB raised a 130kg blue, which was duly tagged and sent on its way, and meanwhile, both Vegas and Hemingway had enquiries. Marcus said that the first shot they had left a big (marlin-sized) hole in the water without either he or George getting a decent look at the culprit, and Pete English had a marlin up that pulled a bit of string but never hooked up.
Later, while I was actually talking to Marcus on the phone - he was telling me it looked fishy, but had gone pretty quiet - I heard George yell, followed immediately by the scream of a reel in the background, after which the line went dead, and I didn't hear from the Hemingway boys until an hour and a half later. The fish turned out to be a big (for this part of the world) 120kg black marlin, which went nuts about halfway through the fight and apparently tail-wrapped itself in the process.
It look a lot of effort to get the fish to the boat needless to say, and it looked to be on its last legs when they got it alongside... However, to their credit, they swam the fish for 30 minutes and got it back to good health, finally releasing what might otherwise have been a lost fish. That's Marcus swimming the black in the photo above.
So another marlin lived to grow and fight another day... Nice work guys!
And while the few black marlin seen so far have generally been bigger and further out to sea than normal, maybe these large ones are the vanguard, and it will only be a few more days before the usual influx of juveniles hits the inshore reefs and bait grounds.
One of the most interesting things this summer has been the near complete lack of any other game species. There was a week or so when there were some big mahimahi caught, but since then, the dollies have either been tiny, or simply not there. There have been a few football YFT, but not a single report of one over 15kg that I'm aware of. I think I've had just one report of a wahoo so far, when normally, they would feature on almost every trip to the shelf this side of December. No confirmed reports at all of shortbill spearfish or sailfish either, so the mystery is still there, and so far unexplained.
Maybe the pundits are right - the season will be late, but big when it hits. Here's hoping...
An advance copy of Saturday's Advocate column has just been posted... just click on this link. A short word about the Advocate column... what you read on this website is the original unedited column copy as submitted to The Advocate. You may see a different version of it published in the newspaper, but that will always be because the editorial team may change the column around, including drop out some wording or photos in order to fit it into the space that's been allocated on the already cramped sports pages. So if you see a difference between what I post here, and what gets printed in the paper, it will always be because of the sub-editors' doing their thing, not any changes I make.
Sunday, 12th February
The end of a very mixed week, with a fruitless search by myself and Vashy for juvenile black marlin on Thursday coming up blank (like most of the others who tried to find them this week...), and a lovely day out on Friday apparently one day too soon for a new push of fresh Coral Sea water. However, yesterday was the day when we were able to cash in our credit on Foreign Exchange and get something back in this painfully slow marlin season.
After a really horrible run out to the edge of the continental shelf in nasty conditions, the weather finally settled and the ocean went from awful, green and cool to smooth, blue and warm in the space of a couple of hours.
The first boat to report some action was She's a Dream, whose crew was startled by a big bang that sounded like a shotgun blast to skipper Bill Reider, who turned to see the corner rod dangling a bit of broken 37kg line that had parted explosively when a striped marlin hooked up to the rig that somehow had the drag set to sunset! A bit of crew training still required there maybe...
Another brand new lure, brand new wind-on, etc... and this only a couple of weeks after a crossover by a hooked up marlin had cost two lures, and so forth. Bill is now on the frequent shopper bonus program at FTA...
Alcatraz reported a small hammer tagged around the WBG where there were definitely no black marlin... again.
We steamed down the shelf and found a lovely pool of cobalt blue water next to a massive scumline that had a lot of bait sheltering under it, and only a couple of hundred yards away, a blue that was obviously getting peckish again after feeding during the previous night's full moon ripped into the long corner Marlin Magic Ruckus and ran around the ocean for 5 minutes before wisely deciding that resistance was futile and allowed himself to be winched in by Sam French who is having a blinder of a start to his first season as a game fishermen. The blue marlin was nicely wrangled by Vashy, tagged per the textbook by John, and duly sent on his way after 20 minutes. Nice work team!
We also raised a striped marlin at the top of the shelf on the way home, and that fish took a massive swipe at the long corner, missed, but bill-wrapped a few feet up the leader. It all still looked good until the fish stopped running and did the windscreen wiper thing. Two big shakes of its head and the leader went one way and the marlin the other! Too bad, but it was still a great day.
This was a good day out there for us, but no other boat in the fleet tagged a marlin, and for February, that really stinks. The club scorer mentioned on the radio out there that at the same time last February, the Solitary Islands club had collectively tagged 50 marlin, but this year at the same point in the season, there had only been 9 tagged... go figure.
This is the worst season anyone can remember, and while the pundits are offering opinions that the season is just running 6 weeks late this year, the marlin are going to have to come on very strong in the remaining weeks of February to May, or the season is going to end up being memorable for all the wrong reasons.
After a really horrible run out to the edge of the continental shelf in nasty conditions, the weather finally settled and the ocean went from awful, green and cool to smooth, blue and warm in the space of a couple of hours.
The first boat to report some action was She's a Dream, whose crew was startled by a big bang that sounded like a shotgun blast to skipper Bill Reider, who turned to see the corner rod dangling a bit of broken 37kg line that had parted explosively when a striped marlin hooked up to the rig that somehow had the drag set to sunset! A bit of crew training still required there maybe...
Another brand new lure, brand new wind-on, etc... and this only a couple of weeks after a crossover by a hooked up marlin had cost two lures, and so forth. Bill is now on the frequent shopper bonus program at FTA...
Alcatraz reported a small hammer tagged around the WBG where there were definitely no black marlin... again.
We steamed down the shelf and found a lovely pool of cobalt blue water next to a massive scumline that had a lot of bait sheltering under it, and only a couple of hundred yards away, a blue that was obviously getting peckish again after feeding during the previous night's full moon ripped into the long corner Marlin Magic Ruckus and ran around the ocean for 5 minutes before wisely deciding that resistance was futile and allowed himself to be winched in by Sam French who is having a blinder of a start to his first season as a game fishermen. The blue marlin was nicely wrangled by Vashy, tagged per the textbook by John, and duly sent on his way after 20 minutes. Nice work team!
We also raised a striped marlin at the top of the shelf on the way home, and that fish took a massive swipe at the long corner, missed, but bill-wrapped a few feet up the leader. It all still looked good until the fish stopped running and did the windscreen wiper thing. Two big shakes of its head and the leader went one way and the marlin the other! Too bad, but it was still a great day.
This was a good day out there for us, but no other boat in the fleet tagged a marlin, and for February, that really stinks. The club scorer mentioned on the radio out there that at the same time last February, the Solitary Islands club had collectively tagged 50 marlin, but this year at the same point in the season, there had only been 9 tagged... go figure.
This is the worst season anyone can remember, and while the pundits are offering opinions that the season is just running 6 weeks late this year, the marlin are going to have to come on very strong in the remaining weeks of February to May, or the season is going to end up being memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Tuesday, 7th February
The IGFA recently promulgated changes to its angling rules that impact game fishermen in particular, and become effective on 1 April 2017.
The essence of these changes are...
Firstly, that you cannot assist an angler by holding them, or providing any bodily physical assistance that relieves their effort and assists them in fighting the fish. So you can't hold an angler by the waist or the shirt, or the harness or whatever, to assist them to fight a fish. Commonsense of course, but quite possibly one of the most ignored or glossed over rules in the sport, especially where small fry and junior anglers are involved. This rule does not prohibit providing momentary assistance to an angler who has lost or is losing their balance. This is a much-needed change, and one which needs to be more stringently observed.
Secondly, if you use top shots, the old rule used to say that the lighter of the two breaking strains of the topshot and the backing was the line class that dictated the overall line class under which the fish was caught. Now, the fish is registered as having been caught under the line class of the first 5 metres of single mono line that ends at the double regardless of what follows on the spool. So if you were using a 24kg mono topshot backed by 37kg dacron, the fish used to be classified as caught on 37kg line class tackle. But now, given that the lightest line that will always be exposed to the strain of the fish is obviously going to break first, only the first 5m of single line preceding the terminal tackle dictates the line class. A sensible rule change.
The actual IGFA wording is shown below...
The essence of these changes are...
Firstly, that you cannot assist an angler by holding them, or providing any bodily physical assistance that relieves their effort and assists them in fighting the fish. So you can't hold an angler by the waist or the shirt, or the harness or whatever, to assist them to fight a fish. Commonsense of course, but quite possibly one of the most ignored or glossed over rules in the sport, especially where small fry and junior anglers are involved. This rule does not prohibit providing momentary assistance to an angler who has lost or is losing their balance. This is a much-needed change, and one which needs to be more stringently observed.
Secondly, if you use top shots, the old rule used to say that the lighter of the two breaking strains of the topshot and the backing was the line class that dictated the overall line class under which the fish was caught. Now, the fish is registered as having been caught under the line class of the first 5 metres of single mono line that ends at the double regardless of what follows on the spool. So if you were using a 24kg mono topshot backed by 37kg dacron, the fish used to be classified as caught on 37kg line class tackle. But now, given that the lightest line that will always be exposed to the strain of the fish is obviously going to break first, only the first 5m of single line preceding the terminal tackle dictates the line class. A sensible rule change.
The actual IGFA wording is shown below...
Sunday, 5th February
Here we go....?
The latest FishTrack SST plot reproduced on the left shows that there's a large pulse of 28-29C water headed down the coast from S.E. Queensland where there's been a red hot juvenile black marlin bite recently. Is it too soon to expect those fish that have been jumping onto anglers lines on the Sunshine Coast recently will arrive in this latest surge of warm water? Maybe, but there'll only be one way to find out for sure. And even if this is one pulse too soon for the little blacks, it will have blue marlin in it for sure.
At the same time, there's a good boundary on the outside of the EAC down to the east of SWR that has already been the source of at least one good haul of YFT from a longliner working that boundary. That's a long way for a game boat to go on a day trip out of Coffs Harbour, but it's good to know that there are still yellowfin to be found at one end of our fishing patch.
For game boat skippers who keep detailed logbooks, you no doubt have a reference - if you've been in the game for a few years - that shows a past scenario in mid to late summer where a surge of water in the high twenties rolled down the shelf, and where you (and/or others) found the blue marlin that came with it. This is why most of us keep detailed records... because while not totally reliable, nature is sometimes repetitive enough in the normal cycle of things to at least give you an insight into what has happened in the past and how that can fit into a similar occurrence in the future... like this coming week.
With a couple of promising windows in the weather forecast for the coming week, there will be boats out there betting on whether the second seasonal surge of juvenile black marlin will be at the leading edge of this big pool of warm water that will be pushing down to the Solitary Coast from about Tuesday, and there will be others who think they've got into the heads of the next push of blue marlin and are prepared to back themselves accordingly.
And that's half the fun of it all...
The latest FishTrack SST plot reproduced on the left shows that there's a large pulse of 28-29C water headed down the coast from S.E. Queensland where there's been a red hot juvenile black marlin bite recently. Is it too soon to expect those fish that have been jumping onto anglers lines on the Sunshine Coast recently will arrive in this latest surge of warm water? Maybe, but there'll only be one way to find out for sure. And even if this is one pulse too soon for the little blacks, it will have blue marlin in it for sure.
At the same time, there's a good boundary on the outside of the EAC down to the east of SWR that has already been the source of at least one good haul of YFT from a longliner working that boundary. That's a long way for a game boat to go on a day trip out of Coffs Harbour, but it's good to know that there are still yellowfin to be found at one end of our fishing patch.
For game boat skippers who keep detailed logbooks, you no doubt have a reference - if you've been in the game for a few years - that shows a past scenario in mid to late summer where a surge of water in the high twenties rolled down the shelf, and where you (and/or others) found the blue marlin that came with it. This is why most of us keep detailed records... because while not totally reliable, nature is sometimes repetitive enough in the normal cycle of things to at least give you an insight into what has happened in the past and how that can fit into a similar occurrence in the future... like this coming week.
With a couple of promising windows in the weather forecast for the coming week, there will be boats out there betting on whether the second seasonal surge of juvenile black marlin will be at the leading edge of this big pool of warm water that will be pushing down to the Solitary Coast from about Tuesday, and there will be others who think they've got into the heads of the next push of blue marlin and are prepared to back themselves accordingly.
And that's half the fun of it all...
Thursday, 2nd February
Despite an ongoing weather forecast punctuated by the same strong winds that have routinely trashed the East Australian Current and the fishing conditions for months now, the past two mornings have been notable for having had eminently fishable conditions for at least half the morning before the northerlies blew in and shut it down out there. For that matter, tomorrow's forecast looks really good with wind not predicted to blow up much over 10 knots all day... but of course, it's Friday, and of course, most crew are working, so fishing's not much of an option if you have a crew of anglers who work conventional hours.
When you combine these occasional calmer mornings with the fact that the juvenile black marlin, and (possibly) sailfish, not to mention the big mackerel can generally be found in close at this time of year, it essentially means that anyone who was red hot keen and had crew available could get out at dawn on at least one or two days each week, do a run up to SSI and back before midday, and be back in the marina before the wind blew over 10 knots with a couple of billfish tagged.
And if the current long range forecast is to be believed, there's even a nice three day window between next Wednesday and Friday that is starting to look like most or all of those days may be excellent for game fishing as well. As luck would have it of course, that's not a weekend window, but you've got to be able to grab these half days if and where it's at all possible.
After having successfully published three weekly game fishing reports in the Coffs Coast Advocate newspaper since agreeing to start writing From the Flybridge again, it looks like the old editorial style of the previous management at that paper has been succeeded by a desire to bring fishing back as a highlight in there sports pages of that august organ. Further, readers will probably already have noticed that the fishing section of the Advocate recently went back to two pages of copy for the first time in about 8 years, and has indeed picked up a sponsor - Bright Eyes Sunglasses. Bright Eyes are offering a "Fish of the Week" prize for any angler whose fish is judged by the fishing section sub-editor to be worthy of that title. Anyone who has a good game or sportsfishing fishing story to tell accompanied by a photo or two and would like it to be considered for inclusion in the Flybridge column, and/or entered as a potential fish-of-the-week, can get in touch with me via the contact page on this website, and I'll be happy to do my best to get the details published.
In light of the above...I'll be picking up on an old habit of publishing an advance copy of the following Saturday's Flybridge column here on this website again. The past 2 columns, and this coming Saturday's can now be found on the From the Flybridge weekly page on this website for those interested who either want to read about it a couple of days early, or who are outside the Advocate's readership boundaries.
Meanwhile, these newer Garmin cameras and others coming on the market that can run all day and record 10 hours of HD video without stopping are providing unprecedented opportunities to capture marlin strikes on lures that rarely presented themselves back in the days where cameras could only run for a couple of hours on one battery charge, and/or the memory cards filled up after a similar period of time, and so were usually only turned on after a fish had hit and hooked up.
Here are four stills of two marlin hits last weekend.
In this week's Flybridge column I describe a good blue marlin strike as resembling a hand grenade explosion in the wake, and while blues are also masters of the stealth hit, it's the big visual Ka-Boom in the wake that really gets your eyes out on organ stops...
One of the photos below shows a strike on the shotgun, which looks to be half a mile behind the boat - but that's an illusion created by the wide-angle lens, as the shotgun was only set about 40m behind the boat. The other three photos show a big strike sequence on the short rigger, and are interesting, because the first shows the fish's head and bill emerging from the wake with the lure already wrapped around its bill, then in the two subsequent stills, the force of the initial hit carries the fish from the edge of the wake outside the wake, clearly reinforcing what most of us already know, and what Steve Campbell makes a point of in his book - that blues strike from the middle to outside the wake about 90% of the time.
When you combine these occasional calmer mornings with the fact that the juvenile black marlin, and (possibly) sailfish, not to mention the big mackerel can generally be found in close at this time of year, it essentially means that anyone who was red hot keen and had crew available could get out at dawn on at least one or two days each week, do a run up to SSI and back before midday, and be back in the marina before the wind blew over 10 knots with a couple of billfish tagged.
And if the current long range forecast is to be believed, there's even a nice three day window between next Wednesday and Friday that is starting to look like most or all of those days may be excellent for game fishing as well. As luck would have it of course, that's not a weekend window, but you've got to be able to grab these half days if and where it's at all possible.
After having successfully published three weekly game fishing reports in the Coffs Coast Advocate newspaper since agreeing to start writing From the Flybridge again, it looks like the old editorial style of the previous management at that paper has been succeeded by a desire to bring fishing back as a highlight in there sports pages of that august organ. Further, readers will probably already have noticed that the fishing section of the Advocate recently went back to two pages of copy for the first time in about 8 years, and has indeed picked up a sponsor - Bright Eyes Sunglasses. Bright Eyes are offering a "Fish of the Week" prize for any angler whose fish is judged by the fishing section sub-editor to be worthy of that title. Anyone who has a good game or sportsfishing fishing story to tell accompanied by a photo or two and would like it to be considered for inclusion in the Flybridge column, and/or entered as a potential fish-of-the-week, can get in touch with me via the contact page on this website, and I'll be happy to do my best to get the details published.
In light of the above...I'll be picking up on an old habit of publishing an advance copy of the following Saturday's Flybridge column here on this website again. The past 2 columns, and this coming Saturday's can now be found on the From the Flybridge weekly page on this website for those interested who either want to read about it a couple of days early, or who are outside the Advocate's readership boundaries.
Meanwhile, these newer Garmin cameras and others coming on the market that can run all day and record 10 hours of HD video without stopping are providing unprecedented opportunities to capture marlin strikes on lures that rarely presented themselves back in the days where cameras could only run for a couple of hours on one battery charge, and/or the memory cards filled up after a similar period of time, and so were usually only turned on after a fish had hit and hooked up.
Here are four stills of two marlin hits last weekend.
In this week's Flybridge column I describe a good blue marlin strike as resembling a hand grenade explosion in the wake, and while blues are also masters of the stealth hit, it's the big visual Ka-Boom in the wake that really gets your eyes out on organ stops...
One of the photos below shows a strike on the shotgun, which looks to be half a mile behind the boat - but that's an illusion created by the wide-angle lens, as the shotgun was only set about 40m behind the boat. The other three photos show a big strike sequence on the short rigger, and are interesting, because the first shows the fish's head and bill emerging from the wake with the lure already wrapped around its bill, then in the two subsequent stills, the force of the initial hit carries the fish from the edge of the wake outside the wake, clearly reinforcing what most of us already know, and what Steve Campbell makes a point of in his book - that blues strike from the middle to outside the wake about 90% of the time.
Tuesday, 31st January
ONCE MORE WITH FEELING... Marlin magazine has published a short article that backs up what most ethical game fishermen have known for a long time - that removing a marlin from the water for "look at me, what a hero I am..." photos with exhausted marlin unable to breath, with their body weight pressing on internal organs, and with their protective slime coating being rubbed off and their skin damaged, results in a mortality rate much higher than previously believed, even if the marlin do initially swim away.
This website has had an "Ethical Handling of Billfish" blurb on it for years, as has the Black Marlin Blog, and yet there are still daily photographs published on Facebook and some Australian club websites showing an exhausted billfish on the deck or in someone's arms - usually a juvenile black on our east coast. Reading of articles like the one reproduced below should be mandatory for all new game fishing club members, and frankly, there's a strong argument in this day and age that anyone publishing such a photo should be stripped of club competition points for each fish treated this way.
That isn't to say that if someone wants to mount a billfish on their wall at home once in their game fishing career, or if they think they have a record fish, that it shouldn't be hung. But if it's going to be tagged and released, leave it in the water!
Of interest is the fact that US law now makes it illegal for Atlantic billfish intended for release to be removed even for a short time from the water. This was a law that the IGFA is rumoured to have had a hand in getting enacted, and the sooner we have a similar law introduced in Australia, the better. This law is likely to be extended in the near future to cover Pacific billfish as well.
It's not nanny state stuff folks, it's ethical, it's humane, and it's intelligent husbanding of the resource... and with the high death rate resulting from the removal of billfish from the water, it's something any conservation-minded game fisherman or game fishing club should support whole-heartedly.
Read on....
Removing Billfish from Water Proves Deadly
New study adds scientific backing to why anglers should keep billfish in the water - MARLIN MAGAZINE
BY JOHN E. GRAVES FEBRUARY 24, 2016
Ken Neill
Investigation
Scientists investigate post-release mortality of white marlin after extended periods of air exposure.
Many offshore anglers are unaware it is illegal in the United States to remove an Atlantic billfish from the water unless it is going to be retained. The management measure makes sense, after all, because billfish are adapted to respiring in the water and not out of it. But really, how much damage does a billfish sustain during the few minutes of air exposure required to take to a photo of an angler with their first billfish? A lot, according to recent research from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
Graduate student Lela Schlenker was investigating the physiological effects of angling time for white marlin caught on circle hooks. Fish in three categories of fight times (less than 10 minutes; 10 to 20 minutes; and more than 20 minutes) were removed from the water for about two minutes to obtain a five-milliliter blood sample from the aorta and to attach a 30-day pop-up satellite archival tag. She observed unexpectedly high levels of post-release mortality even after fights as short as five minutes, further determining that fight time was not a good predictor of mortality. Six of 21 fish died (28.6 percent), a level of post-release mortality more than 15 times higher than observed in a previous study I performed in which only one of 59 tagged fish did not survive. The only differences between the studies were that in my study, fish did not undergo blood sampling and were not removed from the water. This poses the question: Was the increased mortality in the recent study due to the air exposure or the blood sampling?
I received funding from NMFS to directly address the effects of air exposure on white marlin. The experiment aimed to place 21 30-day PSATs on white marlin caught on circle hooks and brought on deck for air-exposure times of one, three or five minutes. Last September, the crew of Healthy Grin, students Ben Marcek and Willy Goldsmith, and I deployed 18 of 21 tags off Virginia.
Their results demonstrated that air exposure greatly increases post-release mortality rates. Although sample sizes were not large, there was an increase in post-release mortality with time of air exposure: One of six fish with one- minute air exposures died; two of five fish exposed for three minutes died; and four of seven five-minute fish died. All but one of the seven mortalities occurred within 30 hours of release; only one of the seven mortalities was due to predation, which occurred to a five-minute fish 12 days after release. These two studies clearly show air exposures of even one or two minutes can prove deadly to white marlin and likely other billfish as well, so please keep them in the water where they belong.
This website has had an "Ethical Handling of Billfish" blurb on it for years, as has the Black Marlin Blog, and yet there are still daily photographs published on Facebook and some Australian club websites showing an exhausted billfish on the deck or in someone's arms - usually a juvenile black on our east coast. Reading of articles like the one reproduced below should be mandatory for all new game fishing club members, and frankly, there's a strong argument in this day and age that anyone publishing such a photo should be stripped of club competition points for each fish treated this way.
That isn't to say that if someone wants to mount a billfish on their wall at home once in their game fishing career, or if they think they have a record fish, that it shouldn't be hung. But if it's going to be tagged and released, leave it in the water!
Of interest is the fact that US law now makes it illegal for Atlantic billfish intended for release to be removed even for a short time from the water. This was a law that the IGFA is rumoured to have had a hand in getting enacted, and the sooner we have a similar law introduced in Australia, the better. This law is likely to be extended in the near future to cover Pacific billfish as well.
It's not nanny state stuff folks, it's ethical, it's humane, and it's intelligent husbanding of the resource... and with the high death rate resulting from the removal of billfish from the water, it's something any conservation-minded game fisherman or game fishing club should support whole-heartedly.
Read on....
Removing Billfish from Water Proves Deadly
New study adds scientific backing to why anglers should keep billfish in the water - MARLIN MAGAZINE
BY JOHN E. GRAVES FEBRUARY 24, 2016
Ken Neill
Investigation
Scientists investigate post-release mortality of white marlin after extended periods of air exposure.
Many offshore anglers are unaware it is illegal in the United States to remove an Atlantic billfish from the water unless it is going to be retained. The management measure makes sense, after all, because billfish are adapted to respiring in the water and not out of it. But really, how much damage does a billfish sustain during the few minutes of air exposure required to take to a photo of an angler with their first billfish? A lot, according to recent research from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
Graduate student Lela Schlenker was investigating the physiological effects of angling time for white marlin caught on circle hooks. Fish in three categories of fight times (less than 10 minutes; 10 to 20 minutes; and more than 20 minutes) were removed from the water for about two minutes to obtain a five-milliliter blood sample from the aorta and to attach a 30-day pop-up satellite archival tag. She observed unexpectedly high levels of post-release mortality even after fights as short as five minutes, further determining that fight time was not a good predictor of mortality. Six of 21 fish died (28.6 percent), a level of post-release mortality more than 15 times higher than observed in a previous study I performed in which only one of 59 tagged fish did not survive. The only differences between the studies were that in my study, fish did not undergo blood sampling and were not removed from the water. This poses the question: Was the increased mortality in the recent study due to the air exposure or the blood sampling?
I received funding from NMFS to directly address the effects of air exposure on white marlin. The experiment aimed to place 21 30-day PSATs on white marlin caught on circle hooks and brought on deck for air-exposure times of one, three or five minutes. Last September, the crew of Healthy Grin, students Ben Marcek and Willy Goldsmith, and I deployed 18 of 21 tags off Virginia.
Their results demonstrated that air exposure greatly increases post-release mortality rates. Although sample sizes were not large, there was an increase in post-release mortality with time of air exposure: One of six fish with one- minute air exposures died; two of five fish exposed for three minutes died; and four of seven five-minute fish died. All but one of the seven mortalities occurred within 30 hours of release; only one of the seven mortalities was due to predation, which occurred to a five-minute fish 12 days after release. These two studies clearly show air exposures of even one or two minutes can prove deadly to white marlin and likely other billfish as well, so please keep them in the water where they belong.
Monday, 30th January
Here we go again...??!! From the sublime to the ridiculous.
If the long range forecast holds as per the depiction from Windguru shown below, we're going from last weekend's superb game fishing weather, to 9 days coming up of unfishable strong northerlies, which, if this comes to pass as forecast, will certainly roll the water over leaving cool green muck inshore, will drive the bait away, and will have whatever marlin that make it past the border simply bypassing the Coffs Coast and immediately heading further south like they've largely been doing since September. Incredible weather...
If the long range forecast holds as per the depiction from Windguru shown below, we're going from last weekend's superb game fishing weather, to 9 days coming up of unfishable strong northerlies, which, if this comes to pass as forecast, will certainly roll the water over leaving cool green muck inshore, will drive the bait away, and will have whatever marlin that make it past the border simply bypassing the Coffs Coast and immediately heading further south like they've largely been doing since September. Incredible weather...
Saturday, 28th January
For once... a SIGFC competition day that didn't have howling winds or a swell that jarred your teeth out. How pleasant... a glorious day for game fishing, and with only Sam French on his own on deck, the conditions still said "blue marlin", so we gave the idea of chasing little blacks about 5 seconds of thought before pointing Foreign Exchange east and went wide.
Great water, with a cobalt blue 28C current flow, but precious little bait, no dolphins working anywhere out there, and hardly a bird in sight. But on the couple of occasions we found a handful of flying fish, there was a marlin in the neighbourhood.
The first blue marlin knocked the tab loop out of the short outrigger clip, came back for a second look, then hit the wide range Moldcraft hard (knocked the lure's eye out of its socket!), but was either bill-wrapped or just point hooked, because it spat the lure after the second jump, and that was the end of that.
Very encouraging though, and a fish of about 180kg or so.
Next up a little later, the second blue was all over the experimental Vuaki Flyer on the shotgun. This lure has pulled dollies and blue marlin like a magnet, and is starting to show signs of severe abuse, but it still going strong like the Eveready bunny, and is the best shotgun lure I've ever seen.
The marlin ran away hard, and then when yours truly was down on the deck clearing the other rods, it doubled back and headed north (Steve Campbell take note...) like a missile, requiring some quick intervention via the flybridge to get away from the fish. By the time that shambles was all sorted, the fish had all the topshot and most of the dacron off the spool, so we spent the next few minutes backing up flat out to get the reel spooled back to comfort level.
This fish was about the same size as the first, and gave Sam a workout on the 24kg rig, including a 10 minute replay when it ran away after being tagged.
By mid-afternoon the sea breeze was 15g20 knots, but you couldn't complain after such a glamour morning and early afternoon.
These are the days game fishermen live for, and sadly, there were only six club boats out to fish the competition, which doesn't say a lot about club spirit for late January. However, in defence of the boats that stayed tied up for the day, with all the usual crewing and weather problems this year, maybe it's understandable that enthusiasm is waning...
The black marlin anglers couldn't find many of the little guys despite the great weather, which pretty much shows that the usual December flush of juvenile blacks has moved on. Black N Blue had enquiries from a couple, and Joel Cutting fishing on Alcatraz tagged his first marlin - a black 15kg model. Not much there for the other black marlin mob, but Sweet One II tagged a hammer as a consolation prize.
She's a Dream was out looking for blues around the canyons, and hooked up a particularly lively model which proceeded to run across the shotgun which was still out, cutting both the shotty and the rigger line it was on... so that cost them a tag shot, two lures, and two wind-ons... about a $250 bust off there.
Hopefully, there will be the usual second summer wave of blacks arrive off Coffs in two or three weeks. Yesterday's reports from the Sunshine Coast had boats raising up to 13 (!!!) little blacks in one day, so if that surge of fish continues heading south, we might see them off Coffs by the middle of next month with any luck at all given some decent weather and current.
Great water, with a cobalt blue 28C current flow, but precious little bait, no dolphins working anywhere out there, and hardly a bird in sight. But on the couple of occasions we found a handful of flying fish, there was a marlin in the neighbourhood.
The first blue marlin knocked the tab loop out of the short outrigger clip, came back for a second look, then hit the wide range Moldcraft hard (knocked the lure's eye out of its socket!), but was either bill-wrapped or just point hooked, because it spat the lure after the second jump, and that was the end of that.
Very encouraging though, and a fish of about 180kg or so.
Next up a little later, the second blue was all over the experimental Vuaki Flyer on the shotgun. This lure has pulled dollies and blue marlin like a magnet, and is starting to show signs of severe abuse, but it still going strong like the Eveready bunny, and is the best shotgun lure I've ever seen.
The marlin ran away hard, and then when yours truly was down on the deck clearing the other rods, it doubled back and headed north (Steve Campbell take note...) like a missile, requiring some quick intervention via the flybridge to get away from the fish. By the time that shambles was all sorted, the fish had all the topshot and most of the dacron off the spool, so we spent the next few minutes backing up flat out to get the reel spooled back to comfort level.
This fish was about the same size as the first, and gave Sam a workout on the 24kg rig, including a 10 minute replay when it ran away after being tagged.
By mid-afternoon the sea breeze was 15g20 knots, but you couldn't complain after such a glamour morning and early afternoon.
These are the days game fishermen live for, and sadly, there were only six club boats out to fish the competition, which doesn't say a lot about club spirit for late January. However, in defence of the boats that stayed tied up for the day, with all the usual crewing and weather problems this year, maybe it's understandable that enthusiasm is waning...
The black marlin anglers couldn't find many of the little guys despite the great weather, which pretty much shows that the usual December flush of juvenile blacks has moved on. Black N Blue had enquiries from a couple, and Joel Cutting fishing on Alcatraz tagged his first marlin - a black 15kg model. Not much there for the other black marlin mob, but Sweet One II tagged a hammer as a consolation prize.
She's a Dream was out looking for blues around the canyons, and hooked up a particularly lively model which proceeded to run across the shotgun which was still out, cutting both the shotty and the rigger line it was on... so that cost them a tag shot, two lures, and two wind-ons... about a $250 bust off there.
Hopefully, there will be the usual second summer wave of blacks arrive off Coffs in two or three weeks. Yesterday's reports from the Sunshine Coast had boats raising up to 13 (!!!) little blacks in one day, so if that surge of fish continues heading south, we might see them off Coffs by the middle of next month with any luck at all given some decent weather and current.
Sunday, 22nd January
So against better judgement, but desperate to find some marlin in what should be a hot month on the Coffs Coast, Foreign Exchange went out in the remnants of the weekend's southeasterly and drove into some of the worse slop you'd ever want to find yourself in. This was the second trip in a row where the conditions proved to be pretty much unfishable and where the crew spent the day holding on to avoid getting airborne as the boat kept falling off the back of steep joggle.
That might have been bearable if there'd been a marlin or two around, but after finding the WBG baitless, no little black marlin in any of the usual spots, and nothing around the FAD or Wave Recorder or in marlin alley, even a Hail Mary run along the deep edge of the shelf failed to produce any sign of blues despite the best cobalt coloured 27.5C water you could hope to find.
But it was all empty... no birds working anywhere except around the FAD and WR, absolutely not a flying fish or any sign of life in the blue water out wide, and nothing else wanting to spend any time in the complete mess that the southeasterly wind had left behind... it was all just another story adding emphasis to this absolutely horrible season we're having.
Even the current was raging so hard downhill - at about 4.5 knots - at the Wave Recorder that it was being held completely underwater, so it was easy to see why both the bait and the marlin had deserted the top of the shelf!
That might have been bearable if there'd been a marlin or two around, but after finding the WBG baitless, no little black marlin in any of the usual spots, and nothing around the FAD or Wave Recorder or in marlin alley, even a Hail Mary run along the deep edge of the shelf failed to produce any sign of blues despite the best cobalt coloured 27.5C water you could hope to find.
But it was all empty... no birds working anywhere except around the FAD and WR, absolutely not a flying fish or any sign of life in the blue water out wide, and nothing else wanting to spend any time in the complete mess that the southeasterly wind had left behind... it was all just another story adding emphasis to this absolutely horrible season we're having.
Even the current was raging so hard downhill - at about 4.5 knots - at the Wave Recorder that it was being held completely underwater, so it was easy to see why both the bait and the marlin had deserted the top of the shelf!
Thursday, 19th January
Yesterday was a disappointment - with various forecasters shooting for a strong northerly, and even the BOM predicting northerlies gusting to 30 knots, everyone stayed in the marina. In reality, the weather went the opposite way, with a light nor'easter most of the day, a couple of hours of stronger (but still fishable) sea breeze in the afternoon, and an all-round glamour day on the Coffs Coast... probably the best day for game fishing for weeks! And of course with temperatures onshore ranging from 33C to 43C along the Coffs Coast and hinterland, most game fishermen would have preferred to be out in those near perfect conditions chasing marlin.
And so to some deja vu news... once again, the Advocate newspaper has decided to go back to publishing a regular game fishing column.
The on-again, off-again fishing page in the sports section of our local newspaper has recently been given a boost by editor Matt Deans, who has started up a Fish-of-the-Week section, found a couple of good sponsors, and decided to reinstate a regular game fishing column. So for a while at least, From the Flybridge will once again appear regularly in the sports pages.
In the past, the column was very popular, but it's popularity was a function of getting timely news and photos from game fishermen on the Coffs Coast so they could be published every Saturday. So if you're a game fisherman in this part of the world, and if you want to see your successes form part of the story of game fishing here for everybody to read about, you've got to get a photo or two and a short blurb to me while it's still timely.
Remember, old news is just that, and the paper wants to publish stories from the week just over, so as soon as something happens on your boat, get a photo of it and a couple of sentences about it in to me.
Remember that the deadline for publication is Thursday morning 10:00am. I don't publish photos of marlin out of the water, and any photo needs to be at least 500kb, ideally with both the angler's face and the marlin in it. Photos of other game fish in the boat are fine, so a couple of blokes with a beautiful fresh mahimahi or wahoo in board make great reading, but please hose them down to get the blood off them first.
Everybody with a game fishing story and a photo stands a chance of getting it published, and now that the Bright Eyes sponsors have come on board, a good game fish can even win an angler a pair of sunglasses if it's chosen as the Fish of the Week.
Remember that I won't chase you for news, so if you have a good story and a photo to go with it, get it to me at either by email to [email protected], or by text to 0403923892.
And so to some deja vu news... once again, the Advocate newspaper has decided to go back to publishing a regular game fishing column.
The on-again, off-again fishing page in the sports section of our local newspaper has recently been given a boost by editor Matt Deans, who has started up a Fish-of-the-Week section, found a couple of good sponsors, and decided to reinstate a regular game fishing column. So for a while at least, From the Flybridge will once again appear regularly in the sports pages.
In the past, the column was very popular, but it's popularity was a function of getting timely news and photos from game fishermen on the Coffs Coast so they could be published every Saturday. So if you're a game fisherman in this part of the world, and if you want to see your successes form part of the story of game fishing here for everybody to read about, you've got to get a photo or two and a short blurb to me while it's still timely.
Remember, old news is just that, and the paper wants to publish stories from the week just over, so as soon as something happens on your boat, get a photo of it and a couple of sentences about it in to me.
Remember that the deadline for publication is Thursday morning 10:00am. I don't publish photos of marlin out of the water, and any photo needs to be at least 500kb, ideally with both the angler's face and the marlin in it. Photos of other game fish in the boat are fine, so a couple of blokes with a beautiful fresh mahimahi or wahoo in board make great reading, but please hose them down to get the blood off them first.
Everybody with a game fishing story and a photo stands a chance of getting it published, and now that the Bright Eyes sponsors have come on board, a good game fish can even win an angler a pair of sunglasses if it's chosen as the Fish of the Week.
Remember that I won't chase you for news, so if you have a good story and a photo to go with it, get it to me at either by email to [email protected], or by text to 0403923892.
Tuesday, 17th January
Last night's SST satellite shots of the east coast show a 28.7C pulse of warm (hot...??) water moving south off Moreton Island. This may have been the source of the red hot black marlin bite off the Sunshine Coast over the weekend, so it will be interesting to see what happens off the Gold Coast over the next few days as it moves through. That pulse should still be around 28C by the time it gets down here.
Meanwhile, instead of making the usual mess of the current by disrupting the EAC, there's a large downwelling eddy well out to sea off SWR that's doing us a favour for once. This eddy is bringing cooler Tasman Sea water up from down south, swinging it around 180 degrees off Coffs, and adding it to the eastern side of the EAC. This probably means some pretty hot striped marlin and YFT action on the far side of the EAC, but the merger zone looks to be about 45 nautical miles east of Coffs, so while it may see a lot of longliner action, the eastern edge of the current is too far away for the average game boat to investigate.
Off the Coffs Coast, there's a steady stream of 27.5C water flowing smoothly along the deep edge of the continental shelf, and you know it's got to be full of blue marlin. Of course, the forecasts aren't promising any glamour days out on the edge of the shelf for the next week, so it looks like a case of having to dodge the 20+ knot winds and maybe find a quiet morning or afternoon to sneak out between blasts.
Billfishman will be in Coffs for a week with nothing to do but chase marlin, so Foreign Exchange will certainly be out there if the weather settles enough.
Meanwhile, instead of making the usual mess of the current by disrupting the EAC, there's a large downwelling eddy well out to sea off SWR that's doing us a favour for once. This eddy is bringing cooler Tasman Sea water up from down south, swinging it around 180 degrees off Coffs, and adding it to the eastern side of the EAC. This probably means some pretty hot striped marlin and YFT action on the far side of the EAC, but the merger zone looks to be about 45 nautical miles east of Coffs, so while it may see a lot of longliner action, the eastern edge of the current is too far away for the average game boat to investigate.
Off the Coffs Coast, there's a steady stream of 27.5C water flowing smoothly along the deep edge of the continental shelf, and you know it's got to be full of blue marlin. Of course, the forecasts aren't promising any glamour days out on the edge of the shelf for the next week, so it looks like a case of having to dodge the 20+ knot winds and maybe find a quiet morning or afternoon to sneak out between blasts.
Billfishman will be in Coffs for a week with nothing to do but chase marlin, so Foreign Exchange will certainly be out there if the weather settles enough.
Monday, 16th January
Another day that clearly demonstrates just how the wide disagreement between weather services can be on this coast. So far today, SeaBreeze, WillyWeather and Windguru have been predicting winds of less than 10 knots, and specifically, at 1000, forecasting a wind of 3-9 knots for Coffs and Coffs Offshore respectively. In fact, the wind at 1000 was actually blowing at 15g20, and who was the only agency to get it right from last night...? Yep the much-maligned BOM, who forecast a south to southwest wind at 15-20 knots all morning.
So much for planning a game fishing trip today based on the forecast from the majority of services. The only upside is that this southerly will likely stop the Ekman rollover mentioned in yesterday's notes, and this will improve the chances of good water and a hot bite when the next calm day comes along... whenever the hell that's going to be.
The fish simply have to be out there, and with the weekend results from the Sunshine Coast showing boats have been raising a dozen black marlin a day, with multiple blues in the action on the Gold Coast, it's not unreasonable to expect the same sort of fishing here.
One of the biggest nuisances out there at this time of year as most local game fishermen will know is the habit of the warm water razor gang (wahoo) to guillotine off your favourite $100 lures when you're out trolling for blues and striped marlin on the edge of the shelf. The wahoo are fantastic to fight on light tackle, and certainly a great table fish, but when you lose more lures to aggressive wahoo strikes than it's worth in wahoo dinners, then you need to be rethinking your rigging strategy. To that end, there was an excellent article published on the IGFA's website from game fishing skipper "Frothy" de Silva that provides one solution. This bloke has lots of experience with the razor gang it seems, and has come up with something that doesn't use expensive components and serves the dual purpose of saving lures that might otherwise be cut off by wahoo, while at the same time delivering a nice stiff single hook setup like that favoured by many blue marlin anglers. His design for a wire reinforced stiff single hook rig for marlin lures is dead easy to make, and is going to save a lot of lures if there are a lot of wahoo around. I tried making one the other day, and it was cheap, simple, and looks to be a perfect stiff hook rigging system.
You can find it at http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/e1bebb79#/e1bebb79/44.
So much for planning a game fishing trip today based on the forecast from the majority of services. The only upside is that this southerly will likely stop the Ekman rollover mentioned in yesterday's notes, and this will improve the chances of good water and a hot bite when the next calm day comes along... whenever the hell that's going to be.
The fish simply have to be out there, and with the weekend results from the Sunshine Coast showing boats have been raising a dozen black marlin a day, with multiple blues in the action on the Gold Coast, it's not unreasonable to expect the same sort of fishing here.
One of the biggest nuisances out there at this time of year as most local game fishermen will know is the habit of the warm water razor gang (wahoo) to guillotine off your favourite $100 lures when you're out trolling for blues and striped marlin on the edge of the shelf. The wahoo are fantastic to fight on light tackle, and certainly a great table fish, but when you lose more lures to aggressive wahoo strikes than it's worth in wahoo dinners, then you need to be rethinking your rigging strategy. To that end, there was an excellent article published on the IGFA's website from game fishing skipper "Frothy" de Silva that provides one solution. This bloke has lots of experience with the razor gang it seems, and has come up with something that doesn't use expensive components and serves the dual purpose of saving lures that might otherwise be cut off by wahoo, while at the same time delivering a nice stiff single hook setup like that favoured by many blue marlin anglers. His design for a wire reinforced stiff single hook rig for marlin lures is dead easy to make, and is going to save a lot of lures if there are a lot of wahoo around. I tried making one the other day, and it was cheap, simple, and looks to be a perfect stiff hook rigging system.
You can find it at http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/e1bebb79#/e1bebb79/44.
Sunday, 15th January
It doesn't get much better on the edge of the shelf than this. The screen shot from FishTrack has the current flowing straight and steady right along the bottom edge of the continental shelf off Coffs, and the water temperature is 27.5C. This morning's severe lightning has made getting in a boat and going out to sea a bit on the hazardous side, so there probably won't be many game boats inclined to venture out underneath these big storm cells with two large lightning rods mounted on the boat.
The other noteworthy element in the SST screen shot on the left is the worrying temperature drop on the top of the shelf between Red Rock and SWR. We've seen this before after several days of strong northerlies, and it looks like the start of some Ekman rollover of the water inshore on the top of the shelf. Anyone who went for a surf (as I did) yesterday afternoon to get some relief from the 37C heat would have been very surprised at how cool the water along the coast here has become in the past 24 hours. Hopefully, today's strong southerly will halt this process before we get any more cold green bottom water displacing the blue warmer stuff holding all the juvenile blacks that have just arrived.
Monday's forecast is extremely encouraging, and with the heightened prospect of black marlin in close, striped marlin on the top of the shelf, and blues along the bottom, it could be one of those rare weeks where the possibility of a grand slam is extremely high.
Any boat that can take advantage of the rare weather windows we're getting at the moment, should have a cracker of a day.
Only one way to find out of course...
The other noteworthy element in the SST screen shot on the left is the worrying temperature drop on the top of the shelf between Red Rock and SWR. We've seen this before after several days of strong northerlies, and it looks like the start of some Ekman rollover of the water inshore on the top of the shelf. Anyone who went for a surf (as I did) yesterday afternoon to get some relief from the 37C heat would have been very surprised at how cool the water along the coast here has become in the past 24 hours. Hopefully, today's strong southerly will halt this process before we get any more cold green bottom water displacing the blue warmer stuff holding all the juvenile blacks that have just arrived.
Monday's forecast is extremely encouraging, and with the heightened prospect of black marlin in close, striped marlin on the top of the shelf, and blues along the bottom, it could be one of those rare weeks where the possibility of a grand slam is extremely high.
Any boat that can take advantage of the rare weather windows we're getting at the moment, should have a cracker of a day.
Only one way to find out of course...
Saturday, 14th January
The marlin are leaping in the boats up on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, the same water that's up there is running down the edge of the shelf here, and there's plenty of bait out there... BUT... it's the weekend, the only time most crew members of game boats have free, and bingo, there's yet another nasty northerly blowing, and it's more or less unfishable beyond the 10fa line unless you like to get pounded around instead of having fun on the water.
When the hell will this end...??!!
When the hell will this end...??!!
Friday, 13th January
What can I say... if you're out there on the rare days when this unreliable weather permits a chance to go game fishing - even for just a half day - you're going to find fish at this time of year. This beautifully lit up 80kg striped marlin was tagged this morning in 25C water on the top of the continental shelf off Coffs Harbour by Rob Lang's unstoppable boat Black N Blue.
Obviously, despite having pretty warm 27C water coming down the edge of the shelf with the EAC at the moment, if there's enough bait around to attract marlin, the stripes, which normally prefer cooler water, aren't going to give a damn about water temperature, as long as they can feed!
Who said that Friday the 13th was unlucky...??!!
Actually, this fish is a classic example of how to still productively fish these absolutely lousy weather patterns while the days are long enough to plan a strategic half day of game fishing. Today started off dead calm, but by early afternoon was blowing a steady 20g28 knots and was horrible. However, if you got up early, hit the marlin grounds at sunrise and fished hard for a few hours... bingo! You fish the calmer conditions until midday, travel back with the wind and sea behind you when it turns nasty, and you're having lunch and a beer back at the marina with a marlin tag flag on the outrigger pole by the time it looks like the inside of a washing machine out there. Way to go...
Obviously, despite having pretty warm 27C water coming down the edge of the shelf with the EAC at the moment, if there's enough bait around to attract marlin, the stripes, which normally prefer cooler water, aren't going to give a damn about water temperature, as long as they can feed!
Who said that Friday the 13th was unlucky...??!!
Actually, this fish is a classic example of how to still productively fish these absolutely lousy weather patterns while the days are long enough to plan a strategic half day of game fishing. Today started off dead calm, but by early afternoon was blowing a steady 20g28 knots and was horrible. However, if you got up early, hit the marlin grounds at sunrise and fished hard for a few hours... bingo! You fish the calmer conditions until midday, travel back with the wind and sea behind you when it turns nasty, and you're having lunch and a beer back at the marina with a marlin tag flag on the outrigger pole by the time it looks like the inside of a washing machine out there. Way to go...
Wednesday, 11th January
After months of waiting, the EAC is finally behaving itself and doing what game fishermen on the NSW north coast want - gunbarrel straight down the edge of the continental shelf, 26+ C, and almost certainly full of blue and black marlin riding it down to pay us a visit.
Of course, the weather's another thing - still blasting northerlies, or disruptive southerlies, with maybe only one "normal" fishable day in 10... and neither day this weekend coming looks like being the one.
Of course, the weather's another thing - still blasting northerlies, or disruptive southerlies, with maybe only one "normal" fishable day in 10... and neither day this weekend coming looks like being the one.
Monday, 9th January
A mixed forecast for the week ahead as far as wind goes, but with 26-27C water flowing right down the edge of the continental shelf off Coffs, and the EAC behaving itself in an exemplary fashion for a change, anyone who gets out there when the wind's calm enough, is probably going to do well.
Friday looks pretty good, and Saturday is shaping up OK for the SIGFC's first competition day for January.
With little blacks around on the shallow side, and blue marlin running in the deeper water, crews who get it right should be well rewarded.
Friday looks pretty good, and Saturday is shaping up OK for the SIGFC's first competition day for January.
With little blacks around on the shallow side, and blue marlin running in the deeper water, crews who get it right should be well rewarded.
Friday, 5th January
So the way luck goes, yesterday was rubbish, but today was a very different story... Black N Blue went out to a different ocean, which while it was still pretty messy, had a lot of marlin in it - and juvenile black marlin at that!
Despite having had a lousy little black season off Townsville, and that being the accepted indicator for our black marlin season down here, the Black N Blue boys were 8/8/2 on little blacks by late-afternoon fishing close along Marlin Alley using 10kg rigs. Skipper Rob Lang was on the phone telling me how things were going when he had to put down the phone to deal with another one that hooked up after we started talking - that's pretty hot marlin fishing whichever way you look at it.
It also gives us a lot of encouragement to see such a hot bite when everything else was so dead recently. But with good bait everywhere and a calmer day, maybe we shouldn't be so surprised. The photo above is of the second black marlin they tagged today - a nice 50kg model.
Well done team BnB...!
Despite having had a lousy little black season off Townsville, and that being the accepted indicator for our black marlin season down here, the Black N Blue boys were 8/8/2 on little blacks by late-afternoon fishing close along Marlin Alley using 10kg rigs. Skipper Rob Lang was on the phone telling me how things were going when he had to put down the phone to deal with another one that hooked up after we started talking - that's pretty hot marlin fishing whichever way you look at it.
It also gives us a lot of encouragement to see such a hot bite when everything else was so dead recently. But with good bait everywhere and a calmer day, maybe we shouldn't be so surprised. The photo above is of the second black marlin they tagged today - a nice 50kg model.
Well done team BnB...!
Thursday, 5th January
Foreign Exchange and She's a Dream got sucked in by yet another bogus weather forecast that had Thursday on the books as a fishable weather day... WRONG!
We went out in absolutely foul conditions with strong rain and winds that blew about double what was forecast, and a southeast/northeasy joggle that had us in the worst slop we've experienced for a long time. Lots of waves from different directions all meeting in the middle and going straight up - charming.
Anyway, the water was excellent notwithstanding - good colour, and 25.5C - and on the middle of the shelf edge in 100-150fa, there were hundreds of dolhpins and thousands of birds all smashing into large areas of bait.
She's a Dream had one mystery enquiry, and then hooked up a small blue that didn't stay connected for long, after which the conditions drove them home with some chronic seasickness among the crew.
Foreign Exchange soldiered on in the rubbish conditions hoping for some reprieve when the 2-oclock bite and a high tide coincided, but despite marking what were pretty obviously a couple of good marlin all crusing in 40 fathoms around some of the bait aggregations, the fish wouldn't come up to the surface in the lousy surface conditions, and I sure couldn't blame them!
We eventually went home just as the weather finally calmed down, and ended up arriving back at the marina in pretty nice conditions... to find that one of the lures on the long corner had a severely scuffed up leader... a hit that we'd never seen or felt in the rough white water at the back of the boat with lures flying around and slop throwing water in the air everywhere.
It all goes to show how desperate local angers are getting to try to find a start to the festivities that weather has been putting off all summer. When they're catching 270kg blue marlin off Bermagui, the big marlin should be off Coffs in serious numbers, but it seems that once again, our horrible spring/summer weather conditions are driving the blues south despite great water and plenty of bait here...
We went out in absolutely foul conditions with strong rain and winds that blew about double what was forecast, and a southeast/northeasy joggle that had us in the worst slop we've experienced for a long time. Lots of waves from different directions all meeting in the middle and going straight up - charming.
Anyway, the water was excellent notwithstanding - good colour, and 25.5C - and on the middle of the shelf edge in 100-150fa, there were hundreds of dolhpins and thousands of birds all smashing into large areas of bait.
She's a Dream had one mystery enquiry, and then hooked up a small blue that didn't stay connected for long, after which the conditions drove them home with some chronic seasickness among the crew.
Foreign Exchange soldiered on in the rubbish conditions hoping for some reprieve when the 2-oclock bite and a high tide coincided, but despite marking what were pretty obviously a couple of good marlin all crusing in 40 fathoms around some of the bait aggregations, the fish wouldn't come up to the surface in the lousy surface conditions, and I sure couldn't blame them!
We eventually went home just as the weather finally calmed down, and ended up arriving back at the marina in pretty nice conditions... to find that one of the lures on the long corner had a severely scuffed up leader... a hit that we'd never seen or felt in the rough white water at the back of the boat with lures flying around and slop throwing water in the air everywhere.
It all goes to show how desperate local angers are getting to try to find a start to the festivities that weather has been putting off all summer. When they're catching 270kg blue marlin off Bermagui, the big marlin should be off Coffs in serious numbers, but it seems that once again, our horrible spring/summer weather conditions are driving the blues south despite great water and plenty of bait here...
Saturday, 31st December
A glamour day out on the shelf as it turned out, but with the forecast showing a nasty northerly on most websites, and the BOM looking at 25 knots all day, I guess most skippers and crew put other NYE plans into action and skipped what turned out to be a very good looking day on the water.
It can only be hoped that the forecasters can find a way to do better for the Coffs Coast in 2017, or we're going to miss a lot of good days, and/or get suckered into heading out on days with great forecasts only to get beaten up for our trouble.
How many local anglers noticed that the Advocate newspaper has re-started the "Fish of the Week" page in the paper's sports section after an absence of about 5 years? Get your photos of the big fish in there to compete with the worm drowners and their carp. In fairness, there are a few prizes being offered by sponsors this time around, and while we'd all agree that a big marlin or a 25kg wahoo should win every time one gets into the comp, I'm sure that the judges will also reward kids with a nice whiting caught on that rig that Dad gave them for Christmas in equal measure.
Happy New Year and tight lines in 2017 beyond the shelf edge to all big game anglers...!
And much more of this...
It can only be hoped that the forecasters can find a way to do better for the Coffs Coast in 2017, or we're going to miss a lot of good days, and/or get suckered into heading out on days with great forecasts only to get beaten up for our trouble.
How many local anglers noticed that the Advocate newspaper has re-started the "Fish of the Week" page in the paper's sports section after an absence of about 5 years? Get your photos of the big fish in there to compete with the worm drowners and their carp. In fairness, there are a few prizes being offered by sponsors this time around, and while we'd all agree that a big marlin or a 25kg wahoo should win every time one gets into the comp, I'm sure that the judges will also reward kids with a nice whiting caught on that rig that Dad gave them for Christmas in equal measure.
Happy New Year and tight lines in 2017 beyond the shelf edge to all big game anglers...!
And much more of this...
Thursday, 29th December
The wind prediction for the next week from Windguru in the screen shot below is pretty sad - particularly for those workers who took time off between Christmas and New Year so they could pack in as much marlin fishing as possible. After a couple of weeks of strong winds that have made it very difficult to get even one day each week mild enough to get a chance to chase marlin on the edge of the continental shelf, the weather suddenly shows signs of going calm and being perfect for offshore big game angling right when people are going back to work...
... Or if you wanted to get really depressed, you could just sit and stare at the screen shot from this afternoon's SeaBreeze contribution below for the week ahead, which confirms the worst without showing us that the world won't actually end ...
Tuesday, 27th December
Not much of a weather picture for the next week... it can only get better. If these winds will only back off a bit, we might be able to get out there to give the blues another nudge, or at least to find out if the little blacks have arrived in any numbers. One of our crew had a mate snapper fishing the other day off Coffs, and he had his snapper bait taken by a little black marlin as occasionally happens at this time of year, so there must be a few here already.
My thoughtful wife gave me a great book for Christmas titled "The Greatest Fishing Stories Ever Told".... It has 28 short fishing stories from a diverse group of anglers, including Ernest Hemingway, who in the story in the book uncharacteristically talks about trout fishing rather than game fishing. However, there is a wonderful piece from A.J.McClane who writes about the Song of the Angler, and the "music" that game fishermen listen to out at sea... the best passage goes like this...
"... At least one note assails the ears, the snap of the band pulled from the Outrigger. Now the water explodes in a crescendo of hot engines roaring into life before you lean into a quarter ton of shoulder-rocking fury. And in that ageless walking leap which follows no path in the ocean the angler hears the most exciting sound of all - the wailing of a reel as stark and as lonely as a Basin Street clarinet."
Not much else gets the hackles on your neck up quite like that sound.
Meanwhile, the fishing reports indicate that it's a prety mixed bag out there at the moment, with rubbish water and no current up off Ballina, but the EAC behaving like a jetstream running 4 plus knots along the shelf off Coffs.
No fish off Ballina, and not much going on here - but local gun boat Black N Blue found the marlin from hell out on the edge of the shelf off Coffs today in good blue water with plenty of bait and flying fish around.
Skipper Rob Lang's story makes interesting reading... They passed over a really big return on the sounder in about 130 fathoms midway down the shelf edge, and while he watched in real time on the sounder, this fish came charging up from 40 fathoms and smashed the corner, put on a big display, never hooked up, charged away, and then came back soon after, getting totally airborne with another lure in its mouth but still not hooking up. The marlin (a 350kg plus blue by all accounts...big fish!!) then made another pass, grabbed one more lure, charged around, and then came at the boat like a torpedo... Rob had the loud levers on the firewall, and the fish got to within about 20 metres next to the short corner still charging the boat but with a 200 metre belly in the line! This had gone on for 5 minutes with some doubt about whether the fish had really hooked up solid when it was all too much for the 37kg line which parted. It had you short of breath just listening to the story!
Nobody else saw a marlin, and that was all that they saw on BnB... but what a hell of a story! Rob said it was a brute of a fish, one of the biggest he's ever seen in the waters off Coffs.
My thoughtful wife gave me a great book for Christmas titled "The Greatest Fishing Stories Ever Told".... It has 28 short fishing stories from a diverse group of anglers, including Ernest Hemingway, who in the story in the book uncharacteristically talks about trout fishing rather than game fishing. However, there is a wonderful piece from A.J.McClane who writes about the Song of the Angler, and the "music" that game fishermen listen to out at sea... the best passage goes like this...
"... At least one note assails the ears, the snap of the band pulled from the Outrigger. Now the water explodes in a crescendo of hot engines roaring into life before you lean into a quarter ton of shoulder-rocking fury. And in that ageless walking leap which follows no path in the ocean the angler hears the most exciting sound of all - the wailing of a reel as stark and as lonely as a Basin Street clarinet."
Not much else gets the hackles on your neck up quite like that sound.
Meanwhile, the fishing reports indicate that it's a prety mixed bag out there at the moment, with rubbish water and no current up off Ballina, but the EAC behaving like a jetstream running 4 plus knots along the shelf off Coffs.
No fish off Ballina, and not much going on here - but local gun boat Black N Blue found the marlin from hell out on the edge of the shelf off Coffs today in good blue water with plenty of bait and flying fish around.
Skipper Rob Lang's story makes interesting reading... They passed over a really big return on the sounder in about 130 fathoms midway down the shelf edge, and while he watched in real time on the sounder, this fish came charging up from 40 fathoms and smashed the corner, put on a big display, never hooked up, charged away, and then came back soon after, getting totally airborne with another lure in its mouth but still not hooking up. The marlin (a 350kg plus blue by all accounts...big fish!!) then made another pass, grabbed one more lure, charged around, and then came at the boat like a torpedo... Rob had the loud levers on the firewall, and the fish got to within about 20 metres next to the short corner still charging the boat but with a 200 metre belly in the line! This had gone on for 5 minutes with some doubt about whether the fish had really hooked up solid when it was all too much for the 37kg line which parted. It had you short of breath just listening to the story!
Nobody else saw a marlin, and that was all that they saw on BnB... but what a hell of a story! Rob said it was a brute of a fish, one of the biggest he's ever seen in the waters off Coffs.
Christmas Eve, 2016
Well... the SIGFC's season finally got underway during Saturday's club competition day. Not much of a quorum with only 4 boats, but it was Christmas Eve after all, so four keen teams was probably pretty good.
The day before was the pick of the week, but there were only a couple of random hits from marlin that didn't hook up on Friday, although there were some big mahimahi out there, which was a fairly positive sign.
Saturday dawned calm enough, but the forecast was deceptively good, and unremarkably, the predicted 15-knot maximum seabreeze turned out to be on steroids, blowing up to 25g28 knots and beating the tar out of anyone who stuck it out. It turned out to be a good day for marlin compared to the preceding few months of the season though, with good blue water, sea surface temps of 25-26C, plenty of bait and bird action, and mahimahi all over the edge of the shelf.
Better than Vegas went out very wide early, looking for that streak of blue through the spread, but instead only found cooler water with a nasty green tinge to it. As it turned out, the action was all on the edge of the shelf around the 100 fathom mark, where the better water turned out to be holding marlin, and where we'd had an enquiry the previous afternoon.
After boating a couple of 10kg mahimahi, Alcatraz hooked up to a nice blue that played hard to get for 90 minutes and eventually got out of jail on the leader when a swivel parted, causing skipper James to rethink his strategy about wind-ons, and erstwhile deckie "Red" Szabo to go nuclear.
Foreign Exchange braved a hard slog home into the big seabreeze by running down to the Sawtell Canyons, where we found a 120kg blue marlin that crash tackled the Jennings Lures flying fish imitation on the shotgun and hooked up hard. New gamefisherman Sam French got the workout of his angling career, but with the ever reliable Paul "Billfishman" Brodrick on deck with him, there wasn't really much doubt, and they had the blue done and dusted in 25 minutes. The video clip above was just for a bit of fun... you've got to make a big deal out of the first marlin you've seen for months!
It's been a long time between drinks on our boat, with our last marlin caught late last summer... so this breaks the longest drought I've seen, and gets the monkey off our back after the slowest start to a game fishing season most people can remember. It can only get better from here...
The day before was the pick of the week, but there were only a couple of random hits from marlin that didn't hook up on Friday, although there were some big mahimahi out there, which was a fairly positive sign.
Saturday dawned calm enough, but the forecast was deceptively good, and unremarkably, the predicted 15-knot maximum seabreeze turned out to be on steroids, blowing up to 25g28 knots and beating the tar out of anyone who stuck it out. It turned out to be a good day for marlin compared to the preceding few months of the season though, with good blue water, sea surface temps of 25-26C, plenty of bait and bird action, and mahimahi all over the edge of the shelf.
Better than Vegas went out very wide early, looking for that streak of blue through the spread, but instead only found cooler water with a nasty green tinge to it. As it turned out, the action was all on the edge of the shelf around the 100 fathom mark, where the better water turned out to be holding marlin, and where we'd had an enquiry the previous afternoon.
After boating a couple of 10kg mahimahi, Alcatraz hooked up to a nice blue that played hard to get for 90 minutes and eventually got out of jail on the leader when a swivel parted, causing skipper James to rethink his strategy about wind-ons, and erstwhile deckie "Red" Szabo to go nuclear.
Foreign Exchange braved a hard slog home into the big seabreeze by running down to the Sawtell Canyons, where we found a 120kg blue marlin that crash tackled the Jennings Lures flying fish imitation on the shotgun and hooked up hard. New gamefisherman Sam French got the workout of his angling career, but with the ever reliable Paul "Billfishman" Brodrick on deck with him, there wasn't really much doubt, and they had the blue done and dusted in 25 minutes. The video clip above was just for a bit of fun... you've got to make a big deal out of the first marlin you've seen for months!
It's been a long time between drinks on our boat, with our last marlin caught late last summer... so this breaks the longest drought I've seen, and gets the monkey off our back after the slowest start to a game fishing season most people can remember. It can only get better from here...
Wednesday, 21st December
The conditions for the next few days look better than we've seen recently (dare I say that...?), with today, Friday and Saturday all having OK forecasts so far.
The tides aren't the best you could hope for, and the East Australian Current is barely there, but at least the water temps are good, with 27C water off the Gold Coast, and 26C water out the front of Coffs Harbour.
The Ballina crowd don't have any good reports to boost marale though... Marc Sams gave it a shot there yesterday, but only found greenish water, 24C and no current. This was packaged up with no bait or bird activity, and no sign of marlin all day. It seems there's a bit of a cool pool up south of the border, and he managed to find it. This isn't the sort of news to blow your skirt up down here in Coffs, but with just a bit of luck, the light southeast wind for the next day or two might just bring a slight some improvement in conditions by the weekend.
Only one way to find out...
The tides aren't the best you could hope for, and the East Australian Current is barely there, but at least the water temps are good, with 27C water off the Gold Coast, and 26C water out the front of Coffs Harbour.
The Ballina crowd don't have any good reports to boost marale though... Marc Sams gave it a shot there yesterday, but only found greenish water, 24C and no current. This was packaged up with no bait or bird activity, and no sign of marlin all day. It seems there's a bit of a cool pool up south of the border, and he managed to find it. This isn't the sort of news to blow your skirt up down here in Coffs, but with just a bit of luck, the light southeast wind for the next day or two might just bring a slight some improvement in conditions by the weekend.
Only one way to find out...
Saturday, 17th December
It's been getting increasingly hard sitting here trying to keep a positive edge on things by talking about all the reasons why it's all going to break loose next week for months on end. It's always "next week, as soon as the latest negative influence on the game fishing bite goes away". Yet it seems that the same old negatives just keep queueing up...
So here we are again - mid December, no bite to speak of, a glorious Saturday on the beach, but with lousy water offshore, and a strong northerly gusting over 30 knots making it pretty much unfishable while it threatens to turn over the water out there for the umpteenth time this season.
The screen shot from this morning's FishTrack SST plot tells half the story, with good current flow at 25-26C moving steadily down the S.E. Queensland coast, but starting to weaken and eventually allowing 90% of the flow to be stalled, broken up, and diverted away from the coast once it passes the border. The whitecaps off the beach tell the other half.
Next week looks like more of the same, with alternating northerlies and southerlies from now through to late in the week, and what had originally looked like a good Christmas week with light winds slowly giving way in the predictions to more marginal or unfishable forecasts. Maybe Christmas Eve and even the day before will be fishable, but it would be understandable if nobody bothered after so many disappointments.
That said, it would still be good just to get out there on a gorgeous summer day after an early run out from the harbour to the edge of the shelf, blow the carbon buildup off the cylinders, flush the breakwall construction grime and dust off the decks, and get the spread set again...
Maybe next week after all.
Days with weather like the one shown below are becoming an increasingly distant memory...
So here we are again - mid December, no bite to speak of, a glorious Saturday on the beach, but with lousy water offshore, and a strong northerly gusting over 30 knots making it pretty much unfishable while it threatens to turn over the water out there for the umpteenth time this season.
The screen shot from this morning's FishTrack SST plot tells half the story, with good current flow at 25-26C moving steadily down the S.E. Queensland coast, but starting to weaken and eventually allowing 90% of the flow to be stalled, broken up, and diverted away from the coast once it passes the border. The whitecaps off the beach tell the other half.
Next week looks like more of the same, with alternating northerlies and southerlies from now through to late in the week, and what had originally looked like a good Christmas week with light winds slowly giving way in the predictions to more marginal or unfishable forecasts. Maybe Christmas Eve and even the day before will be fishable, but it would be understandable if nobody bothered after so many disappointments.
That said, it would still be good just to get out there on a gorgeous summer day after an early run out from the harbour to the edge of the shelf, blow the carbon buildup off the cylinders, flush the breakwall construction grime and dust off the decks, and get the spread set again...
Maybe next week after all.
Days with weather like the one shown below are becoming an increasingly distant memory...
Monday, 12th December
Without normal current flow, the few small warmer, cleaner patches of water drifting past are going to have a blue marlin or two in them if the last few days of results are any relfection of what's apparently starting to happen. We've seen this here before, but usually with a better flow pattern and more frequent warm pulses. That said, if you can time it right, then there should be a couple of days when the right sort of water goes past with a blue or three in it... but you have to be out there to find 'em, or wait until the next push through.
Not being one to enjoy being skunked as they were yesterday, the Black N Blue fishing machine was out there in the same piece of water again this morning, and tagged a 130kg blue marlin... nice work guys.
It's probably not a stretch to note that if the blues are going to this much trouble to ride down here on the merest thread of current with a lot of second rate water in it, there should be a pretty exciting bite if/when the current really sorts itself out and we have proper flow down the shelf. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we see a typical summer pattern of a big warm water pulse full of blues passing through every few days. Just watch for that current...
Not being one to enjoy being skunked as they were yesterday, the Black N Blue fishing machine was out there in the same piece of water again this morning, and tagged a 130kg blue marlin... nice work guys.
It's probably not a stretch to note that if the blues are going to this much trouble to ride down here on the merest thread of current with a lot of second rate water in it, there should be a pretty exciting bite if/when the current really sorts itself out and we have proper flow down the shelf. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we see a typical summer pattern of a big warm water pulse full of blues passing through every few days. Just watch for that current...
Saturday/Sunday, 10th and 11th December
A mixed weekend if ever I've heard of one...
Firstly, a very disappointing turnout for the SIGFC's Saturday competition day - just four boats, only two of which went out there specifically to go seriously game fishing, and both of those had unique disasters that spelled an early end to their game fishing, so it was a very inconclusive day.
The rest were bottom bashing - more power to them mind you - but it wasn't the collection of keen game fishing anglers you'd normally expect to see sign on for a competition day in December, and you've got to ask yourself what happened to all the big game enthusiasts who used to rock up on competition days no matter how tough the going...?
Alcatraz had a lucky escape from from a potential engine disaster when they had an engine alarm go off leaving the harbour - engine cooling sea cock left closed after a servicing. A terrible slipup from a professional with an otherwise good rep who made an error that an apprentice wouldn't make... But fortunately, skipper James McGinty shut it down immediately, and the only damage was to the impeller which was duly replaced... but when they got back out to sea it was too late to get serious and go out to the edge of the shelf and look for marlin.
Foreign Exchange headed straight up to The Hole where Better than Vegas had seen a marlin a couple of days prior, and the water and conditions up there looked promising - there was a nice pool of blue water at 24.5C, and the nasty foggle that made the trip out less than fun had backed off.
But as soon as we got there, one of our crew literally started seeing spots in front of his eyes, and so the gear came out of the water, and after a fast trip back to Coffs from 30 South, he was whisked down to Sydney Eye Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for a detached retina... talk about lousy timing... got to love the health system though, they had him sorted and in Sydney just a couple of hours after we hit the marina.
Better news on Sunday, when a couple of local boats went straight out the front and raised a couple of blues. The fish didn't end up tagged, because one of them simply threw the hook, and the other struck and immediately ran across a couple of other lines and got cut off, but the fact that blues were hooked up is more than a little encouraging... maybe this is what the fence sitters have been waiting for.
Firstly, a very disappointing turnout for the SIGFC's Saturday competition day - just four boats, only two of which went out there specifically to go seriously game fishing, and both of those had unique disasters that spelled an early end to their game fishing, so it was a very inconclusive day.
The rest were bottom bashing - more power to them mind you - but it wasn't the collection of keen game fishing anglers you'd normally expect to see sign on for a competition day in December, and you've got to ask yourself what happened to all the big game enthusiasts who used to rock up on competition days no matter how tough the going...?
Alcatraz had a lucky escape from from a potential engine disaster when they had an engine alarm go off leaving the harbour - engine cooling sea cock left closed after a servicing. A terrible slipup from a professional with an otherwise good rep who made an error that an apprentice wouldn't make... But fortunately, skipper James McGinty shut it down immediately, and the only damage was to the impeller which was duly replaced... but when they got back out to sea it was too late to get serious and go out to the edge of the shelf and look for marlin.
Foreign Exchange headed straight up to The Hole where Better than Vegas had seen a marlin a couple of days prior, and the water and conditions up there looked promising - there was a nice pool of blue water at 24.5C, and the nasty foggle that made the trip out less than fun had backed off.
But as soon as we got there, one of our crew literally started seeing spots in front of his eyes, and so the gear came out of the water, and after a fast trip back to Coffs from 30 South, he was whisked down to Sydney Eye Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for a detached retina... talk about lousy timing... got to love the health system though, they had him sorted and in Sydney just a couple of hours after we hit the marina.
Better news on Sunday, when a couple of local boats went straight out the front and raised a couple of blues. The fish didn't end up tagged, because one of them simply threw the hook, and the other struck and immediately ran across a couple of other lines and got cut off, but the fact that blues were hooked up is more than a little encouraging... maybe this is what the fence sitters have been waiting for.
Friday, 9th December
Some interesting feedback from skipper Pete English yesterday after Better than Vegas' day up at the northern end of the local patch. They found very good blue water running along the edge of the shelf at about 1.5 knots downhill. The surface temps were in the 25-26C range, and the water was very "fishy". There was plenty of bait and bird activity, and they snagged a mahimahi about midway down the shelf edge. This wouldn't be such a big deal if the dollie hadn't had a stomach full of baby marlin when they cut it open...!!!
Think about that one, particularly when studies of marlin caught along the NSW coast have shown that all the females examined were not in breeding mode. Those baby billfish must have been spawned somewhere else and drifted down this way with the current. Sure would be nice to know where those spawning grounds are, but it's a near impossible puzzle - did they drift up from the Wanganella Banks with that mid ocean northerly flow, did they come down from the reef or somewhere else in the Coral Sea? Were they black/blue/striped marlin fry??? The questions go on...
Anyway, later in the day, a marlin appeared behind the short corner lure as Vegas dragged some lures along the deep edge of the shelf, but surprisingly didn't take a swipe and disappeared in full stealth mode without making a pass at anything else.
This is one those good news/bad news reports, but if anytrhing, there's more glass half full news here than anything else, even if Pete's day leaves more unanswered questions.
At least the forecast for the SIGFC club comp day tomorrow is pretty reasonable, and that warm blue water (plus more marlin?) should have time to work down the shelf between yesterday and Saturday, so there might be a bite to greet boats fishing. Foreign Exchange is sked boat, and will be on the air from about 0615.
Think about that one, particularly when studies of marlin caught along the NSW coast have shown that all the females examined were not in breeding mode. Those baby billfish must have been spawned somewhere else and drifted down this way with the current. Sure would be nice to know where those spawning grounds are, but it's a near impossible puzzle - did they drift up from the Wanganella Banks with that mid ocean northerly flow, did they come down from the reef or somewhere else in the Coral Sea? Were they black/blue/striped marlin fry??? The questions go on...
Anyway, later in the day, a marlin appeared behind the short corner lure as Vegas dragged some lures along the deep edge of the shelf, but surprisingly didn't take a swipe and disappeared in full stealth mode without making a pass at anything else.
This is one those good news/bad news reports, but if anytrhing, there's more glass half full news here than anything else, even if Pete's day leaves more unanswered questions.
At least the forecast for the SIGFC club comp day tomorrow is pretty reasonable, and that warm blue water (plus more marlin?) should have time to work down the shelf between yesterday and Saturday, so there might be a bite to greet boats fishing. Foreign Exchange is sked boat, and will be on the air from about 0615.
Thursday, 8th December
With the normal pattern of the East Australian Current once again seriously degraded by yet another abnormal flow distortion off the S.E. Queensland coast, and water off the northern NSW coastal strip still well below typical seasonal temperatures, it's hard to find enough positive elements in the local game fishing equation to make you want to rush down to the marina and head out to sea at the moment.
However, skipper Pete English has been having a better run of luck than most at the moment, so it's not too surprising to be sitting here at the computer this morning watching the real-time MAIS track of Better than Vegas (shown in the screen shot below) heading northeast across the shelf up to the Hard Ground to see if there are blues waiting.
And there might well be... the FishTrack SST chart on the left shows a tongue of 24C water trying to head down the coast despite most of the current once again being turned around and sent back up into the Coral Sea, and given that this chart is 24 hours old, anything could have happened in the interim.
More reports on Vegas' luck as the day wears on...
The weekend should be a good one for fishing opportunities, particuarly when the marginal southeasterly airflow still being forecast for Saturday weakens and gives way to better conditions for Sunday and Monday. If the damned EAC will only set up properly and push the 26C water off the Gold Coast down here, the marlin season might actually get started.
However, skipper Pete English has been having a better run of luck than most at the moment, so it's not too surprising to be sitting here at the computer this morning watching the real-time MAIS track of Better than Vegas (shown in the screen shot below) heading northeast across the shelf up to the Hard Ground to see if there are blues waiting.
And there might well be... the FishTrack SST chart on the left shows a tongue of 24C water trying to head down the coast despite most of the current once again being turned around and sent back up into the Coral Sea, and given that this chart is 24 hours old, anything could have happened in the interim.
More reports on Vegas' luck as the day wears on...
The weekend should be a good one for fishing opportunities, particuarly when the marginal southeasterly airflow still being forecast for Saturday weakens and gives way to better conditions for Sunday and Monday. If the damned EAC will only set up properly and push the 26C water off the Gold Coast down here, the marlin season might actually get started.
Wednesday, 7th December
Boat owners with vessels moored at the Coffs Harbour Marina should be aware of a seriously detrimental side effect of the north breakwall rebuild currently underway.
The following letter and photographs sent yesterday to Mark Wilson, the NSW government supervisor overseeing the Haslin contractors responsible for the breakwall works is largely self explanatory...
TO: [email protected]
SUBJECT: Works damage to moored vessel - Coffs Harbour Marina North Wall
Dear Mark…
Today I spent considerable time inspecting damage to my boat that is apparently a direct result of the north break wall rebuild project.
My boat is the closest to the eastern end of the breakwall, and while this damage is possibly more pronounced on my vessel as a consequence of the situation described below, it is by no means unique. In fact, I would venture to suggest that the majority of boats in the marina are going to be similarly affected - some already - as the project proceeds.
In short, the cloud of grit and dust that billows up every time a load of freshly quarried stone blocks is tipped from a truck and then repositioned by the tracked lifting machinery contains a very high proportion of iron compounds. In the prevailing summer north and northeast wind, this grit blows over the adjacent boats in the marina fingers and settles on the boats, where in the high humidity salt air environment, it immediately oxidises, leaving literally tens of thousands of rust flecks on the gelcoat of a typical GRP boat. Unfortunately, GRP gelcoat is by nature porous - and even marine 2-pack paintwork is equally susceptible - and with the extremely aggressive reaction of the iron compounds in the grit accelerated by the sodium chloride heavy atmosphere, these rust flecks simply sink into the exterior finish of the boat permanently, where no amount of remedial cleaning removes them. Given the frequency of the gritty cloud descending day after day, and the continual buildup of this grit on the exposed surfaces of the boat deck and hull, the process is continuous and unrelenting.
Quite simply, the finish on my boat has been destroyed. Not only is it ruined from an aesthetic point of view, but the protective properties of the outer finish of the boat have been seriously degraded.
I wish to submit an insurance claim with the company that covers the Haslin Corporation, and/or with the NSW Government if the government has elected to self-insure as far as this project is concerned.
I attempted to discuss this with the onsite Haslin supervisor today as soon as I discovered the nature and extend of this damage, but he referred me immediately to you, implying that your office was apparently where the buck stopped for matters like this.
While I could submit this claim with my own insurance company, they have already advised that while they would cover the boat in the event of no progress being made from this approach; however, when the matter is clearly the responsibility of the contractors and project managers, that is clearly where the claim should be made in the first instance, and where it will end up regardless of which channel is used to resolve it.
I feel obliged to note that there are already other boats around mine that have already also had their exterior finish permanently damaged by this (apparently unforeseen by the project managers…??) side-effect of the clouds of iron grit released every time a truck unloads and/or the machinery moves the rocks.
Further, as the focal point of the works moves slowly westward along the north break wall, the same damage is going to occur to every other GRP boat in the marina, which probably comprises at least 95% of the marina tenants.
So if this is the first approach you’ve had from a boat owner in the direct path of the grit and dust clouds from these works, I believe I can confidently predict that if will be far from the last.
I have attached some photographs of the typical damage to my boat for your perusal, and will be happy to show you and the responsible insurance company representatives the actual damage to both my boat (and the others around mine) at any time that’s convenient…
I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
Richard O’Ferrall
Mobile: 0403923892
The following letter and photographs sent yesterday to Mark Wilson, the NSW government supervisor overseeing the Haslin contractors responsible for the breakwall works is largely self explanatory...
TO: [email protected]
SUBJECT: Works damage to moored vessel - Coffs Harbour Marina North Wall
Dear Mark…
Today I spent considerable time inspecting damage to my boat that is apparently a direct result of the north break wall rebuild project.
My boat is the closest to the eastern end of the breakwall, and while this damage is possibly more pronounced on my vessel as a consequence of the situation described below, it is by no means unique. In fact, I would venture to suggest that the majority of boats in the marina are going to be similarly affected - some already - as the project proceeds.
In short, the cloud of grit and dust that billows up every time a load of freshly quarried stone blocks is tipped from a truck and then repositioned by the tracked lifting machinery contains a very high proportion of iron compounds. In the prevailing summer north and northeast wind, this grit blows over the adjacent boats in the marina fingers and settles on the boats, where in the high humidity salt air environment, it immediately oxidises, leaving literally tens of thousands of rust flecks on the gelcoat of a typical GRP boat. Unfortunately, GRP gelcoat is by nature porous - and even marine 2-pack paintwork is equally susceptible - and with the extremely aggressive reaction of the iron compounds in the grit accelerated by the sodium chloride heavy atmosphere, these rust flecks simply sink into the exterior finish of the boat permanently, where no amount of remedial cleaning removes them. Given the frequency of the gritty cloud descending day after day, and the continual buildup of this grit on the exposed surfaces of the boat deck and hull, the process is continuous and unrelenting.
Quite simply, the finish on my boat has been destroyed. Not only is it ruined from an aesthetic point of view, but the protective properties of the outer finish of the boat have been seriously degraded.
I wish to submit an insurance claim with the company that covers the Haslin Corporation, and/or with the NSW Government if the government has elected to self-insure as far as this project is concerned.
I attempted to discuss this with the onsite Haslin supervisor today as soon as I discovered the nature and extend of this damage, but he referred me immediately to you, implying that your office was apparently where the buck stopped for matters like this.
While I could submit this claim with my own insurance company, they have already advised that while they would cover the boat in the event of no progress being made from this approach; however, when the matter is clearly the responsibility of the contractors and project managers, that is clearly where the claim should be made in the first instance, and where it will end up regardless of which channel is used to resolve it.
I feel obliged to note that there are already other boats around mine that have already also had their exterior finish permanently damaged by this (apparently unforeseen by the project managers…??) side-effect of the clouds of iron grit released every time a truck unloads and/or the machinery moves the rocks.
Further, as the focal point of the works moves slowly westward along the north break wall, the same damage is going to occur to every other GRP boat in the marina, which probably comprises at least 95% of the marina tenants.
So if this is the first approach you’ve had from a boat owner in the direct path of the grit and dust clouds from these works, I believe I can confidently predict that if will be far from the last.
I have attached some photographs of the typical damage to my boat for your perusal, and will be happy to show you and the responsible insurance company representatives the actual damage to both my boat (and the others around mine) at any time that’s convenient…
I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
Richard O’Ferrall
Mobile: 0403923892
It's worth noting that this damage is not just a few rust specks... it's like this over the entire boat, every surface
Monday, 5th December
Seeing is believing, but the question is... is it for real, and will it last in the forecast long enough to actually happen...?? This is the present WindGuru outlook for next weekend and early next week - classic Coffs Coast summer weather for 4 days straight, with light morning breezes, and a mild afternoon northeast sea breeze that won't blow your wig off or roll over the inshore water enough to trash the fishing.
If the EAC will cooperate and bring down that 25-26C blue water they've got up on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts (plus the blue marlin in it...) between now and next weekend, things might finally fire here. Hell... the little blacks might even put in an appearance if the inshore bait builds up.
Meanwhile, the blue marlin are already starting to bypass the Coffs Coast - as you'd expect when conditions here are so uninviting. Well known big game boat Little Audrey cruised down the east coast on the way back to Port Stephens after fishing the black marlin season off Cairns, and in addition to catching blue marlin off the Gold coast, also tagged a couple of blues off Port Stephens, while there were other reports of striped marlin being tagged off Port Macuarie.
If the EAC will cooperate and bring down that 25-26C blue water they've got up on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts (plus the blue marlin in it...) between now and next weekend, things might finally fire here. Hell... the little blacks might even put in an appearance if the inshore bait builds up.
Meanwhile, the blue marlin are already starting to bypass the Coffs Coast - as you'd expect when conditions here are so uninviting. Well known big game boat Little Audrey cruised down the east coast on the way back to Port Stephens after fishing the black marlin season off Cairns, and in addition to catching blue marlin off the Gold coast, also tagged a couple of blues off Port Stephens, while there were other reports of striped marlin being tagged off Port Macuarie.
Saturday/Sunday, 3rd-4th December
Saturday... It looked like shaping up to be a glamour day at sunrise, but soon after that things warmed up, the dreaded northerly wind kicked in (yet again...) and by mid-morning was gusting to 20 knots.
Then at midday a southerly came barreling up the coast, dropping the air temp significantly, and covering the coast with a layer of low scudding stratus cloud. Normally, with better water out there, a sudden southerly change like this would bring on an immediate red hot blue marlin bite just as the change hit, but that iof course presupposes that there were any blues out there in the first place. Based on the continuing silence from the shelf, it's probably fair to assume that didn't happen, and the final report from late afternoon was that with 5 game boats working the ocean off Coffs Harbour all day, not a single one of them saw a marlin.
Anyway, after a week of sluggish to no East Australian Current flow, it's now reported to be pushing hard downhill along the top edge of the shelf.
On it's own, that might not be so bad, but after days of strong northerly winds, the Ekman Transport effect has kicked in, overpowering all the other dynamics here and rolling over all the water offshore on the Coffs Coast (and ONLY on the Coffs Coast). So the ocean offshore out to 1000 fathoms here is once again cold, dirty, and totally uninviting as far as game fish are concerned...
The screen shot from the FishTrack composite SST chart covers the stretch of our coast from Yamba to Hat Head, and the picture speaks for itself, with that huge pool of colder, foul water along the exact stretch of our coast where the northerlies blow much harder than anywhere else...we just can't win here so far this summer.
Sunday.... Nothing has changed overnight as far as the satellite SST composite on the left is concerned. However, yesterday's southerly took a lot of energy out of the atmosphere, and with a relatively calm overcast day today, the strong current should be working some magic and flushing the cold bottom water that the succession of strong northerlies have rolled over during the past week well away from the Coffs Coast.
While there are a couple of days of north winds forecast early this coming week, the forecast models for late in the week and next weekend are actually predicting a 4-5 day run of "normal" December conditions. Normal December weather generally means a light morning katabatic drift off the mountains, which drops off to almost nothing by mid-morning, with a light sea breeze building up after midday then dropping again to be pretty much calm by sunset.
If that forecast string of decent fishing weather actually happens and combines with good current bringing warm blue water from the Coral Sea down the shelf, maybe game fishermen on the northgern NSW coast can look forward to the sort of blue marlin action we usually associate with December. It would sure as hell be about time...
Then at midday a southerly came barreling up the coast, dropping the air temp significantly, and covering the coast with a layer of low scudding stratus cloud. Normally, with better water out there, a sudden southerly change like this would bring on an immediate red hot blue marlin bite just as the change hit, but that iof course presupposes that there were any blues out there in the first place. Based on the continuing silence from the shelf, it's probably fair to assume that didn't happen, and the final report from late afternoon was that with 5 game boats working the ocean off Coffs Harbour all day, not a single one of them saw a marlin.
Anyway, after a week of sluggish to no East Australian Current flow, it's now reported to be pushing hard downhill along the top edge of the shelf.
On it's own, that might not be so bad, but after days of strong northerly winds, the Ekman Transport effect has kicked in, overpowering all the other dynamics here and rolling over all the water offshore on the Coffs Coast (and ONLY on the Coffs Coast). So the ocean offshore out to 1000 fathoms here is once again cold, dirty, and totally uninviting as far as game fish are concerned...
The screen shot from the FishTrack composite SST chart covers the stretch of our coast from Yamba to Hat Head, and the picture speaks for itself, with that huge pool of colder, foul water along the exact stretch of our coast where the northerlies blow much harder than anywhere else...we just can't win here so far this summer.
Sunday.... Nothing has changed overnight as far as the satellite SST composite on the left is concerned. However, yesterday's southerly took a lot of energy out of the atmosphere, and with a relatively calm overcast day today, the strong current should be working some magic and flushing the cold bottom water that the succession of strong northerlies have rolled over during the past week well away from the Coffs Coast.
While there are a couple of days of north winds forecast early this coming week, the forecast models for late in the week and next weekend are actually predicting a 4-5 day run of "normal" December conditions. Normal December weather generally means a light morning katabatic drift off the mountains, which drops off to almost nothing by mid-morning, with a light sea breeze building up after midday then dropping again to be pretty much calm by sunset.
If that forecast string of decent fishing weather actually happens and combines with good current bringing warm blue water from the Coral Sea down the shelf, maybe game fishermen on the northgern NSW coast can look forward to the sort of blue marlin action we usually associate with December. It would sure as hell be about time...
Friday, 2nd December
While the EAC appears to have restarted with a tentative flow from S.E. Queensland, the water coming down so far is surprisingly cool, and the flow is actually not anything much like "normal".
So with a mediocre weather forecast and no reports during the week, it might be one of those times to sit back, wait for the current and the weather to stabilise further, and plan to get more serious next week.
Good luck to anyone who does decide to take a look... after all, December is that time of year when anything could (and does) happen, and better conditions and marlin bite could appear out of nowhere overnight.
So with a mediocre weather forecast and no reports during the week, it might be one of those times to sit back, wait for the current and the weather to stabilise further, and plan to get more serious next week.
Good luck to anyone who does decide to take a look... after all, December is that time of year when anything could (and does) happen, and better conditions and marlin bite could appear out of nowhere overnight.
Tuesday, 29th November
The coming week isn't exactly laden with fishing opportunities, with fresh northerlies in the lineup for most days except Friday. However, there are sure to be one or two boats nosing around out there hoping to find out whether Better than Vegas' big blue on the weekend has been followed by more such fish. The EAC isn't helping though, with eddies off Queensland pushing most of the warm Coral Sea flow off the coast, leaving barely a dribble of current running down the shelf from the border at the moment.
Meanwhile, it's all happening off the Sunshine Coast, where the Mooloolaba Billfish Bash produced good results for competitors. Interestingly, the boat that won the under 7 metres Champion as well as the Champion angler categories of the Bash caught their winning fish on two Jennings Gamefish Vuaki Flyer flying fish pattern lures. The bloke had only dropped around to Aaron Jennings' place to swap some Joe Yee lures the week before, and when he left, Aaron gave him a couple of new 9-inch flyers to try out. They caught the first blue in the tournament on one of the new Flyers, and the black marlin that put them in front on the leaderboard and won them the big prizes and the calcutta on the other.
With every good news story, there's often a hard luck one, and the Billfish Bash was no different, when the VP of the Mooloolaba GFC had what would have been the winning fish disqualified when a leader he submitted had stretched 10cm longer than the rules allowed.
Finishing on a positive note... the photo below is of one of 6 big dollies caught off the Gold Coast on the weekend by anglers fishing with Seaprobe Charters... it's interesting to see that the big mahimahi are all over the place up there where the blues are being caught, and that Better than Vegas had a double hookup on dollies in the same water they caught the big blue mentioned below.
Meanwhile, it's all happening off the Sunshine Coast, where the Mooloolaba Billfish Bash produced good results for competitors. Interestingly, the boat that won the under 7 metres Champion as well as the Champion angler categories of the Bash caught their winning fish on two Jennings Gamefish Vuaki Flyer flying fish pattern lures. The bloke had only dropped around to Aaron Jennings' place to swap some Joe Yee lures the week before, and when he left, Aaron gave him a couple of new 9-inch flyers to try out. They caught the first blue in the tournament on one of the new Flyers, and the black marlin that put them in front on the leaderboard and won them the big prizes and the calcutta on the other.
With every good news story, there's often a hard luck one, and the Billfish Bash was no different, when the VP of the Mooloolaba GFC had what would have been the winning fish disqualified when a leader he submitted had stretched 10cm longer than the rules allowed.
Finishing on a positive note... the photo below is of one of 6 big dollies caught off the Gold Coast on the weekend by anglers fishing with Seaprobe Charters... it's interesting to see that the big mahimahi are all over the place up there where the blues are being caught, and that Better than Vegas had a double hookup on dollies in the same water they caught the big blue mentioned below.
Monday, 28th November
And here is a great series of photos of the Coffs Coast's first blue marlin tag of the season from skipper Pete English and the Better than Vegas crew. Thank heavens we can get back to talking about marlin!
The angler was Chris Geddes from Goonellabah, and he took 90 minutes to get this big fish to the boat on 37kg gear after it ate a Tsutomu 14-inch lure. The fish measured 2900 short, which puts it well north of 250kg, and possibly close to the 300kg mark.
Pete noted that the water had a lot of life in it out in 800fa where they picked up this fish - they had a double hookup on 10kg mahimahi, and also found good striped tuna in the same area, so it's no real surprise that they latched onto a blue with all that marlin candy around.
That's a big turnaround from only a day before, when it was a desert out there, so as always with the blues, excellent timing, a smattering of good luck, and some excellent choices all came together to kick off the Coffs Coast's blue marlin season.
***** MID-PACIFIC REPORT: I've been discussing the strange marlin free start to our game fishing on the northern NSW coast with Captain Steve Campbell, the Tongan-Based author of the authoritative game fishing book Blue Marlin Magic.
I wrote to him recently asking if he was seeing the same unusual behaviour of ocean, weather, fish and so forth that have been responsible for the incredibly poor start to our blue marlin season. The increasingly influential behaviour of the oceans eddies, lack of fish, unseasonal winds and so forth have all been touched on, and I thought readers might be interested in the following summary of Steve's observations so far this season off Tonga.
He is seeing...
1. An uncharacteristic lack of skipjack (we also know them here as striped tuna) tuna - the main marlin food in Tongan waters. The tuna are running inconsistently, and in small schools which are there one day and gone the next. When they do arrive, the schools of skipjack aren't holding in the usual areas, so there's no consistency in food availability to attract and hold the marlin.
2. The predominant winds of the tropical South Pacific ocean - the southeast trade winds - have failed and instead been replaced by disruptive easterlies.
3. Water temperatures have been up to 2C higher this winter, and the ocean currents have been all over the place, with none of the usual upwellings of cool, nutrient-laden water along the Tongan Trench.
4. The usual areas where structure holds blue marlin have been largely unproductive, with Steve's catch in one particular hot spot down 80% this year.
5. YFT runs all year there so far, which is not typical.
6. A huge reduction in mahimahi and wahoo catches this year.
7. The average size of the blue marlin he's catching is higher, but the numbers are dramatically lower. He's been out on more trips without turning a reel this year than any time in the past 15 years of fishing Tongan waters!
8. A typical past year of blue marlin fishing would see Steve catch about 130 blues in a calendar year. He says that this year, he'll be struggling to catch 90 by the end of December.
9. Other blue marlin charter skippers that Steve knows across the South Pacific are all reporting the same sort of thing - poor fishing and definitely not a normal year in most respects.
When you read through Steve's observations, a lot of bells are ringing, and it's easy to draw parallels here... very poor mahimahi and wahoo fishing, lousy numbers of striped tuna, downwelling eddies and no upwelling, weird currents and winds, and poor blue marlin fishing. Scary....
The angler was Chris Geddes from Goonellabah, and he took 90 minutes to get this big fish to the boat on 37kg gear after it ate a Tsutomu 14-inch lure. The fish measured 2900 short, which puts it well north of 250kg, and possibly close to the 300kg mark.
Pete noted that the water had a lot of life in it out in 800fa where they picked up this fish - they had a double hookup on 10kg mahimahi, and also found good striped tuna in the same area, so it's no real surprise that they latched onto a blue with all that marlin candy around.
That's a big turnaround from only a day before, when it was a desert out there, so as always with the blues, excellent timing, a smattering of good luck, and some excellent choices all came together to kick off the Coffs Coast's blue marlin season.
***** MID-PACIFIC REPORT: I've been discussing the strange marlin free start to our game fishing on the northern NSW coast with Captain Steve Campbell, the Tongan-Based author of the authoritative game fishing book Blue Marlin Magic.
I wrote to him recently asking if he was seeing the same unusual behaviour of ocean, weather, fish and so forth that have been responsible for the incredibly poor start to our blue marlin season. The increasingly influential behaviour of the oceans eddies, lack of fish, unseasonal winds and so forth have all been touched on, and I thought readers might be interested in the following summary of Steve's observations so far this season off Tonga.
He is seeing...
1. An uncharacteristic lack of skipjack (we also know them here as striped tuna) tuna - the main marlin food in Tongan waters. The tuna are running inconsistently, and in small schools which are there one day and gone the next. When they do arrive, the schools of skipjack aren't holding in the usual areas, so there's no consistency in food availability to attract and hold the marlin.
2. The predominant winds of the tropical South Pacific ocean - the southeast trade winds - have failed and instead been replaced by disruptive easterlies.
3. Water temperatures have been up to 2C higher this winter, and the ocean currents have been all over the place, with none of the usual upwellings of cool, nutrient-laden water along the Tongan Trench.
4. The usual areas where structure holds blue marlin have been largely unproductive, with Steve's catch in one particular hot spot down 80% this year.
5. YFT runs all year there so far, which is not typical.
6. A huge reduction in mahimahi and wahoo catches this year.
7. The average size of the blue marlin he's catching is higher, but the numbers are dramatically lower. He's been out on more trips without turning a reel this year than any time in the past 15 years of fishing Tongan waters!
8. A typical past year of blue marlin fishing would see Steve catch about 130 blues in a calendar year. He says that this year, he'll be struggling to catch 90 by the end of December.
9. Other blue marlin charter skippers that Steve knows across the South Pacific are all reporting the same sort of thing - poor fishing and definitely not a normal year in most respects.
When you read through Steve's observations, a lot of bells are ringing, and it's easy to draw parallels here... very poor mahimahi and wahoo fishing, lousy numbers of striped tuna, downwelling eddies and no upwelling, weird currents and winds, and poor blue marlin fishing. Scary....
Sunday, 27th November
I know I'm banging on a bit about the inability of the forecasters to resolve the afternoon sea breeze wind strength dichotomy here on the Coffs Coast, but here we go again...
This will be the 5th day in a row where the forecast starts off with a prediction of a maximum wind strength at around 1400 of a little under 10 knots - today's lineup says 8.9 knots at 1400. However, even as I write this at 1000, the wind strength is already 15 knots.
Later this afternoon, when the wind is blowing at around 3 times the forecast strength, the forecast will be quietly amended to more accurately reflect what the wind is really doing, which of course, is not forecasting at all, just changing the record after the fact.
The first graph below on the left shows today's unamended prediction still being published at 1000 (the blue line with green arrows), along with the actual wind in real time overlaid (black line). This clearly shows once again that despite an initial prediction of a very mild seabreeze effect at 1400 when the maximum breeze forecast for the day would be 9 knots, just like most days of the preceding week, the seabreeze pushed in earlier than forecast at 1000, and is already approaching double the predicted strength (black line).
The second screen shot to be added later today will almost certainly show the late change to the "prediction" after the computers register the fact that they got it all wrong again. Stay tuned...
LATER... Yep, there they go again. Check the screen shot on the right... At 1315 today, with the unforecast seabreeze now gusting up to 24 knots, the forecast for today suddenly was modified to more closely depict what was actually happening. Then later in the day, it blew at a steady 22 knots, gusting to 28... and all from a morning forecast of 9 knots maximum for the day. How can you plan when that's the best these guys can come up with - even after watching it go exactly this way almost every day all week...?
This is "forecasting"...???
This will be the 5th day in a row where the forecast starts off with a prediction of a maximum wind strength at around 1400 of a little under 10 knots - today's lineup says 8.9 knots at 1400. However, even as I write this at 1000, the wind strength is already 15 knots.
Later this afternoon, when the wind is blowing at around 3 times the forecast strength, the forecast will be quietly amended to more accurately reflect what the wind is really doing, which of course, is not forecasting at all, just changing the record after the fact.
The first graph below on the left shows today's unamended prediction still being published at 1000 (the blue line with green arrows), along with the actual wind in real time overlaid (black line). This clearly shows once again that despite an initial prediction of a very mild seabreeze effect at 1400 when the maximum breeze forecast for the day would be 9 knots, just like most days of the preceding week, the seabreeze pushed in earlier than forecast at 1000, and is already approaching double the predicted strength (black line).
The second screen shot to be added later today will almost certainly show the late change to the "prediction" after the computers register the fact that they got it all wrong again. Stay tuned...
LATER... Yep, there they go again. Check the screen shot on the right... At 1315 today, with the unforecast seabreeze now gusting up to 24 knots, the forecast for today suddenly was modified to more closely depict what was actually happening. Then later in the day, it blew at a steady 22 knots, gusting to 28... and all from a morning forecast of 9 knots maximum for the day. How can you plan when that's the best these guys can come up with - even after watching it go exactly this way almost every day all week...?
This is "forecasting"...???
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Moving on to more important matters... the big blue marlin caught by Better then Vegas yesterday poses a dilemma for those of us trying to work out what it means for game fishing in the short term of the next week or so. As remarked upon yesterday, the question you have to ask yourself is... was it the only marlin around at the moment, or was it the first of the summer push that we've been waiting on...?
If the FishTrack ocean current plots are to be believed, the entire EAC is being spun off the coast of S.E. Queensland and driven out to the middle of the Coral Sea and turned back up to the north. Any marlin riding this current would either be getting dizzy doing the revolving circle route, or they'd be stepping off around Moreton Island to feed up, and just hanging around fuelling the ongoing hot bite that we've been reading about up there for the past week and longer.
Either way, there's no current to bring marlin down from the north to NSW, and with the same charts showing that the only water arriving on the NSW coast is coming from deep to the southeast in the Tasman Sea, it's hard to believe that yesterday's blue marlin was one of many out there. Rather, the anecdotal evidence points to the fact that it was a loner that ignored the traditional EAC option, and pushed down the coast by itself... which means more power to Pete English and the Vegas team for being in the right place at the right time, and doing the right thing, as well as a great piece of luck.
I'd love to be proven wrong about this possibly being a lone early arrival, but the fact is that after we spent most of Wednesday working the exact same area where Vegas caught yesterday's fish without ever turning a reel, and then the other three boats out there yesterday never raised any blues themselves, the lone marlin theory at least has some credibility.
Of course, this could change in a heartbeat if the conditions out there moderate, and the EAC sets up properly and allows the fish to ride a revitalised current down here to our marlin grounds.
But for all anyone knows, there could be a red hot bite setting up out there right now...
If the FishTrack ocean current plots are to be believed, the entire EAC is being spun off the coast of S.E. Queensland and driven out to the middle of the Coral Sea and turned back up to the north. Any marlin riding this current would either be getting dizzy doing the revolving circle route, or they'd be stepping off around Moreton Island to feed up, and just hanging around fuelling the ongoing hot bite that we've been reading about up there for the past week and longer.
Either way, there's no current to bring marlin down from the north to NSW, and with the same charts showing that the only water arriving on the NSW coast is coming from deep to the southeast in the Tasman Sea, it's hard to believe that yesterday's blue marlin was one of many out there. Rather, the anecdotal evidence points to the fact that it was a loner that ignored the traditional EAC option, and pushed down the coast by itself... which means more power to Pete English and the Vegas team for being in the right place at the right time, and doing the right thing, as well as a great piece of luck.
I'd love to be proven wrong about this possibly being a lone early arrival, but the fact is that after we spent most of Wednesday working the exact same area where Vegas caught yesterday's fish without ever turning a reel, and then the other three boats out there yesterday never raised any blues themselves, the lone marlin theory at least has some credibility.
Of course, this could change in a heartbeat if the conditions out there moderate, and the EAC sets up properly and allows the fish to ride a revitalised current down here to our marlin grounds.
But for all anyone knows, there could be a red hot bite setting up out there right now...
Saturday, 26th November
Another day of mediocre weather... Good old Willy Weather was forecasting an 8.6-knot nor'easter at midday, and instead it was blowing 19 gusting 26 knots. This was at the airport too, where the anemometer is only reading the runway wind, which when it's from the north, is partially sheltered by the hill to the north, and by vegetation along the airfield boundaries... there was more out to sea. These forecasters should have learned by now that the Dividing Range's deviation towards the beach here creates a localised venturi effect - particularly with a north wind - that will often double the strength of the forecast wind... but it's a fairly basic forecasting skill that nobody seems to have bothered to tell the computer modelling software about.
However, despite the fairly ordinary conditions, Better than Vegas took a charter group out to 800fa following Pete English's plan to "go wide", and latched onto the first blue marlin tagged on this coast this season. The fish measured 2900mm short, which translates to 250kg plus, and probably closer to 300kg if it had decent shoulders, which could also make it the biggest marlin tagged here for a while. Nice job Pete and crew... photos to follow in due course.
The tagging of the first blue is a pretty momentous event for our coast, even if it is at least three months later than you'd expect, and it would probably cause a flurry of activity in the coming few days were it not for a dismal forecast of an entire week of strong northerly winds, the sole exception being Wednesday, when there's likely to be a boat or two go out to see if Vegas' blue was the only fish on the coast this weekend, or the leader of the pack...
However, despite the fairly ordinary conditions, Better than Vegas took a charter group out to 800fa following Pete English's plan to "go wide", and latched onto the first blue marlin tagged on this coast this season. The fish measured 2900mm short, which translates to 250kg plus, and probably closer to 300kg if it had decent shoulders, which could also make it the biggest marlin tagged here for a while. Nice job Pete and crew... photos to follow in due course.
The tagging of the first blue is a pretty momentous event for our coast, even if it is at least three months later than you'd expect, and it would probably cause a flurry of activity in the coming few days were it not for a dismal forecast of an entire week of strong northerly winds, the sole exception being Wednesday, when there's likely to be a boat or two go out to see if Vegas' blue was the only fish on the coast this weekend, or the leader of the pack...
Friday, 25th November
Lousy day out there again... the sea breeze blew in gusting between 25 and 30 knots despite being forecast at a maximum of 15 knots all day... worse still, it blew in 3 hours early and trashed the ocean and whatever bite there might have been. The water was dirty green and cold, and full of dead algae out to 60 fathoms, after which it started to improve in colour until it turned blue at the bottom edge of the shelf, but still only reached 23C. However, with a 3m groundswell from the south, a 2-knot current standing it up, and a 25-knot nor'easter pushing the tops off it by then, it wasn't any fun, and we didn't stand a ghost of a chance of catching the school of YFT we saw in 100fa.
Plenty of whitebait, bird and dolphin action back in marlin alley, but absolutely nothing under it and not a bite to be had despite dragging lures through acres of that for an hour. And no slimy's that morning at the WBG to drop into the bird/dolphin action later anyway. The photo above shows the birds hard at it... note the nasty colour of the water.
Very disappointing, and getting smashed around driving home in that mess really took the fun out of what was left of the day.
I can't see those conditions changing much by tomorrow for anyone planning to fish on the weekend...
But maybe in a week of two after/if the EAC starts flowing again, the forecasters learn how to predict timing and strength of the persistent northerlies (don't hold your breath on that one...), and some bait that marlin want to eat shows up, this whole game fishing scene on the NSW north coast might finally light up and fire, and we can stop just reading about the great bite up in Queensland waters, and get into it ourselves....
Plenty of whitebait, bird and dolphin action back in marlin alley, but absolutely nothing under it and not a bite to be had despite dragging lures through acres of that for an hour. And no slimy's that morning at the WBG to drop into the bird/dolphin action later anyway. The photo above shows the birds hard at it... note the nasty colour of the water.
Very disappointing, and getting smashed around driving home in that mess really took the fun out of what was left of the day.
I can't see those conditions changing much by tomorrow for anyone planning to fish on the weekend...
But maybe in a week of two after/if the EAC starts flowing again, the forecasters learn how to predict timing and strength of the persistent northerlies (don't hold your breath on that one...), and some bait that marlin want to eat shows up, this whole game fishing scene on the NSW north coast might finally light up and fire, and we can stop just reading about the great bite up in Queensland waters, and get into it ourselves....
Thursday, 24th November
Yesterday was more than a little disappointing, and just deepens the sense of frustration regarding the state of the game season off the NSW north coast.
The screen shot of this morning's FishTrack current plot basically says it all... forget about seeing any game fish to speak of here until the East Australian current breaks the grip of the small but powerful downwelling eddy off Moreton Island. This eddy is taking the EAC flowing down the Queensland continental shelf and diverting 100% of it back up onto itself so that no coastal Coral Sea water (that's the stuff full of travelling marlin...) whatsoever gets past the border. It also explains why the game fishermen up north off Moreton Island had a blinder of a weekend, with blue marlin jumping in their boats, and why the bite is still hot on the northern end of the Gold Coast. The marlin must be stacked up layers deep in southeast Queensland waters, because none of them can ride any current down here, so they're all just going round and round up off Moreton and Stradbroke islands!!
Foreign Exchange and Better than Vegas went for a look off Coffs yesterday. Vegas was bottom bashing off SSI and got into the kingfish, with the biggest being a 12kg model. Then the wind blew up and drove them home.
Meanwhile ForEx went out into what started out as glamour conditions, finding lots of bait all balled up on the surface in marlin alley, with birds and stripped tuna working it, but nothing else that was interested in marlin lures in the vicinity.
So we went out to find the blue water that Vegas had driven into up north the day before, and found it in 500fa. It was cobalt blue, flowing in from the ENE at 3 knots, and... totally empty. No bait, no flying fish, no dolphins, and no birds... and sure as hell no marlin. The photo below shows how good it looked, but we didn't turn a reel all day.
The forecast nor'easter blew in at about 1300, and blow it did - 25 knots, rough as the inside of a washing machine, and thoroughly unpleasant. We put the 24kg rigs out again crossing the shelf on the way back, and gave up with them when it became too hard to stop the lures flying out of the face of the waves.
Just to add the final insult, when we pulled the gear in, the Jennings Vuaki Flyer on the long rigger had a big swipe from a marlin bill across the leader just in front of the lure, where a striped marlin that neither of us saw in all the whitewater obviously made a pass and missed.
The bottom line...? Not much point in wasting diesel until that eddy off Moreton lets go of the current, because the good looking water that the other eddy off Wooli is bringing to our coast is not Coral Sea marlin water - it's totally empty mid-Tasman stuff, not from Queensland. If you've got a trailer boat, take it up and launch it off Stradbroke and get into the blue marlin bonanza that's happening there, because it's unlikely to happen here until the satellite chart above changes...
The screen shot of this morning's FishTrack current plot basically says it all... forget about seeing any game fish to speak of here until the East Australian current breaks the grip of the small but powerful downwelling eddy off Moreton Island. This eddy is taking the EAC flowing down the Queensland continental shelf and diverting 100% of it back up onto itself so that no coastal Coral Sea water (that's the stuff full of travelling marlin...) whatsoever gets past the border. It also explains why the game fishermen up north off Moreton Island had a blinder of a weekend, with blue marlin jumping in their boats, and why the bite is still hot on the northern end of the Gold Coast. The marlin must be stacked up layers deep in southeast Queensland waters, because none of them can ride any current down here, so they're all just going round and round up off Moreton and Stradbroke islands!!
Foreign Exchange and Better than Vegas went for a look off Coffs yesterday. Vegas was bottom bashing off SSI and got into the kingfish, with the biggest being a 12kg model. Then the wind blew up and drove them home.
Meanwhile ForEx went out into what started out as glamour conditions, finding lots of bait all balled up on the surface in marlin alley, with birds and stripped tuna working it, but nothing else that was interested in marlin lures in the vicinity.
So we went out to find the blue water that Vegas had driven into up north the day before, and found it in 500fa. It was cobalt blue, flowing in from the ENE at 3 knots, and... totally empty. No bait, no flying fish, no dolphins, and no birds... and sure as hell no marlin. The photo below shows how good it looked, but we didn't turn a reel all day.
The forecast nor'easter blew in at about 1300, and blow it did - 25 knots, rough as the inside of a washing machine, and thoroughly unpleasant. We put the 24kg rigs out again crossing the shelf on the way back, and gave up with them when it became too hard to stop the lures flying out of the face of the waves.
Just to add the final insult, when we pulled the gear in, the Jennings Vuaki Flyer on the long rigger had a big swipe from a marlin bill across the leader just in front of the lure, where a striped marlin that neither of us saw in all the whitewater obviously made a pass and missed.
The bottom line...? Not much point in wasting diesel until that eddy off Moreton lets go of the current, because the good looking water that the other eddy off Wooli is bringing to our coast is not Coral Sea marlin water - it's totally empty mid-Tasman stuff, not from Queensland. If you've got a trailer boat, take it up and launch it off Stradbroke and get into the blue marlin bonanza that's happening there, because it's unlikely to happen here until the satellite chart above changes...
But not wishing to finish on such a depressing note, here's a quick story from Aaron Jennings, who was in the middle of the blue marlin action off Moreton Island on the weekend. They were in the same water where boats were raising blues flat out - one of the boats out there ended up going 4 from 12!
Aaron raised 4 blues, and they tagged 2 of them. His top angler was a young kid from Stradbroke Island by the name of Justin Parkin, who's a red hot fisho and who at 16 is such a legend on the Moreton Bay flats that Mossop's Bait and Tackle up there actually sponsor him. He got the blue in the photos below up to the boat without any fuss I'm told.
I'm glad they sent me the photos... I'm starting to forget what a blue marlin beside the boat looks like!!
And finally, today's comedy moment... this shot at Willy Weather is all too often the case here in Coffs... our day yesterday being a classic example!
Monday, 21st November
Reports from Ballina indicate improving water quality, with striped tuna and other marlin candy moving around. One report mentioned a mid-water current yesterday that is most unusual - not much current to speak of on the surface, but when they deep-dropped some heavy sinkers down, the sinkers didn't move once they reached bottom, but there was a strong sub-surface current that pushed a huge belly out in the line below the surface. No marlin seen, but everything else was there...
One boat up on the Gold Coast went 5 from 12 blue marlin strikes on the weekend, and that included a couple of doubles. There was one leader that quit during a fight with a big blue (...mind you, not surprising using only 350lb leaders on blue marlin) after being badly rubbedl, and a couple of line snaps, so it sounds like there was more going on here...
But, if the blue marlin are coming back on the bite north of the border, and blue marlin conditions are moving past Ballina, then with good forecasts here on Wednesday and Friday, and the possibility of a fishable day still in the forecast for the SIGFC club comp on Saturday, this could be the week we've been waiting for.
How many times have one of us said that in the past 3 months and been wrong though...??
One boat up on the Gold Coast went 5 from 12 blue marlin strikes on the weekend, and that included a couple of doubles. There was one leader that quit during a fight with a big blue (...mind you, not surprising using only 350lb leaders on blue marlin) after being badly rubbedl, and a couple of line snaps, so it sounds like there was more going on here...
But, if the blue marlin are coming back on the bite north of the border, and blue marlin conditions are moving past Ballina, then with good forecasts here on Wednesday and Friday, and the possibility of a fishable day still in the forecast for the SIGFC club comp on Saturday, this could be the week we've been waiting for.
How many times have one of us said that in the past 3 months and been wrong though...??
Friday, 18th November
Positive things are happening incrementally out there in marlin country this week, and while there's no "Wow!" news yet, it's all fairly positive. Earlier this week, the Black N Blue team found old water being pushed away from the coast by a revitalised current, and with it, a couple of marlin. Today, despite pretty ordinary conditions, Tara English caught a couple of football yellowfin tuna in water that had improved even more - nice work Tara.
It was surprising to see Better than Vegas heading out into a rapidly building northerly this morning, but when the skipper's wife wants to go fishing, the best answer is always "no problem...", so out they went.
They caught the YFT in Marlin Alley where there was a bit of current, and some clearing water as the photo shows, and as we know, yellowfin won't have anything to do with dirty water, and besides, where there are 'fin, there are often marlin. The northerly was making for really lousy conditions by early afternoon, so they didn't stick around to find some marlin, but came home early.
There's every reason to believe that conditions are finally changing out there, and with a forecast for next week showing some good fishing conditions midweek, and at this early stage, a fairly friendly looking forecast for the SIGFC competition day the following Saturday, it's a good time to start thinking that this might herald a decent bite.
BUT... and at the risk of raining on my own parade... the next 4 days are all forecast to have a continuous strong northerly wind blowing (just like you see in the photo on the left), and unless there's plenty of current pushing through, that run of unrelenting northerly wind is almost certain to roll the water over and trash the ocean quality out there by the middle of the week. Let's hope there's enough current to stop that happening...
It was surprising to see Better than Vegas heading out into a rapidly building northerly this morning, but when the skipper's wife wants to go fishing, the best answer is always "no problem...", so out they went.
They caught the YFT in Marlin Alley where there was a bit of current, and some clearing water as the photo shows, and as we know, yellowfin won't have anything to do with dirty water, and besides, where there are 'fin, there are often marlin. The northerly was making for really lousy conditions by early afternoon, so they didn't stick around to find some marlin, but came home early.
There's every reason to believe that conditions are finally changing out there, and with a forecast for next week showing some good fishing conditions midweek, and at this early stage, a fairly friendly looking forecast for the SIGFC competition day the following Saturday, it's a good time to start thinking that this might herald a decent bite.
BUT... and at the risk of raining on my own parade... the next 4 days are all forecast to have a continuous strong northerly wind blowing (just like you see in the photo on the left), and unless there's plenty of current pushing through, that run of unrelenting northerly wind is almost certain to roll the water over and trash the ocean quality out there by the middle of the week. Let's hope there's enough current to stop that happening...
Thursday, 16th November
A nice day in close today, but there was no action on the top of the shelf. Further out in 500-1000fa, there was nasty water, full of algae scum and poor colour, and with a 2.5kt current running into a 3m southerly swell and 15 knots of breeze, it wasn't exactly glamour conditions...
But.... it was still a glass half full day, and Rob Lang reports that in 25C water and 500fa, despite the scum, two marlin came up for a look behind Black N Blue. It was hard to tell what model marlin, but the money's on stripes. There was a big one that just sat there having a look, and a small one of about 50kg that made a few passes and missed before finally grabbing the lure it was chasing, breaking the band and pulling a bit of string before dropping off. That was it for the day, but in the plus column was the fact that these were the first two marlin seen out there for weeks now.
With a lot of nasty water and dead algae being pushed ahead of the current out wide, you could be forgiven for thinking that this might be the start off a reversal of fortune for the northern NSW coast, and that the blue water isn't too far behind. Maybe... just maybe... if the weather settles, and the current keeps breaking loose from the control of the big eddy to the north, we might finally see a start to the marlin action here in the next week or so.
But.... it was still a glass half full day, and Rob Lang reports that in 25C water and 500fa, despite the scum, two marlin came up for a look behind Black N Blue. It was hard to tell what model marlin, but the money's on stripes. There was a big one that just sat there having a look, and a small one of about 50kg that made a few passes and missed before finally grabbing the lure it was chasing, breaking the band and pulling a bit of string before dropping off. That was it for the day, but in the plus column was the fact that these were the first two marlin seen out there for weeks now.
With a lot of nasty water and dead algae being pushed ahead of the current out wide, you could be forgiven for thinking that this might be the start off a reversal of fortune for the northern NSW coast, and that the blue water isn't too far behind. Maybe... just maybe... if the weather settles, and the current keeps breaking loose from the control of the big eddy to the north, we might finally see a start to the marlin action here in the next week or so.
Tuesday, 15th November
When things get this boring and everybody's sitting on their hands waiting for weather and water to improve, it's easy to look for anomalies in what we're being told is happening... so with that in mind... There seems to be a marked disconnect between what the FishTrack and CSIRO current plots are showing and what the Mark I Eyeball is indicating...
The present current plot from the tracking sites tells us that the EAC has been about 90% cut off and diverted from the Queensland/NSW border away to the east and back up into the Coral Sea by the large downwelling eddy parked off SE Queensland. Yet if you look at the satellite IR depictions, there's a strong indication of near normal current flowing down the NSW coast at 25+C. A quick look to the east from the beach, or a glance at the real time weather radar plots seem to confirm this, and clearly show a very powerful line of cells sitting offshore exactly where the current would normally be, and exactly what you'd expect to see with warm 25C water running along the core of the current under today's much cooler southerly air mass blowing up the coast over the top of the warm current water.
So... what does it mean...? It's anyone's guess, but on the face to it, there's a strong chance that while the temperature plots are usually fairly accurate, and the line of cells along what would normally be the current's path seem to confirm that, the current plot for northern NSW/southern Queensland looks to be way off the mark. What FishTrack is showing might be more guesswork than reality if there aren't many argo floats out there at the present time, and If that's so (and admittedly it's a big "if"), then there could actually be some really good water and action out between 500 and 2000fa if the current really is flowing out there.
The present current plot from the tracking sites tells us that the EAC has been about 90% cut off and diverted from the Queensland/NSW border away to the east and back up into the Coral Sea by the large downwelling eddy parked off SE Queensland. Yet if you look at the satellite IR depictions, there's a strong indication of near normal current flowing down the NSW coast at 25+C. A quick look to the east from the beach, or a glance at the real time weather radar plots seem to confirm this, and clearly show a very powerful line of cells sitting offshore exactly where the current would normally be, and exactly what you'd expect to see with warm 25C water running along the core of the current under today's much cooler southerly air mass blowing up the coast over the top of the warm current water.
So... what does it mean...? It's anyone's guess, but on the face to it, there's a strong chance that while the temperature plots are usually fairly accurate, and the line of cells along what would normally be the current's path seem to confirm that, the current plot for northern NSW/southern Queensland looks to be way off the mark. What FishTrack is showing might be more guesswork than reality if there aren't many argo floats out there at the present time, and If that's so (and admittedly it's a big "if"), then there could actually be some really good water and action out between 500 and 2000fa if the current really is flowing out there.
Wednesday, 9th November
Hands up anyone who shorted the Dow, the Peso, and the ASX, and bet the farm on gold futures 24 hours ago...?? OK, way too smart... you're the ones who'll be buying the new Icon 54 and booking your team over to Cabo for the next championships while the rest of us get used to the brave new world...
Meanwhile, the forecasts don't exactly fill you with excitement, the EAC is still sputtering, and the only guys having fun seem to be those crews up on the FNQ reef, where the bigger black marlin have finally arrived. There was even a report in the BMB today about a boat hooking up a blue marlin that went well over the mark up in black marlin country, so things are as weird up there as they are down here.
And speaking of down here... Friday looks nice, the weekend doesn't look like much at all, and until a renewed current sets up and flushes the dirty water here out of the way, finding a marlin is going to be hard work. That said, while the lack of Blues is probably a safe bet for at least another week, the Stripes might just prove to be as unpredictable as the Donald, and a tank full of livies out in Marlin Alley could be the answer.
Meanwhile, the forecasts don't exactly fill you with excitement, the EAC is still sputtering, and the only guys having fun seem to be those crews up on the FNQ reef, where the bigger black marlin have finally arrived. There was even a report in the BMB today about a boat hooking up a blue marlin that went well over the mark up in black marlin country, so things are as weird up there as they are down here.
And speaking of down here... Friday looks nice, the weekend doesn't look like much at all, and until a renewed current sets up and flushes the dirty water here out of the way, finding a marlin is going to be hard work. That said, while the lack of Blues is probably a safe bet for at least another week, the Stripes might just prove to be as unpredictable as the Donald, and a tank full of livies out in Marlin Alley could be the answer.
Monday, 7th November
A north wind at 25g35 knots all day, so forget about clean water on the shelf and beyond anytime soon... and more of these shutdown northerlies due during the week. The water on the beach and in the marina is particularly foul, looking like greenish brown soup.
On the upside, the contractors working on the marina walkway are powering ahead and doing an excellent job. The walkway has now been largely rebuilt, and at the present rate of progress, shows every indication of being completed and reopened by the end of November, thus allowing pedestrian access to the entire marina and beyond to Muttonbird before the start of the Christmas holidays. Great work...!
Can't say the same for the north break wall rebuild, which has run into huge raw materials supply issues, apparently completely unforeseen during another example of appalling project oversight by the responsible state government department. Don't count on the north wall works being finished on schedule or on budget.
The blue marlin all seem to be in a holding pattern up off Fraser Island, where boats fishing a weekend tournament up there did pretty well on blues and black marlin, with a few sailfish thrown in for good measure. Given half a chance, normal current flow, and fishing-friendly light summer winds, all those fish should start moving down here.
On the upside, the contractors working on the marina walkway are powering ahead and doing an excellent job. The walkway has now been largely rebuilt, and at the present rate of progress, shows every indication of being completed and reopened by the end of November, thus allowing pedestrian access to the entire marina and beyond to Muttonbird before the start of the Christmas holidays. Great work...!
Can't say the same for the north break wall rebuild, which has run into huge raw materials supply issues, apparently completely unforeseen during another example of appalling project oversight by the responsible state government department. Don't count on the north wall works being finished on schedule or on budget.
The blue marlin all seem to be in a holding pattern up off Fraser Island, where boats fishing a weekend tournament up there did pretty well on blues and black marlin, with a few sailfish thrown in for good measure. Given half a chance, normal current flow, and fishing-friendly light summer winds, all those fish should start moving down here.
Sunday, 6th November
At least the EAC appears to have managed a partial breakthrough over the weekend, and there's now some fresh Coral Sea water flowing down the northern NSW coast. Water temps a little over 25C now off Yamba, and 24.5C off Coffs, and the cooler Tasman water being brought north by the downwelling eddy off SWR is no longer a factor. However, with the strong northerly yesterday, and the strong northerlies once again forecast for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and even Saturday of this coming week, the chances of finding good clean water out there for at least the next week will be pretty slim if nothing in this mix changes.
At this rate, it could be mid-November before the odds of a strong marlin bite improve enough to make it worth going out...
Of course, all this atmospheric instability might just be a result of all the hot air being generated in the northern hemisphere over on the other side of the Pacific. Maybe once the US election is over and it becomes obvious that Trump isn't going be given the "Football", and therefore won't nuke half of east Asia back to the stone age and trash the fishing for the next 20,000 years, it might not be unreasonable to expect the weather to go back to normal, and the marlin to reappear...
At this rate, it could be mid-November before the odds of a strong marlin bite improve enough to make it worth going out...
Of course, all this atmospheric instability might just be a result of all the hot air being generated in the northern hemisphere over on the other side of the Pacific. Maybe once the US election is over and it becomes obvious that Trump isn't going be given the "Football", and therefore won't nuke half of east Asia back to the stone age and trash the fishing for the next 20,000 years, it might not be unreasonable to expect the weather to go back to normal, and the marlin to reappear...
Friday, 4th November
In a partial contrast to what Marcus encountered off Coffs yesterday - at least as far as conditions went - Andrew McClennan had his boat Black Max out off Ballina yesterday, and instead of the lousy water and unforecast strong wind that Hemingway had to contend with down here, encountered very light wind, glass-off conditions at times, and had good blue water up to about 25.5C into the bargain. The trouble was that they also couldn't find much to get excited about in a marlin free ocean.
There was no current, which was no surprise given the satellite and argo charts showing it having been hijacked to the north, and there were scumlines confirming the lack of water dynamics around the edge of the shelf.
What they did find as one of the photos below shows, was good surface bait being slammed by striped tuna. If you're out there when this is happening and there aren't any blue marlin around, then you know it's just not your day. If there had been decent current flow in these otherwise impressive conditions off Ballina, Andrew and his crew would probably have had blue marlin leaping in the boat.
Another boat in the area reported free jumpers - almost certainly striped marlin - but nobody hooked up any billfish... bad luck Andrew... but at least it was a nice day out on the shelf...
The weekend forecasts are a bit iffy, but Sunday and Monday may offer hope if the current breaks through and the water on the top of the shelf cleans up off Coffs - although it looks more likely that such development is still a few days away at least.
There was no current, which was no surprise given the satellite and argo charts showing it having been hijacked to the north, and there were scumlines confirming the lack of water dynamics around the edge of the shelf.
What they did find as one of the photos below shows, was good surface bait being slammed by striped tuna. If you're out there when this is happening and there aren't any blue marlin around, then you know it's just not your day. If there had been decent current flow in these otherwise impressive conditions off Ballina, Andrew and his crew would probably have had blue marlin leaping in the boat.
Another boat in the area reported free jumpers - almost certainly striped marlin - but nobody hooked up any billfish... bad luck Andrew... but at least it was a nice day out on the shelf...
The weekend forecasts are a bit iffy, but Sunday and Monday may offer hope if the current breaks through and the water on the top of the shelf cleans up off Coffs - although it looks more likely that such development is still a few days away at least.
Thursday, 3rd November
It was a shock to drive to the marina and see the colour of the water along the beach and stretching out to the horizon between the coast and SSI today! Excluding floodwater, the colour of the ocean off Coffs Harbour is the foulest dark green you can imagine. Something really bad is going on, and hopefully it's only going to be short-lived... But until we get good flow from the EAC back along the shelf, it's unlikely that this green muck on the top of the shelf will be going anywhere in a hurry.
Hemingway is out fishing today, and skipper Marcus Blackwell says the good water doesn't start until 200fa, where the water temp is 23.5C, and the ocean is... totally empty!
There is scattered bait in 70fa, and birds are working that stretch along the top of the shelf, but so far, the Hemingway boys still haven't seen a marlin, just reinforcing the fact that based on the local game fishing results since September, this is definitely an abysmal start to our summer fishing season.
Hemingway is out fishing today, and skipper Marcus Blackwell says the good water doesn't start until 200fa, where the water temp is 23.5C, and the ocean is... totally empty!
There is scattered bait in 70fa, and birds are working that stretch along the top of the shelf, but so far, the Hemingway boys still haven't seen a marlin, just reinforcing the fact that based on the local game fishing results since September, this is definitely an abysmal start to our summer fishing season.
Wednesday, 2nd November
Groundhog Day...
Here we go again... the ocean temperature off the NSW north coast rises above 24C and immediately, a powerful (but fortunately smallish for now) downwelling eddy is generated right off Coffs Harbour. Similarly, a companion downwelling eddy has formed off the Gold Coast, and the effect of the latter has been to completely cut off the EAC up around the border. So consequently, the only flow along the coast here now is an induced flow of mid-Tasman Sea water from out to our southeast being driven up by the first eddy, around, and then down the edge of the shelf off Coffs - it looks like the EAC if you're out there, but it isn't.
With any luck, it might bring a flush of striped marlin up from mid-Tasman, particularly if the huge quantities of bait seen here in the last week stay around... and out wide, there might even be a TYF or two. The chances of any blue marlin in that lot are pretty slim though, at least until the two controlling eddies to our north and east drift away or weaken enough to allow the EAC to start to flow down from Queensland again.
Mind you, this is very similar to the eddy and false current situation we had in November 2015 that brought us the hot striped marlin bite, so there's probably an even chance that we should expect more of the same from tomorrow onwards is only the weather stabilises...
Here we go again... the ocean temperature off the NSW north coast rises above 24C and immediately, a powerful (but fortunately smallish for now) downwelling eddy is generated right off Coffs Harbour. Similarly, a companion downwelling eddy has formed off the Gold Coast, and the effect of the latter has been to completely cut off the EAC up around the border. So consequently, the only flow along the coast here now is an induced flow of mid-Tasman Sea water from out to our southeast being driven up by the first eddy, around, and then down the edge of the shelf off Coffs - it looks like the EAC if you're out there, but it isn't.
With any luck, it might bring a flush of striped marlin up from mid-Tasman, particularly if the huge quantities of bait seen here in the last week stay around... and out wide, there might even be a TYF or two. The chances of any blue marlin in that lot are pretty slim though, at least until the two controlling eddies to our north and east drift away or weaken enough to allow the EAC to start to flow down from Queensland again.
Mind you, this is very similar to the eddy and false current situation we had in November 2015 that brought us the hot striped marlin bite, so there's probably an even chance that we should expect more of the same from tomorrow onwards is only the weather stabilises...
Tuesday, 1st November
And so another week starts with game fishermen having trouble getting excited about the forecasts... but hoping for better news.
Today started off with a pretty good forecast; however, when Better than Vegas decided to go have a look, they ended up turning around and were back at the marina just after lunch. It was lumpy, wet, and the southeast wind blew harder than forecast, making it altogether pretty miserable out there.
The good news was that there's lashings of good marlin candy out on top of the shelf, with a lot of surface bait to attract the billfish - the photo on the left is a shot from Vegas' sounder out in Marlin Alley, and if this bait holds and the water quality doesn't go to hell, then you've got to believe that it will be a pretty hot striped marlin magnet later this week.
But when is this awful weather cycle going to break...?
Thursday looks like a possibility, and while it's still not very encouraging, Saturday's forecast has been getting incrementally better as the week goes on.
Today's line of cells passed over Coffs dumping a fair bit of rain, but not as much as yesterday, when one CB cell beat up the airport with a 61-knot microburst, while just up the beach at the marina, it produced a monsoonal downpour for long enough to drain the batteries of boats without self-draining cockpits and no shore power... not to mention flooded the Marlin Bar, fortunately not damaging any of the beer dispensing equipment in the process.
Meanwhile, Fijian lure maker and erstwhile Gold Coast game fisherman Aaron Jennings went out with some mates off Fraser, and although they couldn't raise one of the blues that have been cropping up there all week, they got into the wahoo action as soon as they threw a jetted lure out the back and pushed the speed up to 15 knots - the result is shown in the photo below.
On a side note, Aaron is selling a couple of near new condition Beastmaster 80/130 big game reels. Anyone familiar with Beastmasters needs no more information other than the fact that these sought after reels have recently been serviced, have the full carbon fibre replacement drag system installed, and come with near new 130lb dacron with 130lb mono topshots. Anyone interested in these iconic Shimano game reels can get in touch with Aaron at [email protected] to discuss.
Today started off with a pretty good forecast; however, when Better than Vegas decided to go have a look, they ended up turning around and were back at the marina just after lunch. It was lumpy, wet, and the southeast wind blew harder than forecast, making it altogether pretty miserable out there.
The good news was that there's lashings of good marlin candy out on top of the shelf, with a lot of surface bait to attract the billfish - the photo on the left is a shot from Vegas' sounder out in Marlin Alley, and if this bait holds and the water quality doesn't go to hell, then you've got to believe that it will be a pretty hot striped marlin magnet later this week.
But when is this awful weather cycle going to break...?
Thursday looks like a possibility, and while it's still not very encouraging, Saturday's forecast has been getting incrementally better as the week goes on.
Today's line of cells passed over Coffs dumping a fair bit of rain, but not as much as yesterday, when one CB cell beat up the airport with a 61-knot microburst, while just up the beach at the marina, it produced a monsoonal downpour for long enough to drain the batteries of boats without self-draining cockpits and no shore power... not to mention flooded the Marlin Bar, fortunately not damaging any of the beer dispensing equipment in the process.
Meanwhile, Fijian lure maker and erstwhile Gold Coast game fisherman Aaron Jennings went out with some mates off Fraser, and although they couldn't raise one of the blues that have been cropping up there all week, they got into the wahoo action as soon as they threw a jetted lure out the back and pushed the speed up to 15 knots - the result is shown in the photo below.
On a side note, Aaron is selling a couple of near new condition Beastmaster 80/130 big game reels. Anyone familiar with Beastmasters needs no more information other than the fact that these sought after reels have recently been serviced, have the full carbon fibre replacement drag system installed, and come with near new 130lb dacron with 130lb mono topshots. Anyone interested in these iconic Shimano game reels can get in touch with Aaron at [email protected] to discuss.
Sunday, 30th October
With 30g40kts out of the north today - it was a real mess out there - and up to 30kts forecast for tomorrow, the sad fact is that it's all too likely that the water will roll over, the cold green rubbish return, and the bait disperse before this eases. However, if the current prevails and keeps pushing blue water in despite the effects of the northerlies, then there may be a chance that the weather will improve and present game fishermen with a chance to find out if yesterday's marlin was just a lucky break, or if it's the long-delayed start of the summer bite... hopefully, the latter.
Saturday, 29th October
Another day, another (near) empty ocean. After spending most of the day looking for marlin in what appeared to be significantly better, but ultimately dead conditions out wide, both Black N Blue and Better than Vegas hadn't even seen a pelagic of any sort when Vegas hooked up an 80kg model striped marlin on the way back in towards Coffs.
Skipper Pete English found bait balled up along the north half of Marlin Alley, and then found the reason it was all up - striped marlin!
Angler Mark Cunningham did the hard work on 24kg gear, and that was that.
The number of times we all drive over Marlin Alley with our eyes set on the horizon and the deep blue, only to find that the fish were back there in the shallow stuff at the top of the shelf all along is the stuff of many sad tales over a beer at the end of the day, and I'd be as guilty of that as anyone.
This would always be a newsworthy event of course, but the fact that we're almost into summer, and this is only the third marlin to have been raised off Coffs since last summer's season ended makes this a more momentous occasion.
Hopefully, it's the beginning of the end of the worst spring marlin season anyone can remember... roll on November.
Well done team Vegas!
There pic below is a shot of the balled up bait where the marlin was caught taken from Black N Blue's ritzy new Furuno chirp sounder.. sensational detail! ... And that's a marlin magnet bait ball - bait from the bottom to 8 fathoms, and you can see holes in the bait where it would be a good guess that predators have been blasting in. There's even one return there that I could be forgiven for thinking looks a hell of a lot like a marlin cruising around.
Skipper Pete English found bait balled up along the north half of Marlin Alley, and then found the reason it was all up - striped marlin!
Angler Mark Cunningham did the hard work on 24kg gear, and that was that.
The number of times we all drive over Marlin Alley with our eyes set on the horizon and the deep blue, only to find that the fish were back there in the shallow stuff at the top of the shelf all along is the stuff of many sad tales over a beer at the end of the day, and I'd be as guilty of that as anyone.
This would always be a newsworthy event of course, but the fact that we're almost into summer, and this is only the third marlin to have been raised off Coffs since last summer's season ended makes this a more momentous occasion.
Hopefully, it's the beginning of the end of the worst spring marlin season anyone can remember... roll on November.
Well done team Vegas!
There pic below is a shot of the balled up bait where the marlin was caught taken from Black N Blue's ritzy new Furuno chirp sounder.. sensational detail! ... And that's a marlin magnet bait ball - bait from the bottom to 8 fathoms, and you can see holes in the bait where it would be a good guess that predators have been blasting in. There's even one return there that I could be forgiven for thinking looks a hell of a lot like a marlin cruising around.
Friday, 28th October
Beached... !! Every game fishing skipper's worst scenario... one of the best forecasts for weeks, and definitely the best Saturday forecast for months, and the boat stays tied up in the marina because... no crew. Very much a problem unique to Coffs Harbour in my experience.
Good luck to those boats fishing tomorrow - the 24C water and fresh current flow have been present off the Solitary Coast now for over 48 hours, and conditions are probably changing pretty fast out there. There was nothing at all offshore yesterday, but even 24 hours is a long time at this time of year when the dynamics are all coming together, so if there's bait, birds, and other pelagic action out there when there first boats hit the edge of the shelf tomorrow morning, there's no telling what they'll find... bonanza, or bust?
Good luck to those boats fishing tomorrow - the 24C water and fresh current flow have been present off the Solitary Coast now for over 48 hours, and conditions are probably changing pretty fast out there. There was nothing at all offshore yesterday, but even 24 hours is a long time at this time of year when the dynamics are all coming together, so if there's bait, birds, and other pelagic action out there when there first boats hit the edge of the shelf tomorrow morning, there's no telling what they'll find... bonanza, or bust?
Thursday, 27th October
It was one of those anticlimactic days - lots of promise, good forecast, some top boats out looking for action.... but nothing. The EAC has brought good water at 24C down the northern NSW coast, and while it hasn't turned marlin blue yet, it's doing a fine job of pushing all the old green stuff out.
But that whole ocean was dead today, with very few birds working, no signs of any serious bait on the sounder, only a few dolphins, and not even a single mahimahi around anything floating.
Black N Blue, Better than Vegas, and Matador all worked different areas from the Sawtell Canyons to the Narrows, out wide to 1000fa, and in close to 25fa, but it was empty.
Maybe it just needs a couple more days to get the old water far enough away that the marlin will start to move, but it will take a bit more life out there to tempt them. At least Vegas ran into some striped tuna, and when they start snapping at the swivels on your rigs, it's usually not long before the marlin follow them into the area.
Let's hope that happens by Saturday, when a fairly large contingent of frustrated game fishermen will be out there trying to prove that our marlin drought has finally ended!
While there weren't any marlin, at least there were whales, and outside the harbour, this big humpback put on a great show for us on the way home, proving once again that you're never quite sure of what you'll run over out there.
But that whole ocean was dead today, with very few birds working, no signs of any serious bait on the sounder, only a few dolphins, and not even a single mahimahi around anything floating.
Black N Blue, Better than Vegas, and Matador all worked different areas from the Sawtell Canyons to the Narrows, out wide to 1000fa, and in close to 25fa, but it was empty.
Maybe it just needs a couple more days to get the old water far enough away that the marlin will start to move, but it will take a bit more life out there to tempt them. At least Vegas ran into some striped tuna, and when they start snapping at the swivels on your rigs, it's usually not long before the marlin follow them into the area.
Let's hope that happens by Saturday, when a fairly large contingent of frustrated game fishermen will be out there trying to prove that our marlin drought has finally ended!
While there weren't any marlin, at least there were whales, and outside the harbour, this big humpback put on a great show for us on the way home, proving once again that you're never quite sure of what you'll run over out there.
Tuesday, 25th October
It might all go to hell between now and the latter half of the week, but an optimist would say that things are really looking up...
The FishTrack cloud free north coast plot (screenshot on the left) looks very encouraging, with 25.5C water off the Gold Coast, and the EAC flowing strongly enough to move that water down the NSW north coast over the next couple of days. And the icing on the cake is the forecast lineup, which indicates that conditions this week might be fishable at least on alternate days, with Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday conditions most favourable for game fishing.
This warm water just north of the border has produced some very good blue and striped marlin encounters for boats fishing off Fraser Island this past week, and reports from just north of the border are also indicating that marlin are moving south with this push of water. If the cold green water off the Coffs Coast finally moves out ahead of this new pulse of marlin water, then we might finally see some serious action here.
Both Better than Vegas and Black N Blue will be out hoping to find real water and real fish this week, and there's no doubt that local anglers will be waiting to hear positive news from these two boats. Other boats are also planning outings later in the week, including Foreign Exchange.
Speaking of Black N Blue, I mentioned earlier this year that team BnB was awarded the prestigious Geoff Wooley Trophy for the most meritorious tag and release achievement by an adult angler in Australian waters. This award was based on a grand slam caught by Gerrard Billings fishing from BnB last season with skipper Rob Lang. Awards like this are good news for the local fishery, local clubs, and for any game fishing team, and both Rob and Gerrard are to be congratulated!
The FishTrack cloud free north coast plot (screenshot on the left) looks very encouraging, with 25.5C water off the Gold Coast, and the EAC flowing strongly enough to move that water down the NSW north coast over the next couple of days. And the icing on the cake is the forecast lineup, which indicates that conditions this week might be fishable at least on alternate days, with Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday conditions most favourable for game fishing.
This warm water just north of the border has produced some very good blue and striped marlin encounters for boats fishing off Fraser Island this past week, and reports from just north of the border are also indicating that marlin are moving south with this push of water. If the cold green water off the Coffs Coast finally moves out ahead of this new pulse of marlin water, then we might finally see some serious action here.
Both Better than Vegas and Black N Blue will be out hoping to find real water and real fish this week, and there's no doubt that local anglers will be waiting to hear positive news from these two boats. Other boats are also planning outings later in the week, including Foreign Exchange.
Speaking of Black N Blue, I mentioned earlier this year that team BnB was awarded the prestigious Geoff Wooley Trophy for the most meritorious tag and release achievement by an adult angler in Australian waters. This award was based on a grand slam caught by Gerrard Billings fishing from BnB last season with skipper Rob Lang. Awards like this are good news for the local fishery, local clubs, and for any game fishing team, and both Rob and Gerrard are to be congratulated!
Monday, 24th October
Drop dead gorgeous walking along the beach at sunset today.... only a light easterly, and huge schools of whitebait every few hundred yards along the beach, with small pelagics (Tailor, Salmon...?) chopping into them from below, and hundreds of birds diving into them from above. No doubt sharks below that lot too. Any surfer out late in the day with all that shark candy out there would be truly insane.
And it was happening for miles in any direction - once you got up onto a headland, you could see it everywhere. Which means of course that there's probably more bait out wide, and if only the current and the water would get sorted out, and if only these strong winds would back off for a few days, there would have to marlin somewhere out there in the mix.
And it was happening for miles in any direction - once you got up onto a headland, you could see it everywhere. Which means of course that there's probably more bait out wide, and if only the current and the water would get sorted out, and if only these strong winds would back off for a few days, there would have to marlin somewhere out there in the mix.
Saturday, 22nd October
The first big 30-knot gust of wind at 0600 this morning blew my bedroom blind around and reminded me why we weren't fishing today. This nasty northerly has been in the forecast for over a week, but with no sign of willingness to postpone scheduled competition fishing to a better day, there's clearly not much local motivation to go club fishing in good conditions, even though with 5 Saturdays this month, the 29th looks like it might have been a day for a timely reschedule.
Another opportunity lost for some... ? However for those keen to fish, the forecast suggests we might get a day out fishing the Midweek Competition later next week, and then if the Saturday forecast holds up, that could give us another shot on the weekend. That said though, the local weather has been so abysmal recently that even a good forecast isn't worth planning on until the day before.
Despite the poor conditions since the start of the season, the arrival of the blue marlin can't be too far away, and that's a good time to start thinking about the teamwork involved in getting one of these magnificent fish beside the boat, tagged, and released in good health. One of the most important tasks involved in achieving this outcome is that of the Wireman, and for those readers keen to benefit from the thoughts of a world class expert on the correct techniques involved in this critical game fishing skill, there's an excellent 2014 article from Marlin Magazine that was written by one of the best wiremen in the business reproduced on the Game Fishing pages of this website. Just click on this link to be taken straight to Captain Charles Perry's great article.
Another opportunity lost for some... ? However for those keen to fish, the forecast suggests we might get a day out fishing the Midweek Competition later next week, and then if the Saturday forecast holds up, that could give us another shot on the weekend. That said though, the local weather has been so abysmal recently that even a good forecast isn't worth planning on until the day before.
Despite the poor conditions since the start of the season, the arrival of the blue marlin can't be too far away, and that's a good time to start thinking about the teamwork involved in getting one of these magnificent fish beside the boat, tagged, and released in good health. One of the most important tasks involved in achieving this outcome is that of the Wireman, and for those readers keen to benefit from the thoughts of a world class expert on the correct techniques involved in this critical game fishing skill, there's an excellent 2014 article from Marlin Magazine that was written by one of the best wiremen in the business reproduced on the Game Fishing pages of this website. Just click on this link to be taken straight to Captain Charles Perry's great article.
Friday, 21st October
Oh wonderful... another screeching northerly! 25g35 from the north again this afternoon, and it's forecast to blow through tomorrow, trashing any chance of fishing. On top of that, the EAC has been cut off again, so that makes it a pretty safe bet that the water out there is going to be rolled over, and will possibly go dark green and cold again before it eases off. Then there's another southerly due later in the weekend, followed by another northerly later next week.
This sure makes the fishing tough, but in fairness, it seems they're doing it tough everywhere, with the bite going cold again on the Gold Coast, and even up on the Reef, the big black marlin are almost completely missing in action, with just smaller males being caught, and then not in big numbers.
This is shaping up as one of the worst starts to the local marlin season for some years, but there's nothing anyone can do except to keep their ear to the grapevine, and get out there as soon as the fish arrive.
If you've forgotten what a red hot marlin bite looks like, give yourself 20 minutes to watch this sensational Ultimate Lady video... make sure you've got a handkerchief with you, because if watching them tag all the fish from a 5-fish simultaneous striped marlin hookup to go 22/22/20 in one day doesn't bring a tear to your eye, then the loss to a shark of the largest black marlin I've ever seen will for sure. See it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc4Wnm7ZdQ&feature=em-share_video_user.
Meanwhile, keep the faith... our season will eventually get some momentum going, but it sure doesn't look like we're going to see any real action in October at this rate...
This sure makes the fishing tough, but in fairness, it seems they're doing it tough everywhere, with the bite going cold again on the Gold Coast, and even up on the Reef, the big black marlin are almost completely missing in action, with just smaller males being caught, and then not in big numbers.
This is shaping up as one of the worst starts to the local marlin season for some years, but there's nothing anyone can do except to keep their ear to the grapevine, and get out there as soon as the fish arrive.
If you've forgotten what a red hot marlin bite looks like, give yourself 20 minutes to watch this sensational Ultimate Lady video... make sure you've got a handkerchief with you, because if watching them tag all the fish from a 5-fish simultaneous striped marlin hookup to go 22/22/20 in one day doesn't bring a tear to your eye, then the loss to a shark of the largest black marlin I've ever seen will for sure. See it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCc4Wnm7ZdQ&feature=em-share_video_user.
Meanwhile, keep the faith... our season will eventually get some momentum going, but it sure doesn't look like we're going to see any real action in October at this rate...
Wednesday, 19th October
I was reminded today that this October has 5 Saturdays, 5 Sundays, and 5 Mondays, and that it happens this way only once every 823 years. As far as the Chinese go, this is Feng Shui on steroids, and is about as lucky as it can get... maybe time to buy that Lotto ticket! Clearly, nobody told the weather Gods about this though, because despite having 5 Saturdays in the month, it's been a struggle finding one that hasn't been blown out or swamped in nasty green water all the way to 2000 fathoms of very empty ocean.
Yesterday, the FishTrack plots showed the EAC sputtering back to life and some clean water pushing into the northeast corner of the Solitary Coast, and today that new water appeared out off SSI according to a live report. Warmer, bluer, and altogether pretty "fishy" according to those that were out there and saw it, but there hasn't been any attempt to spend the day looking for marlin in it yet. Of course, this weekend would have been the perfect time to do just that, but with some pretty nasty winds forecast, the only really good looking day in the frame at the moment is Tuesday, which could well be the first day of the Solitary Islands Midweek "Gumball" comp if the forecast stays on track.
I've got some Canadian marine biologists staying at North Sapphire for the next couple of weeks, and it will be interesting to see what they think of our local conditions. These folks spend most of their time dealing with Salmon, Halibut Grey Whales, Orca, and the (really, really cold) Alaskan Current, so this is going to blow their minds if the weather comes good and we get them out there with a blue marlin in their face.
Yesterday, the FishTrack plots showed the EAC sputtering back to life and some clean water pushing into the northeast corner of the Solitary Coast, and today that new water appeared out off SSI according to a live report. Warmer, bluer, and altogether pretty "fishy" according to those that were out there and saw it, but there hasn't been any attempt to spend the day looking for marlin in it yet. Of course, this weekend would have been the perfect time to do just that, but with some pretty nasty winds forecast, the only really good looking day in the frame at the moment is Tuesday, which could well be the first day of the Solitary Islands Midweek "Gumball" comp if the forecast stays on track.
I've got some Canadian marine biologists staying at North Sapphire for the next couple of weeks, and it will be interesting to see what they think of our local conditions. These folks spend most of their time dealing with Salmon, Halibut Grey Whales, Orca, and the (really, really cold) Alaskan Current, so this is going to blow their minds if the weather comes good and we get them out there with a blue marlin in their face.
Sunday, 16th October
Black N Blue tried hard yesterday, but after spending a day in the Coffs Coast "Deadpool" of horrible, green, cold water, the only conclusion to draw is that we're looking at an extended period of very poor fishing conditions which have gone on since the start of spring and aren't showing any sign of retreating. One striped marlin has been tagged in this time and a few seen, and that's simply lousy fishing given the number of hours that local boats have put in out on the edge of the shelf.
There's bait out there, so there's certainly enough food to keep marlin here, but they've got to get here first, and that's not happening. Without the right current setup, there's no clear, warm water flowing down the shelf and we probably should't expect to see any action to speak of until that changes. There's a bite - albeit pretty quiet - up on the Gold Coast, and yesterday's comp day down at Port Macquarie yielded more nice yellowfin tuna. But here there's simply nothing. The EAC has stopped flowing, and the northwards movement of colder Tasman water with the YFT in it isn't making it past Port, so we're stuck in the middle with lousy water and no gamefish.
Black N Blue went down to the south looking for signs of the water and YFT that they've got off Port, but despite finding good bait along the way, saw nothing but birds on the top, with no pelagics underneath. And just to show that the fishing gods have a cruel sense of humour, after droning around all day without seeing a marlin, as BnB passed the vicinity of the wave recorder on the way home, the short rigger went off with a bang, the rod bent right over, everyone got excited... and... just as the adrenalin started to kick in, they discovered that they'd snagged a 15ft semi submerged log! Lucky it didn't go through those newly reconditioned propellors, unlucky that this was the high point of their day...
After a pretty dismal early long-range forecast for next Saturday's SIGFC competition day, the models are starting to show a possible improvement, and it's gone from an unfishable northerly blow to something that may work out for anglers. But if this water is still out there come Saturday, it will take a pretty brave optimist to defy the evidence and burn diesel without a substantial change in ocean conditions.
Meanwhile, the E-finger down at the marina has a new resident - Rob Glover's recently purchased Dominator. It's always good to see a new addition to the local game fishing fleet, particularly a big boat like this with a good game fishing history behind it.
There's bait out there, so there's certainly enough food to keep marlin here, but they've got to get here first, and that's not happening. Without the right current setup, there's no clear, warm water flowing down the shelf and we probably should't expect to see any action to speak of until that changes. There's a bite - albeit pretty quiet - up on the Gold Coast, and yesterday's comp day down at Port Macquarie yielded more nice yellowfin tuna. But here there's simply nothing. The EAC has stopped flowing, and the northwards movement of colder Tasman water with the YFT in it isn't making it past Port, so we're stuck in the middle with lousy water and no gamefish.
Black N Blue went down to the south looking for signs of the water and YFT that they've got off Port, but despite finding good bait along the way, saw nothing but birds on the top, with no pelagics underneath. And just to show that the fishing gods have a cruel sense of humour, after droning around all day without seeing a marlin, as BnB passed the vicinity of the wave recorder on the way home, the short rigger went off with a bang, the rod bent right over, everyone got excited... and... just as the adrenalin started to kick in, they discovered that they'd snagged a 15ft semi submerged log! Lucky it didn't go through those newly reconditioned propellors, unlucky that this was the high point of their day...
After a pretty dismal early long-range forecast for next Saturday's SIGFC competition day, the models are starting to show a possible improvement, and it's gone from an unfishable northerly blow to something that may work out for anglers. But if this water is still out there come Saturday, it will take a pretty brave optimist to defy the evidence and burn diesel without a substantial change in ocean conditions.
Meanwhile, the E-finger down at the marina has a new resident - Rob Glover's recently purchased Dominator. It's always good to see a new addition to the local game fishing fleet, particularly a big boat like this with a good game fishing history behind it.
Saturday, 15th October
There's a hot TV show on Netflix called "Deadpool". The name is used for a superhero style of Marvel character, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with game fishing... However, when I was flipping through the Netflix lineup last night, the name came up and reminded me of our situation here off the NSW north coast, where we have what is fittingly described as an ocean Deadpool right off Coffs Harbour.
The way the Tasman water conditions have set up, we seem to be getting a pileup of old dirty water pressed up against the coast here as the latest false colour FishTrack image on the left shows in depressing detail.
Even though there might be clear cool water out wide, and even though it may have a lot of tuna in it, it's 27nm out to the edge of the "Deadpool" as you can see from this north coast image, and even though that would be reachable in average surface conditions and today's light winds, yesterday's southerly has left too much nasty slop out wide to make it a smooth trip.
So... nothing much else to do other than load up with slimys and go and see if there are any striped marlin out in Marlin Alley. Normally, that would be a great idea, and last year around this time, it made for a really great day with a lot action from the stripes. But on the face of it, this water has a fair way to go up the scale before even the stripes are going to want to play in it.
Always optimistic, and in need of a marlin fix, Rob Lang and the Black N Blue team are out there today trying to do just that... stay tuned for a report.
The way the Tasman water conditions have set up, we seem to be getting a pileup of old dirty water pressed up against the coast here as the latest false colour FishTrack image on the left shows in depressing detail.
Even though there might be clear cool water out wide, and even though it may have a lot of tuna in it, it's 27nm out to the edge of the "Deadpool" as you can see from this north coast image, and even though that would be reachable in average surface conditions and today's light winds, yesterday's southerly has left too much nasty slop out wide to make it a smooth trip.
So... nothing much else to do other than load up with slimys and go and see if there are any striped marlin out in Marlin Alley. Normally, that would be a great idea, and last year around this time, it made for a really great day with a lot action from the stripes. But on the face of it, this water has a fair way to go up the scale before even the stripes are going to want to play in it.
Always optimistic, and in need of a marlin fix, Rob Lang and the Black N Blue team are out there today trying to do just that... stay tuned for a report.
Thursday, 13th October
If it's to be believed, the latest plot of satellite and argo float current data from FishTrack shown at the left is pretty uninspiring. A strong downwelling eddy off SWR is controlling the flow along the north coast of NSW and this system is bringing cool Tasman Sea water up from the southeast, swinging it around abeam Yamba, and then pushing it down the edge of the continental shelf from our northeast. While there's every reason to hope that this could be the source of a good YFT bite here, we saw a lot of this happen last summer, and the number of big yellowfin these conditions brought to our coast could be counted on the fingers of one hand, so it's hard to get your hopes up until someone gets out there and actually finds tuna.
Saturday looks like the only calm weather opportunity to do that between these alternating strong northerlies and southerlies, so no doubt we'll see a few of the usual suspects out there trying their luck. Let's hope they hit the jackpot like those blokes in Port did last weekend.
Of course, if you were a glass-half-full kind of angler, you might hope that it could even kick off a good striped marlin bite along the lines of what we found out there last October under similar conditions.
This is an all too familiar eddy pattern that we saw too much of during the first half of summer last year, and as you can see it doing in the chart, these offshore downwelling eddies also cut off the EAC for extended periods, leaving us with a weak marlin bite that we were all no doubt hoping to be able to forget this year... let's hope we can.
Saturday looks like the only calm weather opportunity to do that between these alternating strong northerlies and southerlies, so no doubt we'll see a few of the usual suspects out there trying their luck. Let's hope they hit the jackpot like those blokes in Port did last weekend.
Of course, if you were a glass-half-full kind of angler, you might hope that it could even kick off a good striped marlin bite along the lines of what we found out there last October under similar conditions.
This is an all too familiar eddy pattern that we saw too much of during the first half of summer last year, and as you can see it doing in the chart, these offshore downwelling eddies also cut off the EAC for extended periods, leaving us with a weak marlin bite that we were all no doubt hoping to be able to forget this year... let's hope we can.
Tuesday, 11th October
No letup... a 30-knot northerly yesterday, a 30-knot southerly today... we're all confused, including the marlin.
It gets pretty anticlimactic sitting waiting for this weather pattern to break and the blue water and big pelagics to drift into the Solitaries...
So, after the boat is all ready, the gear is all ready, and you've checked out all the latest Hunter Ledbetter "How to..." slideshows on Fishtrack, it's just a matter of waiting. One of the best kept secrets in the industry is where Hunter manages to get crew like that???. With friends like the ones that feature in all his productions, even bottom bashing looks good and takes on a whole new meaning...
Of course, when things are this slow, you could always mow the lawn or paint the deckchairs, but that would be cheating during marlin season.
Meanwhile, up at the Lizard Island tournament, ex-Coffs Harbour game fisherman George Blackwell, crewing on Bill Billson's Viking II featured in the news with a double involving an 800lb black marlin. Not the sort of "double" you might expect, but just the one fish that swallowed two baits, and ended up with two anglers hooked up, George being one. Nice fish to be attached to, shame about having to wear the self-disqualification, but good work nevertheless. The fish ended up with a satellite tag in it, so no doubt we'll hear more of the adventures of this big female in the future.
It gets pretty anticlimactic sitting waiting for this weather pattern to break and the blue water and big pelagics to drift into the Solitaries...
So, after the boat is all ready, the gear is all ready, and you've checked out all the latest Hunter Ledbetter "How to..." slideshows on Fishtrack, it's just a matter of waiting. One of the best kept secrets in the industry is where Hunter manages to get crew like that???. With friends like the ones that feature in all his productions, even bottom bashing looks good and takes on a whole new meaning...
Of course, when things are this slow, you could always mow the lawn or paint the deckchairs, but that would be cheating during marlin season.
Meanwhile, up at the Lizard Island tournament, ex-Coffs Harbour game fisherman George Blackwell, crewing on Bill Billson's Viking II featured in the news with a double involving an 800lb black marlin. Not the sort of "double" you might expect, but just the one fish that swallowed two baits, and ended up with two anglers hooked up, George being one. Nice fish to be attached to, shame about having to wear the self-disqualification, but good work nevertheless. The fish ended up with a satellite tag in it, so no doubt we'll hear more of the adventures of this big female in the future.
Monday, 10th October.
Here we go again... another 30-knot northerly to keep the water turning over, black, and cold up on the continental shelf off the Coffs Coast. With another - even stronger - northerly forecast for later in the week, the cycle still hasn't been broken, so the impact on local game fishing is likely to be all negative for the week ahead.
At least you can probably say with some confidence that when this breaks and the warm blue water finally rolls down the edge of the shelf, all hell's likely to break loose...
At least you can probably say with some confidence that when this breaks and the warm blue water finally rolls down the edge of the shelf, all hell's likely to break loose...
Sunday, 9th October
Thank God....!! With a stone cold bite having set in along the northern NSW and southern Queensland coast and nothing but bad news filling the blogs, suddenly, some huge YFT have turned up off Port Macquarie to give game fishermen up and down the coast a much needed shot of positive news.
The fish in this photo were caught off Port today, and angler Ross from Taree hasn't even had a chance to weigh them, but unless he's a midget, or they're using a trick lens on the camera, this fish has to go well over 75kg!
So... something's lurking in that cold ocean, and it was probably likely to be big tuna if anything, and these boys from Port picked it right, and found the fish..well done guys!
The fish in this photo were caught off Port today, and angler Ross from Taree hasn't even had a chance to weigh them, but unless he's a midget, or they're using a trick lens on the camera, this fish has to go well over 75kg!
So... something's lurking in that cold ocean, and it was probably likely to be big tuna if anything, and these boys from Port picked it right, and found the fish..well done guys!
Saturday, 8th October
Good luck to anyone fishing today's SIGFC competition day. The forecasts are looking fairly positive, and if you can find a marlin in that empty piece of water out there, you deserve all the praise you get, and then some!
The photo on the left was taken by a drone off the Gold Coast the other day, and shows Queensland gamefish lure maker Aaron Jennings' boat zipping along off Surfers while out chasing marlin. The drone was launched from the boat, and was being flown by one of the occupants, eventually being landed back on the boat. This is the way of the future for game fishing videos, but with the cost of these toys being upwards of $1000 for one with good controls, a good 4K video camera, and battery life long enough to make sense when there's only a small boat and a lot of water to land on, it may be a while before these things are commonplace out on game boats.
Speaking of Aaron Jennings, the photo below is of just some of the lures he's made for the Solitary Islands Midweek Competition daily winners. Aaron's company, Jennings Gamefish Lures is the primary sponsor of the Midweek Competition. These lures are gorgeous examples of his work, and range from the big 16-inch blue marlin plunger at the bottom of the photo, to the noisy little 10-inch cutface redeye at the top. The winner of each of the 10 Midweek comp days will be awarded one of these lures as the season goes on. First of the "Gumball" comps will be held during the last week of October, but you must be signed up to participate.
The photo on the left was taken by a drone off the Gold Coast the other day, and shows Queensland gamefish lure maker Aaron Jennings' boat zipping along off Surfers while out chasing marlin. The drone was launched from the boat, and was being flown by one of the occupants, eventually being landed back on the boat. This is the way of the future for game fishing videos, but with the cost of these toys being upwards of $1000 for one with good controls, a good 4K video camera, and battery life long enough to make sense when there's only a small boat and a lot of water to land on, it may be a while before these things are commonplace out on game boats.
Speaking of Aaron Jennings, the photo below is of just some of the lures he's made for the Solitary Islands Midweek Competition daily winners. Aaron's company, Jennings Gamefish Lures is the primary sponsor of the Midweek Competition. These lures are gorgeous examples of his work, and range from the big 16-inch blue marlin plunger at the bottom of the photo, to the noisy little 10-inch cutface redeye at the top. The winner of each of the 10 Midweek comp days will be awarded one of these lures as the season goes on. First of the "Gumball" comps will be held during the last week of October, but you must be signed up to participate.
Friday, 7th October
Three local boats went looking for action yesterday, but found the game fishing to be completely shut down, which suggests that this is shaping up to be the worst start to the season in memory. Sure... there's no doubt it will fire, and will hopefully do so sooner than later, but with the same persistent northerlies that kept rolling the water over during the start of the 2015/16 season, this is all starting to feel like groundhog day and worse.
The string of northerlies hasn't broken for long enough to give us a week of "normal" weather - whatever that is - that blocks the northerlies and allows the current to flush away the dark green, cold, lifeless stuff that's been sitting along the mid-northern NSW coast for weeks.
Yesterday was more of the same with 19.5C dark green water stretching from the harbour entrance to the deep side of the shelf. Beyond that, the water only got up to 22.8C as far out as Black N Blue went, which was well past the 2000fa contour where the southernly groundswell was really starting to stand up. And it was all lifeless...
On the top of the shelf, Foreign Exchange and Better than Vegas droned around marlin alley with bait tanks full of good slimies ready to chuck at the first sickle tail that appeared, but instead of finding striped marlin in fresh blue water, it was just green and cold wherever we fished. There were areas of bait, a bit of bird and dolphin activity, and for tourists, it was a glamour day, with whales everywhere, light breezes and blue skies, even glassing off at times. But it was devoid of marlin and it never really looked very "fishy".
Later in the day, Rob Lang kept driving over bait ball after bait ball of whitebait in 80fa, and despite a lot of dolphin and bird activity around all this bait, there wasn't a billfish to be seen.
Until this weather pattern changes and the northerly influence that's dominating this area diminishes, it's unlikely that we'll see clean, blue, warm water push in to replace this rubbish that the Ekman effect is holding along our stretch of coast. With another week of alternating north and south winds, that's unlikely to change in the near term, and recent history indicates that the fishing isn't likely to pick up until it does.
A simple summary of the present conditions goes pretty much along the lines - unless you're in the mood for some pleasant whale watching, don't waste the diesel...
The string of northerlies hasn't broken for long enough to give us a week of "normal" weather - whatever that is - that blocks the northerlies and allows the current to flush away the dark green, cold, lifeless stuff that's been sitting along the mid-northern NSW coast for weeks.
Yesterday was more of the same with 19.5C dark green water stretching from the harbour entrance to the deep side of the shelf. Beyond that, the water only got up to 22.8C as far out as Black N Blue went, which was well past the 2000fa contour where the southernly groundswell was really starting to stand up. And it was all lifeless...
On the top of the shelf, Foreign Exchange and Better than Vegas droned around marlin alley with bait tanks full of good slimies ready to chuck at the first sickle tail that appeared, but instead of finding striped marlin in fresh blue water, it was just green and cold wherever we fished. There were areas of bait, a bit of bird and dolphin activity, and for tourists, it was a glamour day, with whales everywhere, light breezes and blue skies, even glassing off at times. But it was devoid of marlin and it never really looked very "fishy".
Later in the day, Rob Lang kept driving over bait ball after bait ball of whitebait in 80fa, and despite a lot of dolphin and bird activity around all this bait, there wasn't a billfish to be seen.
Until this weather pattern changes and the northerly influence that's dominating this area diminishes, it's unlikely that we'll see clean, blue, warm water push in to replace this rubbish that the Ekman effect is holding along our stretch of coast. With another week of alternating north and south winds, that's unlikely to change in the near term, and recent history indicates that the fishing isn't likely to pick up until it does.
A simple summary of the present conditions goes pretty much along the lines - unless you're in the mood for some pleasant whale watching, don't waste the diesel...
Sunday, 2 October
The four frame sequence on the left comes from George Blackwell, who is crewing on Captain Bill Billson's Viking II currently chartering out of Cooktown for the Cairns Black Marlin heavy tackle season. These fantastic shots show the moment that the tag is going into what may very well go down as the biggest black marlin of the 2016 season.
Skipper Bill estimated it at 1200lbs plus, and if that's not a horse of a fish, then I don't know what is...!!!!
This was a hell of a way to start the heavy tackle campaign for the guys on Viking II, and may go down as the biggest fish they'll see in a career of game fishing.
If you know George, ask him what the American charter angler tipped the crew after the reality of this fish sunk in...
Meanwhile, back in Coffs Harbour, yet more northerlies...
A damned shame, because it probably means that despite good flow and 23.8C (so near that magic blue marlin 24C) water in the EAC running down the shelf edge right now, the water has probably been turned over and may not be worth fishing in until the northerlies back off and we get blue water back.
Assuming that happens by midweek though, the coming weekend looks pretty promising for game fishing off the Solitaries, with excellent tides, good moon phase, and afternoon northeasterlies.
Maybe this is it...!!
Skipper Bill estimated it at 1200lbs plus, and if that's not a horse of a fish, then I don't know what is...!!!!
This was a hell of a way to start the heavy tackle campaign for the guys on Viking II, and may go down as the biggest fish they'll see in a career of game fishing.
If you know George, ask him what the American charter angler tipped the crew after the reality of this fish sunk in...
Meanwhile, back in Coffs Harbour, yet more northerlies...
A damned shame, because it probably means that despite good flow and 23.8C (so near that magic blue marlin 24C) water in the EAC running down the shelf edge right now, the water has probably been turned over and may not be worth fishing in until the northerlies back off and we get blue water back.
Assuming that happens by midweek though, the coming weekend looks pretty promising for game fishing off the Solitaries, with excellent tides, good moon phase, and afternoon northeasterlies.
Maybe this is it...!!
Wednesday, 28th September
Today dawned clear and still, and with a cloudless sky that persisted all day, an easterly breeze that barely exceed 10 knots, and a low swell, you'd have to think that will all the blue marlin activity just to our north, that you'd have to b e doing something very wrong not to see a marlin out there.
But Better than Vegas didn't do anything wrong, and they visited all the likely places out on the edge of the shelf, so it sure came as a shock to get a message from skipper Pete English late in the day which summed it all up with the simple observation that it was "Cold, Dirty, Empty and Dead"... with no life all day.
I'm not sure what has to happen here to get things firing, but this is just terrible, and it's been like this for a week at least. I notice that the rest of this week's forecast has several days of strong northerlies, so if that holds, we'll probably get enough of an ongoing Ekman Transport Effect that the water won't clear up in a hurry either.
Meanwhile, here's another bureaucracy gone mad story...
As if the Coffs Harbour Marina and it's tenants aren't having enough problems dealing with the lingering issues of storm damage repairs, northern harbour break wall rebuilding and the loss of our slipway, along come the NSW Maritime stooges to throw up more barriers to the recovery operations. After fitting out an excellent new workboat for marina transport and access ops, Clayton Livingston was advised the other day that this everyday little tinny would now have to be commercially registered and operated by an appropriately licensed helmsman before it could be used for basic marina work. Full safety gear for enclosed waters now required, off to TAFE or a training centre for the licence, and a full procedures manual...etc...etc... just for a little workboat. Fine in principle, and the reality is that the regulations do require this, but when the marina staff are up to their eyeballs in the middle of major works, you'd think that the bureaucrats might have given them a grace period to allow them to get that sort of thing done after the walkway was back in operation and the list of genuinely urgent tasks had been reduced to something manageable.
Meanwhile, they're still having a blue marlin bonanza up on the Gold Coast, and the latest reports indicate that the ugly (empty) black water that greeted boats trying to find marlin over the past few days has dissipated, so it will be interesting to see what the boats that have gone out for a look off Coffs today find.
But Better than Vegas didn't do anything wrong, and they visited all the likely places out on the edge of the shelf, so it sure came as a shock to get a message from skipper Pete English late in the day which summed it all up with the simple observation that it was "Cold, Dirty, Empty and Dead"... with no life all day.
I'm not sure what has to happen here to get things firing, but this is just terrible, and it's been like this for a week at least. I notice that the rest of this week's forecast has several days of strong northerlies, so if that holds, we'll probably get enough of an ongoing Ekman Transport Effect that the water won't clear up in a hurry either.
Meanwhile, here's another bureaucracy gone mad story...
As if the Coffs Harbour Marina and it's tenants aren't having enough problems dealing with the lingering issues of storm damage repairs, northern harbour break wall rebuilding and the loss of our slipway, along come the NSW Maritime stooges to throw up more barriers to the recovery operations. After fitting out an excellent new workboat for marina transport and access ops, Clayton Livingston was advised the other day that this everyday little tinny would now have to be commercially registered and operated by an appropriately licensed helmsman before it could be used for basic marina work. Full safety gear for enclosed waters now required, off to TAFE or a training centre for the licence, and a full procedures manual...etc...etc... just for a little workboat. Fine in principle, and the reality is that the regulations do require this, but when the marina staff are up to their eyeballs in the middle of major works, you'd think that the bureaucrats might have given them a grace period to allow them to get that sort of thing done after the walkway was back in operation and the list of genuinely urgent tasks had been reduced to something manageable.
Meanwhile, they're still having a blue marlin bonanza up on the Gold Coast, and the latest reports indicate that the ugly (empty) black water that greeted boats trying to find marlin over the past few days has dissipated, so it will be interesting to see what the boats that have gone out for a look off Coffs today find.
Tuesday, 27th September
I was sent the following link yesterday, about a big Atlantic Bluefin tuna found floating in the Severn River in the UK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/26/lads-i-caught-some-fin-big-three-friends-find-giant-7ft-tuna-lur/
It was used as an example to illustrate the effects of global climate change, exemplified by the appearance of these fish in places where they never used to be seen before. Mind you, it may have blundered up the Severn chasing a few salmon or whatever, but the 17C water in the Severn Estuary didn't take too long to kill it... so much for climate change.
While this was interesting news, what really got my attention was a short video clip lower down the same page of the UK Telegraph online. This shows a boat off southern California cruising up to a big surface dustup of Pacific bluefin tuna hammering some bait. Again, that in itself wasn't too newsworthy, but the fact that the video was taken by a drone operated by one of the crew on the boat was the real attention getter. You can see the guy with the drone control panel looking up at the machine a couple of times during the tuna encounter while he's both flying the drone, and recoding the video it's beaming down to him.
This is the next wave of innovative game fishing action recording. First it was someone on deck with an old compact video camera, next it was GoPros mounted all over the boat catching all the action, and now it's drones flying around the boat recording everything. These machines are getting cheaper, and with 4K video recording and streaming and semi-autonomous operation, it's only a matter of time before we see a few being used by game boats up and down the coast here. Of course it begs the question... given how hard it is to get enough regular crew members just to catch and fight marlin, how the hell are you going to find yet another spare crew person just to drive a drone?? Still, it's coming...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/26/lads-i-caught-some-fin-big-three-friends-find-giant-7ft-tuna-lur/
It was used as an example to illustrate the effects of global climate change, exemplified by the appearance of these fish in places where they never used to be seen before. Mind you, it may have blundered up the Severn chasing a few salmon or whatever, but the 17C water in the Severn Estuary didn't take too long to kill it... so much for climate change.
While this was interesting news, what really got my attention was a short video clip lower down the same page of the UK Telegraph online. This shows a boat off southern California cruising up to a big surface dustup of Pacific bluefin tuna hammering some bait. Again, that in itself wasn't too newsworthy, but the fact that the video was taken by a drone operated by one of the crew on the boat was the real attention getter. You can see the guy with the drone control panel looking up at the machine a couple of times during the tuna encounter while he's both flying the drone, and recoding the video it's beaming down to him.
This is the next wave of innovative game fishing action recording. First it was someone on deck with an old compact video camera, next it was GoPros mounted all over the boat catching all the action, and now it's drones flying around the boat recording everything. These machines are getting cheaper, and with 4K video recording and streaming and semi-autonomous operation, it's only a matter of time before we see a few being used by game boats up and down the coast here. Of course it begs the question... given how hard it is to get enough regular crew members just to catch and fight marlin, how the hell are you going to find yet another spare crew person just to drive a drone?? Still, it's coming...
Saturday, 24th September
The dawn came clear and blue, and the ocean looked lovely at first light, but it was pretty deceptive. The water colour on the way out to the edge of the shelf was a shocking black/green, and the closer you got to the dropoff, the worse the swell got. The water didn't clear up until 1000fa, but out there where we thought we'd find a lot of YFT activity, it was stone, motherless dead! Not a single blip on the sounder, not a single bird working, and a nasty 4m standup groundswell with a 1m wind chop on top of that.
It was much nicer back on the shelf, but even then, with 6 boats fishing, only one could find a marlin, and that came up early in the day to a live bait being drifted out down around the bottom edge of Marlin Alley.
Pete Mallia was fishing on his own on Sneaky Pete, and did a damned good job of getting that big striped marlin to the boat and tagged, but had to disqualify the fish due to a few of the usual reasons why solo marlin fishing isn't recommended.
Otherwise, there were a couple of reported hits from marlin in the same area from other boats, but it was generally an extremely disappointing day, even for late September.
Foreign Exchange droned around a lot of ocean looking for YFT out in the big groundswell, but found nothing. We did drive up to a large mass of twisted rope, trap floats, and a couple of hundred kilos of gooseneck barnacles on the edge of the shelf, and thought we'd won the jackpot, but there wasn't a single dollie around it.
This sort of mass of old ropes and floats would be a typical Humpback whale calf killer, so we hauled it aboard and brought it back to the marina after Vashy spent the next half hour cutting much of the rope into 1 metre lengths (each with about 10kg of barnacles attached) and throwing it over the side to sink to the bottom. That still left us with a bunch of old floats and a lot of rope to bring back. And so after Goggling up "Gooseneck Barnacles" this morning, I discovered that steamed gooseneck barnacles are considered to be a huge delicacy in France, where they sell for 100 Euros a kilo! Blew that one too!
The fishing can't get any worse here, and once this nasty black water flushes away, there's every reason to believe that the striped marlin fishing should improve out of sight, as there's plenty of live bait in the usual places.
Meanwhile, it's all go only slightly north of us off Yamba, where Scott Klingher and his crew caught a nice blue yesterday (which unfortunately came up tail-wrapped), and on the Gold Coast, the blues are back on the chew where they were a couple of weeks back, with reports of a red hot blue marlin bite, and one boat going 9/4/3. Surely it can't be far away...
It was much nicer back on the shelf, but even then, with 6 boats fishing, only one could find a marlin, and that came up early in the day to a live bait being drifted out down around the bottom edge of Marlin Alley.
Pete Mallia was fishing on his own on Sneaky Pete, and did a damned good job of getting that big striped marlin to the boat and tagged, but had to disqualify the fish due to a few of the usual reasons why solo marlin fishing isn't recommended.
Otherwise, there were a couple of reported hits from marlin in the same area from other boats, but it was generally an extremely disappointing day, even for late September.
Foreign Exchange droned around a lot of ocean looking for YFT out in the big groundswell, but found nothing. We did drive up to a large mass of twisted rope, trap floats, and a couple of hundred kilos of gooseneck barnacles on the edge of the shelf, and thought we'd won the jackpot, but there wasn't a single dollie around it.
This sort of mass of old ropes and floats would be a typical Humpback whale calf killer, so we hauled it aboard and brought it back to the marina after Vashy spent the next half hour cutting much of the rope into 1 metre lengths (each with about 10kg of barnacles attached) and throwing it over the side to sink to the bottom. That still left us with a bunch of old floats and a lot of rope to bring back. And so after Goggling up "Gooseneck Barnacles" this morning, I discovered that steamed gooseneck barnacles are considered to be a huge delicacy in France, where they sell for 100 Euros a kilo! Blew that one too!
The fishing can't get any worse here, and once this nasty black water flushes away, there's every reason to believe that the striped marlin fishing should improve out of sight, as there's plenty of live bait in the usual places.
Meanwhile, it's all go only slightly north of us off Yamba, where Scott Klingher and his crew caught a nice blue yesterday (which unfortunately came up tail-wrapped), and on the Gold Coast, the blues are back on the chew where they were a couple of weeks back, with reports of a red hot blue marlin bite, and one boat going 9/4/3. Surely it can't be far away...
Friday, 23rd September
There's still a fairly mixed outlook for the weekend and the Solitary Islands club's competition day tomorrow. With some nice looking 24C early season water off the Gold Coast, and a 23.5C pulse in the current abeam Yamba, the current is trying to help get something started, but with no reports from any boats off the Coffs Coast for almost a week now, it's anyone's guess what's happening out there. The tides aren't too exciting, with a low around 0800 and a high out on the edge of the shelf at about 1430, but at least the moon is on the way out of the picture...
There's a big downwelling eddy that's set up east of Coffs and a smaller upwelling eddy working alongside it down off SWR. Theoretically, this could bring some activity by attracting tuna down to the south, but what's happening to the north of the Solitaries is anyone's guess.
The forecast models can't decide if there's going to be a nasty southwesterly blowing on the edge of the shelf on Saturday morning, or if the east coast low that's responsible for the forecasting confusion is going to move away quickly enough to bring more stable conditions offshore after dawn on Saturday.
Bottom line....? It could be pretty nice up to the north, and if there are going to be marlin around, the chances are that with good current coming down from the border area, that's where they're likely to be. Some of the commercial boats have been out off Coffs for three days now, and if they're at the marina unloading another big haul of tuna this morning, then that might well be the fish to target on the weekend until someone drives over a marlin and the current billfish drought is broken.
After working on the boat for the past week, it's been interesting watching the many truckloads of rock slowly being formed up and shaped into the new outer wall profile at the eastern end of the break wall. Watching this process allows you to better see exactly what the plan for the north wall is, and after taking the time to chat with the heavy equipment operator responsible for actually shaping the rebuild, it sounds and looks pretty encouraging. The rock base is being extended out about 45m at the seabed, which looks to be just enough to arrest the big damaging swells early enough to stop them overtopping the wall. There are two distinct terraces of rock being formed, and then the big concrete hanbars are going on top of that at the roadway edge of the wall. The new rock profile surfaces about 25m beyond the present rock/water edge. My guess is that we'll still see white water over the top in a big sea, but the days of green water and destructive surge are almost certainly over.
There's a big downwelling eddy that's set up east of Coffs and a smaller upwelling eddy working alongside it down off SWR. Theoretically, this could bring some activity by attracting tuna down to the south, but what's happening to the north of the Solitaries is anyone's guess.
The forecast models can't decide if there's going to be a nasty southwesterly blowing on the edge of the shelf on Saturday morning, or if the east coast low that's responsible for the forecasting confusion is going to move away quickly enough to bring more stable conditions offshore after dawn on Saturday.
Bottom line....? It could be pretty nice up to the north, and if there are going to be marlin around, the chances are that with good current coming down from the border area, that's where they're likely to be. Some of the commercial boats have been out off Coffs for three days now, and if they're at the marina unloading another big haul of tuna this morning, then that might well be the fish to target on the weekend until someone drives over a marlin and the current billfish drought is broken.
After working on the boat for the past week, it's been interesting watching the many truckloads of rock slowly being formed up and shaped into the new outer wall profile at the eastern end of the break wall. Watching this process allows you to better see exactly what the plan for the north wall is, and after taking the time to chat with the heavy equipment operator responsible for actually shaping the rebuild, it sounds and looks pretty encouraging. The rock base is being extended out about 45m at the seabed, which looks to be just enough to arrest the big damaging swells early enough to stop them overtopping the wall. There are two distinct terraces of rock being formed, and then the big concrete hanbars are going on top of that at the roadway edge of the wall. The new rock profile surfaces about 25m beyond the present rock/water edge. My guess is that we'll still see white water over the top in a big sea, but the days of green water and destructive surge are almost certainly over.
Wednesday, 21st September
The big run of YFT along the northern NSW coast and up past the Gold Coast is continuing, with multiple catches of good 'fin off the Queensland coast, with boats finding plenty of tuna, and stories of multiple quadruple YFT hookups appearing on the club reports.
Bill Billson and others are raising blue marlin off Southport, and the reports are pretty constant.
So it all looks pretty promising, but it's still dead down here. Pete English saw nothing off Coffs despite a full day out fishing yesterday, so there's a real lull here which hopefully won't last when there is a group boats out searching all over.
Speaking of group, the SIGFC second season competition day is coming up on Saturday, but the forecasts are pretty mixed - some say it will be great, but others are predicting a fair day on the beach, but pretty ugly conditions at the edge of the shelf.
I see that Black N Blue is back in the marina sporting a brand new suite of Furuno digital/chirp electronics - there won't be a fish within a mile of that gear that will be safe.
Meanwhile.... the north wall rebuild is in progress, and if your boat is on the A-Arm, expect it to have a thick layer of grime, sand and dust of it from the cloud of dirt that goes up every time one of the huge dump trucks carrying the 5-10 tonne boulders drops its load. And if you think you'll escape all this because you're up on the D or E-Arms, think again... your turn is coming in a few months!
And it's good to see the barge crane has arrived in the marina, so the repair of the marina boardwalk has now started, with a projected completion date of around the end of December.
Bill Billson and others are raising blue marlin off Southport, and the reports are pretty constant.
So it all looks pretty promising, but it's still dead down here. Pete English saw nothing off Coffs despite a full day out fishing yesterday, so there's a real lull here which hopefully won't last when there is a group boats out searching all over.
Speaking of group, the SIGFC second season competition day is coming up on Saturday, but the forecasts are pretty mixed - some say it will be great, but others are predicting a fair day on the beach, but pretty ugly conditions at the edge of the shelf.
I see that Black N Blue is back in the marina sporting a brand new suite of Furuno digital/chirp electronics - there won't be a fish within a mile of that gear that will be safe.
Meanwhile.... the north wall rebuild is in progress, and if your boat is on the A-Arm, expect it to have a thick layer of grime, sand and dust of it from the cloud of dirt that goes up every time one of the huge dump trucks carrying the 5-10 tonne boulders drops its load. And if you think you'll escape all this because you're up on the D or E-Arms, think again... your turn is coming in a few months!
And it's good to see the barge crane has arrived in the marina, so the repair of the marina boardwalk has now started, with a projected completion date of around the end of December.
Friday, 9th September
Something of an anticlimactic day, with most of us checking the developing forecast with diminishing hope that the forecast would change and the first day of the Solitary Islands GFC's new game fishing season would be fishable. Not so it seems, with this weekend being a carbon copy of last, with a nasty northerly tomorrow, and less than inspiring SW-SE winds forecast for Sunday.
And of course, that forecast has brought all the longliners into Coffs to get away from the wind. They arrived today and unloaded big catches of tuna, all of which were caught straight out the front of Coffs. The photo on the left shows just part of the catch from one of the boats - all in the 40-60kg range. Clearly, there's plenty happening on the tuna front out there, and not that far out either - these fish were all caught within range that a game boat could reach in a relaxed day's fishing on the deep side of the shelf.
NEW MIDWEEK GAME FISHING COMPETITION:
As a way of creating more opportunities for competitive game fishing on the north coast of NSW, a handful of anglers have taken the initiative to start a midweek comp independent of any local group - just for the sake of having a bit more fun out there. This competition is for any game fishermen on the Coffs Coast who want a few more game fishing opportunities away from weekends - all welcome, no specific club affiliation required.
We all joke about the irony of recurring great midweek conditions, and the lousy rubbish we have to deal with on weekends (this coming one being a case in point...), so for those would can rearrange their work schedule, or who have time and a crew available on short notice when the weather is perfect, this might be for you. Go and have a look at the competition's new website at www.solitaryislandsmidweekcomp.com if you're interested.
And of course, that forecast has brought all the longliners into Coffs to get away from the wind. They arrived today and unloaded big catches of tuna, all of which were caught straight out the front of Coffs. The photo on the left shows just part of the catch from one of the boats - all in the 40-60kg range. Clearly, there's plenty happening on the tuna front out there, and not that far out either - these fish were all caught within range that a game boat could reach in a relaxed day's fishing on the deep side of the shelf.
NEW MIDWEEK GAME FISHING COMPETITION:
As a way of creating more opportunities for competitive game fishing on the north coast of NSW, a handful of anglers have taken the initiative to start a midweek comp independent of any local group - just for the sake of having a bit more fun out there. This competition is for any game fishermen on the Coffs Coast who want a few more game fishing opportunities away from weekends - all welcome, no specific club affiliation required.
We all joke about the irony of recurring great midweek conditions, and the lousy rubbish we have to deal with on weekends (this coming one being a case in point...), so for those would can rearrange their work schedule, or who have time and a crew available on short notice when the weather is perfect, this might be for you. Go and have a look at the competition's new website at www.solitaryislandsmidweekcomp.com if you're interested.
Tuesday, 6th September
With Foreign Exchange back from its winter lodgings in Yamba and now berthed on the A-arm out of the way of storms (many thanks Star Marinas...), it would have been nice to see a gem of a weekend looming on the forecast so that the Solitary Islands GFC's first competition day of the season could get up and running with a bang...
However, it looks instead like an eerie repeat of last weekend - with a raging northerly on Saturday, and a SW to SE blow on Sunday. If those forecasts hold, it would probably make sense to make a decision in favour of a pre-emptive postponement or at least a 24-hour slip if Sunday's forecast held out any hope, and so not lose the very first comp day of the 2016/17 season. Let's see how it pans out...
That aside, the conditions today were delightful, and there were a couple of boats out looking around to see where the action was. There's a lot of bait out there at the moment, with plenty of frogmouth pillies being herded up by large schools of striped tuna - all good marlin staples, and there should have been a few striped marlin mixed in with that lot.
But there were none in the location where the bait was, and it was only in empty water in 200fa that Better than Vegas eventually found one, getting a striped marlin up for a look at Vegas' hot lure of the moment, the "Vegas Special" Vuaki Flyer from Jennings lures. But even though the fish spent several minutes cruising along just under the lure looking at it, it never made even a swipe at it. The marlin went away, came back, lit up a couple of times, but never hit it... chances are it was full of striped tuna, but you'd have thought it might at least take a shot.
However, it looks instead like an eerie repeat of last weekend - with a raging northerly on Saturday, and a SW to SE blow on Sunday. If those forecasts hold, it would probably make sense to make a decision in favour of a pre-emptive postponement or at least a 24-hour slip if Sunday's forecast held out any hope, and so not lose the very first comp day of the 2016/17 season. Let's see how it pans out...
That aside, the conditions today were delightful, and there were a couple of boats out looking around to see where the action was. There's a lot of bait out there at the moment, with plenty of frogmouth pillies being herded up by large schools of striped tuna - all good marlin staples, and there should have been a few striped marlin mixed in with that lot.
But there were none in the location where the bait was, and it was only in empty water in 200fa that Better than Vegas eventually found one, getting a striped marlin up for a look at Vegas' hot lure of the moment, the "Vegas Special" Vuaki Flyer from Jennings lures. But even though the fish spent several minutes cruising along just under the lure looking at it, it never made even a swipe at it. The marlin went away, came back, lit up a couple of times, but never hit it... chances are it was full of striped tuna, but you'd have thought it might at least take a shot.
Friday, 2nd September
Where to be at the moment...?? Morocco!
Read the final report from French game fisherman Bill François below re his latest white marlin fishing expedition off the north African coast. The photos and some video from this trip will be posted shortly.
Hi Rick
I hope you are doing well
I just finished this Morocco trip that was one of the best I ever did
So here is a detailed report, and pics will come when I get back home tomorrow, having analysed Hours of GoPro footage (I have spectacular underwater footage!).
Crazy fishing: in 4 days on my boat (a Grady White 31), we raised 67 marlin, hooked 44 of them and released 33. We also did 2-1-1 on dollies. Marlin were between 18 and 50 kgs. Fight times between 2 min and 1h30. 100% catch and release with circle hooks.
Fishing area was 125m deep, 20 miles offshore, we hooked fish in 22.5 to 24 degrees water. There were particular hours where the fish seemed more plentiful and willing to bite for all boats at the same time (but a different time every day, maybe due to a tide effect).
All the fish were caught on switch baits, and on livies (we drifted a livie while fighting each fish, resulting in frequent double headers). We used 100% slimies mackerels, hooked through the mouth for dead baits, and through the nose for livies (we did not have tuna tubes so could not use a bridle rig, and I am sure this cost us quite a few fish).
The best teasers were: Tomahawk, Ilander and Hawaiian breakfast, in blue marlin sizes and trolled in the 2nd wave. We have a special rig to make the marlin stay longer attacking the teaser: we use a conger eel tail under the skirt of the lure. We also trolled 2 daisy chains with bird, plastic squid and moldcrafts/ilanders.
Here, fish love lures but hit them only with the bill, resulting in a conversion rate of 1 release out of 10 strikes.
We get a bit more strikes with rigged lures as you hook the fast window shoppers you would not have noticed while switch baiting (and you don't have to pay attention all the time). But at the end we miss way more fish.
We dropped the hooks on every fish attacking rigged lures, incliding the Vuaki Flyer that the marlin loved and attacked a lot.
I have good pictures and a terrific troll pro underwater footage where you see the whole swichbait action from underwater, and at the end we realise there were 3 fish hiding under the propwash (and from the boat we had seen only one). I think this happens quite often, and for one fish seen, we just ignore 2 or 3... I will send you the best images when I come back in France tomorrow.
White marlin are indeed very similar to a stripie, and when you see them all lit up underwater there is almost no difference.
Actually, we found out there are 2 species of whities mixed together: the White marlin, and the Roundscale spearfish. They are undistinguishable without Scientific measurements, so I talked people here into making a survey to know the species ratio. I don't know how the IGFA deals with that issue as a white marlin record may well be in fact a Roundscale spearfish...
I had interesting discussions with Capt Benazeth (an legendary captain and n1 release captain for all Atlantic billfish last year at the TBF contest), I'd be happy to have your thoughts on some of his ideas.
So, this trip was a success and I discovered a rather unknown destination that is world class. Our results were average results here and raising double digits of fish happens every day to all boats.
The other advantage of the destination is that it's relatively cheap, easy to access (from Europe), and more importantly, that the weather is consistently good and no trip is ever cancelled.
It is however still a small and genuine fishery, with only 6 or 7 boats fishing, and only 4 or 5 that offer charters. The marina is located in the artisanal fishing harbour, where you see local skiffs with 15cv single engines going 20miles offshore to fish for bonito.
If you or your friends plan to go there some time I'll be happy to give you advice. And I'm ok to go back for a shared trip there any time!
Cheers
Bill
The first three photos from Bill's Moroccan exploits are show below... as you can see, the white marlin look very much like striped marlin...
Bill said that the whites go crazy at first, then dive deep to catch their breath much like the blues will, but when they get to the boat, they are just like the little blacks, going berserk at times, and getting quite dangerous.
Read the final report from French game fisherman Bill François below re his latest white marlin fishing expedition off the north African coast. The photos and some video from this trip will be posted shortly.
Hi Rick
I hope you are doing well
I just finished this Morocco trip that was one of the best I ever did
So here is a detailed report, and pics will come when I get back home tomorrow, having analysed Hours of GoPro footage (I have spectacular underwater footage!).
Crazy fishing: in 4 days on my boat (a Grady White 31), we raised 67 marlin, hooked 44 of them and released 33. We also did 2-1-1 on dollies. Marlin were between 18 and 50 kgs. Fight times between 2 min and 1h30. 100% catch and release with circle hooks.
Fishing area was 125m deep, 20 miles offshore, we hooked fish in 22.5 to 24 degrees water. There were particular hours where the fish seemed more plentiful and willing to bite for all boats at the same time (but a different time every day, maybe due to a tide effect).
All the fish were caught on switch baits, and on livies (we drifted a livie while fighting each fish, resulting in frequent double headers). We used 100% slimies mackerels, hooked through the mouth for dead baits, and through the nose for livies (we did not have tuna tubes so could not use a bridle rig, and I am sure this cost us quite a few fish).
The best teasers were: Tomahawk, Ilander and Hawaiian breakfast, in blue marlin sizes and trolled in the 2nd wave. We have a special rig to make the marlin stay longer attacking the teaser: we use a conger eel tail under the skirt of the lure. We also trolled 2 daisy chains with bird, plastic squid and moldcrafts/ilanders.
Here, fish love lures but hit them only with the bill, resulting in a conversion rate of 1 release out of 10 strikes.
We get a bit more strikes with rigged lures as you hook the fast window shoppers you would not have noticed while switch baiting (and you don't have to pay attention all the time). But at the end we miss way more fish.
We dropped the hooks on every fish attacking rigged lures, incliding the Vuaki Flyer that the marlin loved and attacked a lot.
I have good pictures and a terrific troll pro underwater footage where you see the whole swichbait action from underwater, and at the end we realise there were 3 fish hiding under the propwash (and from the boat we had seen only one). I think this happens quite often, and for one fish seen, we just ignore 2 or 3... I will send you the best images when I come back in France tomorrow.
White marlin are indeed very similar to a stripie, and when you see them all lit up underwater there is almost no difference.
Actually, we found out there are 2 species of whities mixed together: the White marlin, and the Roundscale spearfish. They are undistinguishable without Scientific measurements, so I talked people here into making a survey to know the species ratio. I don't know how the IGFA deals with that issue as a white marlin record may well be in fact a Roundscale spearfish...
I had interesting discussions with Capt Benazeth (an legendary captain and n1 release captain for all Atlantic billfish last year at the TBF contest), I'd be happy to have your thoughts on some of his ideas.
So, this trip was a success and I discovered a rather unknown destination that is world class. Our results were average results here and raising double digits of fish happens every day to all boats.
The other advantage of the destination is that it's relatively cheap, easy to access (from Europe), and more importantly, that the weather is consistently good and no trip is ever cancelled.
It is however still a small and genuine fishery, with only 6 or 7 boats fishing, and only 4 or 5 that offer charters. The marina is located in the artisanal fishing harbour, where you see local skiffs with 15cv single engines going 20miles offshore to fish for bonito.
If you or your friends plan to go there some time I'll be happy to give you advice. And I'm ok to go back for a shared trip there any time!
Cheers
Bill
The first three photos from Bill's Moroccan exploits are show below... as you can see, the white marlin look very much like striped marlin...
Bill said that the whites go crazy at first, then dive deep to catch their breath much like the blues will, but when they get to the boat, they are just like the little blacks, going berserk at times, and getting quite dangerous.
Thursday, 1 September
Bingo...!! The first day of Spring, the first day of the new 2016/17 summer game fishing season of the Solitary Islands GFC, and the day many of us have been looking forward to for the past winter. Let the games begin...
Firstly, an excellent report from Bill François, the globe-trotting French game fisherman who is currently chasing white marlin in the waters off Morocco. Here's the quick note he sent me last night... this pretty much says it all:
Hello from Morocco Rick!
Fishing is great, we did 15-11-9 yesterday and 18-15-9 today, all on switch baits and livies (slimey mackerels). Amazing white marlin coming all lit up to the boats, sometimes in packs of 3 or 4. We did 4 double hookups today.
Apparently, conversion rates are aweful with rigged lures, so I only tried the Vuaki flyer for a short time today (about 30 mins, when the light made it hard to see the teasers), and it got one strike, then raised another fish that we switched on a bait.
More news and testing to come
Cheers
Bill
9 from 18 marlin in just one day....??!!!!! Just give me one day like that here, and I'd die happy...
It seems that the white marlin fishing in Morocco is about as hot as it gets at the moment... let's hope that their striped marlin cousins on the NSW north coast turn on that sort of fishing this summer.
The Solitary Islands GFC had a mixed AGM last night... good news is that the club is on an excellent financial footing thanks to good committee work and increasingly solid support for both the routine club outings as well as the Heavy Tackle Challenge, which is fast becoming the go-to tournament on the north coast.
Three proposals submitted by your editor after consultation with what was clearly a minority were voted down, but on reflection, you can't argue with success, and compared to other game fishing clubs and the often stagnant state of the sport in other parts, there's nothing wrong with leaving the operation of the club alone after many seasons of success. On the other hand, initiatives that are progressive rather than regressive are also to be encouraged in any group, and so it was disappointing to hear some of the arguments against increasing fishing opportunities from people who join a club to go fishing in the first place...
That said, one outcome of the rejection of the initiative to run a midweek game fishing sub-competition for SIGFC club anglers who wanted another chance to fish more in a competitive environment, is that an informal group has now been formed to develop and implement a mid-week summer competition open to all comers.
This competition will now not be run under the auspices of any one club, but rather by a team that will manage this initiative separately, and will now be open to all anglers rather than a club-specific group.
There will soon be a website dedicated to the North Coast Big Game Anglers mid-week game fishing competition. Sponsors, prizes and trophies, and how to get yourself on the distribution list for communications regarding this summer mini competition will be available shortly and you will have to register via the NCBGA website to be a part of it.
The simple underlying principle that has given rise to this whole idea is that there is a core group of anglers who enjoy fishing on the same day, in the same weather, in a close competitive environment with friends. At the moment, the only way anybody can do this is to fish in-hours competitions which are only held on fixed Saturdays... so for those who either can't go fishing on weekends, or for the rest of us who just want to fish this way more often, stay tuned...
Firstly, an excellent report from Bill François, the globe-trotting French game fisherman who is currently chasing white marlin in the waters off Morocco. Here's the quick note he sent me last night... this pretty much says it all:
Hello from Morocco Rick!
Fishing is great, we did 15-11-9 yesterday and 18-15-9 today, all on switch baits and livies (slimey mackerels). Amazing white marlin coming all lit up to the boats, sometimes in packs of 3 or 4. We did 4 double hookups today.
Apparently, conversion rates are aweful with rigged lures, so I only tried the Vuaki flyer for a short time today (about 30 mins, when the light made it hard to see the teasers), and it got one strike, then raised another fish that we switched on a bait.
More news and testing to come
Cheers
Bill
9 from 18 marlin in just one day....??!!!!! Just give me one day like that here, and I'd die happy...
It seems that the white marlin fishing in Morocco is about as hot as it gets at the moment... let's hope that their striped marlin cousins on the NSW north coast turn on that sort of fishing this summer.
The Solitary Islands GFC had a mixed AGM last night... good news is that the club is on an excellent financial footing thanks to good committee work and increasingly solid support for both the routine club outings as well as the Heavy Tackle Challenge, which is fast becoming the go-to tournament on the north coast.
Three proposals submitted by your editor after consultation with what was clearly a minority were voted down, but on reflection, you can't argue with success, and compared to other game fishing clubs and the often stagnant state of the sport in other parts, there's nothing wrong with leaving the operation of the club alone after many seasons of success. On the other hand, initiatives that are progressive rather than regressive are also to be encouraged in any group, and so it was disappointing to hear some of the arguments against increasing fishing opportunities from people who join a club to go fishing in the first place...
That said, one outcome of the rejection of the initiative to run a midweek game fishing sub-competition for SIGFC club anglers who wanted another chance to fish more in a competitive environment, is that an informal group has now been formed to develop and implement a mid-week summer competition open to all comers.
This competition will now not be run under the auspices of any one club, but rather by a team that will manage this initiative separately, and will now be open to all anglers rather than a club-specific group.
There will soon be a website dedicated to the North Coast Big Game Anglers mid-week game fishing competition. Sponsors, prizes and trophies, and how to get yourself on the distribution list for communications regarding this summer mini competition will be available shortly and you will have to register via the NCBGA website to be a part of it.
The simple underlying principle that has given rise to this whole idea is that there is a core group of anglers who enjoy fishing on the same day, in the same weather, in a close competitive environment with friends. At the moment, the only way anybody can do this is to fish in-hours competitions which are only held on fixed Saturdays... so for those who either can't go fishing on weekends, or for the rest of us who just want to fish this way more often, stay tuned...
Thursday, 18th August
Rigged up another Moldcraft lure yesterday. We have one that started raising blues around the time of last season's Heavy Tackle Challenge, in a "WideRange" shape, with silver and purple colours, and the fish would usually at least take a look at it, even if they subsequently hit something else.
So this new lure in the photo on the left is a Moldcraft "Bobby Brown", and it's the most unprepossessing lure you could imagine - looks like something out of the bargain bin, and is near total black, with a dark purple inner skirt. These are the sort of lures that many game fishermen would just leave in the bottom of the lure bag after some misguided uncle bought it at a going-out-of-business sale and gave it to them one Christmas.
Most tackle shops that cater to game fishermen have a couple in some corner, but you can generally see that they've been sitting there gathering dust - the packaging is often faded and wrinkled, and they look like something out of a factory in China instead of the USA where they are in fact made.
But the reality is that most professional game boat skippers will have a Moldcraft lure somewhere in their lineup, and in fact the "Bobby Brown" in this ugly black colour scheme has caught more blue marlin on Steve Cambell's game boat in Tonga than any other lure he's ever used - 103 blues in 12 years.
You can't argue with success. The real question is not whether the Bobby Brown works, which it obviously does in the tropical waters off Tonga, but if it works here where our fishing conditions can be dramatically different... just one way to find out.
So this new lure in the photo on the left is a Moldcraft "Bobby Brown", and it's the most unprepossessing lure you could imagine - looks like something out of the bargain bin, and is near total black, with a dark purple inner skirt. These are the sort of lures that many game fishermen would just leave in the bottom of the lure bag after some misguided uncle bought it at a going-out-of-business sale and gave it to them one Christmas.
Most tackle shops that cater to game fishermen have a couple in some corner, but you can generally see that they've been sitting there gathering dust - the packaging is often faded and wrinkled, and they look like something out of a factory in China instead of the USA where they are in fact made.
But the reality is that most professional game boat skippers will have a Moldcraft lure somewhere in their lineup, and in fact the "Bobby Brown" in this ugly black colour scheme has caught more blue marlin on Steve Cambell's game boat in Tonga than any other lure he's ever used - 103 blues in 12 years.
You can't argue with success. The real question is not whether the Bobby Brown works, which it obviously does in the tropical waters off Tonga, but if it works here where our fishing conditions can be dramatically different... just one way to find out.
Tuesday, 16th August
After last weekend's very poor correlation between forecast wind and water predictions, and what boats actually encountered off the Coffs Coast, it's not that easy to talk with any certainty about what the BOM forecasts and the oceanographic satellite data are presenting us with versus what's actually likely to be out there at the moment...
However, based on what Black N Blue drove into on Saturday, today's satellite shots look to be a little more meaningful. The illustration on the left shows yesterday's chlorophyl shot of the north coast, and it's fairly consistent with what Rob Lang found when he talked about driving through nasty looking green water that got even worse and became milky green the further they went from shore.
In fact, this chart shows extremely high levels of chlorophyl concentrations running in the East Australian Current - good for a very high algae level, but awful for game fishing.
Given the forecasts for almost no swell and winds of less than 10 knots from now to the weekend, it seems that while it might be pretty nice out there for boating, there's little point in throwing a marlin lure in the water unless these conditions also bring a lot of bait down the edge of the shelf, in which case there could be some striped marlin activity between pulses of green water.
Meanwhile, it seems that the latest way to get rich is to be one of Australia's two importers of marine grade teak. Commonly known as "Burmese Teak", most of the legal stuff comes from Myanmar, where the largest native teak forests are found. There is a lot of cultivated plantation teak now grown in the tropics everywhere from the Caribbean to Africa, and of course, there's a lot of illegally logged stuff coming from Indonesia and PNG, but it seems that demand still outstrips supply, because the 8 metres of 20mm thick x 300mm wide marine grade teak just purchased for new cockpit edges on Foreign Exchange cost $900... and that's for the basic timber alone.
And finally, in the "What the Bloody Hell's a bloke got to do to get an even break...?" department... After sitting up in Yamba since the big storm and waiting patiently for the Yamba Boatworks proprietor to stop slipping me to the bottom of the list while he picks up easy insurance jobs, my boat finally dropped off the list completely after they ran out of dodgy excuses about why they still hadn't started the painting, and how it could no longer be completed by the original deadline of 1 September. In fairness, there have been a few speed bumps along the way, not the least of which was the most recent east coast low event, which slowed things down in Yamba for a few days, but still not good enough reasons to keep delaying the start of the job for weeks until it was too late...
So Foreign Exchange will be returning to Coffs at the beginning of next month in time for the start of the game fishing season - without the new paint. The same old paintwork that's now starting to look decidedly ratty will have to last for another year before the big facelift. At least it will have new clears and teakwork. Frankly, I've got a list of boat painters and maintenance outfits between Woodburn and Brisbane who all offered to do this work and get it finished weeks ago... but I made the big mistake of signing up with Yamba Boatworks to do it... Won't be making that mistake again!!
However, based on what Black N Blue drove into on Saturday, today's satellite shots look to be a little more meaningful. The illustration on the left shows yesterday's chlorophyl shot of the north coast, and it's fairly consistent with what Rob Lang found when he talked about driving through nasty looking green water that got even worse and became milky green the further they went from shore.
In fact, this chart shows extremely high levels of chlorophyl concentrations running in the East Australian Current - good for a very high algae level, but awful for game fishing.
Given the forecasts for almost no swell and winds of less than 10 knots from now to the weekend, it seems that while it might be pretty nice out there for boating, there's little point in throwing a marlin lure in the water unless these conditions also bring a lot of bait down the edge of the shelf, in which case there could be some striped marlin activity between pulses of green water.
Meanwhile, it seems that the latest way to get rich is to be one of Australia's two importers of marine grade teak. Commonly known as "Burmese Teak", most of the legal stuff comes from Myanmar, where the largest native teak forests are found. There is a lot of cultivated plantation teak now grown in the tropics everywhere from the Caribbean to Africa, and of course, there's a lot of illegally logged stuff coming from Indonesia and PNG, but it seems that demand still outstrips supply, because the 8 metres of 20mm thick x 300mm wide marine grade teak just purchased for new cockpit edges on Foreign Exchange cost $900... and that's for the basic timber alone.
And finally, in the "What the Bloody Hell's a bloke got to do to get an even break...?" department... After sitting up in Yamba since the big storm and waiting patiently for the Yamba Boatworks proprietor to stop slipping me to the bottom of the list while he picks up easy insurance jobs, my boat finally dropped off the list completely after they ran out of dodgy excuses about why they still hadn't started the painting, and how it could no longer be completed by the original deadline of 1 September. In fairness, there have been a few speed bumps along the way, not the least of which was the most recent east coast low event, which slowed things down in Yamba for a few days, but still not good enough reasons to keep delaying the start of the job for weeks until it was too late...
So Foreign Exchange will be returning to Coffs at the beginning of next month in time for the start of the game fishing season - without the new paint. The same old paintwork that's now starting to look decidedly ratty will have to last for another year before the big facelift. At least it will have new clears and teakwork. Frankly, I've got a list of boat painters and maintenance outfits between Woodburn and Brisbane who all offered to do this work and get it finished weeks ago... but I made the big mistake of signing up with Yamba Boatworks to do it... Won't be making that mistake again!!
Sunday, 14th August
LATE MORNING UPDATE: Well... no sooner had I posted the blurb below than I got a call from Rob Lang to tell me that regardless of how much good news there seemed to be in the satellite shots and weather reports, there was actually no good news out there whatsoever... it was all bad.
He was fishing a club day yesterday, and they got out there with a 10-15 knot forecast and drove right into a howling southerly of 20g30 knots which was putting whitewater over the top of the 40-footer, and making fishing impossible (there are a couple of photos of the conditions at Rob Lang's Facebook page) . They went looking for the exact conditions I described below, and which - not unreasonably - the forecast and FishTrack both suggested were out there, but the fact is that they just didn't exist... it was all a big fairy story. It was rubbish on top of the shelf, and it got worse as they went out all the way to 30 miles from shore.
Alcatraz went out, took one quick turn around marlin alley and drove back to the marina in disgust.
Despite what should have been very accurate satellite data after a clear night when the photos should have been perfect and the data unequivocal, there was no current, there was no 22.5C water, and there was no good water at all. It was all foul green turning foul milky green, the SST was only 21.5C, and the surface conditions were atrocious, and that was the same all the way out to 30 miles.
So you've got to wonder what the people at FishTrack and in the BOM are smoking when they come up with such lousy data and forecasts when the information they have should be pretty straightforward, with clear skies and a big dominant high pressure system that should be making these predictions dead easy... All the stuff I've written about below simply wasn't there, and there was a lot of diesel wasted in the process of trying to find what didn't exist.
No doubt things aren't much different today despite it being spectacular here on shore...
I did get a nice photo from Marcus however, and this is his first Malaysian sailfish that he and Pete English are photographed with. Pete apparently has some good GoPro footage, so maybe we'll see some of that in due course.
He was fishing a club day yesterday, and they got out there with a 10-15 knot forecast and drove right into a howling southerly of 20g30 knots which was putting whitewater over the top of the 40-footer, and making fishing impossible (there are a couple of photos of the conditions at Rob Lang's Facebook page) . They went looking for the exact conditions I described below, and which - not unreasonably - the forecast and FishTrack both suggested were out there, but the fact is that they just didn't exist... it was all a big fairy story. It was rubbish on top of the shelf, and it got worse as they went out all the way to 30 miles from shore.
Alcatraz went out, took one quick turn around marlin alley and drove back to the marina in disgust.
Despite what should have been very accurate satellite data after a clear night when the photos should have been perfect and the data unequivocal, there was no current, there was no 22.5C water, and there was no good water at all. It was all foul green turning foul milky green, the SST was only 21.5C, and the surface conditions were atrocious, and that was the same all the way out to 30 miles.
So you've got to wonder what the people at FishTrack and in the BOM are smoking when they come up with such lousy data and forecasts when the information they have should be pretty straightforward, with clear skies and a big dominant high pressure system that should be making these predictions dead easy... All the stuff I've written about below simply wasn't there, and there was a lot of diesel wasted in the process of trying to find what didn't exist.
No doubt things aren't much different today despite it being spectacular here on shore...
I did get a nice photo from Marcus however, and this is his first Malaysian sailfish that he and Pete English are photographed with. Pete apparently has some good GoPro footage, so maybe we'll see some of that in due course.
As this Logbook entry is being written this morning, I'm getting text messages from Marcus Blackwell who's up in Malaysia with Pete English chasing sailfish. It's very early up there, but it seems they're out already on the second day of their fishing trip, so here's hoping they smash 'em.
They went 2 from 4 shots yesterday, which is better than you'll ever see off the Solitary Islands, although that said, another degree or so of global warming, and we might have a decent sailfish fishery here!
And we shouldn't forget Black N Blue's effort last year when they got the first double hookup on sails that I've ever heard of in this part of the world.
Today's conditions look excellent (WRONG.... See above if you haven't already read the opening update - Ed.) - light winds (which are forecast to be with us through Thursday), blue skies, and great marlin water. The water temps off the Gold Coast are 22.5C right now, and we have a 22.5C pulse passing off Coffs at the moment that looks very promising. The current is just ambling along at about 2 knots according to the latest satellite and float data, so if there's bait out there in reasonable quantities, there should be some striped marlin hanging out in Marlin Alley.
Speaking of bait, the boys in Malaysia were lamenting the lack of bait up there too. The sail fishing up there employs live baiting as the preferred technique, and Marcus was saying that the thing that slowed them down most yesterday was the scarcity of slimys and any other suitable live bait.
Meanwhile, on an entirely different matter, the longest range overseas order ever for Jennings Gamefish Lures just arrived at its destination in Paris. French bluefin tuna ace angler Bill François ordered one of the Vuaki Flyer flying fish lures that were ripping it up here last season, plus a new style tuna lure from Aaron Jennings. They only now arrived in France, and Bill sent the photo on the left taken from his apartment window in Paris to prove they'd arrived safely.... look closely at the background.
Anyway, Bill's new tuna lure is going to get a run in the Mediterranean shortly, where they're having a killer bluefin season for the first time in a long while, and the Flyer is going to have its chance in a week or so when Bill puts it in the pattern behind a charter boat off Morocco where he's expecting big things in his quest for white marlin. Probably not an unreasonable expectation given that the white marlin off the coast there are going gangbusters this season, with 10+ fish raised per day by some boats recently. White marlin are a close relative of striped marlin, so it's going to be extremely interesting to see if they behave like the stripes we know. If they do, and they're not too hungry, he may have a very frustrating time of it as the whites window shop and dither around swatting lures and playing silly buggers...
There's now just a little over 2 weeks to the start of spring, and there are already signs that indicate it should be a good season here - the water has stayed about 1-1.5C warmer than average so far, and with encouraging marlin reports coming in steadily all winter from the Gold Coast, there's no reason not to be feeling pretty positive.
They went 2 from 4 shots yesterday, which is better than you'll ever see off the Solitary Islands, although that said, another degree or so of global warming, and we might have a decent sailfish fishery here!
And we shouldn't forget Black N Blue's effort last year when they got the first double hookup on sails that I've ever heard of in this part of the world.
Today's conditions look excellent (WRONG.... See above if you haven't already read the opening update - Ed.) - light winds (which are forecast to be with us through Thursday), blue skies, and great marlin water. The water temps off the Gold Coast are 22.5C right now, and we have a 22.5C pulse passing off Coffs at the moment that looks very promising. The current is just ambling along at about 2 knots according to the latest satellite and float data, so if there's bait out there in reasonable quantities, there should be some striped marlin hanging out in Marlin Alley.
Speaking of bait, the boys in Malaysia were lamenting the lack of bait up there too. The sail fishing up there employs live baiting as the preferred technique, and Marcus was saying that the thing that slowed them down most yesterday was the scarcity of slimys and any other suitable live bait.
Meanwhile, on an entirely different matter, the longest range overseas order ever for Jennings Gamefish Lures just arrived at its destination in Paris. French bluefin tuna ace angler Bill François ordered one of the Vuaki Flyer flying fish lures that were ripping it up here last season, plus a new style tuna lure from Aaron Jennings. They only now arrived in France, and Bill sent the photo on the left taken from his apartment window in Paris to prove they'd arrived safely.... look closely at the background.
Anyway, Bill's new tuna lure is going to get a run in the Mediterranean shortly, where they're having a killer bluefin season for the first time in a long while, and the Flyer is going to have its chance in a week or so when Bill puts it in the pattern behind a charter boat off Morocco where he's expecting big things in his quest for white marlin. Probably not an unreasonable expectation given that the white marlin off the coast there are going gangbusters this season, with 10+ fish raised per day by some boats recently. White marlin are a close relative of striped marlin, so it's going to be extremely interesting to see if they behave like the stripes we know. If they do, and they're not too hungry, he may have a very frustrating time of it as the whites window shop and dither around swatting lures and playing silly buggers...
There's now just a little over 2 weeks to the start of spring, and there are already signs that indicate it should be a good season here - the water has stayed about 1-1.5C warmer than average so far, and with encouraging marlin reports coming in steadily all winter from the Gold Coast, there's no reason not to be feeling pretty positive.
Thursday, 11th August
How about today's forecast ...?? Originally 20 knot nor'westerlies and instead we get a glass-off day... go figure. Planning a day out in the middle of winter can be a challenge at the best of times, but with the BOM rain radar out (hacked along with the census website...??), and forecasts like that, it's even harder to plan to take advantage of fishable days...
But after a grey, cold day that threatened rain, the sunset above was enough to lift anyone's spirits...
The Solitary Islands GFC had a bit of a members' "Hump Night" yesterday. A great idea during these slow, dark winter evenings... and as if the happy hour beer wasn't good enough, Y-Knot turned on a special pork ribs dish that was sensational... and all for $15... thanks Sally! Members got to talk a bit about game fishing (always great), the marina repairs (excellent work so far, but now stalled) and the final rebuilding timetable (depressing and unnecessarily costly thanks to gross mismanagement of the situation by the bureaucrats and complete lack of meaningful and much needed intervention from the local politicians).
And so... back to game fishing stuff...
This is the time of year when we start to spend a few of those slow weekend afternoons refurbishing gear. The most obvious pre-season jobs are having reels serviced, and replacing line.
Reel servicing is a no-brainer... you can do it yourself (Glen Booth's excellent Complete Guide to Game Fishing goes into considerable details, as do a lot of U-Tube clips), or you can pay a pro to do it. Regardless, it has to be done, and if you had a grasp of the total energy that a single big blue applies to a reel - bearings, drag, gears - in just one powerful 500m run, you would understand.
Then there's the matter of line replacement. After years of running with mono only rigs, about three years ago I succumbed to the idea of using a woven dacron base with about 250m of monofilament topshot over it. The dacron lasts at least 5 years, and thus pays for itself, and it means that a single 1000m spool of monofilament can be used to reload a quiver of four 50W or 80W reels.
Many anglers inspect their line and if it looks OK, they don't bother to replace it annually, which is one of those pay now, or pay later conundrums... Even though your monofilament line may still be smooth and appear undamaged, the simple fact is that it will be faded after a year of exposure to sun and salt. And while some anglers consider loss of colour and shine to just be a cosmetic detail, the fact is that sun damage to line is significant, and can result in a marked reduction in breaking strain.
So you can either replace it now for just $30 or so per reel (if you use dacron with mono top shots), or you can wait for that spine-chilling "twang" as the environmentally weakened line parts when the tournament winning marlin is just 50m from the boat. Given the amount of harsh treatment that first 100m of line can be subjected to during a busy season - it will be stretched, nicked just where you missed, and weakened by UV - using line that has seen more than 12 months on the reel is a big gamble.
But after a grey, cold day that threatened rain, the sunset above was enough to lift anyone's spirits...
The Solitary Islands GFC had a bit of a members' "Hump Night" yesterday. A great idea during these slow, dark winter evenings... and as if the happy hour beer wasn't good enough, Y-Knot turned on a special pork ribs dish that was sensational... and all for $15... thanks Sally! Members got to talk a bit about game fishing (always great), the marina repairs (excellent work so far, but now stalled) and the final rebuilding timetable (depressing and unnecessarily costly thanks to gross mismanagement of the situation by the bureaucrats and complete lack of meaningful and much needed intervention from the local politicians).
And so... back to game fishing stuff...
This is the time of year when we start to spend a few of those slow weekend afternoons refurbishing gear. The most obvious pre-season jobs are having reels serviced, and replacing line.
Reel servicing is a no-brainer... you can do it yourself (Glen Booth's excellent Complete Guide to Game Fishing goes into considerable details, as do a lot of U-Tube clips), or you can pay a pro to do it. Regardless, it has to be done, and if you had a grasp of the total energy that a single big blue applies to a reel - bearings, drag, gears - in just one powerful 500m run, you would understand.
Then there's the matter of line replacement. After years of running with mono only rigs, about three years ago I succumbed to the idea of using a woven dacron base with about 250m of monofilament topshot over it. The dacron lasts at least 5 years, and thus pays for itself, and it means that a single 1000m spool of monofilament can be used to reload a quiver of four 50W or 80W reels.
Many anglers inspect their line and if it looks OK, they don't bother to replace it annually, which is one of those pay now, or pay later conundrums... Even though your monofilament line may still be smooth and appear undamaged, the simple fact is that it will be faded after a year of exposure to sun and salt. And while some anglers consider loss of colour and shine to just be a cosmetic detail, the fact is that sun damage to line is significant, and can result in a marked reduction in breaking strain.
So you can either replace it now for just $30 or so per reel (if you use dacron with mono top shots), or you can wait for that spine-chilling "twang" as the environmentally weakened line parts when the tournament winning marlin is just 50m from the boat. Given the amount of harsh treatment that first 100m of line can be subjected to during a busy season - it will be stretched, nicked just where you missed, and weakened by UV - using line that has seen more than 12 months on the reel is a big gamble.
Tuesday, 9th August
Today's satellite shots from FishTrack show a pretty interesting setup out off the shelf along the Solitary Coast. The EAC is running fairly steadily, with 22.5C waters off the Gold Coast, and 21.5C sea surface temps here. The current is at the narrowest I've seen it off Coffs for some time, and it's only 26 nautical miles from Coffs to the outside edge of the current, which is where a lot of action can be found at times - if only it happened this way in mid-summer!
There's also a large downhill in eddy out in the Tasman Sea, which while not as helpful as an upwelling eddy would be in the same location, it is pushing a lot of cool Tasman Sea water in towards the north coast of NSW which doesn't actually appear to be mixing much with the EAC, but instead is running along parallel and outside the EAC. If my boat wasn't about to go up on the hard in Yamba, I'd be keen to go out for a look on the far side of the current - looks a lot like a hotspot for YFT, and very reachable, being less than half the usual distance to the outside edge of the current.
There's also a large downhill in eddy out in the Tasman Sea, which while not as helpful as an upwelling eddy would be in the same location, it is pushing a lot of cool Tasman Sea water in towards the north coast of NSW which doesn't actually appear to be mixing much with the EAC, but instead is running along parallel and outside the EAC. If my boat wasn't about to go up on the hard in Yamba, I'd be keen to go out for a look on the far side of the current - looks a lot like a hotspot for YFT, and very reachable, being less than half the usual distance to the outside edge of the current.
Sunday, 7th August
The SIGFC proposals posted in yesterday's Logbook entry include one to further discourage the capture of marlin - not to stop it, because individual skippers would still have the option of hanging a fish if they wanted a photo or whatever. The proposal simply promotes the idea of changing that club's pointscoring system to only allocate competition points for tag and release of marlin, and none for killing them.
The photos below taken from Steve Campbell's book "Blue Marlin Magic" illustrate the underlying logic behind the proposal more elegantly than several paragraphs about sustainability and angling ethics ever could.
The blurb below the Hemingway photo notes that the blue marlin biomass alone is now estimated to have been depleted by overfishing - yes, primarily by commercial longliners, not game fishermen - to around half of what is was in Hemmingway's day.
When you consider that each of the female marlin in these photos would have been responsible for releasing between 7 and 100 million eggs every time they spawned - which is four times per summer breeding season - for the rest of their lives, even with the minuscule survival rates of larval marlin, it makes a strong argument for tag and release only angling for these great fish...
Incidentally, I'll be only too happy to publish written arguments supporting or opposing any of the three proposals listed in yesterday's column below. Just send me an email or use the website's contact form to forward anything you wish, and I'll give it equal space.
The photos below taken from Steve Campbell's book "Blue Marlin Magic" illustrate the underlying logic behind the proposal more elegantly than several paragraphs about sustainability and angling ethics ever could.
The blurb below the Hemingway photo notes that the blue marlin biomass alone is now estimated to have been depleted by overfishing - yes, primarily by commercial longliners, not game fishermen - to around half of what is was in Hemmingway's day.
When you consider that each of the female marlin in these photos would have been responsible for releasing between 7 and 100 million eggs every time they spawned - which is four times per summer breeding season - for the rest of their lives, even with the minuscule survival rates of larval marlin, it makes a strong argument for tag and release only angling for these great fish...
Incidentally, I'll be only too happy to publish written arguments supporting or opposing any of the three proposals listed in yesterday's column below. Just send me an email or use the website's contact form to forward anything you wish, and I'll give it equal space.
Friday, 5th August
Many of the readers of this column are members of the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club, and would know that the club's Annual General Meeting will be held at 1000 on Sunday, 28 August. Among other items of business, this meeting elects (and in this case, most likely re-elect) our committee for the following year, and will make other decisions that could impact our fishing and our club enjoyment and participation this coming season.
I strongly encourage all members to attend (you've got to be a financial member for the 2016/17 season), and in doing so, would like to note that in the past, this meeting has been relatively poorly attended in the light of the number of active members on the club's rolls.
One of the agenda items at the AGM will be the tabling of and voting on proposals from members that will guide the committee on the way the club operates in the year ahead, and which may shape the image and the operation of the club well into the future.
While there aren't normally many proposals to deal with, some of the ones submitted by members in the past have had an extremely positive effect on the way the club does business... one that immediately springs to mind was the insightful proposal by Cameron Sweeting several years ago to have the club reorganise its fishing season from a traditional 12-month ongoing "in-hours" season with 12 monthly competition days, to a 9-month in-hours season with 18 competition days. This was adopted as we know, and has been responsible for an extremely positive outcome that has resulted in a more functional club that now fishes harder when the marlin are here, and gives members a 3-month period for boat repairs and a bit of an enthusiasm check when the marlin bite is at its slowest.
All AGM proposals are posted on the club's own website 21 days in advance of the AGM in order to give members time to consider their vote. As a result of input from my own crew and discussions with other members, I've submitted the following three proposals for consideration at the upcoming AGM, and in addition to them being posted on the SIGFC website, I'm including links to these proposals below for interested readers to review...
Proposal 1: Amend the Club Pointscoring System .... This proposal also comes with an Expanded T&R rationale document.
Proposal 2: Rescheduling of cancelled in-hours competition days
Proposal 3: Creation of a new Midweek Competition
I'll be happy to field any questions on the above...
I strongly encourage all members to attend (you've got to be a financial member for the 2016/17 season), and in doing so, would like to note that in the past, this meeting has been relatively poorly attended in the light of the number of active members on the club's rolls.
One of the agenda items at the AGM will be the tabling of and voting on proposals from members that will guide the committee on the way the club operates in the year ahead, and which may shape the image and the operation of the club well into the future.
While there aren't normally many proposals to deal with, some of the ones submitted by members in the past have had an extremely positive effect on the way the club does business... one that immediately springs to mind was the insightful proposal by Cameron Sweeting several years ago to have the club reorganise its fishing season from a traditional 12-month ongoing "in-hours" season with 12 monthly competition days, to a 9-month in-hours season with 18 competition days. This was adopted as we know, and has been responsible for an extremely positive outcome that has resulted in a more functional club that now fishes harder when the marlin are here, and gives members a 3-month period for boat repairs and a bit of an enthusiasm check when the marlin bite is at its slowest.
All AGM proposals are posted on the club's own website 21 days in advance of the AGM in order to give members time to consider their vote. As a result of input from my own crew and discussions with other members, I've submitted the following three proposals for consideration at the upcoming AGM, and in addition to them being posted on the SIGFC website, I'm including links to these proposals below for interested readers to review...
Proposal 1: Amend the Club Pointscoring System .... This proposal also comes with an Expanded T&R rationale document.
Proposal 2: Rescheduling of cancelled in-hours competition days
Proposal 3: Creation of a new Midweek Competition
I'll be happy to field any questions on the above...
Wednesday, 3rd August
Anyone stepping outside and sweeping around the horizon in Coffs Harbour at about 0930 this morning would have seen the eye of the east coast low passing directly over Coffs. There was blue sky right overhead, and relatively light wind, but there were big walls of rain soaked clouds ringing the city, particularly to the east and south. The winds that will start blowing in earnest later this evening are on the backside of the low, but it looks like the system isn't too intense, and is moving relatively quickly, so is unlikely to create any lasting mess out to sea, and with luck won't cause serious damage down at the marina, although it's not going to be pretty, and these east coast lows are particularly good at surprising us...
Mind you, after the centre of the low pressure system passed over Coffs Harbour, the lights went out big time, the wind blew in from the south at 40 knots, the rain came bucketing down, we had lightning and thunder, and the ocean went from pretty calm to a maelstrom in an hour. The photos above show the 24 hour contrast - one was taken late afternoon yesterday at Yamba, the other taken this afternoon at North Sapphire Beach!
With the wind gusting to 50 knots at sunset, it's starting to look like an ugly night, with a lot of trees down.
At least the wind is out of the south.
Meanwhile, changing hemispheres, the latest report from Bill François on the south coast of France is that the Atlantic bluefin season is off to a cracking start, with a mate of his tagging 10 BFT in a day's outing in the Med. It's almost counterintuitive to think that the bluefin fishing in the Mediterranean where there's been so much pressure, and the bluefin have been on the edge of being wiped out is shaping up to be better than our yellowfin fishery has been here for the past couple of years.
Mind you, after the centre of the low pressure system passed over Coffs Harbour, the lights went out big time, the wind blew in from the south at 40 knots, the rain came bucketing down, we had lightning and thunder, and the ocean went from pretty calm to a maelstrom in an hour. The photos above show the 24 hour contrast - one was taken late afternoon yesterday at Yamba, the other taken this afternoon at North Sapphire Beach!
With the wind gusting to 50 knots at sunset, it's starting to look like an ugly night, with a lot of trees down.
At least the wind is out of the south.
Meanwhile, changing hemispheres, the latest report from Bill François on the south coast of France is that the Atlantic bluefin season is off to a cracking start, with a mate of his tagging 10 BFT in a day's outing in the Med. It's almost counterintuitive to think that the bluefin fishing in the Mediterranean where there's been so much pressure, and the bluefin have been on the edge of being wiped out is shaping up to be better than our yellowfin fishery has been here for the past couple of years.
Tuesday, 2nd August
The forecast hasn't backed off at all, so it looks like about three days of rough weather coming up. There's another nasty little east coast low forming, and the north coast is going to be relatively OK if that low passes south of Coffs Harbour or right over the top of Coffs (the most likely scenario with the current projections...). Things get pretty grim when these lows pass to the north of Coffs, because that's when we get a destructive northeast swell rolling across the northern break wall of the harbour.
Even if that happens this time, the fact is that despite a lot of remaining infrastructure damage and a couple of fingers not being anchored to the walkways, the marina arms are now probably in better shape and able to resist the green water over the break wall and the surge better than for some years now. This thanks to the substantial strengthening of the floating units, the securing of the arms to the anchor piles with new metal roller frames, and the steel strapping that's been added along the tops of the floating segments. In fact, what remains of the marina structure, even with just the temporary repairs, is probably stronger now than its been in the last decade. Add to this the most likely course of the east coast low, and the threat of further damage should stay relatively low.
Even if that happens this time, the fact is that despite a lot of remaining infrastructure damage and a couple of fingers not being anchored to the walkways, the marina arms are now probably in better shape and able to resist the green water over the break wall and the surge better than for some years now. This thanks to the substantial strengthening of the floating units, the securing of the arms to the anchor piles with new metal roller frames, and the steel strapping that's been added along the tops of the floating segments. In fact, what remains of the marina structure, even with just the temporary repairs, is probably stronger now than its been in the last decade. Add to this the most likely course of the east coast low, and the threat of further damage should stay relatively low.
Monday, 1st August
Mother Nature always wants some payback, so after a week of the best winter weather you could ever wish for, we're paying for it starting Wednesday when a nasty southerly blow is forecast to slap us around for a few days and shut down the fishing.
Black N Blue went out late last week to try a bit more deep drop swordfish angling, but when they got to the 250 fathom contour, the current was blitzing down the edge of the shelf at 3+ knots, so swordfishing dropped off the agenda.
Instead, Rob Lang and crew decided to give the striped marlin a nudge. What they found was fascinating - thousands of dolphins and masses of bait in some sort of rare aggregation of dolphin activity unlike you normally expect to see out there. There were the usual Bottlenose dolphins, as well as Pacific and Spinner dolphins, and at various times, they had 40 dolphins swimming along behind the boat inspecting the spread. Needless to say, there wasn't any real estate left for marlin. The bait was being smashed from above by the winter gannets and no doubt other predators as well as the dolphins, and it was only when the dolphin activity settled down a bit and the dolphins backed off that the marlin appeared.
They had three shots at three striped marlin out there, but the fish were clearly full of bait and weren't bothering to bite aggressively. They had a couple grab lures, but after pulling some string, they jumped off. Another sat behind lures but never hit anything, even half-heartedly.
This is a good sign though, and we should all hope that after the southerly blows itself out, that the return of good weather coincides with some sustained late winter/early spring striped marlin action.
There's a fair bit of that action up on the southeast Queensland coast already, with striped and blue and even some juvenile black marlin being raised from Fraser Island to the border. Again, with good current flow and plenty of bait, we should see this activity start to move towards us from now on.
My recent few days in Yamba was interesting... got Foreign Exchange prepared for it's time on the hardstand having new clears made and a new paint job applied. I also saw one of the neighbours next door to the canal front place I was staying at arrive back after a few hours on his tinny out at the median rock wall on the southern side of the river just off town... he came back with a bag limit of blackfish and bream, as well as a huge flathead and a couple of very respectable jewfish... no shortage of fish in the Clarence if you've got a bit of local knowledge!
Finally, there's a really pretty old Hatteras flybridge game boat of about 50ft up on blocks in the Yamba boatyard. They don't build 'em like that anymore, and this boat was a classic '70s design that is pretty timeless, and would have been built like a Sherman tank, and no doubt finished with a beautiful interior. Apparently it's being held by the authorities as a "proceeds of crime" asset, but will be going on sale as soon as the Feds can retrieve all the bits (turbos, electronics and suchlike) that's been stripped out of it by locals claiming that they weren't paid for work done. It has a timeless design, looks like a helluva good weather boat, supposedly has been re-engined, and looks to be structurally undamaged. It has gorgeous 5-blade custom wheels that would be brilliant at getting a lot of horsepower into the water. Rumour has it that it could probably be had for about $140K, at which price it would be a bargain. "Los Lobos" would be a fixer-upper's dream as long as the fixer-upper who bought it had another $140K to spend to restore it to its former glory.
Black N Blue went out late last week to try a bit more deep drop swordfish angling, but when they got to the 250 fathom contour, the current was blitzing down the edge of the shelf at 3+ knots, so swordfishing dropped off the agenda.
Instead, Rob Lang and crew decided to give the striped marlin a nudge. What they found was fascinating - thousands of dolphins and masses of bait in some sort of rare aggregation of dolphin activity unlike you normally expect to see out there. There were the usual Bottlenose dolphins, as well as Pacific and Spinner dolphins, and at various times, they had 40 dolphins swimming along behind the boat inspecting the spread. Needless to say, there wasn't any real estate left for marlin. The bait was being smashed from above by the winter gannets and no doubt other predators as well as the dolphins, and it was only when the dolphin activity settled down a bit and the dolphins backed off that the marlin appeared.
They had three shots at three striped marlin out there, but the fish were clearly full of bait and weren't bothering to bite aggressively. They had a couple grab lures, but after pulling some string, they jumped off. Another sat behind lures but never hit anything, even half-heartedly.
This is a good sign though, and we should all hope that after the southerly blows itself out, that the return of good weather coincides with some sustained late winter/early spring striped marlin action.
There's a fair bit of that action up on the southeast Queensland coast already, with striped and blue and even some juvenile black marlin being raised from Fraser Island to the border. Again, with good current flow and plenty of bait, we should see this activity start to move towards us from now on.
My recent few days in Yamba was interesting... got Foreign Exchange prepared for it's time on the hardstand having new clears made and a new paint job applied. I also saw one of the neighbours next door to the canal front place I was staying at arrive back after a few hours on his tinny out at the median rock wall on the southern side of the river just off town... he came back with a bag limit of blackfish and bream, as well as a huge flathead and a couple of very respectable jewfish... no shortage of fish in the Clarence if you've got a bit of local knowledge!
Finally, there's a really pretty old Hatteras flybridge game boat of about 50ft up on blocks in the Yamba boatyard. They don't build 'em like that anymore, and this boat was a classic '70s design that is pretty timeless, and would have been built like a Sherman tank, and no doubt finished with a beautiful interior. Apparently it's being held by the authorities as a "proceeds of crime" asset, but will be going on sale as soon as the Feds can retrieve all the bits (turbos, electronics and suchlike) that's been stripped out of it by locals claiming that they weren't paid for work done. It has a timeless design, looks like a helluva good weather boat, supposedly has been re-engined, and looks to be structurally undamaged. It has gorgeous 5-blade custom wheels that would be brilliant at getting a lot of horsepower into the water. Rumour has it that it could probably be had for about $140K, at which price it would be a bargain. "Los Lobos" would be a fixer-upper's dream as long as the fixer-upper who bought it had another $140K to spend to restore it to its former glory.
Tuesday, 26th July
With a great mid-winter weather forecast for today, there weren't too many options that were better than fishing... so... in response to an invitation from Rob Lang, I went out to take a look at deep drop daytime broadbill sword fishing on Black N Blue. Conditions were excellent, with breezes that backed off to about 5 knots by midday, sea surface temps of 22.5C, and a current that started off at about 3 knots, but quickly wound down to ½ to 1 knot as the day wore on.
Everything looked good, but as with previous similar broadbill trips, the deep ocean where they should have been leaping on the line was empty. We had a Kiwi game fishing charter skipper - Carl Muir, of Carl Muir Fishing on board for a look at our local area. Carl has done some daytime broadbill fishing in NZ, and thought we were doing everything right, but this is proving to be a tough nut to crack. Once someone finds where these swordfish are hanging out and exactly how to get them onto a bait, then I suspect that the inevitable opening of the broadbill fishery here will be one of the bigger sportfishing events to happen on the north coast. It's not really a matter of "if", just "when", and the Black N Blue team have put more hours into this quest than anyone else in northern NSW, so odds are that they'll be the ones to crack the code on this first.
And while there are lots of fairly fanciful reports around about swordfishing up here, there aren't many (any?) photos of broadbill beside boats off Coffs... yet.
A bit of a run around marlin alley with striped marlin lures in the water later in the day also proved that July is as always, the quietest game fishing month of the year here. We had birds showing interest all around us, there were striped tuna and sauries busting up occasionally, and we even saw what for all the world looked like either a marlin or a shark slashing into some bait near the boat, but still, nothing in the spread all day until we snagged a small dollie whose ambitions far exceeded its abilities as we were passing the wave recorder on the way home.
Save the diesel until this time in August...
And just for something completely different... if you were walking along the pathway from the marina carpark to the marina access gate at 0530 in the morning, and saw a bloke wearing a headlamp pressure washing the pathway in the cold dark of a July morning, you, like me, would probably think he had his priorities seriously out of alignment, because most of us would rather be either getting onto a game boat as I was, or tucked up in a warm bed with something gorgeous... but not the Solitary Islands GFC's club president! That's serious dedication... What a guy...!!!
Everything looked good, but as with previous similar broadbill trips, the deep ocean where they should have been leaping on the line was empty. We had a Kiwi game fishing charter skipper - Carl Muir, of Carl Muir Fishing on board for a look at our local area. Carl has done some daytime broadbill fishing in NZ, and thought we were doing everything right, but this is proving to be a tough nut to crack. Once someone finds where these swordfish are hanging out and exactly how to get them onto a bait, then I suspect that the inevitable opening of the broadbill fishery here will be one of the bigger sportfishing events to happen on the north coast. It's not really a matter of "if", just "when", and the Black N Blue team have put more hours into this quest than anyone else in northern NSW, so odds are that they'll be the ones to crack the code on this first.
And while there are lots of fairly fanciful reports around about swordfishing up here, there aren't many (any?) photos of broadbill beside boats off Coffs... yet.
A bit of a run around marlin alley with striped marlin lures in the water later in the day also proved that July is as always, the quietest game fishing month of the year here. We had birds showing interest all around us, there were striped tuna and sauries busting up occasionally, and we even saw what for all the world looked like either a marlin or a shark slashing into some bait near the boat, but still, nothing in the spread all day until we snagged a small dollie whose ambitions far exceeded its abilities as we were passing the wave recorder on the way home.
Save the diesel until this time in August...
And just for something completely different... if you were walking along the pathway from the marina carpark to the marina access gate at 0530 in the morning, and saw a bloke wearing a headlamp pressure washing the pathway in the cold dark of a July morning, you, like me, would probably think he had his priorities seriously out of alignment, because most of us would rather be either getting onto a game boat as I was, or tucked up in a warm bed with something gorgeous... but not the Solitary Islands GFC's club president! That's serious dedication... What a guy...!!!
Saturday, 23rd July
The satellite shots following a day of full sunshine yesterday are pretty encouraging - 24.5C water off Fraser Island, 23-24C water off the Gold Coast, and 23.5C water off the Coffs Coast. However, it's pretty empty... there have been a couple of blues raised just north of the border, and of course, Better than Vegas had one hooked up earlier this week, but most reports tell of pretty dead conditions, with no serious bait out along the edge of the shelf, even though there's a fair bit in closer at the WBG here.
One report from Ballina told of cool water at 19-21C along a stretch of the shelf there, and you'd have thought that might have brought a bit of a striped marlin and YFT bite with it, but there was no such thing. Black N Blue has dragged lures along marlin alley here a couple of times in the past week, but where you'd reasonably expect to see some activity from the stripes along the 40 fathom contour, it was dead.
Local anglers will remember that there was a pretty hot striped marlin bite early in the spring along the top edge of the shelf last year, so if any decent quantities of bait start to show up there in August, we should get some action.
At the moment, the yellowfin are all out at 100 miles off Coffs, where water temperatures are 21C, and there is a nice East-West break, so its unlikely we'll see much of them in closer until we can get an outside current edge inside at least 153.40 East.
So... back to Steve Campbell's blue marlin experiences...
Today, I'll talk a little about some of the most obvious differences I've read about when it comes to blue marlin fishing in Steve's mid Pacific location, and the north coast of NSW.
Firstly, Steve Cambell has a game fishing lodge on an idyllic tropical island in Tonga, and with the classic Pacific Island volcanic island structure, his location allows him to catch blue marlin just a mile outside the lagoon where a 1000m dropoff starts, so he only has to drive for 5 minutes from his anchorage, and he's fishing for blues - what a perfect setup!! That's the first of many differences between marlin fishing in Tonga and here.
Another is that Steve has seen every blue he hooks up turn and run to the north once it's hooked up solid - nice if they were that predictable here!
Once hooked up, Steve tries hard to get his fish up to the boat before they get so tired that they go deep, and that seems to be largely a function of how quickly his professional deckies clear the rods - nothing new there. It goes without saying that if they end up with a lot of line out there, the marlin will often tire while the angler is trying to retrieve the better part of 500m of line, and once tired, the fish will dive and flat plate against the current, often adding another hour to the fight. Of course we see that here, but there's a difference once again, and that is that the average blue marlin Steve deals with is usually a little smaller than those we see here, and being a charter skipper, he tends to use 60kg gear a fair bit, which of course allows him to put some serious moves on the 90-130kg fish he deals with much of the time. All this allows them to get on top of the fish early, and most of his blue marlin battles seem to be no more than 25 minutes long .
And to finish today's Blue Marlin Magic differences... On Steve's boat, there's a firm rule that only the skipper is allowed to sharpen the hooks. He uses Mustad stainless hooks, and while it's strong, even top quality stainless steel isn't super hard, so the wrong sharpening technique can result in lost fish if hooks are sharpened to too fine a point. We use Owner Jobu carbon steel hooks on Foreign Exchange (we switched to them after a Mustard stainless hook bent like spaghetti a few years back), and that steel is as hard as it gets... and while we religiously sharpen the hooks before every day's fishing (what else is there to do on a 45 minute drive out to the edge of the shelf...?), the Owner hooks are relatively easy to sharpen correctly without damaging them, so how its done, or by whom, isn't as critical as Steve believes it is when using stainless hooks. On our boat, the sharpening task often falls to the most senior of the crew, or sometimes to the guy who didn't bring the coffees...!
One report from Ballina told of cool water at 19-21C along a stretch of the shelf there, and you'd have thought that might have brought a bit of a striped marlin and YFT bite with it, but there was no such thing. Black N Blue has dragged lures along marlin alley here a couple of times in the past week, but where you'd reasonably expect to see some activity from the stripes along the 40 fathom contour, it was dead.
Local anglers will remember that there was a pretty hot striped marlin bite early in the spring along the top edge of the shelf last year, so if any decent quantities of bait start to show up there in August, we should get some action.
At the moment, the yellowfin are all out at 100 miles off Coffs, where water temperatures are 21C, and there is a nice East-West break, so its unlikely we'll see much of them in closer until we can get an outside current edge inside at least 153.40 East.
So... back to Steve Campbell's blue marlin experiences...
Today, I'll talk a little about some of the most obvious differences I've read about when it comes to blue marlin fishing in Steve's mid Pacific location, and the north coast of NSW.
Firstly, Steve Cambell has a game fishing lodge on an idyllic tropical island in Tonga, and with the classic Pacific Island volcanic island structure, his location allows him to catch blue marlin just a mile outside the lagoon where a 1000m dropoff starts, so he only has to drive for 5 minutes from his anchorage, and he's fishing for blues - what a perfect setup!! That's the first of many differences between marlin fishing in Tonga and here.
Another is that Steve has seen every blue he hooks up turn and run to the north once it's hooked up solid - nice if they were that predictable here!
Once hooked up, Steve tries hard to get his fish up to the boat before they get so tired that they go deep, and that seems to be largely a function of how quickly his professional deckies clear the rods - nothing new there. It goes without saying that if they end up with a lot of line out there, the marlin will often tire while the angler is trying to retrieve the better part of 500m of line, and once tired, the fish will dive and flat plate against the current, often adding another hour to the fight. Of course we see that here, but there's a difference once again, and that is that the average blue marlin Steve deals with is usually a little smaller than those we see here, and being a charter skipper, he tends to use 60kg gear a fair bit, which of course allows him to put some serious moves on the 90-130kg fish he deals with much of the time. All this allows them to get on top of the fish early, and most of his blue marlin battles seem to be no more than 25 minutes long .
And to finish today's Blue Marlin Magic differences... On Steve's boat, there's a firm rule that only the skipper is allowed to sharpen the hooks. He uses Mustad stainless hooks, and while it's strong, even top quality stainless steel isn't super hard, so the wrong sharpening technique can result in lost fish if hooks are sharpened to too fine a point. We use Owner Jobu carbon steel hooks on Foreign Exchange (we switched to them after a Mustard stainless hook bent like spaghetti a few years back), and that steel is as hard as it gets... and while we religiously sharpen the hooks before every day's fishing (what else is there to do on a 45 minute drive out to the edge of the shelf...?), the Owner hooks are relatively easy to sharpen correctly without damaging them, so how its done, or by whom, isn't as critical as Steve believes it is when using stainless hooks. On our boat, the sharpening task often falls to the most senior of the crew, or sometimes to the guy who didn't bring the coffees...!
Thursday, 21st July
Having dodged the morons trying to blow people up or run them down with trucks in Europe, it's more than good to be back in what is increasingly looking like paradise compared to the rest of the world. The Canadians seem to have their act together though, but the Yanks are stuck between a rock and a hard place as far as their next president is concerned, and with armed idiots shooting at cops almost daily, there's a real sense of unease in the US. Meanwhile, the EU is in more trouble than Flash Gordon what with overwhelming numbers of economic illegals and nut job islamist fanatics playing the terrorist game. Finally, with the UK opting out of the European community much like jumping off a cliff without a parachute as a consequence of the Brexit decision, there's even more turmoil on both sides of The Channel.
Yep... sure is good to be back... we all need to get out into that sort of environment to really appreciate how good we've got it here regardless of the relatively minor hassles of Australian politics...
And so back to game fishing...
Despite the usual slow times of mid-winter here, and the atrocious fishing weather over the past month, yesterday showed enough promise that Pete English and the Better than Vegas team went out for a look. As I flew in yesterday, the view from the jet showed an ocean without a whitecap, plenty of whales, and some OK water colour out towards the shelf. Vegas landed a nice mahimahi in the 20kg range that features in the photo above.
Better still, the water temperature in the East Australian Current in 500 fathoms was an unseasonal 23.5C, and that was where they hooked up a blue marlin... in July! Unfortunately, they lost the fish after a 40 minute fight, but finding a blue out there at this time of year is damned good fishing, and at least makes the occasional sortie in good weather an even odds idea.
When I was in the US, I picked up a copy of Steve Campbell's great new book "Blue Marlin Magic". I bought it to read while flying and riding the Eurostar, but to be honest, at 5 kg or thereabouts and 579 pages, it plays havoc with your carry-on baggage allowance. Still, it's sensational reading, and with Steve's permission, I'm going to print a few excerpts regarding his observations and experiences after 12 years chasing blue marlin as a charter skipper in Tonga. I'll save these gems for days when there's no action off Coffs, but in the meantime, I think I can fairly say that anyone targeting blue marlin off the east coast of Australia should most definitely have a copy of "Blue Marlin Magic" at home. There's nothing like learning from a pro, and being able to benefit from Steve's daily pursuit of blues out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean anytime you care to refer to the book is going to save you years of hard work.
News from the French Connection... Game fisherman Bill François has been in touch recently to tell me about his experiences this season chasing Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean. The game fishing there closes for the tuna spawning season, and since the closure ended last week, Bill tagged 4 bluefin on one day, and went 5 from 7 shots off the mouth of the Rhone a day later. A mate of his actually had 22 bluefin hooked up in one day! Of course, all the bluefin in the Mediterranean are tagged and released by the game fishermen there, so they're certainly doing their bit for the preservation of the species, and if those sort of daily results are anything to go by, then despite too much commercial targeting of the bluefin, it would seem that there's light at the end of that tunnel. More on Bill's Atlantic Bluefin season whenever he sends reports, and meanwhile, here's a short video of one of his recent tag and release efforts from a local boat at the edge of the shelf off Nice earlier in the week.
Yep... sure is good to be back... we all need to get out into that sort of environment to really appreciate how good we've got it here regardless of the relatively minor hassles of Australian politics...
And so back to game fishing...
Despite the usual slow times of mid-winter here, and the atrocious fishing weather over the past month, yesterday showed enough promise that Pete English and the Better than Vegas team went out for a look. As I flew in yesterday, the view from the jet showed an ocean without a whitecap, plenty of whales, and some OK water colour out towards the shelf. Vegas landed a nice mahimahi in the 20kg range that features in the photo above.
Better still, the water temperature in the East Australian Current in 500 fathoms was an unseasonal 23.5C, and that was where they hooked up a blue marlin... in July! Unfortunately, they lost the fish after a 40 minute fight, but finding a blue out there at this time of year is damned good fishing, and at least makes the occasional sortie in good weather an even odds idea.
When I was in the US, I picked up a copy of Steve Campbell's great new book "Blue Marlin Magic". I bought it to read while flying and riding the Eurostar, but to be honest, at 5 kg or thereabouts and 579 pages, it plays havoc with your carry-on baggage allowance. Still, it's sensational reading, and with Steve's permission, I'm going to print a few excerpts regarding his observations and experiences after 12 years chasing blue marlin as a charter skipper in Tonga. I'll save these gems for days when there's no action off Coffs, but in the meantime, I think I can fairly say that anyone targeting blue marlin off the east coast of Australia should most definitely have a copy of "Blue Marlin Magic" at home. There's nothing like learning from a pro, and being able to benefit from Steve's daily pursuit of blues out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean anytime you care to refer to the book is going to save you years of hard work.
News from the French Connection... Game fisherman Bill François has been in touch recently to tell me about his experiences this season chasing Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean. The game fishing there closes for the tuna spawning season, and since the closure ended last week, Bill tagged 4 bluefin on one day, and went 5 from 7 shots off the mouth of the Rhone a day later. A mate of his actually had 22 bluefin hooked up in one day! Of course, all the bluefin in the Mediterranean are tagged and released by the game fishermen there, so they're certainly doing their bit for the preservation of the species, and if those sort of daily results are anything to go by, then despite too much commercial targeting of the bluefin, it would seem that there's light at the end of that tunnel. More on Bill's Atlantic Bluefin season whenever he sends reports, and meanwhile, here's a short video of one of his recent tag and release efforts from a local boat at the edge of the shelf off Nice earlier in the week.
Thursday, 30th June
My brother's house sitting my place in Coffs for me while I'm away, and part of the deal was that I would flip him the keys to my boat while I was out of town, and he could do some trips out to the shelf from Yamba where the boat is parked while the Coffs marina rises from the ashes.
All he has to show for the deal so far has been a few decent catches of bream and flathead up the Clarence River... and no chance whatsoever to get out to sea to do any game fishing. Instead, he's been respooling some of my game gear and reskirting a few lures that took something of a pounding during the last weeks of the season. I must get him to come house sitting during lousy fishing conditions more often!!
All he has to show for the deal so far has been a few decent catches of bream and flathead up the Clarence River... and no chance whatsoever to get out to sea to do any game fishing. Instead, he's been respooling some of my game gear and reskirting a few lures that took something of a pounding during the last weeks of the season. I must get him to come house sitting during lousy fishing conditions more often!!
Wednesday 29th June
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A midsummer day's fishing in the Straits of Juan de Fuca means turning up at the boat in a pair of shorts and t-shirt, then stepping into a refrigerator and adding jeans, fleeces, jackets and about 4 other layers to the mix as you motor out through water that tops out at 10C, and makes the air above it feel like midwinter.
Still, the salmon fishing is interesting and instructive. The overfishing of what is arguably the west coast of North America's greatest sportfishing and commercial marine food resource has led to severe bag limits and licensing restrictions in many areas that should serve as a warning to Australian fisheries administration departments and recreational angling groups long term marine resource management strategies in order to avoid these dire outcomes. In the US, they are even decommissioning dams on the Columbia River in the US to try to bring health back to the Pacific salmon biomass, having decided that the value of this incredible resource in terms of both food production and even more so, recreational fishing economic value, is so great, that giving up an irrigation and hydro electric source to return the salmon population levels to sustainable health is worth more money than the value of the crops and electricity the dam provides... Think carefully about that one... While out fishing in the Straits about 500 yards from the US/Canadian border, a US Coast Guard cutter drove up and warned us that they would be conducting a live ammunition exercise nearby, and we might want to move about 2 miles to stay clear. Our Canadian skipper declined so they motored off in the cutter, threw a floating target in the water, and proceeded to blaze away at it with a couple of 50cal heavy machine guns. Hell of a show, and we had ringside seats!! Just as well the USCG entertained us with a bit of gunnery exercise, because the halibut we were chasing weren't in the mood - we only got a a big Pacific cod (delicious eating, much like Blue Eye) and a shark. |
Monday, 27th June
Sitting here on the Pacific coast of British Columbia at 48N latitude seems like a hell of a long way away from the winter woes of Coff Harbour... which it is of course. That said however, with nighttime temps of around 10C, and the days only managing to make it to about 23C, mid summer here is not really that much different to mid winter on the northern NSW coast... except that the sun rises at about 0500, and doesn't set until 2130!
A trip along the coast here is totally different however, and only yesterday, we drove up along the east shore of Vancouver Island and found ourselves following along with a pod of Killer Whales as they searched for their main prey - harbour seals. That's the male in the pod in the photo below - he was about 20m off the rocks. Hell of a sight! And that was before we saw bald eagles and all manner of other local fauna.
Still, a trip along the Coffs Coast and around the Solitary Islands has equally as much to offer the siteseer, and probably more on a good day.
Marcus Blackwell reports that a couple of days ago, he went out looking for striped marlin in Marlin alley, and despite splitting the local patch between them and giving it a fairly good going over, neither Hemingway nor Black N Blue turned a reel, which is very disappointing news.
Water conditions were good - and at 21C, it was a hell of a lot warmer than the water in the photo below, which was a nasty 10.6C - but there was no action at all around the Coffs Canyons or between the FAD and the Wave Recorder where the stripes can usually be relied upon to put in an appearance. The current was charging down the edge of the shelf at a brisk 3.5 knots, but even that hadn't brought any real bait with it, or Marlin following along.
As Marcus noted, maybe it really is time to get into a winter maintenance program while things are dead out there, so that everything's ready to rock and roll when these lousy winds stop beating up the Coffs Coast, and the Marlin reappear.
With a salmon fishing trip on tomorrow's agenda over here, there should be a photo or two of the primary sportfishing target here in the Straits of Juan de Fuca for me to post up here tomorrow. Sure they're not Marlin, but it sounds like there's a hell of a lot more going on on this side of the Pacific at the moment than there is at 30S 153E...
A trip along the coast here is totally different however, and only yesterday, we drove up along the east shore of Vancouver Island and found ourselves following along with a pod of Killer Whales as they searched for their main prey - harbour seals. That's the male in the pod in the photo below - he was about 20m off the rocks. Hell of a sight! And that was before we saw bald eagles and all manner of other local fauna.
Still, a trip along the Coffs Coast and around the Solitary Islands has equally as much to offer the siteseer, and probably more on a good day.
Marcus Blackwell reports that a couple of days ago, he went out looking for striped marlin in Marlin alley, and despite splitting the local patch between them and giving it a fairly good going over, neither Hemingway nor Black N Blue turned a reel, which is very disappointing news.
Water conditions were good - and at 21C, it was a hell of a lot warmer than the water in the photo below, which was a nasty 10.6C - but there was no action at all around the Coffs Canyons or between the FAD and the Wave Recorder where the stripes can usually be relied upon to put in an appearance. The current was charging down the edge of the shelf at a brisk 3.5 knots, but even that hadn't brought any real bait with it, or Marlin following along.
As Marcus noted, maybe it really is time to get into a winter maintenance program while things are dead out there, so that everything's ready to rock and roll when these lousy winds stop beating up the Coffs Coast, and the Marlin reappear.
With a salmon fishing trip on tomorrow's agenda over here, there should be a photo or two of the primary sportfishing target here in the Straits of Juan de Fuca for me to post up here tomorrow. Sure they're not Marlin, but it sounds like there's a hell of a lot more going on on this side of the Pacific at the moment than there is at 30S 153E...
Friday, 17th June
The link below shows excellent video from the BMB on a sequence taken from Tim Dean's boat showing a very determined blue marlin smacking and finally hooking up on a lure behind his boat. Most unusual for a blue to miss this often - it's usually only one pass, solid hookup, and mayhem... See it at https://www.facebook.com/271855388212/videos/10152416089488213/
The photo on the left is the latest test lure from Fijian lure maker Aaron Jennings. It uses a McGoo cupface head replica, and an offset trace tube, and is done as a slightly scaled down version of the larger "Vuaki Flyer" flying fish lure in the same colours as the lure that Better than Vegas used to hook up a 50+kg YFT and a 200+kg blue marlin on consecutive days late last season. This lure is sized down a little to best suit the striped marlin that are shaping up to be the go off Coffs this winter. Reports on its success in due course...
The photo on the left is the latest test lure from Fijian lure maker Aaron Jennings. It uses a McGoo cupface head replica, and an offset trace tube, and is done as a slightly scaled down version of the larger "Vuaki Flyer" flying fish lure in the same colours as the lure that Better than Vegas used to hook up a 50+kg YFT and a 200+kg blue marlin on consecutive days late last season. This lure is sized down a little to best suit the striped marlin that are shaping up to be the go off Coffs this winter. Reports on its success in due course...
Thursday, 16th June
There are a couple of promising indications that we might be in line for a good striped marlin bite this winter/spring.
With numerous striped marlin encounters over the late summer and autumn in unusually warm waters, and anytime good bait accumulations were present out on there top edge of the shelf, things were already a notch or two above normal, and more recently, including today, there have been striped marlin raised on almost every day that dawned with a good forecast.
Black N Blue has been out there for a look most days that the conditions were good, and today was no exception. Rob and his crew found pretty unusual conditions, with an uphill current, and warmer water in 55-60fa than along the bottom edge of the shelf. The plan was to take a hard look at some live baiting, but despite that producing a very steady mahimahi bite, there was no interest from any marlin.
So they gave that away and went back to trolling lures, and almost immediately hooked up a striped marlin. As they were clearing the other rods, another stripe followed one of the rigger lures in to the boat, but they pulled the lure away from what might have been a double hookup - and a major disaster into the bargain - because there were only the two of them on board.
The first stripe hit the lure aggressively, hooked up nicely, and was tagged a little bit after that - see the photo on the left.
They went on to raise three more striped marlin over the course of the day in the same general area, but after that initial strong bite, the fish started to get less enthusiastic, and they couldn't hook any of them, even with a bit of pitch baiting, when they more or less ignored the pitch baits and still kept focusing on the lures.
A couple of really interesting points are ... firstly, despite many years of very successful live baiting for striped marlin off the Coffs Coast and most other striped marlin locations on the east coast, the stronger and most reliable striped marlin bite here off Coffs has been transitioning over to a very clear preference for hitting artificial lures, and away from the livies. Secondly, this season past, we've seen striped marlin both in clear blue water, and nasty green stuff, as well as in temperatures so far ranging from 27.5C down to the 23C that was out there today. Current flow north, south, or not at all doesn't seem to make much difference to the stripes either recently, and while they normally appear around good bait concentrations, they've been showing up regardless of the presence of bait or otherwise.
All this seems to suggest that the winter angling might be a bit better this year than we've seen in the recent past... bring it on!
And in the "more storm pictures" box below, a couple more photos of the storm swell breaking down the inner harbour marina wall as well as another large swell coming over the north wall in the background, with an absolutely monstrous wave breaking about 50m out from the north wall, and about to wreak havoc. There's also another angle on the extensive destruction of the boardwalk about halfway over to Muttonbird, quite possibly a result of the hit it took when that massive wave in the other photo came over the wall a few seconds after the photographer snapped the shot.
With numerous striped marlin encounters over the late summer and autumn in unusually warm waters, and anytime good bait accumulations were present out on there top edge of the shelf, things were already a notch or two above normal, and more recently, including today, there have been striped marlin raised on almost every day that dawned with a good forecast.
Black N Blue has been out there for a look most days that the conditions were good, and today was no exception. Rob and his crew found pretty unusual conditions, with an uphill current, and warmer water in 55-60fa than along the bottom edge of the shelf. The plan was to take a hard look at some live baiting, but despite that producing a very steady mahimahi bite, there was no interest from any marlin.
So they gave that away and went back to trolling lures, and almost immediately hooked up a striped marlin. As they were clearing the other rods, another stripe followed one of the rigger lures in to the boat, but they pulled the lure away from what might have been a double hookup - and a major disaster into the bargain - because there were only the two of them on board.
The first stripe hit the lure aggressively, hooked up nicely, and was tagged a little bit after that - see the photo on the left.
They went on to raise three more striped marlin over the course of the day in the same general area, but after that initial strong bite, the fish started to get less enthusiastic, and they couldn't hook any of them, even with a bit of pitch baiting, when they more or less ignored the pitch baits and still kept focusing on the lures.
A couple of really interesting points are ... firstly, despite many years of very successful live baiting for striped marlin off the Coffs Coast and most other striped marlin locations on the east coast, the stronger and most reliable striped marlin bite here off Coffs has been transitioning over to a very clear preference for hitting artificial lures, and away from the livies. Secondly, this season past, we've seen striped marlin both in clear blue water, and nasty green stuff, as well as in temperatures so far ranging from 27.5C down to the 23C that was out there today. Current flow north, south, or not at all doesn't seem to make much difference to the stripes either recently, and while they normally appear around good bait concentrations, they've been showing up regardless of the presence of bait or otherwise.
All this seems to suggest that the winter angling might be a bit better this year than we've seen in the recent past... bring it on!
And in the "more storm pictures" box below, a couple more photos of the storm swell breaking down the inner harbour marina wall as well as another large swell coming over the north wall in the background, with an absolutely monstrous wave breaking about 50m out from the north wall, and about to wreak havoc. There's also another angle on the extensive destruction of the boardwalk about halfway over to Muttonbird, quite possibly a result of the hit it took when that massive wave in the other photo came over the wall a few seconds after the photographer snapped the shot.
Saturday, 11th June
Driving Foreign Exchange up to Yamba today to leave it in sheltered waters at a safe mooring for a while until the dust settles at the Coffs marina.
Only last night over a couple of beers at the Marlin Bar, local skipper James McGinty and I were discussing the likelihood of a pretty hot striped marlin bite out on the edge of the shelf now that the weather has blown through and the conditions are good for stripes...
Then this morning, just two minutes after getting his lures in the water, Rob Lang had Black N Blue hooked up to a 90kg striped marlin! Way to go... and now after catching one marlin after just two minutes of fishing, how good might the rest of the day be..??!!
Look closely at the right pectoral fin of the same marlin in this photo taken on the other side of the fish - it's got a white tip on that fin! It's not a trick of the light, the fish actually did have a white fin.
Congrats to angler Gerrard Billing incidentally, who must have racked up one of the highest personal marlin T&R scores on the east coast this year to date.
Only last night over a couple of beers at the Marlin Bar, local skipper James McGinty and I were discussing the likelihood of a pretty hot striped marlin bite out on the edge of the shelf now that the weather has blown through and the conditions are good for stripes...
Then this morning, just two minutes after getting his lures in the water, Rob Lang had Black N Blue hooked up to a 90kg striped marlin! Way to go... and now after catching one marlin after just two minutes of fishing, how good might the rest of the day be..??!!
Look closely at the right pectoral fin of the same marlin in this photo taken on the other side of the fish - it's got a white tip on that fin! It's not a trick of the light, the fish actually did have a white fin.
Congrats to angler Gerrard Billing incidentally, who must have racked up one of the highest personal marlin T&R scores on the east coast this year to date.
Friday, 10th June
Well, at least the BOM are reasonably predictable as far as their inability to predict is concerned. Next Tuesday's forecast southerly gale has evaporated, and the already trashed Coffs Harbour marina gets a reprieve as a result.
Speaking of the marina, the rumours are still getting a lot of oxygen, but the real story seems to be emerging now... It seems that the marina will be repaired to the old standard, and that work should be finished by September. The work will be undertaken one arm at a time, with boats being shuffled back and forth to vacate each arm for the duration of the work on that section.
The north wall is being worked on at the same time, so because the equipment and trucks needed to repair the marina can't use the wall for access, a barge with a crane on it is being brought to Coffs from Sydney.
The much advertised and frequently postponed total redesign and rebuild of the marina may get a rerun in a year or so, but that plan has so many Catch-22 angles to it, that I won't be holding my breath. However, to summarise... the new marina won't happen until the marina owners get a new lease (despite the rumours, there has been no lease extension to date), the new lease can't be granted until the north wall works are complete, and the banks aren't going to finance a new marina until all of the above happen. The new marina design has to be in accordance with current marina standards, and the old marina comes nowhere close to meeting those, so if/when a new marina actually happens, even the old piles will have to be removed, and the entire thing started from the water up.
There's still going to be a bit of a sou'wester blowing up on Saturday it seems, but by then, a lot of the boats that are currently moored to damaged sections of the marina will have gone to Yamba, Port Macquarie, or onto their owners' front yards.
Foreign Exchange and Magnum are two of the game boats known to be heading for temporary digs at Yamba, so there may be a report or two from the Iluka pub in coming Logbook notes...
The ocean has settled down again, but the colour all the way out to the horizon is rubbish, and likely to remain so for a while yet until the record rains finish flushing out the rivers.
The current is flowing straight and steady down the continental shelf, with excellent winter striped marlin temps of 22C out at the edge. With a long weekend coming up, there are a couple of charters and no doubt a few privateers prepared to go and see what's happening out there, so the reports will be interesting, and as long as they can avoid the usual trees and dead cows floating past, there's no reason to believe that the edge of the current won't deliver a surprise or two.
And here's a "Week After the Event" photo of just the B-Arm of the Coffs Marina. The photo was taken from the top of the marina wall, where just 6 days ago, there was tonnes of green water coming over, moving large boulders, smashing boats, lifting the walkway below off its concrete foundations, twisting metal, and destroying the floating sections of the marina, ripping them away from the anchoring piles. Most of the mess has been cleaned up thanks to the ongoing tireless efforts of Clayton Livingston, without whose initiative, very little would have been done when decisive action and meaningful assistance was otherwise in very short supply.
Speaking of the marina, the rumours are still getting a lot of oxygen, but the real story seems to be emerging now... It seems that the marina will be repaired to the old standard, and that work should be finished by September. The work will be undertaken one arm at a time, with boats being shuffled back and forth to vacate each arm for the duration of the work on that section.
The north wall is being worked on at the same time, so because the equipment and trucks needed to repair the marina can't use the wall for access, a barge with a crane on it is being brought to Coffs from Sydney.
The much advertised and frequently postponed total redesign and rebuild of the marina may get a rerun in a year or so, but that plan has so many Catch-22 angles to it, that I won't be holding my breath. However, to summarise... the new marina won't happen until the marina owners get a new lease (despite the rumours, there has been no lease extension to date), the new lease can't be granted until the north wall works are complete, and the banks aren't going to finance a new marina until all of the above happen. The new marina design has to be in accordance with current marina standards, and the old marina comes nowhere close to meeting those, so if/when a new marina actually happens, even the old piles will have to be removed, and the entire thing started from the water up.
There's still going to be a bit of a sou'wester blowing up on Saturday it seems, but by then, a lot of the boats that are currently moored to damaged sections of the marina will have gone to Yamba, Port Macquarie, or onto their owners' front yards.
Foreign Exchange and Magnum are two of the game boats known to be heading for temporary digs at Yamba, so there may be a report or two from the Iluka pub in coming Logbook notes...
The ocean has settled down again, but the colour all the way out to the horizon is rubbish, and likely to remain so for a while yet until the record rains finish flushing out the rivers.
The current is flowing straight and steady down the continental shelf, with excellent winter striped marlin temps of 22C out at the edge. With a long weekend coming up, there are a couple of charters and no doubt a few privateers prepared to go and see what's happening out there, so the reports will be interesting, and as long as they can avoid the usual trees and dead cows floating past, there's no reason to believe that the edge of the current won't deliver a surprise or two.
And here's a "Week After the Event" photo of just the B-Arm of the Coffs Marina. The photo was taken from the top of the marina wall, where just 6 days ago, there was tonnes of green water coming over, moving large boulders, smashing boats, lifting the walkway below off its concrete foundations, twisting metal, and destroying the floating sections of the marina, ripping them away from the anchoring piles. Most of the mess has been cleaned up thanks to the ongoing tireless efforts of Clayton Livingston, without whose initiative, very little would have been done when decisive action and meaningful assistance was otherwise in very short supply.
Wednesday, 8th June
And just when you thought it was over... the forecast for next week has a 35+knot southerly in the equation! Sure, it won't put green water over the north wall, but with many tonnes of vessels tied to an already devastated structure, what's left of the weakened marina stands an excellent chance of being pulled apart by the sheer weight of vessels being blown around in a gale like that, and those boats will end up on the rocks.
Let's hope that this new forecast is downgraded.
It's definitely time for the insurance companies and the marina owner to bite the bullet, and lift most of the vessels out of the water and put them all on blocks in a yard somewhere while a recovery plan is formulated and the marina is rebuilt. Both those processes are going to take months, and can't be achieved with vessels moored there anyway. A comprehensive plan to remove the majority of vessels in the marina to dry land now will save more costly insurance payouts in future if the coming winter proves to be as nasty as it threatens to be.
Let's hope that this new forecast is downgraded.
It's definitely time for the insurance companies and the marina owner to bite the bullet, and lift most of the vessels out of the water and put them all on blocks in a yard somewhere while a recovery plan is formulated and the marina is rebuilt. Both those processes are going to take months, and can't be achieved with vessels moored there anyway. A comprehensive plan to remove the majority of vessels in the marina to dry land now will save more costly insurance payouts in future if the coming winter proves to be as nasty as it threatens to be.
Tuesday, 7th June
A marina users group meeting last night revealed information that hopefully will be officially disseminated to boat owners asap. Among the gems to come out of the meeting...
1. The currently funded and approved plans to only do the low cost north wall works will proceed immediately as planned. There will be no consideration given to revisiting the more comprehensive, effective, and costly plans involving a displaced artificial barrier reef, or for the extended seafloor barrier.
2. The approved works were based on modelling of a once-in-50-year storm, but only add a little under 2 metres to the wall height, which given the volume of water coming over the wall during the last three storms in the past 6 years, seems woefully inadequate without a primary barrier further to the north to break up the swells before they even get to the wall.
3. The contractor starting the north wall work nows owns the wall. OH&S, public safety, and hazard reduction requirements mean that the wall will be closed to the public until next year. The marina walkway is unlikely to be rebuilt soon, and doing so at the same time the wall works are underway would probably be impractical, so boat owners on all but the E-Finger (and obviously in "Siberia") will have no access to their boats for months - the solution quoted was "...buy a dingy".
The was a lot of other discussion, and no doubt, news of that will be disseminated in due course.
ABC National News did a good piece on the marina last night, as did the local Prime 7 news (link to the Prime 7 piece - https://au.prime7.yahoo.com/n1/news/a/-/local/31776450/coffs-harbour-marina-damage-video/. The Prime 7 reporter told me that the station is likely going to make the ongoing marina saga a continuing news story - interesting to see if that happens.
It would also be interesting to see someone from the Coffs Council standing up a getting involved... stoney silence from them so far, although they'll have their hands full sorting out other storm damage right now, but a few words from the mayor about the policy direction the council is going to take on marina issues would be nice...
1. The currently funded and approved plans to only do the low cost north wall works will proceed immediately as planned. There will be no consideration given to revisiting the more comprehensive, effective, and costly plans involving a displaced artificial barrier reef, or for the extended seafloor barrier.
2. The approved works were based on modelling of a once-in-50-year storm, but only add a little under 2 metres to the wall height, which given the volume of water coming over the wall during the last three storms in the past 6 years, seems woefully inadequate without a primary barrier further to the north to break up the swells before they even get to the wall.
3. The contractor starting the north wall work nows owns the wall. OH&S, public safety, and hazard reduction requirements mean that the wall will be closed to the public until next year. The marina walkway is unlikely to be rebuilt soon, and doing so at the same time the wall works are underway would probably be impractical, so boat owners on all but the E-Finger (and obviously in "Siberia") will have no access to their boats for months - the solution quoted was "...buy a dingy".
The was a lot of other discussion, and no doubt, news of that will be disseminated in due course.
ABC National News did a good piece on the marina last night, as did the local Prime 7 news (link to the Prime 7 piece - https://au.prime7.yahoo.com/n1/news/a/-/local/31776450/coffs-harbour-marina-damage-video/. The Prime 7 reporter told me that the station is likely going to make the ongoing marina saga a continuing news story - interesting to see if that happens.
It would also be interesting to see someone from the Coffs Council standing up a getting involved... stoney silence from them so far, although they'll have their hands full sorting out other storm damage right now, but a few words from the mayor about the policy direction the council is going to take on marina issues would be nice...
Monday, 6th June
Nobody who's looked closely at the planned "cheapest option" north wall rebuild about to commence would think for a minute that the end result will be good enough to stop something as powerful as this
The marina this morning was scene of devastation. Two boats have sunk, and it's in many ways astonishing that the count was only two. Dozens are damaged, and many are now without secure berths, power, or water.
Still no sign of a go-team or a temporary recovery plan from the marina company, and the Solitary Islands GFC team of Clayton Livingston and Paul Edwards who worked until 0100 last night were back on the job this morning at dawn transporting owners to inaccessible boats, temporarily securing broken fingers and berth arms, and generally going above and beyond, filling the void left by Star Marinas head office. Sure hope they send them a bill!
And while I'm bagging the marina owners, this problem has been in the making for years, and in fairness to the Star Marinas company, it's not all their fault. A bureaucratic nightmare has resulted in extended delays to the marina lease renewal that has effectively placed the marina company between a rock and a hard place as far as being able to secure a major infrastructure loan to undertake a meaningful rebuild of the crumbling marina.
And despite years of repeated warnings and requests to rebuild the north wall, nothing has happened.
What bank would lend money to rebuild a facility that is only going to be smashed up again when the next east coast low rolls into town? And what company is going to commit its own cash reserves to doing so when the break wall demonstrably can't mitigate cyclonic swells from the north that will obviously destroy anything you build anyway if the wall is left as it is or not renovated extensively? So much for the long term questions, but none of these absolve the owners from not having a lot of resources on the ground yesterday, let alone today. It only takes 4½ hours to drive down from Brisbane... but they're still absent.
Then there's the major infrastructure question that's been puzzling many of us for some time.... Why did the responsible government departments rebuild the east wall of the harbour before first rebuilding the north wall...? The former only breaks down storm surf that would otherwise break on the inner harbour beaches without any real consequences, while the latter (less than adequately) protects a multi-million dollar marina and hundreds of boats from storm damage...
Sure, the east wall was moving and needed stabilising, but not urgently, and the north wall problem was an order of magnitude greater than the east wall situation, but with the east wall sucking up a huge amount of money, there's little left for other than a less than substantial and less than optimal long term fix to the north wall.
Which leads to the next question ... Will the state government now persist with rebuilding the north wall using the cheapest and least effective option that they were about to commence this week? This option was the lowest cost choice of several that were put forward, and anyone examining the plans for the chosen rebuild and then seeing the waves coming over the wall this week wouldn't have to be a rocket scientist or a marine structures engineer to understand that the low budget option about to be commenced would be unlikely to stop the seas we saw over the weekend, regardless of the "modelling" used to justify it.
In fairness, there are a lot of intersecting elements in the overall responsibility equation... Local, state, and federal governments have a lot to answer for, and they all need to be held to account. And the zealots in the EPA who shut down the slipway to remediate a stable and non-threatening low level tributyltin "pollution" problem have left the harbour with no slipway to repair all the boats damaged by the storm, or even an area of solid hardstand to place the many boats now without a berth onto. That slipway remediation and shutdown is going to end up costing the state a lot of money that would be better spent on the best possible fix to the north wall.
It goes on... it's the perfect storm in so many ways.
At least there was some justice, and maybe a flash of humour from a sympathetic Neptune... the last big wave that came over the north wall at high tide last night folded the marina office like a pack of cards...
It was disappointing to see that the reporter who did an otherwise good story on the marina disaster on Prime 7 News tonight saying that she'd been told that the slipway would reopen at the end of the month. Our local member was pushing the same line. What a load of nonsense. I'm not sure what bureaucrat with a very loose grip on the truth from the Dept of Lands or wherever told her that, but we all know that the slipway's not reopening this side of hell freezing over, and that there are a lot of players out there determined to see that it never does.
Still no sign of a go-team or a temporary recovery plan from the marina company, and the Solitary Islands GFC team of Clayton Livingston and Paul Edwards who worked until 0100 last night were back on the job this morning at dawn transporting owners to inaccessible boats, temporarily securing broken fingers and berth arms, and generally going above and beyond, filling the void left by Star Marinas head office. Sure hope they send them a bill!
And while I'm bagging the marina owners, this problem has been in the making for years, and in fairness to the Star Marinas company, it's not all their fault. A bureaucratic nightmare has resulted in extended delays to the marina lease renewal that has effectively placed the marina company between a rock and a hard place as far as being able to secure a major infrastructure loan to undertake a meaningful rebuild of the crumbling marina.
And despite years of repeated warnings and requests to rebuild the north wall, nothing has happened.
What bank would lend money to rebuild a facility that is only going to be smashed up again when the next east coast low rolls into town? And what company is going to commit its own cash reserves to doing so when the break wall demonstrably can't mitigate cyclonic swells from the north that will obviously destroy anything you build anyway if the wall is left as it is or not renovated extensively? So much for the long term questions, but none of these absolve the owners from not having a lot of resources on the ground yesterday, let alone today. It only takes 4½ hours to drive down from Brisbane... but they're still absent.
Then there's the major infrastructure question that's been puzzling many of us for some time.... Why did the responsible government departments rebuild the east wall of the harbour before first rebuilding the north wall...? The former only breaks down storm surf that would otherwise break on the inner harbour beaches without any real consequences, while the latter (less than adequately) protects a multi-million dollar marina and hundreds of boats from storm damage...
Sure, the east wall was moving and needed stabilising, but not urgently, and the north wall problem was an order of magnitude greater than the east wall situation, but with the east wall sucking up a huge amount of money, there's little left for other than a less than substantial and less than optimal long term fix to the north wall.
Which leads to the next question ... Will the state government now persist with rebuilding the north wall using the cheapest and least effective option that they were about to commence this week? This option was the lowest cost choice of several that were put forward, and anyone examining the plans for the chosen rebuild and then seeing the waves coming over the wall this week wouldn't have to be a rocket scientist or a marine structures engineer to understand that the low budget option about to be commenced would be unlikely to stop the seas we saw over the weekend, regardless of the "modelling" used to justify it.
In fairness, there are a lot of intersecting elements in the overall responsibility equation... Local, state, and federal governments have a lot to answer for, and they all need to be held to account. And the zealots in the EPA who shut down the slipway to remediate a stable and non-threatening low level tributyltin "pollution" problem have left the harbour with no slipway to repair all the boats damaged by the storm, or even an area of solid hardstand to place the many boats now without a berth onto. That slipway remediation and shutdown is going to end up costing the state a lot of money that would be better spent on the best possible fix to the north wall.
It goes on... it's the perfect storm in so many ways.
At least there was some justice, and maybe a flash of humour from a sympathetic Neptune... the last big wave that came over the north wall at high tide last night folded the marina office like a pack of cards...
It was disappointing to see that the reporter who did an otherwise good story on the marina disaster on Prime 7 News tonight saying that she'd been told that the slipway would reopen at the end of the month. Our local member was pushing the same line. What a load of nonsense. I'm not sure what bureaucrat with a very loose grip on the truth from the Dept of Lands or wherever told her that, but we all know that the slipway's not reopening this side of hell freezing over, and that there are a lot of players out there determined to see that it never does.
Sunday, 5th June
After a very noisy and boisterous night, this morning has dawned calm and eerily still. There's a huge surf churning up the beaches, and a constant deep rumbling from the ocean coming from behind the dunes. The photos below are just a few of thousands taken during the storm, and show the typical wave size coming straight over the marina north break wall today - it was worse last night, and with the high tide this evening, it will be worse again.
A visit to the marina this morning revealed a huge amount of destruction to the marina infrastructure, which was already weakened after several of these events over the past few years, and suffering from neglect and any effective rebuilding plan after those past storms. The marina has basically been destroyed, and in many areas is probably beyond repair.
It was deeply disturbing to see no evidence of a pre/post east coast low contingency plan from marina management, and whereas there should have been a team of marina staff sent to Coffs from Sydney or Brisbane overnight, with RIBs, emergency repair equipment and a chequebook, there was ... nothing. Local marina management tries, but is under-resourced, and apparently unsupported by head office when it comes to planning for events like this, or dealing with the immediate aftermath.
Instead, the president (Clayton Livingston) and members off the Solitary Islands GFC (Paul Edwards, Ross Smith, Marcus Blackwell and others), commandeered a RIB from the yacht club and began towing damaged boats out of harm's way, clearing floating concrete caissons and broken pieces of the marina structure, and organising transport of boat owners to their isolated vessels - all of which you'd expect would be the work of a marina management contingency team.
This work was also being undertaken by a team from Coffs Harbour Marine Rescue.
This has become a self help marina, although you can bet that the mooring fee invoices will be in the mail as usual...
OVERNIGHT UPDATE: Clayton Livingston and Paul Edwards continued patrolling the marina past sunset and into the night in the yacht club's RIB, monitoring the situation, and further securing boats and marina segments that continue to break free They were still there at 2030 when the highest tide of the year peaked, and more green water came over the north wall in such volumes and with such destructive power that the already smashed infrastructure of the marina took multiple final death blows. Apparently, one of these waves at high tide mounted the wall with such power that it resulted in the near total destruction of the marina office.
A visit to the marina this morning revealed a huge amount of destruction to the marina infrastructure, which was already weakened after several of these events over the past few years, and suffering from neglect and any effective rebuilding plan after those past storms. The marina has basically been destroyed, and in many areas is probably beyond repair.
It was deeply disturbing to see no evidence of a pre/post east coast low contingency plan from marina management, and whereas there should have been a team of marina staff sent to Coffs from Sydney or Brisbane overnight, with RIBs, emergency repair equipment and a chequebook, there was ... nothing. Local marina management tries, but is under-resourced, and apparently unsupported by head office when it comes to planning for events like this, or dealing with the immediate aftermath.
Instead, the president (Clayton Livingston) and members off the Solitary Islands GFC (Paul Edwards, Ross Smith, Marcus Blackwell and others), commandeered a RIB from the yacht club and began towing damaged boats out of harm's way, clearing floating concrete caissons and broken pieces of the marina structure, and organising transport of boat owners to their isolated vessels - all of which you'd expect would be the work of a marina management contingency team.
This work was also being undertaken by a team from Coffs Harbour Marine Rescue.
This has become a self help marina, although you can bet that the mooring fee invoices will be in the mail as usual...
OVERNIGHT UPDATE: Clayton Livingston and Paul Edwards continued patrolling the marina past sunset and into the night in the yacht club's RIB, monitoring the situation, and further securing boats and marina segments that continue to break free They were still there at 2030 when the highest tide of the year peaked, and more green water came over the north wall in such volumes and with such destructive power that the already smashed infrastructure of the marina took multiple final death blows. Apparently, one of these waves at high tide mounted the wall with such power that it resulted in the near total destruction of the marina office.
Saturday, 4th June
Anyone living on the east coast between Sydney and Noosa knows what a pasting we're all taking from this east coast low. It's making up for all the beautiful blue sky days we've had this past summer and autumn. Much like everywhere else that this storm system is visiting its wrath upon, in Coffs Harbour we're seeing 5+ metre waves, gale force northerly winds, and torrential rain.
The glass-half-full point of view says we should be damned grateful this didn't happen during the marlin season, because the rivers are going to be turning the ocean brown between the beach and the edge of the continental shelf for the next couple of weeks after this blows through, and as it's a strong northerly, it's going to be inducing a powerful Ekman transport effect, turning the ocean over, and bringing the dead green water up from the bottom just to add to the mess. The blue marlin will be on their way to Hawaii as fast as they can travel now, and we're unlikely to see them back this side of September.
The rain radar has looked like the screen shots below for the past 12 hours, and will probably stay that way until well into tomorrow. There's green water coming over the marina north wall, but with plenty of warning, it's unlikely anyone was crazy enough to leave their boat in harm's way with any hatches unlocked and without doubling up all the lines. The big question is whether the marina structure itself will hold given it's parlous state.
Hell of a shame that the north wall breakwater works have taken so long to get started...
The glass-half-full point of view says we should be damned grateful this didn't happen during the marlin season, because the rivers are going to be turning the ocean brown between the beach and the edge of the continental shelf for the next couple of weeks after this blows through, and as it's a strong northerly, it's going to be inducing a powerful Ekman transport effect, turning the ocean over, and bringing the dead green water up from the bottom just to add to the mess. The blue marlin will be on their way to Hawaii as fast as they can travel now, and we're unlikely to see them back this side of September.
The rain radar has looked like the screen shots below for the past 12 hours, and will probably stay that way until well into tomorrow. There's green water coming over the marina north wall, but with plenty of warning, it's unlikely anyone was crazy enough to leave their boat in harm's way with any hatches unlocked and without doubling up all the lines. The big question is whether the marina structure itself will hold given it's parlous state.
Hell of a shame that the north wall breakwater works have taken so long to get started...
Thursday, 2nd June
The charts make interesting reading at the moment. The surface synopsis on the Australian weather charts shows that the east coast low is back in play, with 30 +/- 5 knot nor'easterly winds to hit our coast on the weekend, with a bit of a minor blow to start tomorrow. This is unsurprisingly forecast to also pump up the swell to a height that will definitely have green water over the marina north wall if the situation doesn't moderate.
Also, we have a fairly compact upwelling eddy parked right off the Coffs Coast, which will be pushing a fair bit of nutrient laden water onto the coast here, and might help explain the blue marlin activity that Black N Blue encountered yesterday. That same clockwise rotating eddy is also pushing the EAC out to sea to our north, and replacing it with an uphill current from about SWR to Yamba along the edge of the shelf.
The bite could still be fairly strong out there, but no doubt most boat owners will be more interested in throwing on extra mooring lines and making sure everything's all zipped up on their boats today rather than making one more run out to the shelf before the nasty weather rolls in. Ever the contrarian though, Marcus Blackwell decided to go out in Hemingway and find Black N Blue's "hot" blue marlin bite from yesterday, but despite good conditions, reasonable bait, and pilot whales working the area, there was no trace of blue marlin in the deep water, and no striped marlin on the top of the shelf... go figure.
Also, we have a fairly compact upwelling eddy parked right off the Coffs Coast, which will be pushing a fair bit of nutrient laden water onto the coast here, and might help explain the blue marlin activity that Black N Blue encountered yesterday. That same clockwise rotating eddy is also pushing the EAC out to sea to our north, and replacing it with an uphill current from about SWR to Yamba along the edge of the shelf.
The bite could still be fairly strong out there, but no doubt most boat owners will be more interested in throwing on extra mooring lines and making sure everything's all zipped up on their boats today rather than making one more run out to the shelf before the nasty weather rolls in. Ever the contrarian though, Marcus Blackwell decided to go out in Hemingway and find Black N Blue's "hot" blue marlin bite from yesterday, but despite good conditions, reasonable bait, and pilot whales working the area, there was no trace of blue marlin in the deep water, and no striped marlin on the top of the shelf... go figure.
Wednesday, 1st June
BREAKING NEWS: In what will almost certainly be recorded as the first marlin tag and release of the NSWGFA 2016/17 game fishing season, Rob Lang and his crew on Black N Blue just tagged a 150kg blue marlin at 0945 out in 2500fa to the northeast of Coffs. Great work...!!
And to top it all off, they tagged another nice 120kg model to make it 2/2/2 for the day before midday, retiring undefeated and coming home early.
If anyone would like a brand new Jennings Gamefish Lures "Vuaki Flyer" (flying fish imitation lure) in the same size and pattern as the one that was used on Better than Vegas to catch a 51kg YFT and a 210kg blue marlin over the space of a couple of days, I have a spare one. There were three ordered by local skippers, and four were made and delivered, so the fourth is for sale. It's a 12-inch red eye lure with a cupface, stubby "wings" and an offset trace tube that gives them a very erratic pattern, and seems to suck the pelagics in big time. They go brilliantly on the long corner or short rigger. Yours for $60 if anyone's interested.
And to top it all off, they tagged another nice 120kg model to make it 2/2/2 for the day before midday, retiring undefeated and coming home early.
If anyone would like a brand new Jennings Gamefish Lures "Vuaki Flyer" (flying fish imitation lure) in the same size and pattern as the one that was used on Better than Vegas to catch a 51kg YFT and a 210kg blue marlin over the space of a couple of days, I have a spare one. There were three ordered by local skippers, and four were made and delivered, so the fourth is for sale. It's a 12-inch red eye lure with a cupface, stubby "wings" and an offset trace tube that gives them a very erratic pattern, and seems to suck the pelagics in big time. They go brilliantly on the long corner or short rigger. Yours for $60 if anyone's interested.
A new Jennings Gamefish "Vuaki Flyer" flying fish imitation lure for sale for $60
Tuesday, 31st May
And so... out with a whimper instead of a bang. The end of the 2015/16 summer season, and not a boat out there today saw a marlin or turned a reel.
Water temperatures were a full 2C lower than a week ago, when there was still 26C stuff around, and the only activity worth noting today was a pod of false killer whales that Black N Blue found hanging out in 800fa.
So begins winter maintenance cycles on boats, servicing and respooling of reels, reskirting of favourite lures left looking a bit tattered after too many encounters with big blues, and planning for next season. Of course, there's always the winter fishing, which in addition to hoping the striped marlin surprise us all by making regular appearances, usually sees a lot of game boats out there parked on top of a few favourite snapper and pearl perch reefs, and doing battle on light tackle with the Solitary Islands' hoodlum (yellowtail kingfish) population.
After all, the 2016/17 summer game fishing season kicks off in just 92 days... so much to do, so little time...!!!
Water temperatures were a full 2C lower than a week ago, when there was still 26C stuff around, and the only activity worth noting today was a pod of false killer whales that Black N Blue found hanging out in 800fa.
So begins winter maintenance cycles on boats, servicing and respooling of reels, reskirting of favourite lures left looking a bit tattered after too many encounters with big blues, and planning for next season. Of course, there's always the winter fishing, which in addition to hoping the striped marlin surprise us all by making regular appearances, usually sees a lot of game boats out there parked on top of a few favourite snapper and pearl perch reefs, and doing battle on light tackle with the Solitary Islands' hoodlum (yellowtail kingfish) population.
After all, the 2016/17 summer game fishing season kicks off in just 92 days... so much to do, so little time...!!!
Monday, 30th May
Is everyone ready...??? As if last weekend wasn't bad enough, after a fantastic forecast for the next few days, the BOM is now going for a bit of a wipeout next weekend, with another dreaded East Coast Low to form off the border and lash the Coffs Coast with 40 knot winds and a 6 metre groundswell on Saturday and Sunday. It's been a couple of years since we had an ECL form up off the border, and when they do, we get the worst possibly outcome here, with a big swell coming straight out of the northeast - the nightmare angle for Coffs - and a lot of green water over the marina north wall.
The worst part is that after months off bureaucratic and contractural delays to the north wall strengthening project, it's too late to protect us from this one.
Hopefully, the BOM's initial projections for this weather event will moderate during the week, and it won't be as dire as the present forecasting models are predicting.
LATER: And so it now seems later in the evening, that the BOM models for the weekend have been overhauled before they were 24 hours old. Maximum wind strength for Saturday has been cut from 40 to 25 knots, and maximum swell from 6m to 4m. Another bullet dodged, or just another lousy forecast downgraded...? Glad it's not happening, regardless.
Anyone looking at mounting a final assault on the marlin over the last two days of the season at least has a real glamour forecast for today and tomorrow - such a shame we didn't get this weather last Saturday! But that's game fishing...
The worst part is that after months off bureaucratic and contractural delays to the north wall strengthening project, it's too late to protect us from this one.
Hopefully, the BOM's initial projections for this weather event will moderate during the week, and it won't be as dire as the present forecasting models are predicting.
LATER: And so it now seems later in the evening, that the BOM models for the weekend have been overhauled before they were 24 hours old. Maximum wind strength for Saturday has been cut from 40 to 25 knots, and maximum swell from 6m to 4m. Another bullet dodged, or just another lousy forecast downgraded...? Glad it's not happening, regardless.
Anyone looking at mounting a final assault on the marlin over the last two days of the season at least has a real glamour forecast for today and tomorrow - such a shame we didn't get this weather last Saturday! But that's game fishing...
Sunday, 29 May
So... that's the season that was!
Instead of going out with a great day of exciting fishing, lots of marlin, and a down-to-the-wire finish, the Solitary Islands GFC's game fishing season wound up with a fishless day and a drive for home after a westerly gale blew the fishing all to hell.
Friday wasn't much different, with an empty ocean, and a totally unforecast 30+ knot southerly that ripped the sea to bits and drove the bite to a standstill, so the fishing Gods just weren't smiling on us.
The final Saturday comp day started well enough with a messy ocean left over from the Friday southerly buster, and just as it was starting to look promising, Magnum hooked up a brute of a blue marlin down at the Sawtell Canyons. But given the rapidly deteriorating conditions as the westerly strengthened, the fact that they only had 24kg gear out and an angler on the rod who was new to the game, the fish busted them off. Not surprising under the circumstances, and a good effort from the team on board, but when the fish put about three bellies in the line while dragging most of the mono off the reel, it was going to be touch and go. Paul Edwards had the boat doing 31 knots at one stage trying to sort the fish out, but it was still overtaking him and dragging ¾ of a spool behind it. They almost got it squared away and stopped, but as it got down to seeing the gold spool base underneath the remaining line, the drag must have exceeded the line's breaking strain, and that was the end of what came very close to being a great end of season story.
Other than a single wahoo, nobody else in the 8-boat fleet turned a reel.
Quite a pity given the fact that the weather was calm all week leading up to the Friday, and then the Friday and competition Saturday were both blown out when all the signs pointed to a late season blue marlin bite.
Foreign Exchange was the last boat back in the harbour after everybody abandoned fishing and smashed their way back into a westerly that had only been forecast to blow at about 25 knots, but which the reports from cargo ships offshore showed was gusting over 40 knots.
While the video below doesn't do the conditions justice, it gives an idea of how crappy it was out there, and all my crew have bruises to show for it.
You can get a better idea of how rough it was if you view the video clip in full screen.
Congratulations to Sweet One II, and skipper Cameron Sweeting and Mark Mikkelson, who won the season in-hours competition by just one fish!
Now... about next season...
Instead of going out with a great day of exciting fishing, lots of marlin, and a down-to-the-wire finish, the Solitary Islands GFC's game fishing season wound up with a fishless day and a drive for home after a westerly gale blew the fishing all to hell.
Friday wasn't much different, with an empty ocean, and a totally unforecast 30+ knot southerly that ripped the sea to bits and drove the bite to a standstill, so the fishing Gods just weren't smiling on us.
The final Saturday comp day started well enough with a messy ocean left over from the Friday southerly buster, and just as it was starting to look promising, Magnum hooked up a brute of a blue marlin down at the Sawtell Canyons. But given the rapidly deteriorating conditions as the westerly strengthened, the fact that they only had 24kg gear out and an angler on the rod who was new to the game, the fish busted them off. Not surprising under the circumstances, and a good effort from the team on board, but when the fish put about three bellies in the line while dragging most of the mono off the reel, it was going to be touch and go. Paul Edwards had the boat doing 31 knots at one stage trying to sort the fish out, but it was still overtaking him and dragging ¾ of a spool behind it. They almost got it squared away and stopped, but as it got down to seeing the gold spool base underneath the remaining line, the drag must have exceeded the line's breaking strain, and that was the end of what came very close to being a great end of season story.
Other than a single wahoo, nobody else in the 8-boat fleet turned a reel.
Quite a pity given the fact that the weather was calm all week leading up to the Friday, and then the Friday and competition Saturday were both blown out when all the signs pointed to a late season blue marlin bite.
Foreign Exchange was the last boat back in the harbour after everybody abandoned fishing and smashed their way back into a westerly that had only been forecast to blow at about 25 knots, but which the reports from cargo ships offshore showed was gusting over 40 knots.
While the video below doesn't do the conditions justice, it gives an idea of how crappy it was out there, and all my crew have bruises to show for it.
You can get a better idea of how rough it was if you view the video clip in full screen.
Congratulations to Sweet One II, and skipper Cameron Sweeting and Mark Mikkelson, who won the season in-hours competition by just one fish!
Now... about next season...
Thursday, 26th May
If you've had a look around the internet for the facts on marlin, most of the information available regarding maximum size talks about striped marlin not growing to over 200kg.
A check of the IGFA world record register shows the largest stripe all tackle record tipped the scales at 224 kg, which is pretty astonishing. Needless to say, that fish was caught in New Zealand.
So when they hung this one in New Zealand in March, and it weighed in at 211 kg, it would have been pretty exciting stuff. Hell of a fish.
There's probably a long opinion piece waiting in the wings to be written about the ethical dilemma that every big game angler would face when/if they encounter a fish like this. Some wouldn't hesitate to bring it in and weigh it, others would choose to release a huge breeding female like this and be content with the knowledge that they probably just let a record fish go.
There are strong arguments on both sides of this debate, and when you think about the hundreds of these fish killed by longliners up and down the Australian coast each year, let alone the worldwide kill by commercial fishermen, then the killing of one fish like this - maybe only once in a lifetime - by a recreational angler tends to pale into insignificance. The other side of that coin is simply that for many, the simple gesture of releasing a noble adversary like this may mean more to many anglers than a photo like this and a certificate on the wall. Food for thought, and one of the reasons I mention it here, is because every skipper, and every angler for that matter, should probably turn this one over in their heads while they're out there looking at the wake or when they're enjoying a beer in the Marlin Bar, because it's probably a decision you should already have made long before a fish like this crash tackles the long corner...
With any luck at all, we could find a good striped marlin season on our hands this year, with plenty of fish turning up through the late summer whenever the bait has been there in decent quantities, even in water as warm as 27C.
The forecasting battle for the coming weekend is still pretty puzzling though, with a wide discrepancy between forecasts, so it's still anyone's guess what we're going to wake up to. At least the most extreme forecast that was going for 30+ knots has now been modified and it seems that even the most pessimistic of the agencies is now only predicting maximum winds of 25 knots, which at least means there won't be a technical cancellation of the Saturday Solitary Islands GFC competition, and boats will be able to fish.
Survival of the fittest may be the order of the day...
A check of the IGFA world record register shows the largest stripe all tackle record tipped the scales at 224 kg, which is pretty astonishing. Needless to say, that fish was caught in New Zealand.
So when they hung this one in New Zealand in March, and it weighed in at 211 kg, it would have been pretty exciting stuff. Hell of a fish.
There's probably a long opinion piece waiting in the wings to be written about the ethical dilemma that every big game angler would face when/if they encounter a fish like this. Some wouldn't hesitate to bring it in and weigh it, others would choose to release a huge breeding female like this and be content with the knowledge that they probably just let a record fish go.
There are strong arguments on both sides of this debate, and when you think about the hundreds of these fish killed by longliners up and down the Australian coast each year, let alone the worldwide kill by commercial fishermen, then the killing of one fish like this - maybe only once in a lifetime - by a recreational angler tends to pale into insignificance. The other side of that coin is simply that for many, the simple gesture of releasing a noble adversary like this may mean more to many anglers than a photo like this and a certificate on the wall. Food for thought, and one of the reasons I mention it here, is because every skipper, and every angler for that matter, should probably turn this one over in their heads while they're out there looking at the wake or when they're enjoying a beer in the Marlin Bar, because it's probably a decision you should already have made long before a fish like this crash tackles the long corner...
With any luck at all, we could find a good striped marlin season on our hands this year, with plenty of fish turning up through the late summer whenever the bait has been there in decent quantities, even in water as warm as 27C.
The forecasting battle for the coming weekend is still pretty puzzling though, with a wide discrepancy between forecasts, so it's still anyone's guess what we're going to wake up to. At least the most extreme forecast that was going for 30+ knots has now been modified and it seems that even the most pessimistic of the agencies is now only predicting maximum winds of 25 knots, which at least means there won't be a technical cancellation of the Saturday Solitary Islands GFC competition, and boats will be able to fish.
Survival of the fittest may be the order of the day...
Wednesday, 25th May
One of our crew was reminding me that the BOM and Seabreeze forecasts for Friday and Saturday had predictions of a westerly wind blowing dogs off chains, and therefore the comfort index on the edge of the continental shelf wouldn't likely be too stellar. Something of an understatement methinks, but some of us more optimistic punters are still putting our money on Willy Weather, which remains convinced that the boffins at the BOM have lost control of their supercomputer, and that there will be nothing but light air out there all weekend... someone's in for a big shock.
Meanwhile, the upwelling mesoscale eddy up in the Coral Sea off Byron has taken control of the water flowing onto the Coffs Coast, and if you believe the hype about these large clockwise upwelling dynamos, there should be a lot off nutrient rich water being pushed onto the coast up around Yamba, which will then turn south to flow past Coffs. This is the sort of water that draws baitfish into the equation, which then in turn attracts decent numbers of marlin and YFT.
No doubt the prospect of a run of tuna just up to our north has something to do with the out of town longliners that showed up at the marina yesterday.
Meanwhile, the upwelling mesoscale eddy up in the Coral Sea off Byron has taken control of the water flowing onto the Coffs Coast, and if you believe the hype about these large clockwise upwelling dynamos, there should be a lot off nutrient rich water being pushed onto the coast up around Yamba, which will then turn south to flow past Coffs. This is the sort of water that draws baitfish into the equation, which then in turn attracts decent numbers of marlin and YFT.
No doubt the prospect of a run of tuna just up to our north has something to do with the out of town longliners that showed up at the marina yesterday.
Tuesday, 24th May
I had a very interesting conversation with a lure maker yesterday who specialises in knowing pretty much everything there is to know about Hawaiian lures. More specifically, he's a Joe Yee expert.
I recently sent him a nice Joe Yee 501 plunger that I had acquired (see the photo on the left) and asked him to copy it for me. When he looked under the skirts at the skirt saddle, he could see straight away that the lure was almost certainly a counterfeit, and not the real thing. A quick check of the Joe Yee book written by Joe's mate Dan Magers confirmed exactly that.
Its not surprising that there are counterfeit Joe Yees out there, and unless you were an expert you probably wouldn't be able to pick one from the real thing. Which of course begs the question... can the marlin either?
Let's face it, when you can copy a genuine original JY lure for $45 and sell it on Ebay as a "genuine Joe Yee original" for hundreds of dollars, you can bet that the scam merchants are all over that now that there are no more of these lures being made.
With the season final of the Solitary Islands GFC in-hours competition coming up this Saturday, and the pointscore still close enough for a number of boats to win, it's going to be a nail-biter. The conditions out there at the moment are nothing like we've seen here for some years, because the lingering effects of the summer's super El Niño are still sending Coral Sea water that's 1-2 degrees celsius warmer than average for this time of year down with the EAC, and it's anyone's guess just what effect this is having on the blue marlin other than to keep 'em coming. This past weekend, there were some good blue marlin raised and tagged, but they were pretty selective about where they were hanging out, what lures they were hitting, and how aggressive they were, with more bill-wrapped misses than tags, and the majority of boats fishing out there coming up empty.
Not surprising given the full moon and the lateness of the season, but the blues are still there, even though the blacks appear to have gone, and the stripes seem to have temporarily moved to wherever the good bait is, which at the moment, isn't around here.
The weather forecasts are still totally conflicted, with some sites going for a howling westerly, and others showing a weekend of light breezes. If the big westerly blows in, it's going to uninhabitable out on the edge of the shelf, and maybe a few football YFT at the lighthouse will determine the outcome of the season's pointscore chase... but that would be a lousy way to decide a competition in blue marlin territory like this, so hopefully, the westerly won't materialise, and the competition will be decided out where the blues are...
I recently sent him a nice Joe Yee 501 plunger that I had acquired (see the photo on the left) and asked him to copy it for me. When he looked under the skirts at the skirt saddle, he could see straight away that the lure was almost certainly a counterfeit, and not the real thing. A quick check of the Joe Yee book written by Joe's mate Dan Magers confirmed exactly that.
Its not surprising that there are counterfeit Joe Yees out there, and unless you were an expert you probably wouldn't be able to pick one from the real thing. Which of course begs the question... can the marlin either?
Let's face it, when you can copy a genuine original JY lure for $45 and sell it on Ebay as a "genuine Joe Yee original" for hundreds of dollars, you can bet that the scam merchants are all over that now that there are no more of these lures being made.
With the season final of the Solitary Islands GFC in-hours competition coming up this Saturday, and the pointscore still close enough for a number of boats to win, it's going to be a nail-biter. The conditions out there at the moment are nothing like we've seen here for some years, because the lingering effects of the summer's super El Niño are still sending Coral Sea water that's 1-2 degrees celsius warmer than average for this time of year down with the EAC, and it's anyone's guess just what effect this is having on the blue marlin other than to keep 'em coming. This past weekend, there were some good blue marlin raised and tagged, but they were pretty selective about where they were hanging out, what lures they were hitting, and how aggressive they were, with more bill-wrapped misses than tags, and the majority of boats fishing out there coming up empty.
Not surprising given the full moon and the lateness of the season, but the blues are still there, even though the blacks appear to have gone, and the stripes seem to have temporarily moved to wherever the good bait is, which at the moment, isn't around here.
The weather forecasts are still totally conflicted, with some sites going for a howling westerly, and others showing a weekend of light breezes. If the big westerly blows in, it's going to uninhabitable out on the edge of the shelf, and maybe a few football YFT at the lighthouse will determine the outcome of the season's pointscore chase... but that would be a lousy way to decide a competition in blue marlin territory like this, so hopefully, the westerly won't materialise, and the competition will be decided out where the blues are...
Saturday, 21st May
Well, there was 26C water, great conditions, and there were blue marlin out there today. Sure, it was a full moon, so they weren't leaping in the boat as soon as the sun came up, but if you could find bait, had the right gear in the water, and you were a little bit lucky, the blues were willing to play as the day wore on and they got hungry again.
Tomorrow has another glamour forecast, the same water, and almost certainly, the same blue marlin. But it's even money that they're going to be asleep until after midday, so don't bust a gut, have a coffee with the crew first, and as long as the lures are in the right piece of water come the afternoon tide change, light the fuse and wait for the action...
Tomorrow has another glamour forecast, the same water, and almost certainly, the same blue marlin. But it's even money that they're going to be asleep until after midday, so don't bust a gut, have a coffee with the crew first, and as long as the lures are in the right piece of water come the afternoon tide change, light the fuse and wait for the action...
Thursday, 19th May
Read the Fishing Report below first, then you can come back to this waffle!
The satellite shots are showing sea surface temperatures off the Coffs Coast that are still ranging up to 26C along with decent current flow. The boats off the Gold Coast are still raising a lot of marlin, which is at least keeping alive the hope that last week's abrupt slowing down of the bite off the Coffs Coast might only be temporary. Admittedly, the bite was always going to slow down now anyway, but for it to suddenly fall off a cliff when the conditions were still so good was a bit of a surprise.
You've got to be out there to find out if there's a marlin or two around though, and with the sudden departure of Paul Brodrick back to Darwin and his FIFO life, it's unlikely that Foreign Exchange will be one of the first boats to find the marlin for a while.
Still, with the culmination of the 2015/16 game fishing season coming down to the wire, and the top places on the Solitary Islands GFC pointscore still up for grabs, the next couple of weeks should be pretty interesting if only the fish will stick around long enough to make a decent competition of it.
There was a massive whitebait and fingerling kill over at the western end of the marina recently - right where the "remediation" work at the old slipway site is taking place. Maybe it was just one of those things... but given that we haven't had anything like that here before in our usually pristine marina that anyone can remember, maybe it was a direct result of the work being done by the NSW Dept of Soil Conservation. It would be a shame to think that the old TBT (Tributyltin) that they claimed was the reason for all the expensive work being done, and which was obviously very stable (buried as it was under years of sediment and concrete) had been released by the remediation work and resulted in the very outcome that was used as the original excuse for shutting the slipway down and spending all this taxpayers' money....?
In fairness though, and while it doesn't excuse what's going on at the western end of the inner harbour, at the eastern end of the marina today, there were literally thousands of fry, small baitfish schools, and fingerlings. All being harassed by trevally, but all looking like very healthy numbers.
FISHING REPORT: At least Black N Blue made it out there today, and given the calm seas, light winds and total blue skies, who wouldn't if they had crew...? Skipper Rob Lang reports good bait and flying fish schools out beyond the deep edge of the shelf, and a blue marlin hookup before midday. However, just 20ft away from the tag pole, the hooks pulled, and that was all she wrote as far as that fish was concerned.
BUT... It gets better... Unofficial Season Record Blue Marlin caught today on the Coffs Coast! Later, around mid afternoon, Black N Blue was cruising along at the bottom of the shelf dropoff when a band on one of the riggers snapped and Rob saw a flash off colour. A couple of seconds later, the other rigger lure got absolutely pulverised by a brute of a fish, which they did tag - only 35 minutes later - and which measured up at a very fat, very big blue marlin that was a comfortable 240-250kg and 290cm short measure. Fantastic result, and BnB's biggest blue of the season, as well as the biggest reported tagged this year here.
So.... the blues are still out there, and they're not minnows folks! Check out the photos of the biggest blue marlin tagged this season off the Coffs Coast below...
The satellite shots are showing sea surface temperatures off the Coffs Coast that are still ranging up to 26C along with decent current flow. The boats off the Gold Coast are still raising a lot of marlin, which is at least keeping alive the hope that last week's abrupt slowing down of the bite off the Coffs Coast might only be temporary. Admittedly, the bite was always going to slow down now anyway, but for it to suddenly fall off a cliff when the conditions were still so good was a bit of a surprise.
You've got to be out there to find out if there's a marlin or two around though, and with the sudden departure of Paul Brodrick back to Darwin and his FIFO life, it's unlikely that Foreign Exchange will be one of the first boats to find the marlin for a while.
Still, with the culmination of the 2015/16 game fishing season coming down to the wire, and the top places on the Solitary Islands GFC pointscore still up for grabs, the next couple of weeks should be pretty interesting if only the fish will stick around long enough to make a decent competition of it.
There was a massive whitebait and fingerling kill over at the western end of the marina recently - right where the "remediation" work at the old slipway site is taking place. Maybe it was just one of those things... but given that we haven't had anything like that here before in our usually pristine marina that anyone can remember, maybe it was a direct result of the work being done by the NSW Dept of Soil Conservation. It would be a shame to think that the old TBT (Tributyltin) that they claimed was the reason for all the expensive work being done, and which was obviously very stable (buried as it was under years of sediment and concrete) had been released by the remediation work and resulted in the very outcome that was used as the original excuse for shutting the slipway down and spending all this taxpayers' money....?
In fairness though, and while it doesn't excuse what's going on at the western end of the inner harbour, at the eastern end of the marina today, there were literally thousands of fry, small baitfish schools, and fingerlings. All being harassed by trevally, but all looking like very healthy numbers.
FISHING REPORT: At least Black N Blue made it out there today, and given the calm seas, light winds and total blue skies, who wouldn't if they had crew...? Skipper Rob Lang reports good bait and flying fish schools out beyond the deep edge of the shelf, and a blue marlin hookup before midday. However, just 20ft away from the tag pole, the hooks pulled, and that was all she wrote as far as that fish was concerned.
BUT... It gets better... Unofficial Season Record Blue Marlin caught today on the Coffs Coast! Later, around mid afternoon, Black N Blue was cruising along at the bottom of the shelf dropoff when a band on one of the riggers snapped and Rob saw a flash off colour. A couple of seconds later, the other rigger lure got absolutely pulverised by a brute of a fish, which they did tag - only 35 minutes later - and which measured up at a very fat, very big blue marlin that was a comfortable 240-250kg and 290cm short measure. Fantastic result, and BnB's biggest blue of the season, as well as the biggest reported tagged this year here.
So.... the blues are still out there, and they're not minnows folks! Check out the photos of the biggest blue marlin tagged this season off the Coffs Coast below...
Monday, 16th May
The story yesterday was pretty much the same as on Saturday... a very empty ocean despite a good looking day.
Weather conditions were not as good as the glamour Saturday though, with a 15-20 knot northwester blowing along the edge of the shelf despite occasional glass-off periods here on the beach. The surface anglers couldn't find any marlin, and the bottom bashers off Coffs could barely get a bite either. Marc Sams decided that it couldn't possibly be that bad up off Ballina, so went for a run looking for marlin, and never turned a reel there either. Marc was telling me that they went all the way out to a big seamount structure with a lot of potential about 10 miles off the edge of the shelf east of Ballina, but just like the Coffs Coast, they found it deserted yesterday. I't's really dead out wherever you go out there it seems.
For some that is... for others like erstwhile Foreign Exchange crewman Vashy Dolezal, having such a lousy day on Saturday simply wasn't good enough, so he went out to a favourite (secret) Pearl Perch location off Nambucca with a mate yesterday just to prove he could still find fish in the blue desert, and they bagged out on 3-5kg pearlies and left 'em biting. Nice fish... just a couple of which he's waving in our face in the photo on the left. Well done, great feed!
Clearly, this eliminates him as the jinx who drove the marlin away from our boat on Saturday, which narrows it down to three of us...
Weather conditions were not as good as the glamour Saturday though, with a 15-20 knot northwester blowing along the edge of the shelf despite occasional glass-off periods here on the beach. The surface anglers couldn't find any marlin, and the bottom bashers off Coffs could barely get a bite either. Marc Sams decided that it couldn't possibly be that bad up off Ballina, so went for a run looking for marlin, and never turned a reel there either. Marc was telling me that they went all the way out to a big seamount structure with a lot of potential about 10 miles off the edge of the shelf east of Ballina, but just like the Coffs Coast, they found it deserted yesterday. I't's really dead out wherever you go out there it seems.
For some that is... for others like erstwhile Foreign Exchange crewman Vashy Dolezal, having such a lousy day on Saturday simply wasn't good enough, so he went out to a favourite (secret) Pearl Perch location off Nambucca with a mate yesterday just to prove he could still find fish in the blue desert, and they bagged out on 3-5kg pearlies and left 'em biting. Nice fish... just a couple of which he's waving in our face in the photo on the left. Well done, great feed!
Clearly, this eliminates him as the jinx who drove the marlin away from our boat on Saturday, which narrows it down to three of us...
Sunday, 15th May
A simply beautiful day out on the continental shelf off Coffs Harbour yesterday, with cloudless skies, glass-off seas and... bugger all marlin! If you were lucky enough to drive over one, then it turned what was already a great day into a fabulous one, but the whole thing turned into a bit of a lucky dip, with a dozen plus boats game fishing, and only a handful of marlin seen, and just two tagged.
We saw absolutely nothing all day, but at least there were a few others like Magnum and Alcatraz who raised marlin without getting them hooked up, and then there were the the glamour teams who drove over fish that wanted too play. Seaborn and Sweet One II both tagged marlin, at 200kg and 120kg respectively. The big fish that Seaborn tagged did a good job of trying to rip Andrew Barter's arms out of their sockets, getting up to the boat a couple of times before choosing to leave again, and only coming in for tagging when Andrew's battery only had a bit more of a charge then the fish's. There was no photo of Seaborn's big blue, because when they finally did get it alongside, it decided that deckie Byron Boardman's arms could also be easily detected from his body if it worked on them a bit, so he had to let it go before anyone could organise a camera.
The results for the day, mediocre as they were, had a fairly dramatic effect on the Solitary Islands GFC's pointscore, with the top three places all changing hands, and setting up a very suspenseful couple of weeks before the final competition day of the year - the Grand Final Day - as club president Clayton Livingston has taken to calling it comes around and the season comes to a close.
The most interesting element of yesterday's results was that the fish tagged were blue marlin... the top edge of the shelf should have been teeming with striped marlin under those conditions, but it was totally empty.... no bait, no bird activity, and not a striped marlin to be seen.
Lacking any great marlin photos from yesterday, here are a few scenic photos, once again proving that even though you might not catch a marlin on every sortie out of Coffs, the sheer beauty of the ocean and the coastline here still makes every trip a winner.
We saw absolutely nothing all day, but at least there were a few others like Magnum and Alcatraz who raised marlin without getting them hooked up, and then there were the the glamour teams who drove over fish that wanted too play. Seaborn and Sweet One II both tagged marlin, at 200kg and 120kg respectively. The big fish that Seaborn tagged did a good job of trying to rip Andrew Barter's arms out of their sockets, getting up to the boat a couple of times before choosing to leave again, and only coming in for tagging when Andrew's battery only had a bit more of a charge then the fish's. There was no photo of Seaborn's big blue, because when they finally did get it alongside, it decided that deckie Byron Boardman's arms could also be easily detected from his body if it worked on them a bit, so he had to let it go before anyone could organise a camera.
The results for the day, mediocre as they were, had a fairly dramatic effect on the Solitary Islands GFC's pointscore, with the top three places all changing hands, and setting up a very suspenseful couple of weeks before the final competition day of the year - the Grand Final Day - as club president Clayton Livingston has taken to calling it comes around and the season comes to a close.
The most interesting element of yesterday's results was that the fish tagged were blue marlin... the top edge of the shelf should have been teeming with striped marlin under those conditions, but it was totally empty.... no bait, no bird activity, and not a striped marlin to be seen.
Lacking any great marlin photos from yesterday, here are a few scenic photos, once again proving that even though you might not catch a marlin on every sortie out of Coffs, the sheer beauty of the ocean and the coastline here still makes every trip a winner.
Friday, 12th May
After getting beaten up out there yesterday morning, and coming back early to stop the pain, Hemingway's day on the edge of the shelf was a bit sobering. They raised a bigger black marlin early, but after pulling about 30m of string, it let go.. and while disappointing, it shows the blacks are still out there, but for how long, only they know.
Readers will remember that a a little over a month ago, Gerrard Billings caught a Grand Slam - all three local species (blue, black and striped) in one day's fishing. This is a hell of an achievement, and even the IGFA realises this, issuing a really gorgeous certificate of achievement to Gerrard and skipper Rob Lang, who managed this feat on Black N Blue as part of BnB's great summer. The certificate issued by the IGFA to commemorate this extremely rare game fishing event is shown on the left. Once again, congratulations to Gerrard and Rob.
Foreign Exchange and almost certainly a couple of other boats will be out there today, hoping to find better conditions and more marlin than Marcus Blackwell did today...
Late Report:
Totally dead out there. She's a Dream and Foreign Exchange worked everywhere from 35fa to 650fa, without turning a reel or seeing a single bird working, or bait on the sounder. Black/green water inside 150fa early, and only 22C at the bottom of the shelf edge, but it got better later as a fresh push of current moved in, with 26C temps and blue water - empty nonetheless.
Throw a dart at the map tomorrow...
Readers will remember that a a little over a month ago, Gerrard Billings caught a Grand Slam - all three local species (blue, black and striped) in one day's fishing. This is a hell of an achievement, and even the IGFA realises this, issuing a really gorgeous certificate of achievement to Gerrard and skipper Rob Lang, who managed this feat on Black N Blue as part of BnB's great summer. The certificate issued by the IGFA to commemorate this extremely rare game fishing event is shown on the left. Once again, congratulations to Gerrard and Rob.
Foreign Exchange and almost certainly a couple of other boats will be out there today, hoping to find better conditions and more marlin than Marcus Blackwell did today...
Late Report:
Totally dead out there. She's a Dream and Foreign Exchange worked everywhere from 35fa to 650fa, without turning a reel or seeing a single bird working, or bait on the sounder. Black/green water inside 150fa early, and only 22C at the bottom of the shelf edge, but it got better later as a fresh push of current moved in, with 26C temps and blue water - empty nonetheless.
Throw a dart at the map tomorrow...
Thursday, 12th May
Despite forecasts involving a lot more wind over the past couple of days it's been helm and near perfect here on the beach... but that's a bit deceptive, because offshore, it's still not very pretty. The forecasts for the rest of the week and weekend are really good, but today's reports from the shelf tell us that while it's all quiet close to shore, it's blowing out of the southwest at15 knots with a 3m standup swell out on the top edge of the shelf. Hemingway is out there this morning, and their description of the conditions in 55fa doesn't warrant printing.
So maybe with another 24 hours of calmer weather, we might see the same conditions we have here on the beach start to move out offshore and allow anglers to get in some comfortable late season days of game fishing off the Solitary Coast this weekend. The commercial guys are catching yellowfin in big numbers out wide, the locals are catching large longtail tuna just outside the seaway at Southport, and there surely has to be more of the same off Coffs.
Then there's the added bonus of a large upwelling eddy off the border which will be pushing nutrients onto the coast around Yamba, which should bring baitfish and small pelagics into the mix in the EAC as it pushes past the shelf here.
Moon phase and tides are excellent for marlin and tuna.
So maybe with another 24 hours of calmer weather, we might see the same conditions we have here on the beach start to move out offshore and allow anglers to get in some comfortable late season days of game fishing off the Solitary Coast this weekend. The commercial guys are catching yellowfin in big numbers out wide, the locals are catching large longtail tuna just outside the seaway at Southport, and there surely has to be more of the same off Coffs.
Then there's the added bonus of a large upwelling eddy off the border which will be pushing nutrients onto the coast around Yamba, which should bring baitfish and small pelagics into the mix in the EAC as it pushes past the shelf here.
Moon phase and tides are excellent for marlin and tuna.
Tuesday, 10th May
Another triumph for the Bureau of Misforecasting... it was supposed to blow 20+ knots all night and didn't, and it was supposed to then swing around to a strong 25-knot sou'wester this afternoon, and so far it hasn't. Since I walked down to the beach with my coffee first thing this morning, I've seen nothing but current lines and glass off conditions to the horizon and t's still near perfect into mid afternoon. Let's at least hope that they aren't as wrong about the forecast for the latter part of this week and the weekend, which at the moment, the BOM thinks is going to be sublime... believe it when you see it.
Not much going on out there, so no reports.
I was watching a video clip about a US game fisherman who specialises in blue marlin giving a bit of an impromptu talk to some other game fishermen in a tackle shop. This guy was adamant that any blue marlin you caught on the short gear was one you'd driven over, and any you caught on the long gear was one you'd attracted over from off your track. He insisted that the fish you'd drawn in would always come from the side going like a bat out of hell, and the blues you'd driven over would simply pop up behind a short lure before then smashing it.
Frankly, I have to disagree... I've seen blues appear behind the long rigger and sit there looking at it from a few feet below it for several seconds before smashing it just as often as I've seen them charge in from the side and vice versa. There's no doubt something to what he was saying, but this guy was adamant that this was the way blues always behaved, and you've got to be pretty game to put a game fishing argument in those terms. Besides, he was just another noisy bloke who looked like he actually knew less than a couple of the experienced skippers he was lecturing at the time.
The latest copy of the Flybridge Weekly has posted...
Not much going on out there, so no reports.
I was watching a video clip about a US game fisherman who specialises in blue marlin giving a bit of an impromptu talk to some other game fishermen in a tackle shop. This guy was adamant that any blue marlin you caught on the short gear was one you'd driven over, and any you caught on the long gear was one you'd attracted over from off your track. He insisted that the fish you'd drawn in would always come from the side going like a bat out of hell, and the blues you'd driven over would simply pop up behind a short lure before then smashing it.
Frankly, I have to disagree... I've seen blues appear behind the long rigger and sit there looking at it from a few feet below it for several seconds before smashing it just as often as I've seen them charge in from the side and vice versa. There's no doubt something to what he was saying, but this guy was adamant that this was the way blues always behaved, and you've got to be pretty game to put a game fishing argument in those terms. Besides, he was just another noisy bloke who looked like he actually knew less than a couple of the experienced skippers he was lecturing at the time.
The latest copy of the Flybridge Weekly has posted...
Sunday, 8th May
Despite what most of us would describe as near perfect game fishing conditions out on the edge of the continental shelf yesterday, the ocean was more or less empty.
There were a couple of unconfirmed reports of marlin hookups, but for the number of boats that were out, even if those reports were accurate, the overall result for the day was dismal. When you have ocean temperatures of around 26C on the deep side of the shelf, light winds, and low swell conditions, along with reports of striped tuna and other bait out there in some locations, you've simply got to wonder where the marlin have gone.
The most likely answer is the most obvious one, and that's simply that it is after all, May, and the end of the summer season is here. So while you would still expect to see striped marlin in better numbers than anybody did yesterday, the trick with those fish is finding where they're active on any given day. And at the moment, the stripes seem to be moving around a lot, biting in 40 fathoms one day, and 400 fathoms the next. Meanwhile, it's also likely that the blues and blacks are packing up and leaving town - or maybe they've already done so?
Fishing is probably going to continue to be somewhat intermittent for the rest of the season, and simply driving out there and hoping to run over a fish or two is going to be an exercise in diminishing returns - welcome to the start of the off-season.
There's been a bit of discussion about the blue marlin that Black N Blue caught the other day with the longliner hook in its mouth. While I did publish a photo of the longliner hook after it had been removed, I hadn't bothered to put up a photo of the blue itself with the hook in its mouth because the quality of the photos wasn't that great.
Still, with no other photos of big catches from yesterday's efforts out there, it seemed that there might be some interest in a blurry photo of the BnB marlin before Rob Lang took the longliner hook out. As you can see if you look closely at the photo, the longliner circle hook had done exactly what it was supposed to do, and had hooked up the fish right in the corner of the mouth. Meanwhile, the hook from the lure that it was caught on last Tuesday has snagged the fish in the cheek and eye socket when the fish struck hard with a sideways swipe as most of the blue marlin do. We had a striped marlin that hooked up in an almost identical fashion earlier last week, with the hook catching right through the cheek just below the eye, and while it looks pretty nasty, it's likely to heal with minimal damage if the hook is taken out with a modicum of care.
I had another discussion yesterday evening in the Marlin Bar where the differences between fishing here and fishing on the Gold Coast were being weighed up - not for the first time. The argument we've always used in favour of fishing off Coffs is the proximity of the edge of the shelf and the blue marlin grounds - 13 nautical miles here, and 2 to 2.5 times that distance off the Gold Coast, and the extra fishing time we get as a result.
I plan to write more on this in the next Flybridge column, but in the meantime, it's becoming increasingly obvious that despite the additional distances involved, the anecdotal evidence is that Gold Coast anglers are getting a lot more bang for their buck in recent years...
Friday, 6th May
Well... a day of sensational weather out on the ocean... disappointing for some of us, much better for others.
We hit 45 fathoms in Foreign Exchange and threw the lures out, quickly getting an enquiry from a little black in about the same spot that Black N Blue found their big black yesterday. This one wasn't too keen, but at least pulled a bit of string on t's third run at the lure, but it left without a hookup. Shortly after, a similar result from a striped marlin that swiped at a lure, got a brief bill wrap, then shook its head, releasing the lure with a flourish, and firing it back at the boat.
...And that was all we saw all day in an otherwise empty ocean along the bottom of the shelf around the Sawtell Canyons.
The story wasn't much better for She's a Dream, although they worked a more "fishy" looking area out in 1000fa. Plenty of bait there, and although they had a couple of taps on their shotgun lure early in the day, they never saw a marlin or turned a reel.
However, it sure was a different story for Better than Vegas. They worked the same area out wide with She's a Dream to start with, and then went north following a longliner's set. In the early afternoon, the Vegas team saw a marlin hookup on the longline they were following, which at least showed that the fish were out there. Then, soon after and a bit further north, the same yellow/green/blue Jennings flying fish lure that Pete English and Marcus Blackwell had used to catch their big Yellowfin Tuna on a couple of days ago went back out on the long rigger... and only a few minutes later got inhaled by a very solid blue marlin. Mark Smith was the angler, and despite being from Auckland, he did a great job of battling this really tough fish for the next 90 minutes before they got it tagged. As the photos above show, it was a very healthy fish, and despite the long fight, you can see that it still wasn't at all bronzed up, and looks like it could have gone a few more rounds without breaking a sweat. The marlin measured 2.8m short length, which the tables put at about 210kg, but it sure looks fat enough to have been carrying at least another 20kg above the standard table weight.
Well done team Vegas...!
The fishing out there is varying significantly from one day to the next, and while today it all seemed to be in either 45fa or beyond 1000fa, the bite is at least still there, and with blue, black and striped marlin all being raised, there's every reason to believe that they might all stick around for a while longer. There real trick seems to be finding where the hell the things are going to be each day...
We hit 45 fathoms in Foreign Exchange and threw the lures out, quickly getting an enquiry from a little black in about the same spot that Black N Blue found their big black yesterday. This one wasn't too keen, but at least pulled a bit of string on t's third run at the lure, but it left without a hookup. Shortly after, a similar result from a striped marlin that swiped at a lure, got a brief bill wrap, then shook its head, releasing the lure with a flourish, and firing it back at the boat.
...And that was all we saw all day in an otherwise empty ocean along the bottom of the shelf around the Sawtell Canyons.
The story wasn't much better for She's a Dream, although they worked a more "fishy" looking area out in 1000fa. Plenty of bait there, and although they had a couple of taps on their shotgun lure early in the day, they never saw a marlin or turned a reel.
However, it sure was a different story for Better than Vegas. They worked the same area out wide with She's a Dream to start with, and then went north following a longliner's set. In the early afternoon, the Vegas team saw a marlin hookup on the longline they were following, which at least showed that the fish were out there. Then, soon after and a bit further north, the same yellow/green/blue Jennings flying fish lure that Pete English and Marcus Blackwell had used to catch their big Yellowfin Tuna on a couple of days ago went back out on the long rigger... and only a few minutes later got inhaled by a very solid blue marlin. Mark Smith was the angler, and despite being from Auckland, he did a great job of battling this really tough fish for the next 90 minutes before they got it tagged. As the photos above show, it was a very healthy fish, and despite the long fight, you can see that it still wasn't at all bronzed up, and looks like it could have gone a few more rounds without breaking a sweat. The marlin measured 2.8m short length, which the tables put at about 210kg, but it sure looks fat enough to have been carrying at least another 20kg above the standard table weight.
Well done team Vegas...!
The fishing out there is varying significantly from one day to the next, and while today it all seemed to be in either 45fa or beyond 1000fa, the bite is at least still there, and with blue, black and striped marlin all being raised, there's every reason to believe that they might all stick around for a while longer. There real trick seems to be finding where the hell the things are going to be each day...
Thursday, 5th May
The forecasts for the rest of the week show that the big blocking high pressure system over the continent is giving us sensational marlin fishing weather for the rest of the week. With light breezes, cloudless skies, and the EAC providing us with perfect Coral Sea water that the blue marlin are clearly happy with, it's time to make hay and spread those DPI tags around as many of the marlin out there as possible.
Black N Blue and Hemingway are just two of what will certainly be several boats out there chasing blues today, but the chances are that they'll all be fishing with only two people on board. Better than not having crew at all mind you, but this combat fishing when you're going up against the aggressive blue marlin we have roaming around out in the jungle on the edge of the continental shelf at present is none too easy when seconds count, and has the potential to cost fish compared to having a couple of sharp anglers on the deck and a skipper who isn't running up and down from the flybridge at critical moments.
We just need a few more retired or self-employed game fishermen in this town who are sufficiently bent in the head to think that 10 hours out beyond the edge of the continental shelf at the mercy of whatever (lousy or glamour) weather you find, while going up against marlin that think nothing of pulling your arms out of their sockets and turning your knees and back to jelly is the best way to spend a day.
There are a couple of mesoscale eddies out there that are creating fantastic conditions for pelagics this week. Unlike the middle of summer, we now have a mix of upwelling and downwelling eddies off the NSW north coast, and it's where the water contained in these opposing circulations meets that a lot of the yellowfin and marlin action occurs. Most of this happens too far out to sea for game boats to get right into the real hotspots on a normal day, but we see a lot of the fish that are travelling between the feeding conditions created by the upwelling eddy systems passing close enough to the shelf that we get some of the spinoff action, which is our upside. The downside is that there conditions attract the scourge of the oceans... longliners.
Meanwhile, with a bit of time on my hands, and not enough crew to plan to be out there with Rob Lang and Marcus Blackwell this morning, Tuesday's video of some of the action on Foreign Exchange is now up in the Video Gallery and on FB. Making Paul Brodrick look like Zane Grey and Lara Croft's lovechild is undoubtedly doing a lot for his fan club... it's going to be tough on him when he has to go back to work...
Midday Update: You can almost set your watch by the blues at the moment - Black N Blue got their first 120kg model tagged just before midday, which gives more weight still to the morning coffee and midmorning lures in the water fishing timetable I spoke of below, even if it was a bit tongue-in-cheek. The fish came out of nowhere, crash tackled the short corner wildchild-skirted Ruckus, ran around like mad crossing over the line twice (lucky!) without cutting it, and was at the back of the boat in 10 minutes - great combat marlin fishing! Photo below...
Afternoon Update: Later in the day, within minutes of pulling the gear and heading home, Black N Blue hooked up a big (big for here that is...) 90kg black marlin that put on a sensational show next to the boat when they got it in... including collisions in close near the boat, leaps that almost put it in the cockpit with them, and a spectacular airborne tag shot that was all captured on the two video cameras on the deck. There should be some great video up on the Coffs Coast Sportfishing website later tomorrow.
Sadly, the other side of the coin was illustrated by Hemingway's frustrating day - nothing to show for a long 10 mile run down a longliner's set out in 1400 fathoms, where you'd bet London to a brick that they'd have filled the boat up with YFT.
Let's hope that team Foreign Exchange can find some action tomorrow with a glamour forecast and marlin reports from the edge of the shelf today.
Black N Blue and Hemingway are just two of what will certainly be several boats out there chasing blues today, but the chances are that they'll all be fishing with only two people on board. Better than not having crew at all mind you, but this combat fishing when you're going up against the aggressive blue marlin we have roaming around out in the jungle on the edge of the continental shelf at present is none too easy when seconds count, and has the potential to cost fish compared to having a couple of sharp anglers on the deck and a skipper who isn't running up and down from the flybridge at critical moments.
We just need a few more retired or self-employed game fishermen in this town who are sufficiently bent in the head to think that 10 hours out beyond the edge of the continental shelf at the mercy of whatever (lousy or glamour) weather you find, while going up against marlin that think nothing of pulling your arms out of their sockets and turning your knees and back to jelly is the best way to spend a day.
There are a couple of mesoscale eddies out there that are creating fantastic conditions for pelagics this week. Unlike the middle of summer, we now have a mix of upwelling and downwelling eddies off the NSW north coast, and it's where the water contained in these opposing circulations meets that a lot of the yellowfin and marlin action occurs. Most of this happens too far out to sea for game boats to get right into the real hotspots on a normal day, but we see a lot of the fish that are travelling between the feeding conditions created by the upwelling eddy systems passing close enough to the shelf that we get some of the spinoff action, which is our upside. The downside is that there conditions attract the scourge of the oceans... longliners.
Meanwhile, with a bit of time on my hands, and not enough crew to plan to be out there with Rob Lang and Marcus Blackwell this morning, Tuesday's video of some of the action on Foreign Exchange is now up in the Video Gallery and on FB. Making Paul Brodrick look like Zane Grey and Lara Croft's lovechild is undoubtedly doing a lot for his fan club... it's going to be tough on him when he has to go back to work...
Midday Update: You can almost set your watch by the blues at the moment - Black N Blue got their first 120kg model tagged just before midday, which gives more weight still to the morning coffee and midmorning lures in the water fishing timetable I spoke of below, even if it was a bit tongue-in-cheek. The fish came out of nowhere, crash tackled the short corner wildchild-skirted Ruckus, ran around like mad crossing over the line twice (lucky!) without cutting it, and was at the back of the boat in 10 minutes - great combat marlin fishing! Photo below...
Afternoon Update: Later in the day, within minutes of pulling the gear and heading home, Black N Blue hooked up a big (big for here that is...) 90kg black marlin that put on a sensational show next to the boat when they got it in... including collisions in close near the boat, leaps that almost put it in the cockpit with them, and a spectacular airborne tag shot that was all captured on the two video cameras on the deck. There should be some great video up on the Coffs Coast Sportfishing website later tomorrow.
Sadly, the other side of the coin was illustrated by Hemingway's frustrating day - nothing to show for a long 10 mile run down a longliner's set out in 1400 fathoms, where you'd bet London to a brick that they'd have filled the boat up with YFT.
Let's hope that team Foreign Exchange can find some action tomorrow with a glamour forecast and marlin reports from the edge of the shelf today.
Tuesday, 3rd May
OK... new strategy off the Solitary Islands right now... Sleep in, get up late, go meet the crew for a casual coffee at about 0900, amble down to the boat, and don't stress about not having the lures in the water at sunrise. Just get it all working along the bottom of the shelf off the Coffs Canyons about 30 minutes before midday and sit back and wait for it to happen... because the action at the moment is all in the afternoon.
Not that we did that yesterday, but if the past few days' history is anything to go by, the afternoon bite here is all the go at the moment.
Black N Blue and Better than Vegas were out early, with Vegas going north to The Hole, BnB working the canyons, with the slackers on Foreign Exchange showing up at 0830. But nothing happened...
Nothing that is, except a really nasty, very localised 15-20knot sou'wester that blew from about SSI to SWR, raising a savage little wind chop that made life miserable on the flybridge and had the lures flying out of the water and the marlin going deep to sit it out. Meanwhile, up at The Hole, Pete English and Marcus Blackwell were wondering what Rob Lang and myself were bitching about, because all they had up there was a bit of light breeze and intermittent glass-off conditions.
It eventually started to ease off around early afternoon, but it was a classic example of the BOM being clueless about local Coffs Coast conditions.
Still, when it finally started easing just after the turn of the tide, everything got better, including the bite.
Foreign Exchange was down at the Sawtell Canyons where it was still pretty rough, so we turned downswell to give the fish a chance at the change of the tide, and within a couple of minutes had a nice blue marlin of about 150kg hooked up. Sadly, it wasn't to last, and about 10 minutes into the fight, with the deck clear and the fish having gone deep, the hook pulled.... no abrasion on the leader or trace, not even another battle scar on Mr. McGoo, just a seemingly good hookup where the hooks pulled right at the point where you think you've got the fish sorted...
Anyway, an hour later in the early afternoon, McGoo again won the popularity contest and a 70kg striped marlin hooked up and this time stayed that way, getting its piece of DPI bling about 30 minutes later, with Paul Broderick once again getting the points.
Soon after, Black N Blue found a small blue marlin of about 80kg that they got to the boat without much fuss, and the afternoon was really starting to look up. BnB's blue had had a prior encounter with a longliner and apparently been cut off (the longliners are only allowed to keep striped marlin), because it had a longliner's circle hook plus about six feet of heavy mono trace attached. Rob Lang did the fish a big favour in return for its cooperation, removing the longliner's hook and releasing the fish to go and turn into a grander, all the better for the experience.
I should note for the record also, that today's Blue Marlin caught on Black N Blue was the 40th marlin of the season for BnB, which is a fishing record that nobody else fishing the north coast of NSW is going to come close to in the 2015/16 season. Congratulations to skipper Rob Lang and crew.
With things starting to fire up and down the shelf, Vegas found a bait patch and also found the YFT that were working the bait, hooking a fat 45kg yellowfin on a brand new Aaron Jennings flying fish lure that had only been delivered to Pete English the day before. As they got this fish to the boat, another 'fin apparently followed it in. Only goes to show - find the bait, and you'll find the YFT.
Mind you, all the marlin were in water where there was no bait to speak of other than the very occasional flying fish, and where there had been no bird activity all day. So it's a matter of just patiently driving around until you run over one, but at the moment, this doesn't seem to be too hard anytime after midday.
The action got better as the wind died off and the seas settled down.
Just a couple of minutes after we'd tagged Paul's stripe's we were getting the gear on Foreign Exchange back out and the boat was running along on the autopilot. There were only two of us (the usual midweek crew dramas - all three boats were fishing just 2-up) on ForEx, and I put the big pink Ruckus on the long corner out first while Paul was getting the lures out on the short side. I leaned over to address the long rigger gear when... "Zzzzztt"... I didn't even look around, assuming that it was Paul setting up the short rigger, then again... "ZZZtttt". This time I did look around, just as the big blue marlin got sick of playing with the Ruckus I'd just put in the water 30 seconds ago, and slammed it instead. The usual pandemonium followed, with me scrambling up the flybridge ladder and Paul getting his gear back out of the water and running over to grab the rod with the marlin attached. The fish had hooked up OK it seemed, and was clearly a fairly big 200+ kilo model, and was running away nicely... but then it turned hard and charged the boat before I got the throttle down onto the panel. The fish had a lot of slack line by now, and with one good head shake as it was coming at the boat from about 50m away, it threw the hook and was gone. One of those bugger moments when you really wish you'd been up on the flybridge to manage it better instead of caught with your pants down short of crew and working the deck...
Still, 3/3/1 isn't too bad for an afternoon's work.
And just when it seemed like the action was slowing down, Vegas drove over a nice blue marlin up north around The Narrows, and Marcus got his second fish up on the scoreboard for the day!
Great fishing...
I see that the Gold Coast GFC is having their Garmin Blue Marlin Classic tournament this weekend. With $65,000 in prizes, and $24,000 to the winning boat, this is the sort of event that is eventually going to make travelling up to the Gold Coast - and maybe combining it with slipping and maintenance - from Coffs with a good boat and a gun crew a serious proposition...
Not that we did that yesterday, but if the past few days' history is anything to go by, the afternoon bite here is all the go at the moment.
Black N Blue and Better than Vegas were out early, with Vegas going north to The Hole, BnB working the canyons, with the slackers on Foreign Exchange showing up at 0830. But nothing happened...
Nothing that is, except a really nasty, very localised 15-20knot sou'wester that blew from about SSI to SWR, raising a savage little wind chop that made life miserable on the flybridge and had the lures flying out of the water and the marlin going deep to sit it out. Meanwhile, up at The Hole, Pete English and Marcus Blackwell were wondering what Rob Lang and myself were bitching about, because all they had up there was a bit of light breeze and intermittent glass-off conditions.
It eventually started to ease off around early afternoon, but it was a classic example of the BOM being clueless about local Coffs Coast conditions.
Still, when it finally started easing just after the turn of the tide, everything got better, including the bite.
Foreign Exchange was down at the Sawtell Canyons where it was still pretty rough, so we turned downswell to give the fish a chance at the change of the tide, and within a couple of minutes had a nice blue marlin of about 150kg hooked up. Sadly, it wasn't to last, and about 10 minutes into the fight, with the deck clear and the fish having gone deep, the hook pulled.... no abrasion on the leader or trace, not even another battle scar on Mr. McGoo, just a seemingly good hookup where the hooks pulled right at the point where you think you've got the fish sorted...
Anyway, an hour later in the early afternoon, McGoo again won the popularity contest and a 70kg striped marlin hooked up and this time stayed that way, getting its piece of DPI bling about 30 minutes later, with Paul Broderick once again getting the points.
Soon after, Black N Blue found a small blue marlin of about 80kg that they got to the boat without much fuss, and the afternoon was really starting to look up. BnB's blue had had a prior encounter with a longliner and apparently been cut off (the longliners are only allowed to keep striped marlin), because it had a longliner's circle hook plus about six feet of heavy mono trace attached. Rob Lang did the fish a big favour in return for its cooperation, removing the longliner's hook and releasing the fish to go and turn into a grander, all the better for the experience.
I should note for the record also, that today's Blue Marlin caught on Black N Blue was the 40th marlin of the season for BnB, which is a fishing record that nobody else fishing the north coast of NSW is going to come close to in the 2015/16 season. Congratulations to skipper Rob Lang and crew.
With things starting to fire up and down the shelf, Vegas found a bait patch and also found the YFT that were working the bait, hooking a fat 45kg yellowfin on a brand new Aaron Jennings flying fish lure that had only been delivered to Pete English the day before. As they got this fish to the boat, another 'fin apparently followed it in. Only goes to show - find the bait, and you'll find the YFT.
Mind you, all the marlin were in water where there was no bait to speak of other than the very occasional flying fish, and where there had been no bird activity all day. So it's a matter of just patiently driving around until you run over one, but at the moment, this doesn't seem to be too hard anytime after midday.
The action got better as the wind died off and the seas settled down.
Just a couple of minutes after we'd tagged Paul's stripe's we were getting the gear on Foreign Exchange back out and the boat was running along on the autopilot. There were only two of us (the usual midweek crew dramas - all three boats were fishing just 2-up) on ForEx, and I put the big pink Ruckus on the long corner out first while Paul was getting the lures out on the short side. I leaned over to address the long rigger gear when... "Zzzzztt"... I didn't even look around, assuming that it was Paul setting up the short rigger, then again... "ZZZtttt". This time I did look around, just as the big blue marlin got sick of playing with the Ruckus I'd just put in the water 30 seconds ago, and slammed it instead. The usual pandemonium followed, with me scrambling up the flybridge ladder and Paul getting his gear back out of the water and running over to grab the rod with the marlin attached. The fish had hooked up OK it seemed, and was clearly a fairly big 200+ kilo model, and was running away nicely... but then it turned hard and charged the boat before I got the throttle down onto the panel. The fish had a lot of slack line by now, and with one good head shake as it was coming at the boat from about 50m away, it threw the hook and was gone. One of those bugger moments when you really wish you'd been up on the flybridge to manage it better instead of caught with your pants down short of crew and working the deck...
Still, 3/3/1 isn't too bad for an afternoon's work.
And just when it seemed like the action was slowing down, Vegas drove over a nice blue marlin up north around The Narrows, and Marcus got his second fish up on the scoreboard for the day!
Great fishing...
I see that the Gold Coast GFC is having their Garmin Blue Marlin Classic tournament this weekend. With $65,000 in prizes, and $24,000 to the winning boat, this is the sort of event that is eventually going to make travelling up to the Gold Coast - and maybe combining it with slipping and maintenance - from Coffs with a good boat and a gun crew a serious proposition...
Monday, 2nd May
Another killer day for game fishing, so of course, Black N Blue is out there putting some moves on the local marlin.
They tagged a YFT at the top of the shelf on the way out, then moved to deeper water that looked gorgeous, but seemed devoid of life until a very nice blue marlin came charging up and smashed what they had on offer hooking up in the process. The fight got pretty interesting the first time they got the fish at the boat, when the big blue decided it was leaving before they had it tagged. In addition to almost dragging Rob Lang into the water, it dragged the 37kg line across a stainless steel corner on a piece of gunwale shield as it ran away, and by some miracle, instead of nicking the line, which would have been the end of the whole show, the metal smoothly sliced a shaving off the diameter of the line for about a metre without actually cutting it through. This left them with a severely damaged, but still intact piece of 37kg line that was probably down to half its original breaking strain, but they still managed to work the fish carefully, and got it back to the boat for tagging about 20 minutes later. Bloody nice deck work to still make it all happen with such a big fish and that sort of near disastrous gear handicap!
The fish measured up as a conservative fat 200kg model, and hopefully, there are more out there. Stay tuned...
LATER... After that first blue this morning, BnB just dropped a second bigger one! This was an (estimated) 250-300kg fish that came up out of nowhere, grabbed a pink Ruckus, then ran so hard with a couple of big turns along the way that it sawed straight through a 500lb leader in the first minute after hooking up. Big fish, bad luck... but it adds a lot of weight to the theory that the biggest blue marlin turn up here at the beginning and end of the season.
EVEN LATER... No more marlin excitement today, but while Black N Blue was out catching big marlin, the geniuses at the marina office saw fit to park a monster ocean going catamaran in the same 2-boat pen used by Black N Blue. Trouble is that the cat was at least 9 metres wide, and with Black N Blue about 4.5m wide, the peanut gallery of local game skippers was gathering on the back of Better than Vegas to see how Rob was going to jam his boat into the all too narrow slot left beside the big cat in the 12m wide shared berth.....
Looks like another great day tomorrow, with nothing over about 10 knots, low swell, water temps of 26C, and air temp of 28C all in the forecast... and of course, blue marlin raised today. I suspect there might be a bit of traffic out there come morning.
They tagged a YFT at the top of the shelf on the way out, then moved to deeper water that looked gorgeous, but seemed devoid of life until a very nice blue marlin came charging up and smashed what they had on offer hooking up in the process. The fight got pretty interesting the first time they got the fish at the boat, when the big blue decided it was leaving before they had it tagged. In addition to almost dragging Rob Lang into the water, it dragged the 37kg line across a stainless steel corner on a piece of gunwale shield as it ran away, and by some miracle, instead of nicking the line, which would have been the end of the whole show, the metal smoothly sliced a shaving off the diameter of the line for about a metre without actually cutting it through. This left them with a severely damaged, but still intact piece of 37kg line that was probably down to half its original breaking strain, but they still managed to work the fish carefully, and got it back to the boat for tagging about 20 minutes later. Bloody nice deck work to still make it all happen with such a big fish and that sort of near disastrous gear handicap!
The fish measured up as a conservative fat 200kg model, and hopefully, there are more out there. Stay tuned...
LATER... After that first blue this morning, BnB just dropped a second bigger one! This was an (estimated) 250-300kg fish that came up out of nowhere, grabbed a pink Ruckus, then ran so hard with a couple of big turns along the way that it sawed straight through a 500lb leader in the first minute after hooking up. Big fish, bad luck... but it adds a lot of weight to the theory that the biggest blue marlin turn up here at the beginning and end of the season.
EVEN LATER... No more marlin excitement today, but while Black N Blue was out catching big marlin, the geniuses at the marina office saw fit to park a monster ocean going catamaran in the same 2-boat pen used by Black N Blue. Trouble is that the cat was at least 9 metres wide, and with Black N Blue about 4.5m wide, the peanut gallery of local game skippers was gathering on the back of Better than Vegas to see how Rob was going to jam his boat into the all too narrow slot left beside the big cat in the 12m wide shared berth.....
Looks like another great day tomorrow, with nothing over about 10 knots, low swell, water temps of 26C, and air temp of 28C all in the forecast... and of course, blue marlin raised today. I suspect there might be a bit of traffic out there come morning.
Sunday, 1 May
Fortunately, it doesn't look like May out there, and it looks even less so when you check the SST charts and forecast for the week ahead. Let's hope the marlin are going to stay in late summer mode with this lingering El Niño effect we're having.
I've been reading this weekend about the life and work of one of Hawaii's greatest pelagic lure makers, Joe Yee. Joe is a Japanese Hawaiian lure maker who started his career as an aircraft mechanic with the USAF, and has always been a marlin fisherman. Joe was working on a big old snarly redial piston engine in an old transport plane back in 1960 when he thought that the plastic cylinder insert used to protect spark plug holes on these engines might just make the perfect mould for a new type of marlin lure he'd been tossing around in his head. One thing led to another, and he found that these plastic shapes helped him make a few lures that his friends among the Hawaiian game fishing fraternity reckoned were all the go, so he started making lures in his basement, and got into the business fulltime when he retired from the USAF. There probably isn't a marlin fisherman anywhere who doesn't know about Joe and his lures.
Many of the most famous lure shapes and styles we know today had their origins in Joe's garage workshop, and his original shapes have been copied by almost every lure manufacturer around the world, particularly his famous plunger style head shape.
Joe's lures were specifically made for the pelagic fish chased by anglers in Hawaiian waters, including tuna, wahoo and mahimahi, but his focus has always been on blue marlin, which is why his lures work so well in this part of the world. All you've got to do is look up the prices being asked for new and used Joe Yee original lures on EBay and the like to get a feel for just how much his handiwork is worth to anglers.
Many larger manufacturers have approached Joe with offers of takeovers of his business, or money to facilitate a switch to mass production, but Joe has always rejected this, and has continued to produce hand made craftsman quality lures only from his basement workshop in his modest home in Honolulu.
I was looking at the photos of Joe at work in his basement workshop today when I was reminded of exactly the same sort of workshop I've visited under the Brisbane home of Aaron Jennings, a fellow Polynesian craft lure maker and a great fan of Joe Yee himself.
Which of course provides me with the perfect segue into talking a bit about Aaron, who sent me a package of some samples of the new generation of his quite unique "Vuaki Flyer" flying fish lure range. Aaron's Flyers are something you'll never see anywhere else, and came from an idea he had watching flying fish out in the middle of the Pacific where he fished with his father in Fijian waters for many years.
These latest Flyers are the third generation of this style of lure that's been in development for a couple of years now. In fact, the green, yellow and blue skirted lure with the short blue wings is a replacement for a lure that Pete English has been using very successfully on Better than Vegas recently. It has a deep hollow cupface, with an offset trace hole that gives the lure a really frantic action out on the rigger, and which seems to get the local striped and black marlin more wound up than usual and gets a strike out of them when they'd otherwise be in a window shopping teflon mouth mood.
The smaller cutface Flyers with the plunger style longer head and blue, yellow and mauve skirts with the long silver wings are a brand new version of the Flyer that is just a killer striped marlin lure. Readers may be interested to know that after months of looking, Aaron has found the original US manufacturer of the skirts once used to make McGoo lures, and he's now using these US skirts on all his stuff, rather than the nasty Chinese copies you see on a lot of cheap mass produced lures.
The new generation cutface Flyers with the big silver wings are proving to be irresistible to sailfish up on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts since first being trialled earlier this year by a local Queensland charter operator.
I've been reading this weekend about the life and work of one of Hawaii's greatest pelagic lure makers, Joe Yee. Joe is a Japanese Hawaiian lure maker who started his career as an aircraft mechanic with the USAF, and has always been a marlin fisherman. Joe was working on a big old snarly redial piston engine in an old transport plane back in 1960 when he thought that the plastic cylinder insert used to protect spark plug holes on these engines might just make the perfect mould for a new type of marlin lure he'd been tossing around in his head. One thing led to another, and he found that these plastic shapes helped him make a few lures that his friends among the Hawaiian game fishing fraternity reckoned were all the go, so he started making lures in his basement, and got into the business fulltime when he retired from the USAF. There probably isn't a marlin fisherman anywhere who doesn't know about Joe and his lures.
Many of the most famous lure shapes and styles we know today had their origins in Joe's garage workshop, and his original shapes have been copied by almost every lure manufacturer around the world, particularly his famous plunger style head shape.
Joe's lures were specifically made for the pelagic fish chased by anglers in Hawaiian waters, including tuna, wahoo and mahimahi, but his focus has always been on blue marlin, which is why his lures work so well in this part of the world. All you've got to do is look up the prices being asked for new and used Joe Yee original lures on EBay and the like to get a feel for just how much his handiwork is worth to anglers.
Many larger manufacturers have approached Joe with offers of takeovers of his business, or money to facilitate a switch to mass production, but Joe has always rejected this, and has continued to produce hand made craftsman quality lures only from his basement workshop in his modest home in Honolulu.
I was looking at the photos of Joe at work in his basement workshop today when I was reminded of exactly the same sort of workshop I've visited under the Brisbane home of Aaron Jennings, a fellow Polynesian craft lure maker and a great fan of Joe Yee himself.
Which of course provides me with the perfect segue into talking a bit about Aaron, who sent me a package of some samples of the new generation of his quite unique "Vuaki Flyer" flying fish lure range. Aaron's Flyers are something you'll never see anywhere else, and came from an idea he had watching flying fish out in the middle of the Pacific where he fished with his father in Fijian waters for many years.
These latest Flyers are the third generation of this style of lure that's been in development for a couple of years now. In fact, the green, yellow and blue skirted lure with the short blue wings is a replacement for a lure that Pete English has been using very successfully on Better than Vegas recently. It has a deep hollow cupface, with an offset trace hole that gives the lure a really frantic action out on the rigger, and which seems to get the local striped and black marlin more wound up than usual and gets a strike out of them when they'd otherwise be in a window shopping teflon mouth mood.
The smaller cutface Flyers with the plunger style longer head and blue, yellow and mauve skirts with the long silver wings are a brand new version of the Flyer that is just a killer striped marlin lure. Readers may be interested to know that after months of looking, Aaron has found the original US manufacturer of the skirts once used to make McGoo lures, and he's now using these US skirts on all his stuff, rather than the nasty Chinese copies you see on a lot of cheap mass produced lures.
The new generation cutface Flyers with the big silver wings are proving to be irresistible to sailfish up on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts since first being trialled earlier this year by a local Queensland charter operator.
And the latest news from the Ballina contingent is of this nice 100kg blue marlin caught yesterday in 105fa from Black Max
Saturday, 30th April
Yesterday was another glamour day off Coffs Harbour - four boats were out nosing around in very nice conditions that don't get much better off the Solitary Coast.
There'd been no action early recently, so Foreign Exchange ambled out and got the lures in the water in marlin alley by 0845. Conditions were delightful, with a long period swell, breeze of about 5 knots, and only about 1 knot of current on the top of the shelf. Water temps were good, with the water hitting 24C at 50fa, and 26.5 by 200fa. Very good colour along the top of the shelf - in fact, better than out wider. It was very quiet though, with almost no bird activity, and only scattered specks of bait on the sounder at very infrequent intervals. In fact, we saw just one flying fish all day, and it wasn't long for this world with a big dollie charging along behind it.
We found a nice current line in 45fa that we followed southeastwards into deeper water, and which took us right to a set of fish trap buoys in 52fa. That was the only spot that looked really "fishy", with a couple of birds that showing interest in some baitfish on the current line. As we approached the string of buoys, something smashed the baby ruckus on the long corner, although I was looking at the floats sliding past, and have to admit that without looking, I assumed it was a dollie... but it turned out to be a bill-wrapped marlin that woke us both up big time and then jumped off after pulling 100m of string. That was definitely worth a second run past the floats, and as we approached again, we had a solid hit on the Jennings Gamefish jethead we had on the short rigger - striped marlin!
The fish put on a nice show for Paul and we got it tagged about 15 minutes later - a pretty little stripe of about 65kg. There's a short video clip of that bit of action up on the video gallery page.
The obvious question here was whether that was the same marlin that had grabbed the long corner lure on our first pass, or whether it was another fish altogether. As this was a striped marlin, the chances are that there were a couple of them working around the fish trap floats, and after we missed the first fish, the second decided to have a shot on the next pass. Of course, it could have been the first fish back to get its revenge after missing the first time, but we'll never know.
And that was more or less it for the day. Better than Vegas cruised around the shelf dropoff all day looking for similar action, but found nothing. Geeza was out early, but in the end, only tagged a YFT after seeing no marlin action either.
We stuck around for a while, then moved to the bottom of the shelf hoping to find the sort of action that Black N Blue ran into in 200fa on Thursday, but despite finding a lot of pilot whales, gorgeous water up to 26.5C, and superb conditions, there was no bait, none of the striped tuna Rob Lang had found, and no bird activity at all. We did drive over a football YFT and a wahoo on the way home that afternoon though, so there will be sashimi on the table tonight, and the wahoo in panko breadcrumbs last night was superb.
The fishing is pretty hit and miss despite very good water and the occasional fish out there. At present, the EAC isn't flowing straight down from Queensland, and the current we're seeing here is coming from out wide to the northeast, rather than down the shelf past the border. The bite - such as it is - is moving around, being in deeper water one day, top of the shelf the next, and generally pretty unpredictable.
There'd been no action early recently, so Foreign Exchange ambled out and got the lures in the water in marlin alley by 0845. Conditions were delightful, with a long period swell, breeze of about 5 knots, and only about 1 knot of current on the top of the shelf. Water temps were good, with the water hitting 24C at 50fa, and 26.5 by 200fa. Very good colour along the top of the shelf - in fact, better than out wider. It was very quiet though, with almost no bird activity, and only scattered specks of bait on the sounder at very infrequent intervals. In fact, we saw just one flying fish all day, and it wasn't long for this world with a big dollie charging along behind it.
We found a nice current line in 45fa that we followed southeastwards into deeper water, and which took us right to a set of fish trap buoys in 52fa. That was the only spot that looked really "fishy", with a couple of birds that showing interest in some baitfish on the current line. As we approached the string of buoys, something smashed the baby ruckus on the long corner, although I was looking at the floats sliding past, and have to admit that without looking, I assumed it was a dollie... but it turned out to be a bill-wrapped marlin that woke us both up big time and then jumped off after pulling 100m of string. That was definitely worth a second run past the floats, and as we approached again, we had a solid hit on the Jennings Gamefish jethead we had on the short rigger - striped marlin!
The fish put on a nice show for Paul and we got it tagged about 15 minutes later - a pretty little stripe of about 65kg. There's a short video clip of that bit of action up on the video gallery page.
The obvious question here was whether that was the same marlin that had grabbed the long corner lure on our first pass, or whether it was another fish altogether. As this was a striped marlin, the chances are that there were a couple of them working around the fish trap floats, and after we missed the first fish, the second decided to have a shot on the next pass. Of course, it could have been the first fish back to get its revenge after missing the first time, but we'll never know.
And that was more or less it for the day. Better than Vegas cruised around the shelf dropoff all day looking for similar action, but found nothing. Geeza was out early, but in the end, only tagged a YFT after seeing no marlin action either.
We stuck around for a while, then moved to the bottom of the shelf hoping to find the sort of action that Black N Blue ran into in 200fa on Thursday, but despite finding a lot of pilot whales, gorgeous water up to 26.5C, and superb conditions, there was no bait, none of the striped tuna Rob Lang had found, and no bird activity at all. We did drive over a football YFT and a wahoo on the way home that afternoon though, so there will be sashimi on the table tonight, and the wahoo in panko breadcrumbs last night was superb.
The fishing is pretty hit and miss despite very good water and the occasional fish out there. At present, the EAC isn't flowing straight down from Queensland, and the current we're seeing here is coming from out wide to the northeast, rather than down the shelf past the border. The bite - such as it is - is moving around, being in deeper water one day, top of the shelf the next, and generally pretty unpredictable.
Thursday, 28th April
Good water out there today, great colour, with sea surface temps right on the satellite SST shots showing 25-26C. The current seems to be about 2.5 knots beyond about 80fa.
It was pretty quiet and empty this morning, but after midday, Black N Blue finally found a sweet spot along the bottom of the shelf where there were a few striped tuna snapping at the swivels, and some interest being shown by dolphins and pilot whales. Rob Lang and his crew then had to suffer the frustration of raising 5 billfish and not getting one of them to the boat.
First came a couple of shortbill spearfish, which charged in leaving rooster tails they were going to hard, but they just didn't want to play, and left without hooking up. There was a blue that behaved in a similar fashion, ripping in from the side, then taking a look at everything in the spread, but not firing up and obviously not feeling very aggressive. Next came a striped marlin, which at least took a swipe at a lure after being encouraged to do so by a few boat speed changes, but this only resulted in a minor bill wrap that fell off soon after. Finally, a blue hooked up but didn't stay that way, leaving BnB at zero from five. Bad luck... they deserved more, but that's game fishing.
At least there are fish out there, and it will be very interesting to see if the fish raised by BnB today were just passing, or if they were new arrivals leading the pack down from up north.
Foreign Exchange will be trying to find out tomorrow...
It was pretty quiet and empty this morning, but after midday, Black N Blue finally found a sweet spot along the bottom of the shelf where there were a few striped tuna snapping at the swivels, and some interest being shown by dolphins and pilot whales. Rob Lang and his crew then had to suffer the frustration of raising 5 billfish and not getting one of them to the boat.
First came a couple of shortbill spearfish, which charged in leaving rooster tails they were going to hard, but they just didn't want to play, and left without hooking up. There was a blue that behaved in a similar fashion, ripping in from the side, then taking a look at everything in the spread, but not firing up and obviously not feeling very aggressive. Next came a striped marlin, which at least took a swipe at a lure after being encouraged to do so by a few boat speed changes, but this only resulted in a minor bill wrap that fell off soon after. Finally, a blue hooked up but didn't stay that way, leaving BnB at zero from five. Bad luck... they deserved more, but that's game fishing.
At least there are fish out there, and it will be very interesting to see if the fish raised by BnB today were just passing, or if they were new arrivals leading the pack down from up north.
Foreign Exchange will be trying to find out tomorrow...
Wednesday, 27th April
Today's forecast is the first for almost a week that doesn't have winds over 10 knots in it. Things will start calming down out there now, and while there will be some residual southerly slop around, it should be very nice out on the edge of the shelf in a day or two.
A quick look at the SST and current plots shows that the water off the Solitary Coast should still be 25-26C for some time, well above the blue marlin preferred 24C. It's interesting to see that with the reduction in surface temperatures from the extended highs of the summer, the dynamics of the ocean off the north coast of NSW have suddenly changed significantly. For the first time in months, there doesn't appear to be any significant mesoscale eddy generation south of the border and along this coastline. Readers of this column may remember that one of the theories about mesoscale oceanic eddies is that they are generated and sustained by pronounced differences in water temperatures, and that the warmer the current, the greater the likelihood of it spawning the large eddies that have played havoc with the EAC for most of the summer just ended.
In fact, the East Australian Current is still being affected by eddies where the water temperatures off southeast Queensland are higher, and as a result, current flow along our coast is coming largely from a push of water being driven onto the coast in a westerly direction from well out in the southern Coral Sea. But there's no localised influence from oceanic eddies here for the first time in months, which is the really good news.
It may be drawing a pretty long bow to be drawing, but the last time we had no negative influence from any oceanic eddies off the Byron coast, and a steady westerly flow just to our north like this, there was a pretty hot blue marlin bite back in the spring.
A quick look at the SST and current plots shows that the water off the Solitary Coast should still be 25-26C for some time, well above the blue marlin preferred 24C. It's interesting to see that with the reduction in surface temperatures from the extended highs of the summer, the dynamics of the ocean off the north coast of NSW have suddenly changed significantly. For the first time in months, there doesn't appear to be any significant mesoscale eddy generation south of the border and along this coastline. Readers of this column may remember that one of the theories about mesoscale oceanic eddies is that they are generated and sustained by pronounced differences in water temperatures, and that the warmer the current, the greater the likelihood of it spawning the large eddies that have played havoc with the EAC for most of the summer just ended.
In fact, the East Australian Current is still being affected by eddies where the water temperatures off southeast Queensland are higher, and as a result, current flow along our coast is coming largely from a push of water being driven onto the coast in a westerly direction from well out in the southern Coral Sea. But there's no localised influence from oceanic eddies here for the first time in months, which is the really good news.
It may be drawing a pretty long bow to be drawing, but the last time we had no negative influence from any oceanic eddies off the Byron coast, and a steady westerly flow just to our north like this, there was a pretty hot blue marlin bite back in the spring.
Tuesday, 26th April
The southerly still hasn't blown itself out yet, and even though it's abated quite a bit, the seas are still looking like a bloody mess out there, and likely to remain so for another 48 hours at least. Favourable conditions with a return to sunny skies and northeasterly breezes are in the forecast from Thursday on, so the true believers will probably get out there to see if this weather has brought a change to the poor to non-existent bite that characterised a day of big game fishing this time last week.
Southerlies are notorious for stirring up the marlin, and if the current has settled enough to get bait (flying fish and striped tuna would be perfect) and marlin down here from Queensland, there could be a pleasant surprise for skippers going out later this week to dip a toe in the water so to speak. Based on the large marlin that Better than Vegas raised before the weather packed it in, there's a very real possibility that as we often find around the beginning and end of the summer season here, the blues that are encountered out off Coffs tend to be larger than average, so one or two larger plungers in the spread might be the go until the end of May at least. As it's highly likely that bait schooling along the top edge of the shelf will bring striped marlin as well, then get whatever you've found the stripes attracted to out there in the rest of the spread might be a good plan.
Incidentally, on the subject of lures, that collection of lures for sale in the photo below have all been sold.
Southerlies are notorious for stirring up the marlin, and if the current has settled enough to get bait (flying fish and striped tuna would be perfect) and marlin down here from Queensland, there could be a pleasant surprise for skippers going out later this week to dip a toe in the water so to speak. Based on the large marlin that Better than Vegas raised before the weather packed it in, there's a very real possibility that as we often find around the beginning and end of the summer season here, the blues that are encountered out off Coffs tend to be larger than average, so one or two larger plungers in the spread might be the go until the end of May at least. As it's highly likely that bait schooling along the top edge of the shelf will bring striped marlin as well, then get whatever you've found the stripes attracted to out there in the rest of the spread might be a good plan.
Incidentally, on the subject of lures, that collection of lures for sale in the photo below have all been sold.
Sunday, 24th April
Boring...! Howling southerly, grey skies, rain... no fishing!
Doing a bit of reading and playing with some videos instead.
The reading part involved some DPI info about the tagging program. One of the most interesting facts I came across was that back in 2009 (old data, but the message is still there) when there had been 5187 blue marlin tagged since the tagging program commenced in 1973, but only 17 had been recaptured and had their tags returned - just 0.33%. These fish are smart learners...!
The video work involved clipping out a recent short corner strike by a blue marlin that was worth posting separately. With these wide angle lenses, everything seems so far away initially, but at least this fish obliged by hitting the short corner to give us a decent look at the hit. In the slo-mo sequence, you can see the bill come cleanly out of the water first, slicing sideways to allow the fish to swat the lure and stun the prey. As it does so, the lure hooks up, the marlin's head and dorsal fin are briefly out of the water during the last part of the strike, and then as the marlin submerges again, the big sickle tail sweeps past as it slides away and the rod loads up. Slo-mo soundtrack is a sonic boom from a fighter jet... seemed appropriate.
Doing a bit of reading and playing with some videos instead.
The reading part involved some DPI info about the tagging program. One of the most interesting facts I came across was that back in 2009 (old data, but the message is still there) when there had been 5187 blue marlin tagged since the tagging program commenced in 1973, but only 17 had been recaptured and had their tags returned - just 0.33%. These fish are smart learners...!
The video work involved clipping out a recent short corner strike by a blue marlin that was worth posting separately. With these wide angle lenses, everything seems so far away initially, but at least this fish obliged by hitting the short corner to give us a decent look at the hit. In the slo-mo sequence, you can see the bill come cleanly out of the water first, slicing sideways to allow the fish to swat the lure and stun the prey. As it does so, the lure hooks up, the marlin's head and dorsal fin are briefly out of the water during the last part of the strike, and then as the marlin submerges again, the big sickle tail sweeps past as it slides away and the rod loads up. Slo-mo soundtrack is a sonic boom from a fighter jet... seemed appropriate.
Saturday, 23rd April
With today's forecast looking pretty hopeless, and Thursday and Friday looking like glamour days by comparison, we gave it a run both of the last two days to see what was happening. The short answer was ... very little.
Thursday we got rained on pretty much all day out there despite a relatively good day onshore. We found nothing except a lot of water falling out of the sky, but Hemingway came across a couple of marlin that unfortunately weren't interested in giving Marcus Blackwell a chance to demonstrate his one-up simultaneous boat driving, angling, wrangling and tagging skills...
Friday was a gorgeous day, and we were out again, along with Better than Vegas and Black N Blue. The only action was out in 1000fa, but then you still had to be lucky, and Pete English was lucky indeed, with a very healthy 170kg blue marlin arriving out of nowhere, smashing the rigger, and staying hooked up long enough for Pete to get a tag in the fish. It was a pretty tough critter, and left Tara English pretty knackered and blistered up. Great photos of Tara and her blue marlin above... Nice work Tara!!
We found excellent 26.5C water that was about as cobalt as you could wish for all the way up the shelf dropoff to just short of The Narrows, and then the same out as far as 1600fa, but apart from a couple of mystery whales and a handful of dolphins, it was pretty much a blue desert out there. We snagged one nice dollie for dinner that night, and saw another bigger fish chasing a handful of flying fish at one stage, but otherwise, the screen on my sounder was completely blank for two days, and we never saw a marlin or a bird working the entire time.
Admittedly, it was a full moon on those days, and while the moon definitely suppresses the bite, it doesn't necessarily mean it eliminates it completely - just look at what's been going on off the Gold Coast during the full moon.
There was a little more action in closer, with bait being worked very hard by mackerel and mac tuna inside 10 fathoms. BnB had a few smallish dollies in the bag by the end of the day, and had seen one small black in the spread that refused to play.
Unless the bait comes back along the shelf in a hurry, we could be forgiven for at least thinking that the season's showing all the signs of winding down despite great water and good conditions. This proposition is pretty hard to accept however, given that the water conditions out there yesterday were more like late February in a normal year, and that the guys up on the Gold Coast are still reeling in blue marlin like there's no tomorrow as mentioned above.
For example, lure maker Aaron Jennings was out off Surfers in his boat Coconut Kiwi yesterday and went 4/4/1 on blues! Four blue marlin in the spread during the course of a day is what you'd expect to see here in the conditions we encountered out there yesterday, so maybe after this southerly blows itself out, we can expect to see more of the sort of action they're seeing up over the border. Aaron tagged one smallish blue, but then had a run of lousy luck... they were fighting another big blue for over three hours and had it to within 50m of the boat when the hook pulled, and they lost another when a leader clip failed. Aaron's been doing very well using a pink version of his Vuaki Flyer flying fish imitation lure than seems unstoppable this season. One of the charter boats up on the Goldie has been using Flyers on sailfish up there and has been killing it, and we got a great black marlin on one during the Heavy Tackle Challenge.
While looking over Better than Vegas' and Coconut Kiwi's nice blue marlin photos above, I was reminded of a photo of a "blue marlin" tagged earlier this week to the north of Coffs that somebody sent me from a Facebook post. Best photos of a striped marlin I've seen lately, and about half the weight of the supposed "blue"... Time to look over those marlin recognition drawings again guys.
Thursday we got rained on pretty much all day out there despite a relatively good day onshore. We found nothing except a lot of water falling out of the sky, but Hemingway came across a couple of marlin that unfortunately weren't interested in giving Marcus Blackwell a chance to demonstrate his one-up simultaneous boat driving, angling, wrangling and tagging skills...
Friday was a gorgeous day, and we were out again, along with Better than Vegas and Black N Blue. The only action was out in 1000fa, but then you still had to be lucky, and Pete English was lucky indeed, with a very healthy 170kg blue marlin arriving out of nowhere, smashing the rigger, and staying hooked up long enough for Pete to get a tag in the fish. It was a pretty tough critter, and left Tara English pretty knackered and blistered up. Great photos of Tara and her blue marlin above... Nice work Tara!!
We found excellent 26.5C water that was about as cobalt as you could wish for all the way up the shelf dropoff to just short of The Narrows, and then the same out as far as 1600fa, but apart from a couple of mystery whales and a handful of dolphins, it was pretty much a blue desert out there. We snagged one nice dollie for dinner that night, and saw another bigger fish chasing a handful of flying fish at one stage, but otherwise, the screen on my sounder was completely blank for two days, and we never saw a marlin or a bird working the entire time.
Admittedly, it was a full moon on those days, and while the moon definitely suppresses the bite, it doesn't necessarily mean it eliminates it completely - just look at what's been going on off the Gold Coast during the full moon.
There was a little more action in closer, with bait being worked very hard by mackerel and mac tuna inside 10 fathoms. BnB had a few smallish dollies in the bag by the end of the day, and had seen one small black in the spread that refused to play.
Unless the bait comes back along the shelf in a hurry, we could be forgiven for at least thinking that the season's showing all the signs of winding down despite great water and good conditions. This proposition is pretty hard to accept however, given that the water conditions out there yesterday were more like late February in a normal year, and that the guys up on the Gold Coast are still reeling in blue marlin like there's no tomorrow as mentioned above.
For example, lure maker Aaron Jennings was out off Surfers in his boat Coconut Kiwi yesterday and went 4/4/1 on blues! Four blue marlin in the spread during the course of a day is what you'd expect to see here in the conditions we encountered out there yesterday, so maybe after this southerly blows itself out, we can expect to see more of the sort of action they're seeing up over the border. Aaron tagged one smallish blue, but then had a run of lousy luck... they were fighting another big blue for over three hours and had it to within 50m of the boat when the hook pulled, and they lost another when a leader clip failed. Aaron's been doing very well using a pink version of his Vuaki Flyer flying fish imitation lure than seems unstoppable this season. One of the charter boats up on the Goldie has been using Flyers on sailfish up there and has been killing it, and we got a great black marlin on one during the Heavy Tackle Challenge.
While looking over Better than Vegas' and Coconut Kiwi's nice blue marlin photos above, I was reminded of a photo of a "blue marlin" tagged earlier this week to the north of Coffs that somebody sent me from a Facebook post. Best photos of a striped marlin I've seen lately, and about half the weight of the supposed "blue"... Time to look over those marlin recognition drawings again guys.
Wednesday, 20th April
Thursday and Friday are looking pretty damned good in the forecast at the moment, but Saturday still looks like a write-off barring some big change in the forecast models.
I've been told of a very nice collection of 11 slightly used and brand new unused blue marlin lures for sale. You can see them in the photo on the left. Most are13-14 inch lures perfect for our local blues, and there are some big names in the collection - 7 Marlin Magics, 2 Joe Yees, a Collins Super Plunger, and a Polukai. $50 each, or $500 the lot. Anybody interested can get in touch with Daran Ryan from the Solitary Islands GFC, or catch him at work at FTA.
I've been told of a very nice collection of 11 slightly used and brand new unused blue marlin lures for sale. You can see them in the photo on the left. Most are13-14 inch lures perfect for our local blues, and there are some big names in the collection - 7 Marlin Magics, 2 Joe Yees, a Collins Super Plunger, and a Polukai. $50 each, or $500 the lot. Anybody interested can get in touch with Daran Ryan from the Solitary Islands GFC, or catch him at work at FTA.
Tuesday, 19th April
And continuing yesterday's theme of "...when the going gets tough", there's Black N Blue out there at it again today with a very nice black marlin, and a serious 18kg wahoo on the slate before midday today.
Despite the dodgy southwesterly wind and the disappearance of the recent baitfish bonanza, the water off Coffs is still producing good game fishing, as the photos below show. The black marlin reinforces the popular local theory about the juvenile blacks' fondness for lures with either pink or green in them, and the big wahoo shows that the sportfishing for the razor gang is still good out there.
So if only the very flakey forecast for the weekend will give us a break and let boats fish on Saturday, there could still be a few pleasant surprises.
Despite the dodgy southwesterly wind and the disappearance of the recent baitfish bonanza, the water off Coffs is still producing good game fishing, as the photos below show. The black marlin reinforces the popular local theory about the juvenile blacks' fondness for lures with either pink or green in them, and the big wahoo shows that the sportfishing for the razor gang is still good out there.
So if only the very flakey forecast for the weekend will give us a break and let boats fish on Saturday, there could still be a few pleasant surprises.
Monday, 18th April
Now's a good time to repeat the old punchline we've all heard before... When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And there are a handful of boats on the Coffs Coast that get out there and frequently find fish even when the fish are pretty thin on the ground, one of them being Better than Vegas. Pete English was out on a charter yesterday, and despite the big downwards trend in conditions and game fish of the last couple of days, they managed to raise three teflon-mouthed black marlin (3/3/0), including one that fell off just 20m from the boat.
But while that was the bad news, the good news came as the day drew to an end, when they finally had a nice hit from a striped marlin that stayed hooked up for the main event. Well done guys, and glad to see some proof that the aliens haven't really taken all the fish! The striped marlin was a solid 120kg, caught by angler Ruben Villa on 37kg gear. As with all the other stripes caught recently, this fish was a stocky fish in the upper end of the striped marlin size range. These late summer stripes have also been far less timid than their mates who come past in spring, with none of the usual window shopping or tentative bites and swatting of lures. This fish caught by Vegas yesterday even came right in and slammed the short corner - real blue marlin stuff!
With that confirmation of ongoing black and striped activity, it at least ticks one of the boxes for planning the next outing. The forecast for the end of the week looks reasonable, although at this stage, the Saturday competition day for the Solitary Islands GFC has a nasty southerly in the mix which is likely to be a challenge for those boats deciding to fish... as if the full moon wasn't already handicap enough. But... when the going gets tough, etc, etc...
But while that was the bad news, the good news came as the day drew to an end, when they finally had a nice hit from a striped marlin that stayed hooked up for the main event. Well done guys, and glad to see some proof that the aliens haven't really taken all the fish! The striped marlin was a solid 120kg, caught by angler Ruben Villa on 37kg gear. As with all the other stripes caught recently, this fish was a stocky fish in the upper end of the striped marlin size range. These late summer stripes have also been far less timid than their mates who come past in spring, with none of the usual window shopping or tentative bites and swatting of lures. This fish caught by Vegas yesterday even came right in and slammed the short corner - real blue marlin stuff!
With that confirmation of ongoing black and striped activity, it at least ticks one of the boxes for planning the next outing. The forecast for the end of the week looks reasonable, although at this stage, the Saturday competition day for the Solitary Islands GFC has a nasty southerly in the mix which is likely to be a challenge for those boats deciding to fish... as if the full moon wasn't already handicap enough. But... when the going gets tough, etc, etc...
Sunday, 17th April
There were five boats out game fishing yesterday, and although the breeze in the morning did blow at double the forecast strength initially, it settled down just before midday - although with a southerly, regardless of how light the wind, there's usually a fair bit of residual slop, and yesterday was no different.
She's a Dream tagged a black marlin in 40fa on the way out in the morning, and had another black hooked up for a while about an hour later until it jumped off just a few minutes into the fight. There were 2/2/1 by 0900, and that's when we all should have gone home.
The bait had all disappeared, with the huge aggregation that's been a source of such great marlin fishing for the better part of the last month having completely evaporated. And with it, went the fishing...
Hemingway, Wicked Weasel, and Foreign Exchange all worked the ocean off Coffs, with boats running as far out as 1200fa, and travelling the length of the shelf dropoff from the Sawtell Canyons to the Hard Ground, and saw... absolutely nothing!
Weasel got a feed with a dollie in the bag, but nobody saw any sign of marlin, and ForEx and Hemingway never turned a reel. There was no bait, no birds working anywhere, a couple of lonely dolphins, and the water was a pretty awful slate grey with a touch of green, and in the morning at least, it was a full 2C colder on the shelf than it had been for the past couple of weeks, so it wasn't a huge surprise to find all the bait had gone.
Hemingway and Foreign Exchange went out looking for the current, and we found it starting at 800fa. At 1000fa, it was flowing at a strong 3 knots, and while it was a good blue with water temps up around the 26.5C that the satellite shots showed we could expect, it was empty and lifeless with the exception of a couple of pygmy sperm whales we came across.
What a dramatic change for a few days ago! Of course, it wasn't surprising to see that the bait aggregation we'd been lucky enough to have here for the better part of April didn't last, but all the bait had completely gone, and it was like someone had flicked a switch, shutting down not only the bait, but all the great conditions that had added up to a pretty hot bite recently.
Still in the neighbourhood, Marc Sams was fishing off Ballina, and reported plenty of large bait balls up there in 90fa, in some cases extending from the bottom to about 15fa, but they couldn't pull any marlin off it with lures, and didn't try dropping livies down.
She's a Dream tagged a black marlin in 40fa on the way out in the morning, and had another black hooked up for a while about an hour later until it jumped off just a few minutes into the fight. There were 2/2/1 by 0900, and that's when we all should have gone home.
The bait had all disappeared, with the huge aggregation that's been a source of such great marlin fishing for the better part of the last month having completely evaporated. And with it, went the fishing...
Hemingway, Wicked Weasel, and Foreign Exchange all worked the ocean off Coffs, with boats running as far out as 1200fa, and travelling the length of the shelf dropoff from the Sawtell Canyons to the Hard Ground, and saw... absolutely nothing!
Weasel got a feed with a dollie in the bag, but nobody saw any sign of marlin, and ForEx and Hemingway never turned a reel. There was no bait, no birds working anywhere, a couple of lonely dolphins, and the water was a pretty awful slate grey with a touch of green, and in the morning at least, it was a full 2C colder on the shelf than it had been for the past couple of weeks, so it wasn't a huge surprise to find all the bait had gone.
Hemingway and Foreign Exchange went out looking for the current, and we found it starting at 800fa. At 1000fa, it was flowing at a strong 3 knots, and while it was a good blue with water temps up around the 26.5C that the satellite shots showed we could expect, it was empty and lifeless with the exception of a couple of pygmy sperm whales we came across.
What a dramatic change for a few days ago! Of course, it wasn't surprising to see that the bait aggregation we'd been lucky enough to have here for the better part of April didn't last, but all the bait had completely gone, and it was like someone had flicked a switch, shutting down not only the bait, but all the great conditions that had added up to a pretty hot bite recently.
Still in the neighbourhood, Marc Sams was fishing off Ballina, and reported plenty of large bait balls up there in 90fa, in some cases extending from the bottom to about 15fa, but they couldn't pull any marlin off it with lures, and didn't try dropping livies down.
Friday, 15th April
With a good forecast for tomorrow, it's definitely a good enough window to get back out there and chase the marlin while the fishing is this good!
Meanwhile, just posted the latest Flybridge Weekly...
Meanwhile, just posted the latest Flybridge Weekly...
Monday, 11th April
Despite an uncharacteristic burst of pessimism from Willi Weather, it actually turned out to be a glamour day on the top edge of the continental shelf dropoff.
The insomniacs in Black N Blue were at it early, jigging up a tank of live slimys from the couple of football fields sized bait balls of marlin candy that's been there for over 2 weeks now, and which is in danger of becoming known as the north coast carpark if it hangs around any longer. Here's hoping it does!
After a gentlemens' hours coffee at Old Johns and a slow look around, Paul Brodrick and I ambled out in Foreign Exchange and joined BnB on the edge and tried to stir up the billfish.
Black N Blue was swimming a couple of livies, and got a good hookup on a black marlin, which they tagged after a great airborne show near the boat. They also followed that up by tagging a nice ocean whaler... you can't keep a good sharker down.
We had a mystery marlin make a pass at the short rigger and knocked it out of the tag clip in the process, but it wasn't until an hour or so later that we got a big black marlin up. All the fish we saw appeared to come charging up from the bait ball below, and none of them spent any time chasing the lures in the spread... all the hits came from nowhere, and we never saw any of the fish even momentarily before they hit. This second fish took an enthusiastic swipe at the long rigger and got a decent bill wrap going, which at least allowed it to put on a great show, stripping about 300m off and waking us up before it simply slipped off.
Our big moment came just after midday, when a really tough 120kg striped marlin crash tackled the long rigger and then kept Paul very busy on the 24kg rig for the next 35 minutes. Great fish, and a great fight, with some fantastic action near the boat, and a couple of passes with the leader in range before it finally agreed to play nice.
At one stage just after we tagged the stripe, BnB caught a nice dollie, but it managed to jump off halfway through the fight. No surprise so far, but as the line was wound back in, there came a big striped marlin following the empty circle hook all the way in to the boat!
While this "Carpark" situation exists, it seems that boats can pretty much guarantee some marlin action by either drifting live baits or trolling lures around these large aggregations of bait that are proving to be remarkably persistent in this area, and which are providing a huge bonus to Coffs Coast game fishermen. The bait is more or less straight out the front of Coffs, no further away than the top edge of the shelf, and seems to be the focus of the local marlin populations for the present time.
How long can it last...?
The insomniacs in Black N Blue were at it early, jigging up a tank of live slimys from the couple of football fields sized bait balls of marlin candy that's been there for over 2 weeks now, and which is in danger of becoming known as the north coast carpark if it hangs around any longer. Here's hoping it does!
After a gentlemens' hours coffee at Old Johns and a slow look around, Paul Brodrick and I ambled out in Foreign Exchange and joined BnB on the edge and tried to stir up the billfish.
Black N Blue was swimming a couple of livies, and got a good hookup on a black marlin, which they tagged after a great airborne show near the boat. They also followed that up by tagging a nice ocean whaler... you can't keep a good sharker down.
We had a mystery marlin make a pass at the short rigger and knocked it out of the tag clip in the process, but it wasn't until an hour or so later that we got a big black marlin up. All the fish we saw appeared to come charging up from the bait ball below, and none of them spent any time chasing the lures in the spread... all the hits came from nowhere, and we never saw any of the fish even momentarily before they hit. This second fish took an enthusiastic swipe at the long rigger and got a decent bill wrap going, which at least allowed it to put on a great show, stripping about 300m off and waking us up before it simply slipped off.
Our big moment came just after midday, when a really tough 120kg striped marlin crash tackled the long rigger and then kept Paul very busy on the 24kg rig for the next 35 minutes. Great fish, and a great fight, with some fantastic action near the boat, and a couple of passes with the leader in range before it finally agreed to play nice.
At one stage just after we tagged the stripe, BnB caught a nice dollie, but it managed to jump off halfway through the fight. No surprise so far, but as the line was wound back in, there came a big striped marlin following the empty circle hook all the way in to the boat!
While this "Carpark" situation exists, it seems that boats can pretty much guarantee some marlin action by either drifting live baits or trolling lures around these large aggregations of bait that are proving to be remarkably persistent in this area, and which are providing a huge bonus to Coffs Coast game fishermen. The bait is more or less straight out the front of Coffs, no further away than the top edge of the shelf, and seems to be the focus of the local marlin populations for the present time.
How long can it last...?
Sunday, 10th April
Yesterday was one of those days when some of us lapsed back to old habits, while a couple of smarter skippers put lessons learned recently into play, and smashed it. Game fishermen here (me included....) simply have to get their heads around the concept that this summer is clearly different to the usual Coffs Coast marlin scene, at least at the moment.
Yesterday's competition day for the Solitary Islands GFC was a great case in point. A lot of us droned around looking for something that we would reasonably expect to find in the conditions we usually encounter in any normal April, but which simply wasn't there - at least not where we went.
Foreign Exchange took a look along the South and Sawtell Canyons for the large bait aggregations of recent days, but missed the most likely spot so went out to find current, which we did in 800fa, but it was empty. Given that most of the action the previous weekend had been in the late morning or after midday, this seemed like a good idea, but it wasn't. Even when we checked the bottom edge of the shelf where there'd been a lot of striped and blue marlin action a week ago, there just wasn't anything there, although we did have what was almost certainly a striped marlin enquiry. We'd left it too late to conduct a proper search for the large bait aggregations at the top of the shelf that had been the key to success in the previous weekend's tournament by then, so despite working the shelf drop-off where the larger fish had all been caught recently, came up empty.
Many other boats out there were doing similar things, and while that seemed like a reasonable idea, the smart play was to go straight to the area where bait had been the key to success last week, then just just sit on it all day and be patient. The bait that was there was uncharacteristically in very large schools, at times extending from the bottom in 60-65fa of water, to within a few fathoms of the surface, and clearly being worked by predators. This bait is different too... it's been in the area for a couple of weeks, it's behaving somewhat differently to normal schools of slimys and other baitfish, and it even seems that the marlin are working it differently. More on this in a couple of days...
Anyway, if you sat on it and worked it, it paid off. And that's exactly what skipper Glen Booth got into with Wicked Weasel. Alcatraz had the same idea... but a little less luck.
Weasel drove over the bait fairly early, kept criss-crossing it, and started raising black marlin after a couple of hours. In the end, the bite developed into pretty hot action after midday, and following a series of small hits and brief appearances by increasingly interested marlin in the morning, they started hooking up fish as the day went on. Numerous fish were raised, and by the end of fishing, they'd tagged two black marlin and one blue. Well done Glen and Gary (Bigfoot) Simpson. Good, intelligent fishing! The photos of Weasel's three fish are in the slideshow below - no prize for guessing which fish is the blue marlin, but look at the blacks - fat as pigs!
James McGinty was working the same area of bait at the top of the shelf with Alcatraz, and within sight of Wicked Weasel most of the day, and while he raised multiple black and blue marlin and had several good strikes, all the fish jumped off except for a lone wahoo that ended up with a tag in it for its trouble rather than as wahoo and chips that evening - lucky Alcatraz had no ice on board.
Duchess was in the right place at the right time, tagging a nice 80kg black marlin out on the edge of the current in 400fa. This was angler Richard Rooney's first marlin, so well done Richard and Darren.
Kestelle, also finally tagged a black after working the edge of the shelf up north near The Hole.
Further north, and in calmer seas, relative newcomer to the sport Marc Sams was fishing with his mate Andrew McLennan in Andrew's boat Black Max off Ballina. Marc and his pals have been working their way into marlin fishing and are starting to crack the code, finally getting their first tag and release yesterday after several near misses recently. They've found a nice area on the bottom edge of the shelf in about 160fa where they've raised fish before, and when they worked around the edge of a school of feeding dolphins where the smell of fish oil was everywhere, this blue came up and had a look at their long rigger lure, disappeared, and then grabbed the short rigger and hooked up a few seconds later. Forty five minutes and they had it tagged. Welcome to the marlin club boys...!
Yesterday's competition day for the Solitary Islands GFC was a great case in point. A lot of us droned around looking for something that we would reasonably expect to find in the conditions we usually encounter in any normal April, but which simply wasn't there - at least not where we went.
Foreign Exchange took a look along the South and Sawtell Canyons for the large bait aggregations of recent days, but missed the most likely spot so went out to find current, which we did in 800fa, but it was empty. Given that most of the action the previous weekend had been in the late morning or after midday, this seemed like a good idea, but it wasn't. Even when we checked the bottom edge of the shelf where there'd been a lot of striped and blue marlin action a week ago, there just wasn't anything there, although we did have what was almost certainly a striped marlin enquiry. We'd left it too late to conduct a proper search for the large bait aggregations at the top of the shelf that had been the key to success in the previous weekend's tournament by then, so despite working the shelf drop-off where the larger fish had all been caught recently, came up empty.
Many other boats out there were doing similar things, and while that seemed like a reasonable idea, the smart play was to go straight to the area where bait had been the key to success last week, then just just sit on it all day and be patient. The bait that was there was uncharacteristically in very large schools, at times extending from the bottom in 60-65fa of water, to within a few fathoms of the surface, and clearly being worked by predators. This bait is different too... it's been in the area for a couple of weeks, it's behaving somewhat differently to normal schools of slimys and other baitfish, and it even seems that the marlin are working it differently. More on this in a couple of days...
Anyway, if you sat on it and worked it, it paid off. And that's exactly what skipper Glen Booth got into with Wicked Weasel. Alcatraz had the same idea... but a little less luck.
Weasel drove over the bait fairly early, kept criss-crossing it, and started raising black marlin after a couple of hours. In the end, the bite developed into pretty hot action after midday, and following a series of small hits and brief appearances by increasingly interested marlin in the morning, they started hooking up fish as the day went on. Numerous fish were raised, and by the end of fishing, they'd tagged two black marlin and one blue. Well done Glen and Gary (Bigfoot) Simpson. Good, intelligent fishing! The photos of Weasel's three fish are in the slideshow below - no prize for guessing which fish is the blue marlin, but look at the blacks - fat as pigs!
James McGinty was working the same area of bait at the top of the shelf with Alcatraz, and within sight of Wicked Weasel most of the day, and while he raised multiple black and blue marlin and had several good strikes, all the fish jumped off except for a lone wahoo that ended up with a tag in it for its trouble rather than as wahoo and chips that evening - lucky Alcatraz had no ice on board.
Duchess was in the right place at the right time, tagging a nice 80kg black marlin out on the edge of the current in 400fa. This was angler Richard Rooney's first marlin, so well done Richard and Darren.
Kestelle, also finally tagged a black after working the edge of the shelf up north near The Hole.
Further north, and in calmer seas, relative newcomer to the sport Marc Sams was fishing with his mate Andrew McLennan in Andrew's boat Black Max off Ballina. Marc and his pals have been working their way into marlin fishing and are starting to crack the code, finally getting their first tag and release yesterday after several near misses recently. They've found a nice area on the bottom edge of the shelf in about 160fa where they've raised fish before, and when they worked around the edge of a school of feeding dolphins where the smell of fish oil was everywhere, this blue came up and had a look at their long rigger lure, disappeared, and then grabbed the short rigger and hooked up a few seconds later. Forty five minutes and they had it tagged. Welcome to the marlin club boys...!
Saturday, 9th April
Better than Vegas gave it a run yesterday, and skipper Pete English found water temps down a full degree since the weekend, but at least the current was moving down the shelf at 1.5 knots, which was bringing good quality water down without moving the fish on.
They tagged a mtsetery marlin at 0830, which jumped off after tagging, but before they could get a good enough look to identify it. Then, just before midday, they hooked up a nice black which as you can see from the photo is still green enough to put on a show of enthusiasm beside the boat. Lumo green strikes again...
For boats going out today to fish the Solitary Islands comp, once the rain clears, the forecasts are calling for something out of the north between 9 and 15 knots, with most of the forecast models still undecided on wind strength. Could be a repeat of last Saturday... Good tide, and good moon phase though, so the bite should be solid, early, and with all three types of marlin around, could this be the week of multiple Slams?
They tagged a mtsetery marlin at 0830, which jumped off after tagging, but before they could get a good enough look to identify it. Then, just before midday, they hooked up a nice black which as you can see from the photo is still green enough to put on a show of enthusiasm beside the boat. Lumo green strikes again...
For boats going out today to fish the Solitary Islands comp, once the rain clears, the forecasts are calling for something out of the north between 9 and 15 knots, with most of the forecast models still undecided on wind strength. Could be a repeat of last Saturday... Good tide, and good moon phase though, so the bite should be solid, early, and with all three types of marlin around, could this be the week of multiple Slams?
Thursday, 6th April
The latest Flybridge Weekly column would have posted if the server hadn't had a dummy spit and won't talk to me. So I've posted it below temporarily until the yanks who host this server wake up and get their act together tomorrow. Read it and tell me you don't want to go game fishing right now off Coffs Harbour! Where's the Crew...??
Wednesday, 6th April
Hell of a day for Coffs and Solitary Coast game fishing...!!!
Skipper Rob Lang and crew Gerrard Billings took the well-known local game boat Black N Blue out to the same area off Coffs Harbour where the best bite had been over the weekend during the local Heavy Tackle Challenge game fishing tournament. They found lousy conditions with a northwest to northerly wind gusting to 25 knots and generating very rough and bumpy seas, but the fish were still keen to bite, and bite they did. Rob and Gerrard pulled off the stuff of legends by scoring a perfect marlin Grand Slam, tagging a blue, striped and black marlin all in the same day.
Most of us have heard of this feat, but I've never actually met anyone who's done it. It was the first for Rob, who's been marlin fishing half his life, and if it was going to happen, it was almost certainly going to happen here, where we get all three species at the same time in a good year during the early and late summer.
They raised a huge blue marlin early in the day, and although it took a swipe at a lure and moved on, it was a smaller (and more manageable) blue that smacked the Marlin Magic Ruckus lure about 30 seconds later, and which they eventually tagged. Next came a smallish striped marlin on the same lure which hooked up and more or less swam to the boat without fuss, and then finally, in the same spot they'd raised several black marlin over the weekend tournament, they hooked a little black marlin on a McGoo and got it tagged at about 1430 and decided to rest on their laurels and come home.
Sensational record, and great fishing...
The minute these lousy winds stop smashing us here, this bite is going to go red hot for a while with any luck!
Skipper Rob Lang and crew Gerrard Billings took the well-known local game boat Black N Blue out to the same area off Coffs Harbour where the best bite had been over the weekend during the local Heavy Tackle Challenge game fishing tournament. They found lousy conditions with a northwest to northerly wind gusting to 25 knots and generating very rough and bumpy seas, but the fish were still keen to bite, and bite they did. Rob and Gerrard pulled off the stuff of legends by scoring a perfect marlin Grand Slam, tagging a blue, striped and black marlin all in the same day.
Most of us have heard of this feat, but I've never actually met anyone who's done it. It was the first for Rob, who's been marlin fishing half his life, and if it was going to happen, it was almost certainly going to happen here, where we get all three species at the same time in a good year during the early and late summer.
They raised a huge blue marlin early in the day, and although it took a swipe at a lure and moved on, it was a smaller (and more manageable) blue that smacked the Marlin Magic Ruckus lure about 30 seconds later, and which they eventually tagged. Next came a smallish striped marlin on the same lure which hooked up and more or less swam to the boat without fuss, and then finally, in the same spot they'd raised several black marlin over the weekend tournament, they hooked a little black marlin on a McGoo and got it tagged at about 1430 and decided to rest on their laurels and come home.
Sensational record, and great fishing...
The minute these lousy winds stop smashing us here, this bite is going to go red hot for a while with any luck!
Tuesday, 5th April
Not much to rep[ort on in Coffs other than everybody having a recovery day after some very tough fishing.
There was a report from Marc Sams who fished out of Ballina on the weekend as follows:
We headed out wide yesterday. We started trolling directly east of Ballina and headed south along the eastern side of the shelf edge. The water was nice and blue with a temp of 26.4. We passed a large pod of dolphins that were frolicking in the sun. There were no birds or bait in the area. We did a lap around them and then moved on. The satellite photos indicated a massive chlorophyll band of water was going to intersect the shelf east of Evans head. As you can see by the picture I think we found it at 285 metres. It was full of scum and cuttlefish bone. A few flying fish as well; however, it was green water and the temp dropped to 24.5 degrees. So we a abandoned the trolling and went north again to were we found the Dolphins early on. The spread was set again in nice clean water. A few birds were in the area as well. We had been trolling for 15 mins when the long rigger with a 15 inch Pakula lumo was smashed at 1.25pm. Damned thing pulled half the spool off the Tiagra 80 before we had a chance to turn the boat around. The fight lasted nearly half an hour and the big girl was just 50 metres away when the hooks pulled.
Thanks for that Marc.
After the nasty winds and seas we had here on the weekend, that photo blows me away... near calm breezes and glassed off! ...Ballina must be on a different planet to Coffs!
There was a report from Marc Sams who fished out of Ballina on the weekend as follows:
We headed out wide yesterday. We started trolling directly east of Ballina and headed south along the eastern side of the shelf edge. The water was nice and blue with a temp of 26.4. We passed a large pod of dolphins that were frolicking in the sun. There were no birds or bait in the area. We did a lap around them and then moved on. The satellite photos indicated a massive chlorophyll band of water was going to intersect the shelf east of Evans head. As you can see by the picture I think we found it at 285 metres. It was full of scum and cuttlefish bone. A few flying fish as well; however, it was green water and the temp dropped to 24.5 degrees. So we a abandoned the trolling and went north again to were we found the Dolphins early on. The spread was set again in nice clean water. A few birds were in the area as well. We had been trolling for 15 mins when the long rigger with a 15 inch Pakula lumo was smashed at 1.25pm. Damned thing pulled half the spool off the Tiagra 80 before we had a chance to turn the boat around. The fight lasted nearly half an hour and the big girl was just 50 metres away when the hooks pulled.
Thanks for that Marc.
After the nasty winds and seas we had here on the weekend, that photo blows me away... near calm breezes and glassed off! ...Ballina must be on a different planet to Coffs!
Monday, 4th April
Paul, John and Vashy of team ForEx after end of fishing on Sunday - Lee spent the day on the couch at home with a viral problem after bagging the black marlin on Saturday.
The forecasts for the weekend turned out to be hopelessly optimistic... Saturday's "light" northerly turned out to be a 15g18 knot blow, messing up the fishing with choppy wind waves. Sunday's "light" southerly blew in 5 hours early and spent most of the day gusting 20 knots and driving steep wind waves of 2.5m with a short 3-second period that meant a lot of slamming around with boats dropping off the back of standup swells, and again suppressing the marlin bite.
Timing was everything, and the Sawtell Canyons and south Coffs Canyons on the shelf edge was where most of the tournament winning action turned out to be. Frankly, in those conditions, anyone who tagged a fish had every reason to be proud of their effort.
There were black, striped and blue marlin being caught, and Foreign Exchange managed a weekend grand slam, tagging one of each and not losing a fish to place second overall in the tournament. A lot of good luck and a great team effort from John, Paul, Vashy, and Lee on the deck.
Secret Men's Business from Port Macquarie took out first place, with 4 marlin, and raised even more - that boat was a real marlin magnet over the weekend, and with 7 crew on board, must have had half the game fishing population of Port on the deck.
Some of the tinnies had a very tough time in the conditions, but visiting Queensland boat Coconut Kiwi was out in the thick of it despite being a relatively small trailer boat, and they raised some good fish. CK is owned by lure maker Aaron Jennings, and his Dad Dean, once one of Fiji's top game fishing charter skippers was on deck with him.
We got a black marlin off a large bait ball in 65fa on the edge off the shelf on Saturday, and found the same bait ball in place on Sunday, but couldn't get a thing up from it despite 2 hours of working it. It seems that the blacks in particular weren't interested in coming up until after midday, because after we left that spot on Sunday, Secret Men's Business drove across it later that day and raised 4 blacks there, tagging one to establish an unassailable lead after already pinning 3 blues.
Local Solitary Islands GFC boat On Business placed third with a blue and a black marlin on their card - both caught on Sunday after a marlin free Saturday.
We caught our three marlin on different lures - the black smashed the Jennings Gamefish Flyer in a dollie colour pattern, the striped marlin settled on the Blue, silver and green McGoo after first coming up behind the Moldcraft Wide Range in purple and black and giving it a tug, and the blue marlin did what they do so well, showing no hint it was there until it was ready, then crash tackling the Moldcraft and stripping 400m off before taking a breath.
The black and the stripe behaved fairly benignly, coming to the boat in just 5 minutes and 20 minutes respectively, while the blue was a tough number, giving Vashy a hard time, and John on the trace an even tougher time. We got it to the boat in about 30 minutes, but then spent 10 minutes convincing it that the tag was inevitable if it would just surrender. It spent a lot of time going back and forth 30ft from the boat, and when John had it within tagging distance the first time, it decided to exit, ripping the trace out of his hands and leaving a big burn mark on the Blue Fever wire love as it powered away and sat out there 30m away for a while rethinking its situation. When Paul did get the tag in it, it had really had enough and pulled the hook almost immediately and buggered off at speed.
One of the most astonishing stories to emerge from the HTC so far is that from The Geeza... they had the gear out in just 55fa on Sunday morning when a massive blue marlin did a full airborne launch attack on the starboard rigger. The fish shattered the outrigger pole (totally shredded), bent the 80W rod tip down to the gunwale, ran so hard it stripped 300yards of 37kg line off the reel in about as many seconds, then dropped the lure, leaving a trail of chaos behind and a lot of very wide eyes! What was the lure you ask.... a Marlin Magic Ruckus in pink. Full story and a photo will be in the Weekly Flybridge article to be published later this week.
I'll have a video of our exploits (you might need to take a seasickness pill before viewing...) up later in the week too.
Timing was everything, and the Sawtell Canyons and south Coffs Canyons on the shelf edge was where most of the tournament winning action turned out to be. Frankly, in those conditions, anyone who tagged a fish had every reason to be proud of their effort.
There were black, striped and blue marlin being caught, and Foreign Exchange managed a weekend grand slam, tagging one of each and not losing a fish to place second overall in the tournament. A lot of good luck and a great team effort from John, Paul, Vashy, and Lee on the deck.
Secret Men's Business from Port Macquarie took out first place, with 4 marlin, and raised even more - that boat was a real marlin magnet over the weekend, and with 7 crew on board, must have had half the game fishing population of Port on the deck.
Some of the tinnies had a very tough time in the conditions, but visiting Queensland boat Coconut Kiwi was out in the thick of it despite being a relatively small trailer boat, and they raised some good fish. CK is owned by lure maker Aaron Jennings, and his Dad Dean, once one of Fiji's top game fishing charter skippers was on deck with him.
We got a black marlin off a large bait ball in 65fa on the edge off the shelf on Saturday, and found the same bait ball in place on Sunday, but couldn't get a thing up from it despite 2 hours of working it. It seems that the blacks in particular weren't interested in coming up until after midday, because after we left that spot on Sunday, Secret Men's Business drove across it later that day and raised 4 blacks there, tagging one to establish an unassailable lead after already pinning 3 blues.
Local Solitary Islands GFC boat On Business placed third with a blue and a black marlin on their card - both caught on Sunday after a marlin free Saturday.
We caught our three marlin on different lures - the black smashed the Jennings Gamefish Flyer in a dollie colour pattern, the striped marlin settled on the Blue, silver and green McGoo after first coming up behind the Moldcraft Wide Range in purple and black and giving it a tug, and the blue marlin did what they do so well, showing no hint it was there until it was ready, then crash tackling the Moldcraft and stripping 400m off before taking a breath.
The black and the stripe behaved fairly benignly, coming to the boat in just 5 minutes and 20 minutes respectively, while the blue was a tough number, giving Vashy a hard time, and John on the trace an even tougher time. We got it to the boat in about 30 minutes, but then spent 10 minutes convincing it that the tag was inevitable if it would just surrender. It spent a lot of time going back and forth 30ft from the boat, and when John had it within tagging distance the first time, it decided to exit, ripping the trace out of his hands and leaving a big burn mark on the Blue Fever wire love as it powered away and sat out there 30m away for a while rethinking its situation. When Paul did get the tag in it, it had really had enough and pulled the hook almost immediately and buggered off at speed.
One of the most astonishing stories to emerge from the HTC so far is that from The Geeza... they had the gear out in just 55fa on Sunday morning when a massive blue marlin did a full airborne launch attack on the starboard rigger. The fish shattered the outrigger pole (totally shredded), bent the 80W rod tip down to the gunwale, ran so hard it stripped 300yards of 37kg line off the reel in about as many seconds, then dropped the lure, leaving a trail of chaos behind and a lot of very wide eyes! What was the lure you ask.... a Marlin Magic Ruckus in pink. Full story and a photo will be in the Weekly Flybridge article to be published later this week.
I'll have a video of our exploits (you might need to take a seasickness pill before viewing...) up later in the week too.
Friday, 1st April
Well, the forecasts are pretty good, the water flowing down the shelf shows every sign of being full of blue marlin, and everything seems to be on track for a big weekend of game fishing.
I reckon that Foreign Exchange will be only one of about a dozen boats out there today having a sniff around to see if the blues want to play this morning, and there will probably be a late report posted here between getting the boat tied up at the marina and the Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament briefing.
Stay tuned...
I reckon that Foreign Exchange will be only one of about a dozen boats out there today having a sniff around to see if the blues want to play this morning, and there will probably be a late report posted here between getting the boat tied up at the marina and the Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament briefing.
Stay tuned...
Thursday, 31st March
HEAVY TACKLE CHALLENGE Tournament Update:
Things are taking off with the HTC... with 31 boats signed up as of yesterday evening, the Heavy Tackle Challenge game fishing tournament has just become one of the few niche game fishing tournaments that have continued to grow year on year in terms of participants. The Solitary Islands GFC has done an outstanding job this year with getting new sponsors on board and getting the attention of skippers who want to bring their boats to Coffs Harbour to fish prime marlin time on the NSW north coast in a heavy tackle, big fish tournament that doesn't fit the usual run of the mill mould.
The current has settled in for now, the forecasts look good for the weekend, with even the pessimists starting to come around with today's forecast updates for the weekend all showing fishable weather on both days. The rumoured southerly for Sunday has turned into a mild southeaster, and Saturday has a warm northerly not exceeding 15 knots in the frame.
The latest report from the edge of the shelf is very promising. Local big game chapter operator Rob Lang took his big 40-footer Black N Blue out late yesterday for a quick afternoon sortie to the edge, and even in a couple of short hours of fishing raised 4 black marlin, tagging one... so at least the blacks are out there and fairly keen, even if they are showing a bit more teflon mouth than usual.
So far, nobody's been beyond the shelf into blue marlin territory since the East Australian Current broke away from the big eddy that had diverted it away from the coast for weeks, but with it now flowing down the shelf where it should be for the past 48 hours, there's nothing but good vibes from all the satellite data, the most promising feature of which is a large pulse of 28C water approaching Byron.
With the moon phase near perfect, all the elements for a good tournament are falling into place.
Today's not looking that great forecast wise, but there's going to be a hell of a lot of boats out on Friday testing the Coffs Coast to see if any of the big marlin that have been hanging out on the Gold Coast have decided to pay us a visit...
And a late report from the SIGFC President this afternoon confirmed the 31 signed up entries, with at least one more probably late starter tomorrow. Clayton also confirmed that Rod and the Cafe Bellissimo crew will be open for business with a kiosk outside the marina office from 0500 each morning, selling fresh coffee and bacon and egg rolls, as well as delivering any lunch hampers that crews will have ordered the evening before. Good deal...!!
This afternoon's weather updates have improved significantly from a few days ago... the panic merchants at SeaBreeze have backed away from their 25-knot Sunday forecast, and are now talking about nothing more than 10-knots from the southeast. Meanwhile, Willy is shooting for a 10-knot northerly in the morning on Saturday, swinging to a 12-knot northeaster after 1400, while on Sunday, they Saturday night, so we can expect a more civilised start to the second day of fishing after the clocks drop back one hour.
Things are taking off with the HTC... with 31 boats signed up as of yesterday evening, the Heavy Tackle Challenge game fishing tournament has just become one of the few niche game fishing tournaments that have continued to grow year on year in terms of participants. The Solitary Islands GFC has done an outstanding job this year with getting new sponsors on board and getting the attention of skippers who want to bring their boats to Coffs Harbour to fish prime marlin time on the NSW north coast in a heavy tackle, big fish tournament that doesn't fit the usual run of the mill mould.
The current has settled in for now, the forecasts look good for the weekend, with even the pessimists starting to come around with today's forecast updates for the weekend all showing fishable weather on both days. The rumoured southerly for Sunday has turned into a mild southeaster, and Saturday has a warm northerly not exceeding 15 knots in the frame.
The latest report from the edge of the shelf is very promising. Local big game chapter operator Rob Lang took his big 40-footer Black N Blue out late yesterday for a quick afternoon sortie to the edge, and even in a couple of short hours of fishing raised 4 black marlin, tagging one... so at least the blacks are out there and fairly keen, even if they are showing a bit more teflon mouth than usual.
So far, nobody's been beyond the shelf into blue marlin territory since the East Australian Current broke away from the big eddy that had diverted it away from the coast for weeks, but with it now flowing down the shelf where it should be for the past 48 hours, there's nothing but good vibes from all the satellite data, the most promising feature of which is a large pulse of 28C water approaching Byron.
With the moon phase near perfect, all the elements for a good tournament are falling into place.
Today's not looking that great forecast wise, but there's going to be a hell of a lot of boats out on Friday testing the Coffs Coast to see if any of the big marlin that have been hanging out on the Gold Coast have decided to pay us a visit...
And a late report from the SIGFC President this afternoon confirmed the 31 signed up entries, with at least one more probably late starter tomorrow. Clayton also confirmed that Rod and the Cafe Bellissimo crew will be open for business with a kiosk outside the marina office from 0500 each morning, selling fresh coffee and bacon and egg rolls, as well as delivering any lunch hampers that crews will have ordered the evening before. Good deal...!!
This afternoon's weather updates have improved significantly from a few days ago... the panic merchants at SeaBreeze have backed away from their 25-knot Sunday forecast, and are now talking about nothing more than 10-knots from the southeast. Meanwhile, Willy is shooting for a 10-knot northerly in the morning on Saturday, swinging to a 12-knot northeaster after 1400, while on Sunday, they Saturday night, so we can expect a more civilised start to the second day of fishing after the clocks drop back one hour.
Wednesday, 30th March
So the usual conflict between the dice throwers and the dartboard aficionados is what we're seeing at the forecasting websites at the moment, with most agreeing on a bit of a light to moderate northerly on Saturday... OK so far... but then everything from a 20-knot southerly to a 5-knot south-easterly on the cards for Sunday. Let's hope the latter (Willy Weather) is correct.
Last weekend, they all reckoned it would be disgusting out there today, yet it dawned still this morning, and still hasn't got above 10 knots all day, so they all got it wrong until this morning. A fair bit of rain up on the Byron Coast, so maybe that will encourage the big marlin up there to get with the program and move south to the Coffs Coast.
When I say big marlin, I mean it - most of you will have read the reports of the estimated 1100-pound black marlin raised by Merlin on the Gold Coast on the weekend. That's a hell of a fish, and it's a long way from home. You've got to wonder if the warm summer is encouraging the big blacks to move down here, and if it's indicative of any sort of permanent shift in where these fish are travelling, then that's very interesting news indeed. There's been a bit of chat about how it might have been a blue, but given that Capt. Ross McCubbin was the deckie, you've got to believe that he knows a black marlin when he sees one. They had this fish up to the leader a couple of times, but in the end they lost it. Maybe it will leave the neighbourhood and wander down here...??
