Boys weekend Bermagui
Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 4:13 pm
Headed to bermi last Thursday to fish Friday Saturday and sunday. Forecast was a bit ordinary for Friday but improving for the weekend.
Arrived Thursday afternoon and it was blowing a gale and big swell.
Friday was still forecast for 25knts.
Seemed ok ish when we had a look at daylight, so we headed out for a look. By the time we were 6 mile off it was pretty bad, 3-4mtr swell and 20knts southerly. After some debate we kept going to the 12 mile reef. By the time we arrived the general consensus was we would tow some lures north and then head back in.
Dropped 4 lines in and settled in with a big sea up our rear. We figured it would be a waste of time and it would be early beers at the unit we rented.
About 5 minutes in... bzzzzzzza. off goes a rod. Frantic get the other lines in and then strike it. Big marlin tail walks across the swell behind us.
Got one of the guys in the harness and the battle begins. It dived and the slugging match continued for about 20 minutes. Fish didn't surface but after some serious sweating big Steve was slowly gaining ground. Another 20 minutes and we had the leader. Woohoo! The boat was rolling and surging in the now 25knts southerly as we decided to bring it onboard as it was his first Marlin.
As we got the gaff ready Steve backed of the drag and had a bit of an overrun on the reel.
No biggy, until we went to gaff it and the fish came back to life. Way to hard to hang onto the leader and soon as we let it go Ping snapped the line and fish gone.
Damn it. But still a capture in the books. Well we beat ourselves up in the now shocking weather without another hook up. so headed in for early beers and full of hope for Saturday.
Saturday no wind not much swell headed out half hour before daylight.
Caught some livies on the way out and started again at the southern end of the 12 mile.
2 hours of up and down with lures and live bait. Zippo. Out the bait hole, zippo. Back into the 12 mile again after lunch. Just trolling north and chatting away when one line gave a momentary bzzz then stopped. Looked behind to see a massive Marlin coming back for a second go. It sat frozen in time about a meter behind a lure. No one breathed, then it surged forward and smashed it. The line screamed out as I gunned the boat and then Jason pushed the drag up to strike and fish on. An absolutely stunning tail walk across the glassy ocean , then a dive, then up again and barrelling towards the boat. despite the best effort of gunning the boat it gained slack line and was gone. Phht! This was followed by some further hours of trolling and live baiting to no effect. So home for late beers
Sunday had been forecast as good but it decided to turn into a North easter. We headed out for a look and a couple of hour of trolling but the short sharp chop made it extremely uncomfortable. With no hook ups we called it a weekend and headed in then home.
Darn good long weekend wish we had brought one home but we at least had one to the boat.
Arrived Thursday afternoon and it was blowing a gale and big swell.
Friday was still forecast for 25knts.
Seemed ok ish when we had a look at daylight, so we headed out for a look. By the time we were 6 mile off it was pretty bad, 3-4mtr swell and 20knts southerly. After some debate we kept going to the 12 mile reef. By the time we arrived the general consensus was we would tow some lures north and then head back in.
Dropped 4 lines in and settled in with a big sea up our rear. We figured it would be a waste of time and it would be early beers at the unit we rented.
About 5 minutes in... bzzzzzzza. off goes a rod. Frantic get the other lines in and then strike it. Big marlin tail walks across the swell behind us.
Got one of the guys in the harness and the battle begins. It dived and the slugging match continued for about 20 minutes. Fish didn't surface but after some serious sweating big Steve was slowly gaining ground. Another 20 minutes and we had the leader. Woohoo! The boat was rolling and surging in the now 25knts southerly as we decided to bring it onboard as it was his first Marlin.
As we got the gaff ready Steve backed of the drag and had a bit of an overrun on the reel.
No biggy, until we went to gaff it and the fish came back to life. Way to hard to hang onto the leader and soon as we let it go Ping snapped the line and fish gone.
Damn it. But still a capture in the books. Well we beat ourselves up in the now shocking weather without another hook up. so headed in for early beers and full of hope for Saturday.
Saturday no wind not much swell headed out half hour before daylight.
Caught some livies on the way out and started again at the southern end of the 12 mile.
2 hours of up and down with lures and live bait. Zippo. Out the bait hole, zippo. Back into the 12 mile again after lunch. Just trolling north and chatting away when one line gave a momentary bzzz then stopped. Looked behind to see a massive Marlin coming back for a second go. It sat frozen in time about a meter behind a lure. No one breathed, then it surged forward and smashed it. The line screamed out as I gunned the boat and then Jason pushed the drag up to strike and fish on. An absolutely stunning tail walk across the glassy ocean , then a dive, then up again and barrelling towards the boat. despite the best effort of gunning the boat it gained slack line and was gone. Phht! This was followed by some further hours of trolling and live baiting to no effect. So home for late beers
Sunday had been forecast as good but it decided to turn into a North easter. We headed out for a look and a couple of hour of trolling but the short sharp chop made it extremely uncomfortable. With no hook ups we called it a weekend and headed in then home.
Darn good long weekend wish we had brought one home but we at least had one to the boat.
well done, cheers davo