Sorry for the lack of reports lately, I’ve been enjoying sunny Europe for the best part of a month. I considered taking a rod with me but eventually decided against it, and after seeing the local beaches in Barcelona (I was there for a conference) I was feeling pretty comfortable with my decision:
But after the conference I made my way to Berlin to visit some mates, and there were a few times where I was well and truly wishing I’d packed a little travel rod (I saw some big fish hitting the surface in these waters – I’m assuming they were pike):
So by the time I got back to Melbourne I was well and truly hanging for a fish! And when my mate called me last Thursday and asked if I wanted to come up to Eden/Bermagui for the weekend and fish for yellowfin and marlin, I didn’t have to think too long about my answer.
I’ve done a bit of game fishing up north, but I’m far from an expert. My mates had fished in Eden and Bermagui for the first time a few weeks ago and had managed to land an estimated 70-80kg striped marlin on an 8k stradic and 10-15kg terez, along with a couple of small tuna and a heap of kings. It’s safe to say that they well and truly caught the game fishing bug, and had proceeded to turn my mate’s 21 foot Trophy Pro into a game fishing machine. This included fitting it out with a brand new hard top, outriggers, a simrad NSS12, a radar, a spankin new 150hp mercury four-stroke, five new tiagras and custom game rods, and more lures than you could shake a stick at:
This was to be the first time fishing with all the new gear, so it’s safe to say we were pretty bloody excited! I met up with the lads about 6pm Friday evening and we started the long trek down to the coast. The plan was to fish Eden on the Saturday then head further north and fish Bermagui on the Sunday. The general concensus up there was that the game fishing was pretty slow, but that did nothing to dull our enthusiasm. And after 7hrs we arrived at the Eden boat ramp and set up camp (these rooftop tents are fantastic):
We set our alarms for 5:30 the next day and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. And after sleeping for what felt like 5 minutes, we set the boat up and were on the water just as a the sun crept over the horizon:
The plan was to head straight to the shelf and troll all day. And after a long and bumpy trip we finally got to our mark, set up the spread and started fishing:
Expectations were high, but 6 bumpy hours later we hadn’t had a sniff and our confidence had started to wane. We hadn’t seen a sign of life – no feeding birds, no bust ups, nothing! We did see a flock of birds at one stage and got a little excited, but turns out they were just following this trawler:
After some um’ing and ah’ing, we decided to cut our losses and head to Greencape to try and catch a king:
So we swapped the overhead gear for spin outfits:
And started trolling some small skirts around while looking for bait, ready to drop our jigs down at the first sign of fish on the sounder. But 2 hours later we still hadn’t had a touch, and we hadn’t seen a single arch on the sounder. And as the sun went down we had no choice but to reluctantly head back in - fishless. It wasn’t the triumphant days game fishing we had envisaged, but it’s hard to get down when you’re in such a beautiful place:
So after cleaning the gear and smashing a parma at the local, we hit the road enroute to Bermagui. We decided to spend the night at a rest stop just out of town, and after a good nights sleep we were met with a beautiful, foggy morning:
We immediately jumped in the car and after passing some beautiful scenery:
We arrived at the Bermagui boat ramp. After a quick chat to the blokes at Bermi bait and tackle (again they told us the game fishing had been quiet) we hit the water and made our way out to the shelf:
After reaching our mark we again set up the spread and started fishing. It was a little lumpy but very fishable, and expectations were high. But 5 hours later we again hadn’t had a touch, nor seen any sign of life except for a pod of dolphins who kept us company and broke the monotony:
With only a few hours of fishing time left for the weekend, we made the decision to head to Montague Island and try for kings:
After jigging for an hour with no luck, we decided to drop the sabiki’s down and collect some live bait. But all we could manage were an assortment of ooglies:
By this stage we were running out of ideas, until my mate suggested we cut our losses and go drift for flatties. At first we scoffed at the idea – we didn’t come to all the way to Bermi to catch a flatty - but eventually we all decided it would be nice to at least go home with a feed. So we headed to my mate’s flatty mark and started drifting. The bite was hot from the beginning and we managed 30 good sized flatties between the four of us in only an hour and a half (we kept nothing under 40cm):
There was also a lot of cool by-catch to keep us entertained:
With the light rapidly disappearing, we left them biting and headed in to shore and were again met with a beautiful sunset:
So the trip hadn’t panned out the way we had hoped, but we all learnt a lot and still had an absolute ball! It just goes to show that you can have all the gear in the world, but there is no substitute for experience and time on the water.
Cheers!
