TECHNICAL: GAMEFISHING
64 | fishingworld.com.au | February 2015
You're a long time dead so do
every thing you can to get out there and
experience all that bluewater fishing
can offer!
OPPOSITE PAGE: Plan your efforts
so you're on a good school of bait or
around a temp break when the tide
changes. Marlin definitely bite best on
the turn of the tide. Ensure you have a
bait or lure in the water at this time.hungry and aggressive. As such, they respond
well to lures and baits trolled down sea.
If the afternoon weather forecast is for
moderate or strong northerlies, I generally
head well north before the wind gets up.
I’ll fish known northerly spots until the wind
gets up and then spend my time trolling home
looking for tailing fish in the swells. The hook
up rate on tailing marlin can be excellent.
I remember one day where it was calm in the
morning and we only managed to land one
marlin from six bites on lures, but we got five
from five trolling lures down sea on the way
home. Trolling down sea is always more
effective than trolling into the sea and it can
be a very exciting way to fish, especially in
rough conditions.Bird vision
If you spend countless hours at sea trolling for
large pelagics you’re probably pretty attuned at
bird watching. Young and dumb birds will
occasionally attack lures – most of us have had
to deal with gannets, shearwaters and even
albatrosses that get tangled in lines or hooked.
As long as you’ve got your tracing gloves and a
towel, it isn’t a drama and the bird is just about
always released unharmed. As an aside,
controlling the bird’s head is the key; a gannet
has no trouble spinning its head 180 degrees
and latching onto your wrist!
Most often, however, the bird hovering in your
spread isn’t looking at the lures. It’s actually
looking at the fish that’s looking at your lure.
I’ve often watched a hovering storm petrel f lyingover my spread intently looking at something.
Seconds later we’ve been crashed by a blue marlin,
wahoo, dolphin fish or black marlin. It’s
important to remember that a lot of the smaller
oceanic birds that spend nearly their entire lives at
sea actually follow the predator to find the
baitfish they’re after. Examples are frigate birds,
tropic birds and storm petrels. These birds are
very specialised and specific in their habits and
they follow large predatory fish for great
distances. When you see one hovering, chances
are that there’s something large swimming
underneath it.Temp char t s
Technology constantly changes the way we fish.
Sea surface temperature charts are extremely
useful. I use Fishtrack.com and find it a great
tool, particularly early and late in the season
when water temps can be fickle. When I leave
port, the key decision is whether to go north,
south or east and to what depth. The Fishtrack
chart has a GPS cursor that shows co-ordinates
and water depth so I can get a temp from my
favourite spots. I can also work out where eddies
and current edges are likely to be. Combining
this information with the local fishing grapevine
and previous experience allows me to make a
well-informed decision as to the plan for the day.
By spending time looking at sea surfacef you’ve got opportunity, don’t waste it. As my work as
a doctor constantly shows me, you are a long time dead!
While there will always be work and family commitments,
the key to being a successful game fisherman is all about
putting in the hours.”
I