bluewatermag.com.au 31HOT BITES | AUSTRALIA
4 BERMAGUI: Yellowfin on the way
January and February saw a good start
to the marlin season on the south coast
of NSW. Tournaments at Batemans Bay and
Ulladulla produced plenty of marlin, but
the highlight was the Bermagui Bluewater
Classic.
The team aboard Panlicker, skippered
by Gary Capp, went wide looking for a big
one and found a blue marlin of 193.2kg for
angler Joel Spilsbury, who won the $17,000
prize for the heaviest marlin over 180kg.
A few small yellowfin tuna have been
tagged in the recent tournaments, and
several boats have reported seeing larger specimens busting up
on the surface chasing sauries, so signs are promising for a good
yellowfin season throughout April and May.
Judy Sillis – Canberra Game Fishing Club
http://www.canberragamefishing.com.au
3 PT STEPHENS–SYDNEY: Baby blacks
This season has delivered everything a
gamefisherman could wish for: warm blue
water, fantastic numbers of marlin and some
great weather. The ‘Car Park’ grounds off
Port Stephens went off during early to mid-
February when an offshore eddy pushed
bait and billfish in over the shelf, although
numerous whaler sharks were a nuisance
for livebait fishing. Longliners working wide
offshore have landed large yellowfin.
The inshore grounds all the way down to
Sydney have produced small hammerhead
sharks and good numbers of 20 to 100kg
black marlin. With such a wide range of marlin sizes, fishing the
inshore reefs with light tackle becomes a bit of a gamble over the
next few months.
Capt Scotty Thorrington – Haven Sportfishing Charters
http://www.kingfishjigging.com4
6
1 GOLD COAST: Marlin in all sizes
Juvenile black marlin have been consistent
around the large schools of pilchards close
to the Jumpinpin bar. Wahoo and Spanish
mackerel have also been active on the
shallow grounds. Further offshore, the ‘Deep
Trag’ and ‘Spot X’ reefs have produced well
around their bait concentrations, with boats
catching up to eight marlin per day in sizes
varying from 10 to 60kg. Much larger blue
and striped marlin have also been common
beyond the continental shelf drop-off.
Autumn should bring an increase in blue
marlin numbers and sizes, with specimens
over 200kg reasonably common. By April the water should also
have cooled enough to entice the yellowfin tuna back around the
seamounts.
Kevin Ballantine – Gold Coast Fishing Tackle
http://www.goldcoastfishingtackle.com.auSouth Equatorial CurrentEast Australian Current2 NSW NORTH COAST: Unusually large
The bite lit up early in the
new year and has fired ever
since. Juvenile black marlin
appeared off Coffs Harbour in
good numbers, and blue, black
and striped marlin have been
consistent along the edge of
the continental shelf. Many of
the blue marlin have been larger than usual and were often found in
shallower depths than normal, including a 200kg blue tagged in just
50 fathoms by first-time angler Pip Marshall while fishing aboard
local Coffs boat Foreign Exchange.
The next few months should see a continuation of this strong
bite, which normally peaks around late March in time for the local
Heavy Tackle Challenge tournament. It should then continue into
May.
Rick O’Ferrall
http://www.FromtheFlybridge.com7
1
2
3
5