A
true angler – those of us born with an
unyielding tension drawing us to the
water and the creatures within it –
will delight in the capture of any fish,
whether that be a herring from a harbourside
wharf or something much larger. And in each
case, the thrill is magnified proportionally if the
catch exceeds what was expected. To extract
a 2kg fish from a body of water thought to
produce only tiddlers would have you buzzing
for hours – at least, it certainly would for me!
The thrill of a catch also varies in relation
to your surroundings. In my experience,
catching a big fish from a 15m battlewagon
is nowhere near as exciting as catching that
same fish from a dinghy.
As a boy I grew up catching 3kg tuna and
yellowtail kingfish from a 4m tinny with a hand-
held 4hp outboard, from which even 5kg fish
looked huge. My sights became realigned once I
progressed to a 4.5m fibreglass centre-console
fitted with a 90hp outboard and outriggers.
From that Haines Hunter I caught a lot of tuna
to 20kg, but it wasn’t until adolescence that
I joined the crew of a 5m trailerboat in the
Broken Bay Game Fishing Club and started
catching marlin. An 80kg fish looked enormous
beside that small boat, and filled the cockpit
whenever we took one home to eat.
I was around 17 when I started crewing
aboard flybridge gameboats, but soon
discovered that an 80kg marlin looked
nowhere near as big beside one. In fact,
within a couple of seasons I’d switched back
to fishing aboard a 6.4m alloy trailerboat
because the thrill from whatever we caught
was magnified so much more.
In a small boat you’re set down closer to
water level. You’re nearer the fish when they
come alongside. You’re more at one with the
fish and this amplifies your awe at their size,
along with the excitement and edginess you
feel without the protection of a large structure
around you.CATCH-UP
EDITOR
Tim Simpson
Tel: (07) 5532 1110
Mob: 0400 665 947
Email: [email protected]
SUB-EDITOR
Kate McIntosh
DESIGN & EDITORIAL LAYOUT
Mat Clancy (Emsee Publishing Design)
OFFICE MANAGER
Trish Simpson
Tel: (07) 5532 1110
GENERAL MANAGER
Tim Simpson
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Email: [email protected]
Tel: +61 (07) 5532 1110
PO Box 1456, Runaway Bay,
QLD 4216, Australia
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QLD 4216, Australia
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Trish Simpson
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (07) 5532 1110BlueWater Staff & Associates
TIM SIMPSONhasathirst
forknowledgeandapassion
for teaching others the skills
forsuccess.Hisadventures
have taken him to a long list
of tournament wins, six IGFA
worldrecords,andmorethan
500 tagged gamefish.Tim Simpson
IGFA Representative
Advisor to IGFA Angling Rules Committee
The Billfish Foundation: Board of TrusteesBlueWaterLVSXEOLVKHGE\%OXH:DWHU*DPHȽVKLQJ3W\/WG$&1 32%R[5XQDZD\%D\4/'
Australia © 2018. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without
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<RXDUHZHOFRPHWRDFFHVVWKHLQIRUPDWLRQWKDWZHKROGDERXW\RXE\JHWWLQJLQWRXFKZLWKRXUSULYDF\RIȽFHU
ZKRFDQEHFRQWDFWHGDW%OXH:DWHU*DPHȽVKLQJ3W\/WG32%R[5XQDZD\%D\4/'$XVWUDOLDSmaller makes bigger
What is the ultimate size for a gamefishing boat? While the
answer might depend on the weather and seas to be endured,
Tim Simpson suggests that there are significant advantages to
staying compact. For one thing, your fish will seem bigger.Back in 2003 when the Kiwi-built 42.28-
metre mega-gamefishing yacht Mea Culpa
visited the Gold Coast en route to her proud
new owner in the US, Capt Mike Hein invited
me aboard to teach her ‘white boat’ crew
some marlin skills. What an experience that
was! Mea Culpa didn’t have a tower because
the crows nest lookout was already so high
that you almost needed oxygen, and a pair of
binoculars to see the lures!
I notified the captain via a 2-way headset
when we hooked-up. Mike then ran down from
the bridge to the upper cockpit deck with his
remote control to steer the hulking vessel with
thrusters. It was a magnificent yacht, but far
from an effective gamefishing weapon.
We tagged a winter striped marlin on our
first day out, but that 70kg fish looked like a
tadpole alongside. I remember thinking at the
time that you’d need to catch a grander from
that behemoth to generate a thrill comparable
to an everyday marlin from a trailerboat.
As you’ll read in this issue, walk-around
trailerboats offer significant advantages
for chasing billfish and other long-running
speedsters. You’ll also find such vessels
discussed in a thought-provoking article about
gamefishing boat design. Perhaps they’ll
give you a new perspective on the ideal
gamefishing platform.WITH THEEDITOR