With the tuna still to come, there is still plenty of fishing to come but its time to share some photos from this season so far:
My season started in July, with a run to Bermagui. Took a mate who had never caught a kingfish, so whats he do but get a 98cm fish in the first 10 minutes :oops:
We had a great day on the water, getting a few nice fish and was a good way to open the account for the season.
The next day I went wide and got my first yellowfin, only a small fella but tasted great none-the-less
Bit of a late start to the snapper season this year, so instead we went and had a crack at a bluefin in September.
Mate Miles was the lucky guy on the rod, and we hooked up in the first hour of the first day, of our first go at the bluefin out of my boat.
This fish went 94kg, and Miles was on the rod for 3h 20m on 15kg!
After the mess of that bluefin on the deck, the boat got a detail for her birthday, shiny and new once again!
Late september, and time for snapper. We did an overnighter at Welshpool, and were rudely awoken by this bloke flying past us in the dead of night while we were sleeping and launching himself on the rocks less than 80m from where we were anchored.
Solid squid run in september, we got our bag in no time most attempts, stocked up on bait for snapper season.
Had to wait until November to get my first snapper this season, was tough going at Welshpool as the fish only came in late.
Luckily when they finally came on the bite, they came on strong and we had a couple of nice days on the water over a few weeks with plenty of buckles!
Out offshore welshpool in november, we were having a crack for a gummy when a hooked a 7ft+ thresher shark on a paternoster rig, fought him for a good hour but lost him at the side of the boat to my dismay. Just missed out on getting a tag in him and didnt get a photo
A few days later, had another crack but couldn't rustle up another one. Luckily, we got some nice gummies as a consolation prize.
Was determined to get onto some kingies out of Marlo this season. Managed a few in December, but no big ones. Missed the trick a bit, with the larger fish preferring live squid only.
Went a bit further in January to Tamboon, and had a crazy day offshore with enormous schools of kingfish with plenty of 15-20kg fish about. Despite our best efforts we were unable to rustle up more than a couple of squid in the morning, so had to settle for using stick baits all day. Was hard work, with only the odd smaller fish having a crack. There were some huge fish that would follow the stickbaits all the way to the boat and then turn away, very frustrating!
Mid January, decided to have a crack at Hogan Island, which is 80 odd km out from the Welshpool entrance. Unfortunately, there wasn't much about on the day, but there were some epic reefs out there that will surely hold big fish at times throughout the season.
Took fellow fishing vic member Mazman out at welshpool for some inshore kings. It was a windy day, but we were able to rustle up some rats inside the entrance as well as out around the islands.
I'd been meaning to have a crack at a Mako for a while, so decided to finally have a go out of Inverloch. Again I was lucky enough to raise one within a few hours of starting the burly trail, about 30kg and very tasty!
Towards the end of January, it was time for the big 10 day trip to Exmouth with a mate. We fished out of his mates Stabicraft, and had an epic time tagging 8 Blue Marlin from 12 hookups, such an awesome trip!
End of Feb and it was time to head to Bermagui for 10 days (lucky me). Took dad up and was determined to get him his first marlin, after a few failed attempts last year.
After 4 dropped fish, he finally managed to get one to stick. As you can see from the sounder shot, we were pack attacked in this instance, with at least 8 fish up behind the boat at the time of the bite, which was amazing to witness. Couldn't get the double hookup despite our best efforts, but the main this was that dad finally got his first marlin, a nice fish around 100kg Stripe on 15kg, after a 2h fight. At one stage the line even went round the prop, realyl not sure how we didn't lose this fish and I had to throw out over 100m of line that night as it was so shredded by the prop.
Got up again in March for a few days, and managed to find a few Dollies for a feed, they are great eating.
With some pretty average weather, the next day we headed to edge and got another mate his first marlin, this one a bit smaller around 70kg Stripe on 15kg after 45mins. Made for a great day and was the first fish that I've switch baited in my boat.
Got up again a week later, and in very ordinary conditions once again we dropped a marlin and then dropped a 200kg mako shark that was on for over 2h, only to finally wear through the leader at the side of the boat. Bugger!
Another trip up in March resulting in no fish despite raising a few, might have been my last marlin trip for the season, you can almost see the disapointment on my face :down:
All in all its been another great season, ticking a few boxes but the highlight definitely being Exmouth, awesome fishery.
Lining up a trip to Portland next weekend if the weather plays along, hopefully i'll have a good report after that :thumbsup:
