Marlin season is upon us!
At around this time of year the marlin start to show up in numbers off Sydney and Port Stephens and for many of us most other fishing plans seem to fall by the wayside.
Given the distances travelled out from Sydney, my marlin fishing is generally opportunistic and often arranged as a last minute dash when a report of marlin being caught filters through. The phone and email banter the week before last suggested a few marlin were running but the weather was against us. I was sitting around on a Friday night preparing the boat and my gear for a quick kingy and jewie dash out from Sydney when I received a cheeky email from a mate stating his boat had enjoyed a double digit tagged marlin day!
I quickly made a few calls and found myself altering my weekend plans and driving up the coast at 2:30am to hitch a ride with Rob Powell and crew to fish the shelf north of Newcastle. We managed to tag a black and a stripe by livebaiting the bait schools around the morning tide with little action for the rest of the day – whilst we caught fish the action was nowhere near as hot as the days leading up to our trip. It was the classic “you should have been here yesterday” situation!
Since that trip reports of big numbers of black marlin turning up off Port Stephens have filtered through. Last weekend in particular provided reports of big numbers of fish tagged; welcome news with the kick-off of the annual NSWGFA Interclub Tournament this weekend.
Closer to home the kingies are still biting on the inshore reefs off Sydney and a few jewies are lingering about in the Harbour. I went out for a midweek session after work last Tuesday and hooked a couple of jewies on soft plastics around the evening tide. Once the water starts to clear the fishing should fire in and around the Harbour – I’ll probably hit it a few times over the next week and will report back.
Stay tuned for regular updates on the Interclub Tournament at www.fishingworld.com.au.
Read more from Sami Omari in Reports and Blogs.