My first marlin workshop of the season was conducted last weekend.
Day One
Saturday 4th February was spent at our marina berth in Nelson Bay. Our class spent all day rigging baits, sharpening hooks, inspecting terminal tackle, setting up reel drags and everything else that goes with a successful days marlin fishing, and I don’t hold back on any information.
Day Two
Sunday 5th February was spent at sea and our students put their bait rigging skills into action. We were marking fish on the sounder and doing a bit of practice switch baiting, and it did not take long till all hell broke loose in the cockpit. We were hooked up to three Striped Marlin at once. Chaos followed and we were soon unattached. We persisted in trolling, skip baits and a skip bait rigged by one of our students was devoured by a striped marlin and after fifteen minutes it was release time.
By mid day it was time to leave the skip and switch baiting and concentrate on the skills of boat handling and releasing marlin. We settled into an afternoon concentrating on our specialised live baiting arrangement, and immediately our students were catching good numbers and by the time the fat lady sung we had released ten marlin, not bad for a group of guys who many had never seen a marlin before, and were working the deck of a marlin boat for the first time.
It is shaping up to be the best marlin season in yonks!
I will be conducting workshops and chartering out of Port Stephens until mid April.
For further info please visit: www.australianmarlin.com