FISHO writer Ben Hathaway reports the tuna fishing to be had wide of Sydney last weekend was worth the effort and expense of a long trip to find fish.
According to Ben: “Went out on Saturday with Ed Aspden and a couple of my mates Mike and Jay. With Ed’s expertise we were able to find some [southern bluefin] … I have been trying to get one for three seasons.”
“We found them 10nm NE of Heatons in 19.5 degrees, but it wasn’t the best time to hook up on them because we were running low on fuel.
“Man they put up one hell of a fight on 24kg,” Ben says.
“I fought my fish for 5.5 hours while Jay gave Mike a turn … after my fish was gaffed the drag on the other reel was pushed to sunset as we had to get home soon with the drift pushing us 1.4nm an hour north.”
Ben told Fisho that unfortunately the second fish was lost after the line popped. He reckons the SBT “would have gone well over 100kgs but we are kind of glad we didn’t land it because we probably wouldn’t have made it back to Sydney with another big fish aboard.”
Ben’s SBT later weighed 84.3 kgs at the Sydney Game Fishing Club.
The pain and pleasure – Ben Hathaway fights and boats an 84.3kg southern bluefin tuna.
Fisho has also received photos of some quality yellowfin tuna taken wide of Jervis Bay on the NSW South Coast last weekend – see below.
Kendal Booth caught this 72.5kg yellowfin on 24kg gear while cubing off the Drum Canyon off Jervis Bay last weekend.
Ralph Karuscha (left) and Andy Clark with with a yellowfin of approx. 60kg taken wide of Jervis Bay.
