For those who love their fishing...

jordy_on_bass · #1 03-27-2011, 04:20 AM

I used to be a gamefisherman through my teenage years, but I have been unable to do it for around the past 5 years due to where I was living and a few other factors that were out of my control. During that time, the target species was generally Striped, Blue and Black Marlin. For the past year, I have been living a couple hours north of Sydney and have found myself in the position that I have been able to do this other passion of mine. After doing a couple trips with some friends, we had seen a few marlin but we were unable to get one to the boat. Well, things changed for me on Wednesday...

It was my birthday and I decided to organise a trip out with my fiance, who has never done gamefishing before. We managed to borrow a mate's boat and my father came up from Sydney for the trip. We originally had a mate who was supposed to be coming out, but the silly bugger slept through his alarm (his loss!). We hit the water at about 6am and had our lures in the water around 7am. At about 9am and 12 miles from shore, a Striped Marlin came up and hit a lure on 24kg (50lb) tackle. After taking only 100m of line, I pushed up the drag to put some serious pressure of the fish and managed to subdue it in just under half an hour. We had every intention to release the fish with a scientific research tag in it's shoulder, however we discovered that it had been hooked through it's right eye and was bleeding rather badly, so we decided to take the fish home. After getting back, I made a few calculations and estimated it's weight at 75kg, or around 165lb. It isn't the biggest fish I have caught, but it is the most important one after my first marlin caught and my biggest, a 250kg+/550lb+ monster. It had been such a long time between fish and I had started to think I was going to miss out on this season's run of marlin that I started to almost get depressed, but not any more!!

Enjoy the pic, and sorry to the squeamish out there who hate to see dead fish. Again, I would have released it had it not been for a mortal injury from the hook.

Cheers,
Jordan

jp58 · #2 03-27-2011, 01:53 PM

Awesome.

hbarcat · #3 03-27-2011, 06:52 PM

I slightly misread a word in the thread title so I was a bit disappointed when I saw it was about "fishing".

But hey, cool fish, bro! Sounds like you had a lot of fun on the trip and that's what's important.

Skitch it! · #4 03-27-2011, 07:28 PM

That is an impressive Marlin, well played in I bet he put up an interesting fight by the weight of him, cool, thanks for the pic it's good to see

jordy_on_bass · #5 03-27-2011, 07:42 PM

Skitch it,

He isn't a huge fish and the gear I caught him on was a little bit of an overkill for a fish that size, but he certainly put on a good aerial display. Any fight with a marlin is a good one in my books!!
Here are a couple videos of the fish jumping;

YouTube - Striped Marlin jumping in 60 fathoms off Swansea, Australia

YouTube - Striped Marlin aerial display onboard Mad Marlin

Cheers,

Jordan

Skitch it! · #6 03-27-2011, 08:08 PM

An advertisement vid but some nice footage and an interesting way of way of fishing for them, I like it look of it. Being from the U.K we don't get lot's of variety, have had a little influx of a few sharks in different waters of late though oddly enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVEv...1&feature=fvwp

jordy_on_bass · #7 03-28-2011, 03:14 AM

I don't mean to be one of those internet critics, but after having done the sport for ten years and seeing over 100 fish, there is no way that fish is 300 pounds. 150 pounds, if that, is closer to it's size. Still, that's a great effort from a kayak!!

It's interesting to see what the oceanic currents have been doing lately, they have been running so hard off the east coast of Australia that the pro charter fisherman here think that the gamefishing will run until june/july, which is unheard of. I'm surprised there haven't been any reports of marlin in the mediterranean, as that water is definitely warm enough to carry marlin.

On a side note, going again this sunday - will post another report, although it is probably useless to most people on here lol

Cheers,
Jordan

**baba** · #8 03-28-2011, 09:27 AM

Nice one! Post this one in the Fishing Club Thread: Fishing Club?

CrispyDelicious · #9 03-28-2011, 09:37 AM

So when are you inviting us over for dinner?

Lublin · #10 03-28-2011, 10:03 AM

Love it! Trout season starts soon here in NJ and I'm already foaming at the mouth!

Clark Dark · #11 03-28-2011, 10:49 AM

I'll be a headin' towards Manasquan soon too

Fishheadjoe · #12 03-28-2011, 11:26 AM

Nice fish! Not being critical or anything, but I have caught many a healthy fish that has had damage previously done to it's eye and the fish seemed no worse for wear... again, I can't see in the pic you posted any eye damage, but I do know for sure that, that fish will never have a chance, now that you've kept it.
I was out fishin yesterday, well, ice fishing that is, on a lake about two hours north of Toronto...
Drilled through 24 inches of ice and managed to "ice" about 60 perch, biggest being close to 12 inches... that's good eaten there!
Yes, do come join us in the fishing club and again, congrats on the catch... I can smell that sucker grilling on the BBQ, with a nice garlic/lime rub....
Fishheadjoe

jordy_on_bass · #13 03-28-2011, 01:27 PM

Fishheadjoe,

The fish was hooked through it's right eye, it doesn't show in the picture as the picture shows the left side of it's body. I tag and release marlin as to me the fish is a far more valuable commodity in the ocean than in my freezer, however with an injury like this to a fish that relies so heavily on it's eye sight to feed, the injury would have greatly affected it's ability to hunt prey. So while the injury may have been survivable, the fish would have most likely starved to death - or been picked off as easy prey by sharks.

I love eating Striped Marlin, it is a great table fish and one fish can feed you (and your friends) for weeks. In my fishing career, I have only kept 5 out of the 100+ marlin that I have caught or been a part of catching, with 3 of the 5 fish being kept due to mortal injury. So my track record for releasing fish healthy is pretty good

Sound's like you got a good haul there!! You'll be eating well for a while!!

Cheers,
Jordan

jordy_on_bass · #14 03-28-2011, 01:32 PM

CrispyDelicious,

Not Sunday, I'm going after a few more!! Could you be a darl' and grab some teriyaki marinade on the way?? Have gone through 6 bottles cooking up this bad boy

Fishheadjoe · #15 03-29-2011, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jordy_on_bass

Fishheadjoe,

The fish was hooked through it's right eye, it doesn't show in the picture as the picture shows the left side of it's body. I tag and release marlin as to me the fish is a far more valuable commodity in the ocean than in my freezer, however with an injury like this to a fish that relies so heavily on it's eye sight to feed, the injury would have greatly affected it's ability to hunt prey. So while the injury may have been survivable, the fish would have most likely starved to death - or been picked off as easy prey by sharks.

I love eating Striped Marlin, it is a great table fish and one fish can feed you (and your friends) for weeks. In my fishing career, I have only kept 5 out of the 100+ marlin that I have caught or been a part of catching, with 3 of the 5 fish being kept due to mortal injury. So my track record for releasing fish healthy is pretty good

Sound's like you got a good haul there!! You'll be eating well for a while!!

Cheers,
Jordan

Hey Jordan, no offense meant, glad you didn't take any from my post...
I have zilch experience with Marlin, and I will without a doubt, take your word for it...
I've got some pics from Sunday, nothing special, butif I can remember to post them/grab my camera, might be of interest to you as I am pretty sure that you don't do much ice fishing down under...LOL
Fishheadjoe

jordy_on_bass · #16 03-29-2011, 07:18 PM

Fishheadjoe,

I didn't take offence at all, we are a civil bunch here on TB!! Unlike some fishing websites I posted the picture on, I copped a lynching from the self-righteous 'tag and release division' competition fisherman. They believe that even if the fish has a mortal injury, you should still let it go. I know I know, it's rather silly, especially when prices at the fisherman's co-op here is at around $25 per pound for Striped Marlin!! That equated to about $2000 of meat we got from the one fish.

Would be very interested to see these pics, ice fishing sounds like it would be an interesting experience!! What kind of line do you use?? I could imagine something with high abrasion resistance due to the ice??

Cheers,
Jordan

Fishheadjoe · #17 03-30-2011, 06:56 AM

Actually, we use standard mono for ice fishing... the ice is not "sharp" so we don't really worry too much about get cut off from the ice... the main concerns are the line's ability to stay supple in cold temps. Also, line freezing to the rod and the rod eyelets freezing up are more of a concern.
I use 4lb line for perch, 2 lb is just to fragile.
For Whitefish and lake trout, I use 8lb floro as it's no stretch abilities and invisibility in the water are very effective.
A lot of guys will use power pro/no stretch for whities/lakers as we are typically fishin in 60 plus fow and mono tends to stretch too much at hook set over those lengths.

Me releasing one!

Me and a couple of buddies with our catch... Whitefish for dinner that night!
Talk about your wide open horizon... this was on Lake Simcoe, about an hour north of Toronto. At the height of the season, there is usually 22-24 inches of ice, so we eitehr drive our vehiucles out to the fishing grounds, about 10Km or we walk out, again according to conditions.
Fishheadjoe

jordy_on_bass · #18 03-30-2011, 04:48 PM

Looks like you have some high tech gadgetry there mate!! I find the concept of doing ice fishing quite interesting, as you don't know what you have on until you pull it through that little hole in the ice. I usually know what I have on the end of the line a few seconds after it hits as it will either do an aerial display or stay down which then helps eliminate the species it could be.

4lb line??? Wow - even for here in Australia, that is pretty fragile stuff to be using!! Most blokes who fish in Australia use a minimum 10lb line for anything they target, however trends in recent times have been using lighter tackle. I recently caught a 20lb flathead (australian species, its a flat fish) on 4lb line after a torrid 15 minute battle and 100m chase up the creek bank. Exciting stuff!!

Cheers,
Jordan

Georynn · #19 03-30-2011, 09:46 PM

Congrats!!!

After the last few years of my fishing outings... I don"t think fish even exist... no catches, no bites... nothing

It could be that my daughter, whom I've taken on every trip in the past few years, is a jinx...

Then, all of the sudden she caught a 45 pound catfish, on the first outing of the year, this year... she's 10... (crap, can't upload the picture)..

Ugh.. Kids...

Fishheadjoe · #20 03-31-2011, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jordy_on_bass

Looks like you have some high tech gadgetry there mate!! I find the concept of doing ice fishing quite interesting, as you don't know what you have on until you pull it through that little hole in the ice. I usually know what I have on the end of the line a few seconds after it hits as it will either do an aerial display or stay down which then helps eliminate the species it could be.

4lb line??? Wow - even for here in Australia, that is pretty fragile stuff to be using!! Most blokes who fish in Australia use a minimum 10lb line for anything they target, however trends in recent times have been using lighter tackle. I recently caught a 20lb flathead (australian species, its a flat fish) on 4lb line after a torrid 15 minute battle and 100m chase up the creek bank. Exciting stuff!!

Cheers,
Jordan

Jordan, most time we are targeting a specific species and we can be pretty sure of what we have on our line, well before it reaches the whole. And getting outta the whole is a completely different matter as well! It yer gonna lose them, most times it will be a the whole.
For the fish in the pic above (whitefish/lake trout) is use a mininum of 8lb test, simply because of the fish's size and jigging in 100ft of water, line stretch becomes an issue.
We use portable fish finders on the ice and we zome in on the bottom 20ft or so of the water colum, that's where Mr. Whitie lives... we can see them on the finder, come up to our bait and usually knudge it. You have to entice them to bite by making your bait look like it's trying to get away from the fish.
The two pound line I use for Perch fishing... a big Perch is in the area of 12 inches or more. They are in the Walleye family and are renown for their table qualities. Fun times when you know where they are and can catch 150 fish in less then 4 hours! One of myfavorite ways to fish!
Fishheadjoe
Fishheadjoe