Close Call With a Bunker Bay Marlin
Went out for a troll today to try and get some more tuna off Bunker bay. With a few rumors of marlin around I decided to chuck on the out riggers and get out the teasers. After ten minutes of trolling a deep diver lure started to jump around as it was tangled my mate picked it up to start winding it in and all off a sudden the reel started screeming and something had hooked up. Before we knew it we had a marlin hooked up and it was jumping out the back of the spread. After a short fight it spat the hook. Couldn't believe it we just missed a great oppotunity to catch a marlin in the bay. Had two soft grasses out and it had to take a small deep diver that was ment for the tuna. The lure had small trebles on and there wasn't much chance of getting a good hook up with them. Trolled for another few hours with no result. Did see another marlin free jumping about 200m away from us. Pretty devastated about loosing a once in a life time fish but thats fishing. Will be given it a good crack the next few days to try and catch one.
mako magic
Posts: 5785
Date Joined: 03/08/05
What an amazing year this
What an amazing year this year, only a matter of time before the next and then the next is caught, good to see them heading that far south too.
Pity on losing it mate, but theres certainly another chance just waiting this year i would say
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Ahh at least you know how
Ahh at least you know how close you got!
deepwater
Posts: 1927
Date Joined: 09/05/07
Bunker Bay
well done Brendon and look forward to seeing the next report you got one in the bay ,well done mate
jeff
Lastchance
Posts: 1275
Date Joined: 02/02/09
Good stuff. How good are
Good stuff. How good are billfish when you have one connected.
Dont think it was all bad though - Better looking at them than for them! Sometimes doesnt matter if you catch it or not!
Great to read all of these stories of northern Pelagics down your way - everyone wins.
Goodz
Posts: 2332
Date Joined: 20/07/09
Bad luck on the loss but I'm
Bad luck on the loss but I'm sure we will be reading of the one that didn't get away very soon mate! Good luck on the next one!
Paul_86
Posts: 1449
Date Joined: 27/03/09
great stuff
Still a great achivement mate well done! Atleast that close call has inspired u to get back out there and give it a good crack and hopefully come face to face with the next one.
spanishmackeral
Posts: 940
Date Joined: 05/01/11
Unlucky mate, Ive argued many
Unlucky mate, Ive argued many times with my dad that when we were trolling in the 30s off ocean reef we had a small marlin on. Oh well better luck next time is what they say
Buz
Posts: 1555
Date Joined: 28/08/07
Great stuff on hooking a
Great stuff on hooking a Marlin Brendan! At least you now know that its not totally pointless to have another crack at it!
I trolled from the Cape back to Eagle Bay last saturday. Had the witchdoctor, 2 pushers, a gardie and a diver out. Didnt get zip. Saw heaps and heaps of baitfish on the sounder in bunkers though. All sitting about mid water. Alas i dont think i am going to be able to have another crack at trolling this season. Almost completely booked out until May.
Goodluck next time!
Perry Home
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 07/10/10
What time was that Brendon?
My son & I were out there too this arvo - saw your boat (I guess) with outriggers on. We came past you heading back into the bay after trolling out to and around Wright's Bank for nix. We had pushers, a Mac Mauler and a skipping gar in the boat wash with the home made teasers - a bit hotch potch but just unsure of what the pelagics were interested in.
On the way out inside Geo Bay the Mac Mauler got smashed and my son was hooked up for a brief minute or two. As I wound the bigger pusher in we had a big fish shadow it right to the back of the boat but down quite a few metres in the water column and he/she just sort of sat there fairly lit up interested but not interested if you know what I mean. After we left you water temp peaked at 24.7 deg C and we got into a striped tuna and a southern blue - my son got nailed on a small green skirt and I had a massive boil and hit on the gardie that we had still skipping in the wash.
The stripey was fully lit up with electric purple around top rear of the extended dorsal. Both ours were C'N'R and great fun. Bit sad that Wrights didn't show anything and the wind came in from the South West and then backed off to a glass off before finally coming in at around 4pm. Altho quiet for most of the day we had our fun.
Cheers
Perry
Seaquest
Posts: 1142
Date Joined: 22/10/09
That would of been us. The
That would of been us. The boat is a 7m dark blue ally hard top.
We hooked the marlin around 11am. Sounds like you had a couple of close calls too.
Where did you catch the tuna? The southern blues are great eating.
There is a real buz down here at the moment with lots of people giving it a go and I'm sure we will hear more reports of billfish captures in the next couple of weeks.
The big question is, is this a one off season or is it due to climate change and can we expect this again next year?
scotto
Posts: 2474
Date Joined: 21/04/08
good work on the hookup buddy.
thats one for the all-time books. i still remember the one caught down busso way about 10 years ago. a metro marlin would be a feather in your cap, but one from down your way would be something else alltogether.
all this warm water is thanks to that dirty slut La Nina. it is a cyclic event that happens about every 4 years or so (around 2 years after the northern hemispheres El Nino), but some years/seasons are stronger than others, and this years one is a ripper.
all we need now is red emperors and rankins to follow the warm water down here and start a breeding colony, and i wont need to go to exxy each year.
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Its La Niña, it does happen
Its La Niña, it does happen every few years.
Lucky Tim
Posts: 2536
Date Joined: 28/11/07
bad luck mate but that's a
bad luck mate but that's a great excuse to get back out there soon and have a crack again
Perry Home
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 07/10/10
Tuna Hook ups!
Brendan
I realised it was your boat - their weren't too many running outriggers. After we passed you - we came past as you swung around at the end of your run near the Swan - 18 ft Pacemaker with a Red Canopy( I'd prefer it had been black - not my choice!) Our hook ups came when we came into 24. deg C water of the front of Dunsborough - we were in about 90 odd feet of water at the time. One was a SBT and the other a Striped - they were definitely different classifications. The strikes were explosive with one fish smashing a skipping gardie I had out - would be awesome to see the Maccy's and Marlin in close up down here. I reckon you should hit it every day you can for the next 2-3 weeks - obviously the more you re out the better the chances and I think the window of opportunity will close pretty quickly - but that depends on the current ( La Nina) will e interesting to see what unfolds .
Cheers
Perry