The President

Caught several yesterday trolling rapala cd-7 (red head) following feeding birds off North Cronulla near Boat Harbour.

Nice big bull, great way to start the new year. May I ask what time did you get the marlin bite. Fished that area during the afternoon tide change with two other boats also there. Didn't turn a reel. Congrats.

My favourite time is a low tide about 4pm (EST) in the afternoon. Fish one hour before and an hour after the tide change. Preferably little wind and clear water without any recent rain. You'll catch squid both morning and afternoon.

With the blue eye, how far off the bottom do they swim or congregate upto. Would you get them say 15-20m off the bottom. I've pretty much fished the bottom 5m and get them there. If they are also found a little higher up off the bottom then it would make sense to fish 10m off the bottom to avoids snags.

Fished Browns last weekend for about six snags that resulted in lost sinkers. Fished there again today and encountered even more snags. Just about every drop both rods would snag. Lost about ten sinkers today. Was able to hit bottom easy, varied from 420 - 380m, drop was virtually straight up and down so didn't have much excess line out. Tried different drift lines to avoid same snags. Have fished Browns for many years but haven't experienced so many snags as today. Anybody else have similar experience? I was thinking today - how many tones of steel and lead must be lost down there. Cheers,

Stonker lures have something very similar with the foil. Cheers

Went out to the Peak expecting pretty good weather this morning. Absolute opposite, wind was a lot more than anticipated, swell was messy and about double what they (sea breeze) predicted. Current was racing. Should have stayed home. That's all I got too.

A friend of mine caught a 104cm Jewfish in Botany Bay last week which had a fisheries tag in. He contacted them and was provided with the following information and attached news letter which makes for some interesting reading and data. Hi, just got the tagging info on your fish! It was tagged on 27 August 2015 in the Georges River when just 93 cm in length So, in 178 days it grew 11 cm at a rate of approx 0.6 mm per day. Great info mate! I have added you to the NSW Research Angler Program newsletter mailing list. The most recent one is attached As for the tagging component of the Research Angler Program - this is being run and managed by ANSA NSW and the guys you need to talk to are Stan Konstantaras (pastelli@netspace.net.au) or Chris Anagnostou (arexfour@hotmail.com)...they will be able to sort you out with some tags and an applicator. Let them know i sent you their way. Thanks heaps for reporting the fish, every little bit of info we can get on these awesome fish is always always welcome. attached is our nsw-research-angler-program-newsletter-issue-9-december-2015.pdfnews letter: Cheers Julian

Boattart I regularly read your post which I enjoy and praise your results, especially on blue marlin. You often state you change the spread to larger lures when going out wider. May I ask what lure size do you use for blues, larger than 12inch. And is there a particular favourite ? Cheers.

Great catch. What gear was it caught on - rod,reel, line class. Could make this catch all the more impressive.

Mate you are a true fisherman, hats down for your solo effort in those conditions. You catch fish, well done.

Yes that was us that briefly called it just after we landed it. Next time I'll ask if there's any Raiders out there.

Went out of Botany Bay today looking for marlin, sent out the spread just before the 12mile. Water temp was 24.5, headed towards the shelf water got to 25.5 looked good but no signs of life. Continued past Browns water up to 26.5. Decided to turn around and come in close ads stay around 70 fathoms behind the Peak. Water temp 24.1, well what do you know got two simultaneous hits around 1pm - short corner and short rigger both had black over purple 8 inch lures. One stuck and one didn't. Little stripey put a nice show with plenty of acrobatics, came in relatively easy. Few quick snaps and off it went. Noticed that the bird activity was in close around the 70 fathom than out wide.

Mate I was like you, first time buyer for mowing about the same size lawn 3~4 acres. My recommendation is definitely buy a zero turn and at least a 50 inch cutting deck. Also I recommend a fabricated machine. The rest comes down to budget.

Great stuff, what lure did the damage?