PEARLY

Well done, congratulations to both of you for ticking another species of the list. That brown trout is very thin as it hasn't put on any weight post spawn. Keep up the good work

Firstly , I would like to congratulate you on your first marlin, always a very memorable experience, and its good to see that it didn't go to waste. The first blue that I tangled with was on 24kg stand up gear and I was fighting the fish for 5hrs & 15 mins on new years eve 2013. I couldn't get the fish to the boat as for the last 1.5 hrs it was 30 metres below the boat and wouldn't come up. I tried everything I could and I ended up increasing the drag and the line broke. I was asleep that night by 8pm, completely exhausted. The second fish was about 2 weeks later and I put my mate on strike while I cleared the rods/ drove and traced the fish ( there was only 2 of us on the boat, and my mate had no idea what he was in for).It took about 2hrs to get the fish to the boat, and it ended up being tail wrapped and came up dead. This left a very sour taste in my mouth and I almost gave up gamefishing. Since then I have caught a few marlin and been involved with the capture of many more both on my boat and as a crew member on a local boat in Coffs Harbour. I don't profess to be an expert by any means, and I still have a lot to learn but I have learnt a few things.Firstly you do get the odd marlin dying and it is an unfortunate consequence of the sport. Secondly to try to get a stubborn blue up to the boat, where he stays deep and wont come up then try to change the line angle by driving off the fish and then if he comes up then drive back to him.I also find that having the boat positioned down current of the fish also helps sometimes as it causes the fish to swim , expending more energy which can shorten the fight time, as opposed to having the boat up current of the fish, as when this happens the fish can just sit in the current and still get water through its gills. I have also found from crewing on a local game boat that using 37kg gear helps on the blues as the drag is preset to 12kgs of pressure in the strike setting as opposed to 8 kgs of pressure on 24 kg gear. This tends to greatly shorten the fight time, which puts less stress on the fish. If using 24kg gear then try to put a mark on the reel where 10kgs of drag pressure is and even 12 kgs of drag pressure is so that you can push the drag up past strike knowing that you wont increase it by too much. You can also try to use the low gear on your reel to try to get the fish the last few metres to the boat.I hope this helps. It is a steep learning curve, good luck. If I can be of any further assistance then pm me

I previously lived in the Blue Mountains and over the years I spent much time camping and rafting on the various streams, creeks and rivers in the region. When these trips involved over night stays , we would often cook up a whole bass or trout on the campfire coals for dinner, with the rest of our catch being released. I made a couple of observations. Firstly if the water was turbid and discoloured, the fish would more often then not taste muddy. However if the stream was running clear then there was no muddy taste in the fish, especially if it was gutted, gilled and bled fairly soon after capture. The second and more interesting thing that I found was that the fresher the fish , the better the taste.On one memorable 3 day rafting trip, I caught a bass in the morning and one just before dinner and both were eaten on the coals that night. The one caught in the morning I would rate about 7/10 where as the one caught just before dinner on the same day was probably a 12/10 , absolutely delicious, I stress that there is nothing wrong with taking the odd fish for an occasional meal, however I am a firm believer of catch and release. I hope this answers your question