Barnacle

Just about to cook some gemmie fillets from our catch last week. None as big as the fish in your first photo which is HUGH. Like jewies, I find the smaller ones a bit soapy. You must have been close to the bag limit of two per anger and ten for the boat so well done. My mate and I (we normally go out two up) aren't sure of the success rate using barbless hooks and release weights. Hopefully they work.

I often head out in my Quinnie 560 Legend (centre console) however last week was with my mate in his WA built 5.7m centre console plate boat. Either boat takes us under two hours to get to Browns from Roseville. We always check the weather carefully, carry an onboard EPRIB and I have a personal one as well plus other safety gear. Heading out from the Central Coast is a drive first and then the usual boat trip (not a boat trip from the Central Coast. I also head out from Swansea to various spots including Norah Canyons. Each is pretty close to 30 nm from the ramp.

Many years since my last report and lots happened since then. Thought I'd better put some info together. Sold our Sydney home a few years ago and moved to the Central Coast. New home with a jetty and boat ramp so pretty happy with that arrangement. Last Monday headed out to Browns with a fishing mate for a bottom bash and then followed up at 2.30 pm for a troll after tuna. Bagged out on gem fish, caught an alfonsino (I think that's how it's spelt - like a nannygai on steroids), an ocean perch and then headed out for a troll. After a morning dropping on Browns and hauling up 1.4kg sinkers and fish my arms were pretty well softened up. I suppose to be expected at well over 70. We had trolled to the north to ease the ride back with the north easterly picking up (as predicted). After about 40 minutes the tuna arrived. First hit was on the port long corner (no hook up) then the starboard short (still no attachment) followed by the starboard long. Bang - we were on. My mate kept the speed up and I went to the rod to check how much line was left to avoid not having enough for any long runs. Unfortunately (or from my view point thanks for that) only one hook up. My mate pulled in the other lines and I settled in to bring the big boy in. Either my age or the morning session but I was sure it felt more like the last 60kg model I pulled up. After some good team work (we've fished together for a fair while) we boated the YFT and took a few happy snaps before trolling for another hour an a half but no success. Tuesday this week the weather cleared so my wife and I loaded some mud crap pots with bait and pushed the bout down our ramp and dropped a few in the river at the back of our house just after lunch. Caught a few bream (most too small but one keeper) then went home. Went back to check the pots at about 6.30 and pulled up two empty but one with a nice sized muddy.

We were on the way sailing to Hobart one year (if it floats I'll be on it, whether power or sail) and one of the crew was so crook with at least 3 days sailing ahead of us (on a small boat). He was desperate for a cure so one of the regular crew looked him in the eye and said "simple mate and a sure cure, just go stand under a tree". He looked at him desperately and asked quite seriously "Where's the tree, shit tell me where the tree is". Broke the rest of us up but not much help 40 or more nm offshore. I agree though that Travel Calm in the blue and white box are great. I always take one if I haven't been outside for a few months. The other trick is to not have any or only a little booze the night before plus have some bland food to eat when outside, fairly soon after you go out.

Thanks for the input Rick. I was wondering how it is down past Catherine Hill Bay - the Quinnie certainly handles well outside as I found on my first run last Sunday with a reported 2.2m swell and seas to 1.8. Was invited to follow a crew in a Bar Crusher heading down the coast and found the Quinnie seemed to handle the conditions a bit better. A trip from Swansea out on the lake might be the go. A friend mentioned there a good catches of flatties and bream there at the moment. We back onto the river at Wyong so Port Stephens is a bit of a hike. Might head back to my old stamping grounds and launch at Brooklyn - a lot closer than Port Stephens but I wouldn't mind the occasional trip to Port Stephens - had some good sessions up there including some great fun with marlin north of and around the car park. The alternative is Terrigal Haven although not too good in a north easterly but this time of the year is fairly good. For a trip north, I'm fairly flexible on time (subject to my wife) as I work three days, Wednesday to Friday. Brian

I recently moved north from the Cowan Creek area to the Central Coast. I know Pittwater, inside and offshore plus off Sydney like the back my hand but off Swansea - no idea of what or where. Any members with hints on a few snapper spots? this time the year there should be a few ready for a feed. Also I recently picked up another boat, a nice Quintrex 570 Legend centre console pushed by a 140 Suzuki 4 stroke. A well set up as a fishing platform. Went out from Swansea (one up) last Sunday (in company of a bar crusher) but found nothing of much interest. Wouldn't mind a crew member to join me next Monday (possibly) heading out from the the Blacksmiths ramp at Swansea.

Took the day off yesterday (Friday) and went out with my regular fishing mate Andrew on another friend’s boat to chase yellow fin. Mat hasn’t done much off shore fishing so the pressure was on Andrew and me to get at least something. Went out to the shelf and then to the 1000m contour where we'd heard there'd been some big fins caught. Water was about 21.8 degrees and after trolling for some time, Mat called a temperature break and within moments we were on. Prior to that we’d had a lot of stripies taking our lures and even these little blokes were a decent size and gave a good fight. Andrew was on strike and we could see by the rod that it was a good sized fish. At first we thought it may have been a big albacore but as it came up it turned out to be a huge dollie! Mid winter and all! It was well over 20 kg and about four foot long.After settling things down we continued to troll and saw a fair bit of action with some leaping albacore, good bird activity and a few stripies taking lures with the water getting a slightly warmer. We continued towards Browns but still out wide but at this time it was getting late and we had always intended to cube and head back leaving about 7.00 pm for a late return in the hope of some big eyed tuna as well as YFs. The decision was made to head back to where the Dollie and the greater amount of surface activity, following the old adage, no point leaving a spot where the fish are. Andrew set Mat up with two deeper rods out and that left Mat free to burley/cube. I stuffed around for a while getting my lines sorted –lures away and the right hook set up on the two fifty rods and finally, after about 20 minutes started to feed out my line. Must have been a lot of small bait fish around since after feeding out for about 15 minutes, I pulled up with no pilchard on my hook. Re-baited and started feeding out. No more than say 15 seconds and I got a run (using circle hooks so striking was out) and gently brought on the drag. Then all hell broke loose. The fish dived and nearly took me with it – got dragged around the deck. Andrew got my Black Magic game belt on and then the slog started. It slammed me a few time from bow to stern particularly as I got it up towards the surface and I had more direct contact without the line stretch. After about an hour and with a great team effort – Mat tracing, Andrew on the first gaff and then Mat on the second gaff we got a monster YF aboard. Damned hard for an old bloke of 67 - almost gave the rod to Andrew to finish the job but he encouraged me to finish off what I had started. It was a big barrel of a thing and from nose to tip of tail, only slightly shorter than me so about 1.6m nose to tail tip. Our guess is about 60 kgs but we didn’t have the gear to weigh it. Once we cleaned up I took over cubing to give the others a chance at something - I'd had enough for the day - but other than dolphins and squid hanging around the boat, nothing took our lines. By this time it was about 2000 hrs so we started the run home. GPS showed 62 kms to Barrenjoey. Conditions for the day and the trip home were It was a late finish to the day as when we pulled the pin to come home it was after 2,000 hrs. After getting in, cleaning fish etc didn’t get home until about 1.00 am. Conditions for the day and the run home were perfect with a small gentle swell and virtually no wind or chop. Once Mat sends me the pics will post them

The Sea Breeze site looked too good to mis out on Thursday so Andrew and I decided to take a trip out to the Bait Station. Stopped off Narrabeen for some Slimies and Yakkas and headed out in beautiful conditions. Slowed trolled some livies for about two hours then decided to head further north east to troll back with the building nor'easter. We pushed some skirts and after about twenty minutes had two hits on the outrigger, the second a solid hook up. I was kept busy as the fish blasted of towards the fron of the boat and then started to circle across our bow. We couldn't figure what it was at first, thinking that with the short bill it was a small blue. After 10 to 15 minutes (and the fish almost fouling the prop - just as well we are an outboard unit) we had a nice little short billed spear fish! Trolled for about another hour or more but that was it for the day. The water looked beautiful and sat at about 24 degrees just off the shelf.

Don't know what happened to the attachments - hopefully they are below. The first was the best we colud get of the jumps - digital delay meant we could only get the splash but chek the water colour! in the second I wouold apreciate input on the weight. I am about 76 kg so I reckon the marlin at about 90kg however one of my mates called it for about 70kg.

Last Tuesday my fishing mate and I headed to another friends weekender at Nelson Bay to chase some marlin. Went out for a quick check on conditions about lunch time and found good coloured water at about 19 nm out with the temp 24+. We then headed a little beyond the shelf and found 25.2 degrees with flying fish and a lot of bird activity. Looked for the next day. Wednesday we launched the boat and headed towards the Car Park (found the co-ordinates) trolling the warmer water beyond the shelf and then crossing back to the cooler areas towards the Car Park but no action although it looked really good if a bit warm for other than blues (too big for this old bloke) and possibly blacks. We then headed back to the north in fairly flat seas and moderate conditions (wind about 14 kts) out wide of the shelf in the 25+ water at over 250m deep. With the water so warm we ran out a lumo lure on the smaller 15 kg fear in the shot gun position with the heavier gear on the outriggers and short corners - big mistake. At 1445 hrs the shot gun (my rod) went off and it was action stations. I grabbed the rod and just held not applying too much pressure until my harnes was on and then started to pump to get som line back after the initial run. The marlin had given one jump and then went down so we called it for a black since it wasn't jumping as much as a stripey. This was one stubborn fish with the little 15 kg gear hardly able to gain more than a foot at a time. Being a trailor boat we can't back down but my mate who'd taken the helm spun the boat and we followed slowly at an angle to the line to get back more line. I'd get it close to the boat to about 30 to 50 m then he'd take off again. Pump, wind and follow with the boat when I was running out of line for an hour 35 minutes. This is the fourth marlin from this boat and we decided that unlike all other's, we'd keep the fish as we had orders for steaks from a number of friends. After the 1hr 35 we had him boatside and gaffed and hauled him aboard. I was a bit stuffed but can't imagine how tough it would have been from a yak!

Went to Port Stephens last Tuesday chasing Marlin. If someone can give me a hint on how to add photos to the topic I will post one later today with a run down on our catch.

Three of us have a bit of spare time and are heading to Port Stephens at the end of January. Taking my boat up for four days away and while I have a number of marks, don't have the co-ordinates for the Car Park - can anyone help? Hopefully better than Sydney the past week - went to the Twleve Mile on Wednesday - no kingies - trolled towards browns then back in with the wind/swell no marlin, checked a few FADs - no dollies - saw a lot of dolphins at times and home for zilch. Tried for luderick Friday morning - few downs but the seas and big tide made that too hard although my step son caught a good sized bream- left and went to Narrabeen a caught a swag of bream - too small - all returned. Ah well, that's fishing!