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Sydney Marlin


rportelli

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Finally cracked my first Marlin!! Dropped a big dolly early but then more than made up for it with my first striped Marlin on my own boat! Yew! Two rookies got the job done with a couple of close calls! ( now know why you need a crew of at least three) ...

For those out there without much experience its worth the effort :

After a few trips of pretty much staring at lures and water for hours to the point of no hope yesterday seemed different. Within the first half hour exiting Sydney harbour and deploying our spread we saw a free jumper. Excited that we actually saw a Marlin increased the confidence that they really existed.

It was not until two hours later heading north from 12 mile did the lightest rod buckle over and my mate was into a nice dollie. Just as all the rods were cleared my mate curses and the silence as it was lost at the boat!

We continued north zig zagging depths I'd heard of fish that had been caught at... Then that sweet sound of the tyrnos screaming line....then all the things I've heard read clicked in:

-Punched the boat to ensure it stayed Hooked...

-Mate took the wheel and then I cleared the rods

- keep pressure on the fish

Problem number 1: reel was gettin low so we turned the boat and chased it (600m not much left on the spool)

Problem number 2: fish headed back under the motor so we had to stop lift the motor and thankfully it stayed attached

Problem number 3: big boat heading straight towards us.. Lots of hand waving and cursing and he got the message

The next 30minutes was a battle of gaining and losing line until it slowly swam up next to the boat.

Problem 4: getting it into the boat... Held onto the tail for dear life while my mate with gloves slid him over the side from the bill!

Once safely on the boat the high fives and screams of finally getting on the board!

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Edited by fishnitup
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Congrats on the awesome catch..Has anyone eaten Marlin before?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes i have eaten a striped marlin...rated it at 3 out of 5...got a very strong taste when i cooked it pan fried and cut it like steak...i prefer the mako...

Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

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Concratulations on your first marlin, as scratchie says the feeling will stay with you forever and is what helps when you have all those days when you draw a blank.

As to eating them I've tried blacks, blues and stripped Marlin and think they all taste pretty crap sort of like eating dry cardboard.

If we ever bring another in we will smoke it as I've been told they taste ok smoked.

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What an experience. I was lucky to be steering during this epic time(and although extremely jealous :)) my buddy deserved to be on the end of a fish of a lifetime. He put many hours into research, from depth to skirt selection to location to time of day etc.

When we hooked up it was absolute pandemonium and after a few "Marlin, Marlin" shouts we tried to compose ourselves and his pictures tell the rest of the story

An amazing experience and it will be very hard to beat...unless it's me on the end of the line :)

Thanks buddy

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I agree with finin - obviously without being there it's a bit tricky, but it looks like it has fairly rigid pectoral fins and a slightly smaller dorsal fin (than you would expect on a striped) which are pretty good indicators. The stripes can confuse everyone but even blacks have stripes which can look pronounced when the fish is "lit up". Also agree it's about 70kg.

Just MHO though - I could be wrong???

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Hi Fishnitup........mate definately a Stripe Marlin, looking at the shape of the pectoral fins & dorsal fin. Also the length of the lower jaw. May be 60kgs, they are nearly always skinny. A great fish. You will now have "Marlin Madness".............The only cure.....get alot more!!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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