Thunnus Albacares 02-07-20

[Brendan Monks]

Another late report sorry guys – Saw the pictures in my phone and remembered I hadn’t done one yet. 🤪

After everyone’s reports of yellowfin tuna, and getting into a few a week earlier, we decided to give it another crack before they disappeared. The guy I usually fish with out of Swansea was keen to chase them again (He had hooked a good one 3 weeks before, but lost it boatside on the gaff) The only problem was he couldn’t find enough crew members – I eventually convinced my mate, and we made the drive up to Marmong Point Marina at 4:00am

After filling up the big girl and a short steam across Lake Macquarie we were treated to a beautiful sunrise, while we waited for the Swansea bridge to open at 7:00am we had a quick chat about our rigging and what lure spread was going to be run. Anticipation was very high (Even though the bite had quietened from the weeks earlier) and conditions were forecasted to be glassy out wide.

Wind and Swell conditions were perfect as we came out through the heads and past Moon Island, a few boats were working the salmon schools and it looked like there was bait everywhere! Glamour conditions allowed us to charge out at 25+ knots, and the 26ft walkaround Sailfish ‘Silver Fox’ ate the swell with ease. We arrived at an area we thought had good water temp on the charts and proceeded to set out a mixed spread of 1 diver, 1 soft plastic, 3 skirted lures and started working around the Middle Canyons – All bets were on the soft plastic in long rigger!

It was an uneventful 3-4 hours, we couldn’t find any bait on the surface or down deep and with no reports of fish caught coming in over the radio we made the call to head further south where a few mates had caught them on Saturday. On the troll down we come across CCGFC boat ‘Killtank’ who were heading in the same direction. We crossed paths as they headed further south while we turned and headed back up north to the bluer, warmer water we found in the morning (Found out that evening they caught the clubs first Marlin for the season – 0.5kg off the NSW & Australian record, and a few YFT). 🥳

We arrived back in pretty much the same area we had set the spread, with only 1 or 2 fish been caught in the morning, we were desperately hoping it would be an arvo bite! We had seen a pod of dolphins working a current line earlier but couldn’t hook anything that they were chasing. An hour before pulling the pin, long rigger loaded up but didn’t pop the band…A hit at last! The water exploded 2 seconds later on the same lure and we were finally on! We originally called it for a striped tuna as it was taking no line, it woke up when it got closer to the boat and after a quick fight was gaffed boatside and bled quickly.

Lures were quickly put back into the water and we continued working the area, after another 30 minutes of trolling, the skipper made the call for lures to be pulled in in 5 minutes as we didn’t want to miss the Swansea bridge. Sure enough, short rigger came tight as we were about to clear the spread, but pulled the hooks on a same size fish before we had a chance to grab the rod out of the holder!  It was one of the quickest run ins off the back of the shelf I’ve ever been on, the twin 150 donks pushing the boat up to 35 knots in flat conditions (Got into the bridge way too early – could’ve fished longer). 😥

Another beautiful sunset as we made our way back across the lake, we ended up going 2-1-1 on what will be I guess the last run of tuna for us targeting them this season. All in all, an amazing day to just get out there!

Cheers, Brendo

 

 

 

[zmk1962]

Loved every bit of the report Brendo.  I guess a few more fish would have made the day exceptional ... but who can complain about having a play in a backyard like that with toys like those !

Tight lines.

Zoran

[Rebel]

Great report and Super photos.

[Brendan Monks]

1 hour ago, zmk1962 said:

Loved every bit of the report Brendo.  I guess a few more fish would have made the day exceptional ... but who can complain about having a play in a backyard like that with toys like those !

Tight lines.

Zoran

Cheer Zoran! It's a lot of miles for the one fish...but that's fishing 😝

I saw you now have a shotgun rigger, I'm in the process of slowly getting the marlin gear ready for the season as well - Can't wait!

Cheers, Brendo

[zmk1962]

Hahaha yes... a Shotgun Rocket Launcher Rigger - remember patent pending including clip .... in final stages of development and field trials.... in other word - I'm still tinkering.

But its promising and keeps the excitement going onshore.

Cheers Z

[kingie chaser]

Excellent report Brendon, you have a great set up 

One is better than none right & there's a lot of meals in there.

Thanks for sharing.

[Brendan Monks]

29 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

Excellent report Brendon, you have a great set up 

One is better than none right & there's a lot of meals in there.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! Not my boat but one I fish on regularly. That's it - Nothing beats yellowfin tuna steaked and seared both sides IMO 🤤

[61 crusher]

Great report & photos, looks like you guys had ideal conditions,

One of the guys from Freddys went wide of Norah canyons Saturday just gone & picked up a couple inside the canyons in about 400f or m not sure, so depending on when you got yours they might still be around 

4 hours ago, Brendan Monks said:

Nothing beats yellowfin tuna steaked and seared both sides IMO 🤤

Freshly caught & on a griddle 👍

[Brendan Monks]

Cheers @61 crusher 🤙 One of those glamour winter days out wide!

Was that Dylan that got out? I did hear a few reports they are around with that warmer current up near the canyons, I defo won't be getting out this weekend though. Finally 2 days to just work on the boat! 😑