Scratchie Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 3 hours ago, Fergofisher said: Trolling a livie mate behind the boat, is there a rule of thumb around distance back? Do you think also i should chuck out the witchdoctor as well for extra flare? Thanks mate! We troll one about 40m and run a dredge about 20m behind the boat and sit another livie about 5-10m behind that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 7 hours ago, TK01 said: Hi Fergo I'm new to the area and by no means an expert on marlin or where to chase them. I am actually hoping to get my first marlin this season and have had a few days out trying to no avail... yet! You seem a few steps ahead of me with how to go about it. With regards to slimies, there's a bait ground in close about a mile or so north of the river mouth. I got slimies there last week. It took a bit of time but I found that jigging straight up and down was useless as I only found yakkas that way. The slimies were popping up on the surface occasionally and a bait jig cast into the school was the only way I was able to get them, but it was very effective once I figured it out. Hope that helps. Ill give you a hint-dont jiggle sabikis up and down-it doesnt work-drop them through marked bait-use your sounder -aggressively-you will know youve loaded up when the line stops coming off the reel. If you dont get bit-wind back up again and drop through again-keep the line vertical. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK01 Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 9 minutes ago, PaddyT said: Ill give you a hint-dont jiggle sabikis up and down-it doesnt work-drop them through marked bait-use your sounder -aggressively-you will know youve loaded up when the line stops coming off the reel. If you dont get bit-wind back up again and drop through again-keep the line vertical. Agreed. I have no trouble catching bait, it was just very noticeable this time that I would only get yakkas from the bait I was marking on the sounder, and I had to cast over the slimies when they came up to get into them. We got a heap of yakkas and maybe 1 or 2 slimies jigging straight up and down, but casting over the schools when they came up got us full strings of slimies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 And where you catch the slimies is the first place to catch a marlin, slimies tolerate being trolled much better than yakkas but what Scratchie said is spot on , one livie at about 20 , the other 40, a dredge is the way to go at slow speed rather than a witchdoctor if you want to run a teaser-which is actually a good idea when livebaiting because you dont have the wash to act as a teaser for you. Comment on your gear-15 kg line is a bit dangerous for little blacks- you will get them too the boat really quickly on 15 and that can lead to some very interesting moments for the uninitiated , keep your boat in gear at all times and watch a couple of vids on how to take a leader and how to grab a marlins nose (hint -they dont like it much)-good luck 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickmarlin62 Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 Personally i find trolling livys too slow for witchdoctor i use a bird with 6 bobby corks behond it they are covered in mirrors and have rattle beads in them good from 2 to 8 knots run it tied down low to keep bird workin and skip bait 10 ft behind last bobber thereare small reefs up along beach heading nth usually carry slimys 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 18 minutes ago, rickmarlin62 said: Personally i find trolling livys too slow for witchdoctor i use a bird with 6 bobby corks behond it they are covered in mirrors and have rattle beads in them good from 2 to 8 knots run it tied down low to keep bird workin and skip bait 10 ft behind last bobber thereare small reefs up along beach heading nth usually carry slimys yep witchdoctors were designed for lures 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergofisher Posted January 27, 2021 Author Share Posted January 27, 2021 UPDATE LADS: Day1: Found the slimy's off lighthouse on the surface in a big school.. didn't take to long to fill the tank. Slow trolled 1 about 50m, 1 about 40m and the other on an outrigger in close off the back of the teasers. Water was a little cold and green but there was plenty of life around. Trolled cross current around 2 knots with no hits. About to pack up after about 4 hours and the reel screamed off.. We at that point had to almost change our undies. After about a 20 min fight with nothing but huge long winded runs and no jumps we knew it was a shark.. got it to the boat after about 30 mins and it was a roughly 6ft hammerhead. No marlin. Day2: Found the slimy's again quite easily off lighthouse right on the surface. similar spread to Day1 but ended up getting a solid hit but no hook up. Brought the slimy in and it had a bill mark right down the side of the fish which was dead.. Not knowing if we were doing anything wrong or not we kept on punching the hours out. Nothing again after a few hours and whack.. Huge screaming run with again no jump.. 20 mins later a little 4ft hammerhead popped it's head up. No marlin still.. Day3: Bait was harder to find as it wasn't on the surface and the wind was making it difficult to spot them from a distance. Putted around for about 20 mins and we were on top of a school. Took 2 drops and the tank was full. Put the first of 3 lines and and within 2 minutes WHACK.. Rod started squeeling then stopped.. Nothing after this. Brought it in and noticed another bill mark and the slimy dead. This happened literally 3 more times within the next hour with no hookup. Being frustrated as you can imagine.. thought to try something different and free spool it next time and let the fish come back to eat. The baits were on the lightest drag possible but i hadn't free spooled it for the others. Sure enough not long after another whack then nothing.. quickly jumped onto the rod and free spooled it.. This time the fish came back and inhaled the bait. Patiently waited for it to take off and slowly increased the drag. FISH ON! it was taking line but no where near as much as the previous sharks and this was taking off across sideways. Minute or two later we saw what we have only dreamed about from a young age - a little black skim across the water. We completely s*** ourselves as there was a shark on it and was trying to get an easy meal.. started bringing in the other rods only to notice the second rod had started to scream off as well. Instantly thought double hook up but soon realized the greedy bugger picked up the other bait as well. With both circle hooks perfectly in the corner of the mouth - me and a good mate brought the fish up to the boat and i grabbed it by the bill followed by a heap of screaming/swearing. Revived it and the little beauty swam to fight another day. Completely stoked we set the rods for another run only to hook up again to a monster hammerhead. This one being much bigger then the first and burnt my drag out on the TG.. So ill be looking to upgrade to Tiagra 50w soon with the ambition on catching my first Yellowfin this season off Jervis Bay! This is only the start of my adventures chasing these things and have learnt so much already.. Thank you to all who gave the time to send some feedback and tips - you have literally helped made my dream come true. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 That is awesome! I’m very happy that you were rewarded for your efforts. As I said earlier that it’s a lot of waiting but the wait is always worth it! well done and congrats 👏 cheers scratchie!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fergofisher Posted January 27, 2021 Author Share Posted January 27, 2021 Happy to do the miles for the smiles! Thanks again mate - looking forward to have a go at another! I'm hoping to get some fishing done on the South Coast when the weather passes - will keep you in the loop if i get the chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Well done-tip with livies on circle hooks and bridle rigged-freespool with rachet on with a little bit of drop back-thats why outriggers are great, if you dont have outriggers holding the line is great-as soon as the fish hits the bait you can drop 6 feet of slack straight at them , pick the rod up and point it at the fish and just control the line with your thumb. Then slowly raise the rod tip up to 90 degrees, if the fishes weight is still there slowly start lowering the tip and pushing the drag lever up-works every time (well nearly anyway). If you miss the fish then drop the bait back at them or drop the bait from the other side into the fishes path and get the bite that way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoods Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Well done mate - top effort & a beaut photo for the Pool Room!! Congratulations. Hoods 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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