Fishing the shelf, help needed.

[ranga7]

Hi all, well with a new suzuki 4st and a furuno 295 with a 1kw tran on its way I'm looking at venturing out to the shelf in hope of catching marlin, tuna etc. Just looking for some advice to get me started. Please tell me anything from time of year, things to be looking for, bait, current etc. Also what sort of rod and real, not to dear just a good all rounder to get me started. Also are outriggers worth the money, might only get out there a dozen times a year.
Also lures, what pound line, how many rods to run at a time, and anything else thats important.
Thanks for the help. Ranga.

[Midnight]

Where are you based Ranga? It will help with an informative reply. Also what type of boat and how many crew normally. Are you looking for a feed or sport, or both?

Cheers,
Myles

[Smithy]

What Myles said.

As for how, joining your local gamefish club will be the best bet to get in the loop of where they are and what they are doing. On the shelf there is very often nothing to give them away. Fishing reports are your best source of info.

To keep cost to a minimum just run two rods. The boat raises the fish in gamefish talk or gets it attention. Being the top of the food chain nothing bothers them. The bubbles look like a school of baitfish being attacked. You just need to give it something to eat. You can go cheaper again than two rods by just having one 50W LRS, 70 or 80 size reel with 37kg breaking strain on it that you pitch bait with and then you can have lures out there without hooks which are your teasers on braid bottom bashers/deck winches/electric reels etc. Just two of them. Get the fish following them then toss them a bait or a lure with a hook in it on your best outfit. 37kg breaking strain line is the best bet. I have seen 50lb line snap too many times due to water pressure as blues do big figure 8s in the water. Any reel that can fit a good amount of line on is fine. 2nd hand is the go. Fin Nors are pretty good for price these days if you are looking new. Smaller 10" to 12" lures are better than the big 14" + monsters. Bait and switching you are not going to get many of your yellowfin and other species. If that is a consideration you would be back to running two 37kg outfits with hooks in the lures. Outriggers are slightly better but not worth it if money is tight. Get a couple of nice reels and rods first.

[ranga7]

Hi Myles, its a 6.2 plate, 175 4st, i fish out of Evans Head and fish with 2 or 3 on board including myself. 90% sport may keep an odd tuna and love mahimahi. Thanks
Where are you based Ranga? It will help with an informative reply. Also what type of boat and how many crew normally. Are you looking for a feed or sport, or both?

Cheers,
Myles

[Smithy]

You have some good shelf country there. I have only looked more at the canyons off Ballina on Navonics but I will have a look at my chart next time I am near one. Just look for where all the contours bunch up and go from like 240-280 sort of metres down to 500-1000m sort of thing. Just work those canyons. Keep an eye on the the SST charts like this as well. http://oceancurrent.imos.org.au/SE/latest.html You want fingers of current coming off the main EAC and crossing your canyons. At times you will have bait and birds out there but very rarely. Birds are more often on tuna. Shoals of flying fish getting airborne are also a good sign.

[Tangles]

i also reckon book a charter with someone who knows what they are doing and also loves it and just not going through the motions...you will learn more in that day than a bunch by yourself... and booking Smithy you wouldnt go wrong...loves his Marlin fishing and the most helpful Charter operator ive ever had the pleasure of learning from...

[ranga7]

yeah i reckon thats a spot on idea i was thinking a charter myself would be a great way to learn a heap in a short time. Can you or smithy recommend anyone around tweed/goldy, sunnycoast is a bit far for me.
i also reckon book a charter with someone who knows what they are doing and also loves it and just not going through the motions...you will learn more in that day than a bunch by yourself... and booking Smithy you wouldnt go wrong...loves his Marlin fishing and the most helpful Charter operator ive ever had the pleasure of learning from...

[Midnight]

Sorry Ranga, I have been away in the boat, and the 3G service was damn near non existent.

Smithy has covered it all quite well for you. Look for some Tiagra 50W's or Penn Inter 50's in excellent condition second hand, or buy 2 TLD50LRS brand new for a little over 400 bucks, put them on some Shimano Tiagra Tcurve 37kg straight butt rods. I run 80lb on my Tiagra 50w and I used to run it on my TLD50LRS with no problems. However, to get plenty of line capacity, I ran them with 500m of Fins IGFA 80lb braid, and then put a mono topshot over the top. I just tie a 40 turn Bimini in the braid, and a 20 turn Bimini in the mono, but I put a 130lb Dacron sleeve over mono before tying the Bimini in it, then just do a loop to loop join. The Dacron protects the mono from the braid. This connection is 100% strength.
The only down side is the initial cost with the line this way. The braid is expensive. There are several advantages though.
It gives you much greater line capacity, once the topshot leaves the reel and you are down to the braid, you know you still have 500m. Also the drag of the braid through the water is much lower, which is good when you have a lot of line out. When the mono is starting to get a bit rough looking, you can just strip it off and put a new topshot on. I put new line on every season as a minimum, and replace it as soon as it shows any damage.

All of the above can be ordered from Wellsy's Tackle online and delivered to your door.

For lures, stick with 8",10" and 12" lures, and keep things simple. No need for teasers etc and 3 rods max. You can run your 2 80lb outfits with a 12" and 8 or 10" lure from the rod holders, and run a 50lb or something with a little 6" lure way out the back from you rocket launcher, to catch a mahimahi etc. just be careful though, as a big blue may well scoff that one down too haha

Fire off any specific questions yo may have, and I will answer them as best I can, or Smithy will too I'm sure.

There a plenty of other forum users that regularly fish the shelf down your way too, hopefully they will chime in.

Good luck out there!

Cheers,
Myles

[Smithy]

Try Roderick Walmsly at RU4Reel charters at Tweed Heads. Alternatively is Ross McCubbin of Lucky Strike Charters at the Gold Coast.

Reels wise I reckon you need the big gold reels rather than the graphite TLDs or Tyrnos'. Fin Nor Santiago are the best buying at the moment 50Ws are about $525, 80s are $695. Penn 50VW are about $599 and 70VA about $729. Another brand to look for is Alutecnos. Dunno what the cheap Chinese copy ones sold by the Downrigger Shop bloke would be like. I keep going back to the value in the Fin Nors.

Tiagra 80s are $918 and 50WLRSs are $739 so pretty exxy unless you get them 2nd hand like all mine are.

Tyrnos 50 are about $289 and 2speed 50s, $395. TLDs are $349. These are Aus prices having a quick look.

Rod wise, if you can't find any 2nd hand custom stuff or Shimano T-Curves, look up the Gary Howards. He is doing a cheaper 80lb rod that a few of the club guys here are using and they are fine. As Myles mentioned, Wellsys has them walking out the door. Another cheapy a mate had were some Daiwa Sealines in an 80lb class rod. Dunno if he got to use them on fish or not.

[andrew lythgo]

Ranga

I started fishing 18 months ago for blues off gold coast.Last season was an absolute phenomenon.Barry Alti off Mistress who tags more marlin than anyone in this country reckons the Gold Coast is one of the best blue fisheries in the world.We had several days last season where we raised 5-7 fish.Keeping them connected is another thing!

Most fish off your neck of the woods will be like the Goldy and come in at between 80 and 250kg but there were some 400kg fish tagged last season.A boat in our club who fishes Ballina saw plenty last year so they are down there.A couple of things I did learn is go to the 80W reels straight away.We were spooled a couple of times and almost so plenty of times.I upgraded after 6 months.Also plenty of boats drive off on their fish as soon as they get a strike.You will get them that way but we found you are better to keep the boat at troll speed because it reduces the general panic and allows the crew to get the other rods in more comfortably and more importantly if the fish has a mate double and the odd triple hookup is made possible by keeping the lures in the zone.Finally,join a club-the knowledge you will get is invaluable.

Otherwise just get out and have a go.The fish are out there.I was basically a total amateur at heavy tackle and we raised about 50 fish between September and May last season.

[ranga7]

Thanks heaps smithy and myles and others, I've learnt a heap already just from this thread, plenty more to learn I'm sure and will plan a charter on one of the suggested boats soon, in the mean while keep the info coming.

Andrew can't wait to get out and have a go just waiting on new sounder, chase up some heavy tackle, and ill be out there:)

[samsy]

The guys are right in what they say. I fish off Ballina a lot and i would suggest you go 80w/37kg outfits. i have heard of to many reels being spooled by big blues. strips and blacks you dont need big gear but its the what if a blue jumps on the spread kind of scenario that happens a lot here.

I would also suggest you jump onto a game boat and learn a few things. Coffs Harbour is also worth considering. It would be closer to you than Gold Coast.