Left Manly at 5 for the Yalta mini meet and greet, arranged to meet Honda 900 at the marina and then after a scoot across the bay, Jase (The Lump) at the south passage bar.
This was to be my 1st bar crossing since my course, and as usual I was pumped in eagerness to tackle the bar, wanting everything to go smoothly. Following Honda out, only one wave looked bigger than anything else we encountered for the day, but it was more like a swell than a wave on the outer bank of the north channel, and once through there, it was a case of adjust trim out a little, and go catch Honda in his Yalta 555.
Not knowing where the bait grounds were previously, soon it became quite obvious - a small group of boats, our arranged rendez vous with The Lump, and it included Master Bill Corten with his boat full of guys, all jiging for livies.
Don't know how you did it Chris, your live bait Jig was already prepared and in the drink quick as a flash, I can never do that, leaving the bait jig in the packet until required, those hooks jump out and grab anything that moves .... skin, jumpers, caps, boat aphoulstry, other rods.... but we eventually caught a few, but not B4 Chris and Jase had already moved off and said, we'll catch up with you at the 1st Mark we gave you.
Getting there was no problem at all, catching fish as usual seemed a little more challenging than all the reputation this place had in comparison.. But we caught a couple, both Brad ( For Steve) and I hooked onto big fish - but got bricked in not too embarrassing fashion, we thought we were winning the fight, but then the all too familiar "Pop" as the leader broke.
While Chris and Jase were fishing the 1st few marks they gave me ( thanks again guys) I noticed another mark not too far away and decided to sneak off away from the others to try it. Good decision!! Double hookups, and one dropped, but it was suddenly game on. A snap, a pearly, a parrot then Brad hooks onto something quite a bit bigger that was slogging it out down deep. The line went slack, he thought he lost it, then came tight again, but with some surface splashing. We both said in unison WTF is that? Then almost as if answering our question a Marlin jumped out of the water, only 15 - 20 meters away, a deep fluro blue colour, I will never forget the beauty of these fish, I have a freeze frame in my memory now forever. Then once the Marlin had rolled over on his side, it was almost a "wink" at us as if to say, catch ya later boys!! zzzzzzzZZZZZZZZ snap and it was all over! Brad and I just looked at each other in silence for a few seconds, what an awesome display!
The question we will have for a long time is was the Marlin hooked from the beginning, or did he come up and grab whatever Brad was hooked up on half way through?? We will never know.
Thanks again Honda900 and The Lump for helping me out, and the preparation for the trip
Scalem
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, the Lump was next to us when I dropped no. 5), for me I've found a pattern begining that the SP go well early then after about 9am I can't get a touch and the bait seems to go better.
Originally Posted by Adam_G
