Small Boat Billfish??

[mackmauler]

Wes, testing the water anywhere with billfish lures over the next few months could prove very costly Just a reminder.

[thunnus]

Your spot on there mac! lost one of the big Lumo Sprokets on saterday and had the good old bobby brown distroyed not long after. Not a nice feeling

cheers, Justin

[Smithy]

Luckily my snip off was only a Wellsys Malisa. Bloody thing hit the dacron on the wind on and still took 6kgs of drag on the Tiagra before he bit through 200lb mono.

Wes, Mack, Justin, others,

Do a bit of research on the Pakula Marlin bar about Spaniards and Wahoo and trolling lures. I am still yet to be chopped off just above the lure. When they hit the line, knots, rooster tails etc there is nothing you can do but I always crimp above my lure to stop it sliding up, run my hooks as far back as legal under the rules and lately I have been putting some shrink wrap in the bend of the hook to give the 'Hoo something to aim at.

[mackmauler]

Smithy Ive lost a few allready this season,bit off in front, only relative cheapies compared to Justin

Thats a fair point about losing lures on the strike, sure its rare, I can see a few novices now though..heading a little closer to hutchies later in the day, not much happening, a line goes off doesn't do much at first, so they pull the throttles back, every lure in the spread is chopped off as they sink, Ive seen it happen

[thunnus]

Yeah fair point about the hoo hitting stuff other then the lures - in the sprokets case the hoo actually hit the moldcraft bird we where running about 1m above the lure/belly flap.
Personally i was more worried about the bobby brown - that thing is the bomb!!!

smithy - good luck this weekend mate

cheers, Justin

[thunnus]

smithy - how did you do down the coast last weekend. i heard there was a few fish caught, hope you where one of the lucky anglers.

cheers, justin

[Smithy]

Check out Mackmaulers Pt Lookout post in the reports section.

We were unlucky but we did have our first heavy tackle hookup out of a small boat - only for 20 seconds though.

Probably pretty quiet by Gold Coast standards. Viper getting 5 at Sullies was the best but not sure if they will beat the heavy tackle guys on points.

Roll on Little Ships. I am fishing my 5.2m boat 4REEL now. We ended up on the cat for the weekend. Black Bandit deal fell through.

[thunnus]

yeah cant wait for little ships - should be a blast. I will either be on Kaneka or Splinter depending on how things go. heading up to hervey bay this weekend for their tuna chase - should be fun.

cheers, Justin

[fishy_phil]

gday fellas
have you fellas that fish for billfish ever thought of making your own trolling heads??? my old man makes his own and has sold them all over the country. N QLD TAS NSW VIC etc. he originally got the idea from Joe Ritchie form harboard tackle supplies in sydney back in the 80s and now hes sold them to welseys tackle etc. and to show they work my uncle has caught plenty of marlin the biggest being around 800lb out of a 16 ft clark over the same weekend as the port stevens interclub in 1995. to which there were plenty of boats that witnessed its capture and subsequent release. the biggest that has been caught on one has been over 950lb off gladstone.
it just goes to show that a small backyard hobby can turn profitable and productive. especially when you fish with them yourself. and they are not expensive to make either between 8 n 10 bucks each including all equipment required then the cost of skirts hooks and traces so upto 50 bucks ea. if you use the better quality skirts and hooks. but take a while to make and they are made from highly toxic materials so all safety precautions should be exercised eg gloves and dust mask.
cheers
phil
ps just a thought or three.