well decided to head out this arvo for a few hours to get a quick fix. took the neighbour out and decided to head to arlington after hearing the reports about the mack tuna being so prolific out there! only saw one group of birds working and we were anchored and maybe 1/2a mile from them so we stayed put. also had the water police checkn on equipment and fish stocks .i said to them not much chance seeing many fish on this boat hehe .
anyway found a spot around 65ft and getn plenty of fish in but nothin worth keepn ,when alll of a sudden one of the driftn gar scream away. 10min later got the first decent fish aboard 17.5 kg spanish mack. as we continued to catch under sized coral trout. one of the gars gets taken but in a slow pick up almost like it was toying with it. having the reel on freespool with ratchet on it continued to take small runs with it suspecting it was a marlin i gave him plenty of line when suddenly it takes off with the gar i waited about 10sec then went for the strike thinking i hooked my first marlin i felt the weight ,he jumped out of the water and spat my gar out. dam!
anyway cut a long story short it happened to me 3 times in the space of 30min. any suggestions on how i woulda had a better chance of hooking him are most welcome.
daniel
Nice mack there. My philosophy with the marlin is just to give it everything to get a solid hookup. I probably wouldnt freespool but I've seen videos where guys (much more experienced than me) freespooling them so I may be wrong. A good effort anyway, I'd swap ya twenty mack tuna for the spaniard.
Have you got a photo of the 17.5 kg spanish.....
"Reef Hustler" - Seafarer Victory 6.0m & 225hp Honda
Give the circle hooks a try mate but remember that with them you dont strike you just slowly tighten up.
il give them cirlce hooks a try cheers flickflack
i was told to get the hook sharpener out
and blue_rogue believe it or not that fish weighed 17.5kg. i was surprised when we weighed it.when it was opened up it was full of roe. i also need to sack the photgrapherbut its nice to get a smart remark maybe i should stop the reports and keep them to myself
Lbs and kgs mixed up me thinks, water looks good sure beats working. cheers isaac
sorry isaac i dont do lbs. why would i make that up...if the fish weighed 5kg i would put 5kg who cares i was only giving a report for you guys to read. but i guess people go through this site with a toothcombe to quickly jump on you if they think they found something not right. wasnt pointing the finger at you isaac . i think il make that my last report on this site cheers daniel
Fishface,
Don't doubt the weight. Looks like the head is angled back away from your body. Two things that indicate a heavy fish is the indent your left hand makes into the stomach and the size of the tail. Keep trying with the marlin they are worth the wait (or weight?). As the guys said, circle hooks are the go and don't strike just ease up the pressure.
Shafty
Nice fish Daniel, maybe I should have spent more time with floating baits and less time fooling around with mack tuna the other day!
cheers,
steve
I plead not guiltymaybe I should have spent more time with floating baits and less time fooling around with mack tuna the other day!
I know how you feel fishface and agree with you. But don't get too offended. I also have posted threads and there will always be a small group that are nit pickers. They are usually bored people. I often catch fish and I am so very excited but there is only one out of the bunch that will sarcastically say" I use them for bait only, you must be desperate to keep that".
You should ignore those types and see all the really good people on this site. Trouble is, I know how you feel, as one NASTY person can make you ignore all the lovely comments that you did receive Daniel.
We need your input as you are one of the 99.9% NICE people on this site. Please don't leave. You make me smile, so that is one good reason not to quit on us.
Cheers
Rose
cheers vanurose you are right why should that spoil my good day out on the reef
i love reading other peoples fishing reports and will continue to put mine in for the majority of this site
daniel
Yeah I agree fishface sack the photographer thats a very bad photo of a good fish certainly looks like it needs to go to jenny craig well done keep the posts coming. Andrew.
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