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Old 10-31-2020, 01:30 AM
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Coiloil37 Coiloil37 is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Oz
Posts: 2,109
Default Skip the ice, let’s go bill fishing.

Second morning we fired up the Webber and made breakfast then got into it. I put out the standard six lure spread and set her to 6.5 knots in about 20m of water. After about ten minutes the short corner went off which was a split tailed mullet. I let him run for a few seconds then gave him strike drag ~15lbs. The hooks seemed to have sunk in and he rocketed up to the surface for a few jumps. I gave the rod to the youngster and started clearing lines. About the time I was done clearing the other five rods his line went slack and he told me he was gone. I cranked it in the find the leader had snapped where it went through the hook. I made a mental note to add anti chaff on my split tailed mullet and started setting lines out again.
Within fifteen or twenty minutes another rod went off. This time a rapala magnum so I was thinking a tuna or Spanish mackerel. Well another much larger black marlin came to the surface 60m behind the boat and started tail walking. This was the biggest one we saw all day, perhaps a 90-100kg fish and not the little babies we were expecting. Within a min or so that fish had spit the hook so it was back to the grind.
About half an hour later the shotgun went off. This time a jr ilander with a gar under the skirt. I gave him a second to run then set the hooks. The little black came to the surface and I passed the rod over to Nolan. I cleared lines then slowed the boat so he could fight the fish.













When the fish got to the boat he was pretty tired. I slow trolled him along side the boat for about thirty minutes without much hope he would survive. I had my little man troll us into about 2 meters of water so I could gaff the marlin if he didn’t make it. On the release he went belly up so I told Nolan we would eat him. Nolan thought that was a fantastic idea because he’s been chasing me for a marlin bill since we moved here and I’ve been unwilling to kill one. I circled around and put the gaff in him. We bled him and got some pics before knocking the fillets off to put in the kill tank. We also kept the head and tail and I’ll have to figure out how to preserve them.




We got the pics, weighed him at 33.6 lbs and gutted the fish, put him on ice and I explained to the little man at the ripe age of five he had accomplished what took me 36 years to achieve. Now, they’re small fish but non the less he had a marlin under his belt. The pride on that little face was priceless.

We then got four lines out (it was easier then running six) and about ten minutes later we had another marlin sneak in and hit the split tail mullet, ran with it, dropped it then I saw him shoot across and he hooked up on a pakula skirt off the long rigger. I cleared the lines while Nolan fought him and he tail walked all over the ocean. I drove the boat toward him and Nolan brought him up. I video taped the action on the gopro then got him unhooked and revived for a quick release.




We put the spread back out and Nolan told me the next fish was mine. A half hour later the shotgun goes off again. Another little black starts leaping out of the water a hundred meters behind the boat. Where’s Nolan? Right beside me asking for the rod. He takes number 3 while I clear the lines. Another good fight and a clean release.








A few minutes later after getting the spread out I see a tail and dorsal fin sticking out of the water. We troll over and I tell Nolan to watch the rods. The first lure past him was the short corner with another split tailed mullet. The rod buckled over and he started to run. I cleared the deck again and Nolan brought number four to the boat.




It was 10:00 am and we had a good run back to the boat ramp and a two and a half hour run home. We took off and half way back I saw birds working a bust up. We got into it and I saw they were mac tuna. They’re good bait so we threw some slugs at them. I hooked up and passed the first rod to Nolan. He landed it and I threw it in the kill tank for strip baits. We ran over to the bust up again and I hooked a second one which he landed. We then kept heading for the boat ramp without any more distractions. We pulled into home about 15:00 and had the boat cleaned up by 17:00. Of 11 billfish strikes we only managed five hookups and four landed but once we found a strategy that worked we did ok.
There’s still a chance I’ll get back up there in the next two weeks before I head back to work but if not I’ll shoot out from home and get some of the larger models.

Back to their eating qualities. I cleaned up the marlin fillets.




Grilled on the BBQ like swordfish and to be honest it tasted exactly like swordfish.

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