queensland marlin and wahoo 1st march 09

[MichaelJ]

went offshore today and we got a 73kg black marlin that died after a 2 and a half hour fight on 8kg line and i got a tiny wahoo at round 60cm lol but it looked pretty good

the marlin

[img size=375]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/nathans_73kg_black.jpg

[MichaelJ]

my hoo

[img size=500]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/my_mad_wahoo.jpg

[Angus]

Good fish man.

And your right that Wahoo may be small but it looks awesome!

What sort of gear would load 8lb onto for Marlin fishing?

Cheers

Angus

[yoyo]

Good job man, what r u gunna do with the Marlin ??

[Angus]

Can you eat a Marlin that size? I know the striped Marlin they long line can get pretty big? But im unsure with the bigger species?

Angus

[MichaelJ]

we eat the marlin

and for light tackle we use tcurve 8kg rods with tiagra 16's and 8kg stren line

[Angus]

Excellent. Thanks for that mate just curious.

Nice one again.

Angus

[paulymassy]

nice

[fishinking]

nice work mate, do u reckon if u loaded a tyrnos 20 onto a t curve 9kg game rod it wud still be alright

nathan

[James W]

smoked marlin is pretty damn good

marlin on the troll or live bait?

[maxi]

why were you guys using 8 kg for marlin fishing or was it bycatch ??

was that your first billfish ??

i killed my first and still cant work out why i did ...

[jeff f]

maxi 8kg is the most common sized gear used for the small(50kg)marlin we get around here at this time of year

that one is a bit bigger

[yoyo]

Man heading out for billies spooled up with 8kg line is loco !

We should just call you "The marlin Whisperer" michael........! hahaha...

[goat_man_baa]

Where abouts did you get those Michael. They look like crackers

[jeff f]

guys there are more marlin caught on light gear than heavy

the majority of game fishing on the boats i worked on allways ran with 8-16 kg gear

it was only when we found or were specifically targeting big BIG marlin that we'd bring out the 24s, 37s or 60kg gear

my pb on 8kg is 104 (died boatside and weighed) and on 16kg is 220+ tagged and released boatside)

[maxi]

the heavier the gear, the better the skipper and vessel, the better chance of a good release of a healthy fish... im not baggin out micheal in any way shape or form here.. but most big game anglers these days fish with heavier gear to try and ensure a good release of those beautiful fish....

my pb's are all on 24 kg..

blue....approx 250 kilo on 24 kilo stand up, 1 hr 45 mins, should have been a lot shorter fight but the skipper was a goose and i wasnt happy, we dont use him anymore, but the fish swam away ...and it had no bill by the way ...:ohmy: kiama canyons area

black.... approx 120 kilo on 24 kilo in the chair, 30 mins, swam away very healthy.. port stephens carpark area..

stripey .... approx 140 kilo on 24 kilo in the chair, 45 mins, swam away very healthy... batemans bay shelf line area ...

so all im saying is the quicker you can get a marlin boatside pics taken and tagged the better for them and our fishery, bloody hell the longlines do enough damage without us helping them destroy the fishery [img size=480]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/DSCF3079-bdaae7683a0b43d3c0b59386aceeb52e.jpg

[kiwifisho]

Couple of nice fish there mate:woohoo:

Dean

[shortie]

maxi wrote:

the heavier the gear, the better the skipper and vessel, the better chance of a good release of a healthy fish... im not baggin out micheal in any way shape or form here.. but most big game anglers these days fish with heavier gear to try and ensure a good release of those beautiful fish....

my pb's are all on 24 kg..

blue....approx 250 kilo on 24 kilo stand up, 1 hr 45 mins, should have been a lot shorter fight but the skipper was a goose and i wasnt happy, we dont use him anymore, but the fish swam away ...and it had no bill by the way ...:ohmy: kiama canyons area

black.... approx 120 kilo on 24 kilo in the chair, 30 mins, swam away very healthy.. port stephens carpark area..

stripey .... approx 140 kilo on 24 kilo in the chair, 45 mins, swam away very healthy... batemans bay shelf line area ...

so all im saying is the quicker you can get a marlin boatside pics taken and tagged the better for them and our fishery, bloody hell the longlines do enough damage without us helping them destroy the fishery [img size=480]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/DSCF3079-bdaae7683a0b43d3c0b59386aceeb52e.jpg

Bets its not the worst skipper youve been out with Maxi.

I remember a boat that keeps breaking down.

[maxi]

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

dont remind me mate ... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: [img size=480]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/DSCF2951-5fbc0b715fb1d62b79bf495806145e6c.jpg

[MichaelJ]

lol settle down

it only died cause it got tail wrapped

also 8kg can get marlin about 35kg in to the boat in under 10min easy enough ppl even use 4kg line for sailfish

also i didnt catch it the guy on the right with a red hat did

[maxi]

awwwww

and all the time we thought you got it ...:laugh: :laugh:

we got one once we thought was tailed but turned out to be hooked dead square between the tail flutes.. and yes it didnt release real healthy, but when we realised what was going on we backed down hard to try and eleviate the stress,

i have a pic of the hookup somewhere ??????

[fishinking]

nice man what rod and reel was it?

[Smithy]

We fish 8kg line because 80-90% of the tournaments we go in in SEQ have it set down as the only line class we can fish light tackle in waters less than 150m deep. There is a lot of cost associated with respooling all the time between social fishing and tournament fishing. As Mikey has said, most normal 20-25kg marlin we get over summer can be tagged and released in under 10 minutes. A lot of clubs also have club point scores for end of year trophies. The point systems in those reward fishing lighter gear for more points than heavier gear. 8kg works out to be the best all round compromise for the fish we get around here. Like the fish in this report, sometimes the wrong size fish jumps on the wrong size gear.