queensland Marlin Fishing Mates

[AZZA]

Hi Guys this summer I am keen to get out and chase some Black Marlin off Moreton and the sunshine coasts. Will depart mostly from Bribie and the sunshine coast with some trips out of the Gold coast and these will be weekend trips. I am looking for some deckies who would be keen to go with the ability to pay their way, proberly from $50 to $100 a trip. Deckies will also want to learn this type of fishing and not just come along for the ride and get a rod handed to them on hook up. This type of fishing is new to me and I will be on a learning curve and expect to come home with no fish on more than one occasion. So if you are keen please get in touch or if you have your own boat and would like to tag along sing out

[dhess]

Hey Azza,

I do a fair bit of trolling each season and am keen to have a good crack at some billfish this summer as well. Can pick up tuna and wahoo pretty reliably but yet to get a black.

Feel a lot better equipped to find the fish with areas and knowledge so will definitely have a good go this season. Would be good to cooperate with two boats on the water by working more ground to find where the bait is at.

Would also be keen to join you on your boat and share in costs on less than perfect weather days as my boat would be the limiting factor.

I am have 2 x 15kg outfits a 10kg and an 8kg and heaps of trolling lures.

Dom

[AZZA]

Hi Dom sounds like a good plan. What area do you fish?

[straddiebrad]

noname and i have been getting some off-shore trolling gear ready and i would say he would be keen to have a crack at some trolling off the cape and off the goldcoast aswell.brad

[tugger]

will be doing the same down the gold coast this season and have had good success with livies the key, they well and truely out fished the lures being trolled by other boats. find the bait balls on the sounder and the marlin will be close look for current lines or birds dive bombing and send the livies out with circle hooks getting the better hook up rate

[straddiebrad]

too true mark cant wait to hit up down there,when you head down for the season give us a yell and hopefully i can make it.

[AZZA]

Hey Guys do you use mono or braid for trolling, I have one 15kg set up and 3 or 4 8kg rigs have got a mixture braid and mono at the moment. Was looking at running braid with a 10 to 20 meter mono leader to give it some shock absorbsion on the strike

[tugger]

i use mono for everything still not convinced on that braid

[dhess]

Sounds like we could almost have a Marlin social.

I fish mostly around Cape Moreton or Mooloolaba, but will be spreading out to offshore Noosa and Gold Coast.

As Mark said livies are always going to outfish lures. Personally I am more interested in chasing them with lures as it will more challenging and its nice to go for a troll after a bottom fishing dawn session.

Also like Mark said find the bait and the fish won't be far off. Its also critical to keep an ear out for reports, as sometimes there will be heaps of marlin getting caught off the Gold Coast nothing up north or vice versa.

[straddiebrad]

i have mono on my trolling reel witch is a shimano tld two speed cant rember the rod i think its a 15kg rig.

[AZZA]

I got a cheap set of out riggers so am able to run a five lure spread and am keen to traverle to wher the fish are

[straddiebrad]

i think we will mainly go for the wahoo,spanish and what ever wants to jump on the line,dont have too much for the marlin but you never know what you will get.brad

[dhess]

AZZA wrote:

Hey Guys do you use mono or braid for trolling, I have one 15kg set up and 3 or 4 8kg rigs have got a mixture braid and mono at the moment. Was looking at running braid with a 10 to 20 meter mono leader to give it some shock absorbsion on the strike

I only use mono for trolling. Any other offshoire fishing braid all the way. It becomes a pain and expensive to have dedicated trolling setups.

Way too many pulled hooks with braid. A 20m long shock leader isn't enough. You would need about 50m to give you enough bounce. You won't about min 500m of line on each reel and anything other than overheads is going to be hard work. Lever drags are definitely advantageous.

[AZZA]

How far behind the boat would you run the lures?

[neal82]

i'm pretty keen to learn this sort of fishing too mate. would love to get onto a marlin, or even some spanish, wahoo or doli's as a bit of bycatch! i've got an overhead setup that might do the trick (300m of 30lb braid with 100m of mono under it), and a 7-12kg spin stick that i'm yet to pick up a reel for (hoping to get one soon, just sorting out budgets with the mrs still).

keep us in mind for these trips, also will occasionally have access to a boat for tag alongs as well if the old man is up to a long day out.

[dhess]

This is where it gets tricky and trolling becomes an art. With skirted lures distance depends on the colour, size, shape of the lure head and particularly the shape of the wake being thrown up by your boat.

Most people are surprised at how close lures should be trolled behind the boat to perform at their peak.

Usually you run the most vibrantly coloured, largest lures with most aggressive action in close on the short corner. Cup faced lures with short stocky heads usually have a more aggressive action. 10m off the transom is enough in most boats. You then stagger them back from there working towards smaller naturally coloured lures with longer tapered heads.

Usually you have your shotgun lure way out the back. Even a 100m.

It is important to have the lures positioned so that they are swimming down the waves of your wake otherwise they won't present anywhere near as nicely.

For an awesome free resource take the time to read and study:

/>http://www.pakula.com.au/index.php?option=com_xmap&sitemap=5&Itemid=223

It has pretty much all of the info you need and more.

Starting off running 5 lures is probably overkill. You will struggle to have them performing properly and are likely to end up in a tangled mess until you get the hang of things. If you go through a school of tuna or wahoo it will end up in absolute chaos unless you have a crew of three or four that know what they are doing. Just Start off running two or three lures but have them swimming spot on. You will still catch plenty of fish and save yourself a lot of frustration.

I also like to troll a mix of skirts, bibbed minnows and or bibless minnows to find out what is working on the day.

[Ashhley]

mate ive got heaps and heaps of gaming fishing gear but no 1 to really target bill fish with down here.... i am equipt with combos from 4kg line class to 37kg line class, id be very inetersted in a deckie spot on some of ur trips,

[tugger]

most guys i know troll livies and lures as well as dead baits like gar right up to mackerel always spread your lines when trolling to avoid tangles and use teasers or skip baits to attrack the marlin in then switch bait when you spot the marlin. most of the time you will see the marlin before you get a strike this gives you time to prepare for free spooling the line that gets taken to get a decent hook up. marlin are very hard to hook as there mouth is very tuff and you really need to get the hook into the corner of its mouth for the best penetration.

good luck just using lures as they can be finicky when a certain bait has become flavour of the month for them like slimies then they won't touch anything else. i've seen them swim past everything else time and time again. 2 seasons ago i got 20 marlin in 12 days and they touched nothing but slimies even swiming past live yakkas to smack a dead slimie on many occasion. i had mates trolling those same days and all they would touch also were the slimies they were trolling and never touched any of there lures and these guys were in game fishing clubs who knew there trade.

keep an open mind when chasing marlin and always change your tactics to find what they are keen on and change speed of the boat all the time even stopping at times for short periods. they can follow you baits for 30 minutes at a time then you change speed or twitch the rod or stop the boat and they will come in and strike. this has been proven with cmaeras behind the boats there are a few good dvds out with alot of this info. i will post this season when i'm going down the goldie if anyone wants to tag along and learn a few spots and techniques

[daveylad]

I'll be happy to be in that Aaron, a tag along would be good experience for me already got the reel and skirted lure. Dhess knows his stuff with this fishing would be good to do a tag along together looks like a few could be interested

[Angus]

This has turned into a very informative thread. Cant offer anything to it myself, however would readily put my hand up for a deckie spot for a "Marlin Social" as I am always wanting to try new things. Id be more than elated at anything on the list of afore mentioned fish though!

Angus

[Angus]

Actually at the risk of sounding repetitive, the interest shown here could certainly warrant the formation of its very own interest group on the site!

Angus

[mick fillet]

ooooyeah iam keen.tag alongs are great.

I reckon using live bait and anchoring up this season will be on the cards for me.

hundreds of hours were clocked up trolling last season.it can get very expensive

lures arnt all that cheap and fuel aint getting cheaper either.

last season we did many big trips . traveling close to the coast just doin long distance traveling over 2- 3 days.there lots of fun but expensive.

This season I will be doin more short in close trips off the goldie targeting palagics. I cant wait.

:woohoo:

mick

[Bri The Pom]

mick fillet wrote:

ooooyeah iam keen.tag alongs are great.

I reckon using live bait and anchoring up this season will be on the cards for me.

hundreds of hours were clocked up trolling last season.it can get very expensive

lures arnt all that cheap and fuel aint getting cheaper either.

last season we did many big trips . traveling close to the coast just doin long distance traveling over 2- 3 days.there lots of fun but expensive.

This season I will be doin more short in close trips off the goldie targeting palagics. I cant wait.

:woohoo:

mick

You can anchor up next to me any day Mick, but just keep the noise down. And don't invite anyone else.

[Bri The Pom]

Tackleworld at southport hold seminars closer to the season with guest speakers like peter pakula and williamson lures

I will let you know when they come up.

Starting to understand it slowly, not sure what the shotgun in the right hand corner is for. :S

[tugger]

Bri this season you got to get out a bit wider and use bigger baits especially livies it will give you a better chance at the spanish, kingies and billfish. will let you know when i'm getting out and show you how to rig the bigger baits now you have got the hang of spotties it's time to go bigger :fishing:

[Terry H]

Nice thread boys.

Hope to see you boys out there in summer time. Just try nto to run over two yellow Hobie Adventure Islands. We could turn up anywhere in search of some Marlin So dont' be surprised to see us 15+ kilometres offshore. We wont be lost or in need of help (Perhaps a point int he right direction for the fish though! )

dhess; informative post mate. Any recommendations for a kayak though? We wouldnt' exactly put out a big bow wave like you boaties. An absolute minimum of 8-10 kilometres an hour is more than doable though, so I'm hoping speed isn't an issue

[Bri The Pom]

tugger wrote:

Bri this season you got to get out a bit wider and use bigger baits especially livies it will give you a better chance at the spanish, kingies and billfish. will let you know when i'm getting out and show you how to rig the bigger baits now you have got the hang of spotties it's time to go bigger :fishing:

Yes sounds great Mark, got a few dead baits in the freezer and some new lures,rods and reels and a gps, but lets not forget im restricted to a tinny and experience.

Have been watching Currumbin bar for a few weeks now at diiferent tides, may use that instead of Talle.

110 sleeps till Mack time.

[tugger]

Bri it's not that much further offshore from palmy but you do need an epirb legally if you want to jump in my boat again i'll give you the heads up when heading out and brush up on the rigs for the bigger ones

[Bri The Pom]

tugger wrote:

Bri it's not that much further offshore from palmy but you do need an epirb legally if you want to jump in my boat again i'll give you the heads up when heading out and brush up on the rigs for the bigger ones

Thats sounds great Mark, thanks will take you up on the offer for sure.

[dhess]

Terry,

Maybe we can tow you guys around in our lure spread as tiger shark teasers.

If I was trolling from a kayak I would try bridle rigging a yakka or slimy. This is a super effective way of trolling for most pelagics. Also you could try Pakula Dojo Peche Hybids. They are a funny looking lure that is a cross between a plastic and a skirted lure. They are meant to perform well as slow as 4knots.

[Terry H]

Cheers.

In a 10-15 knot wind, we can do more than 4 knots pretty easily.

[Bri The Pom]

dhess wrote:

Terry,

Maybe we can tow you guys around in our lure spread as tiger shark teasers.

If I was trolling from a kayak I would try bridle rigging a yakka or slimy. This is a super effective way of trolling for most pelagics. Also you could try Pakula Dojo Peche Hybids. They are a funny looking lure that is a cross between a plastic and a skirted lure. They are meant to perform well as slow as 4knots.

I use the small dojo's to cast for tailor, very effective lure.

[ryanyoung]

Can anyone out there answer a question for me??? What is so different about teasers (except a lack of a hook), that attract fish more than a skirt??? I am a massive rookie at this, having only been out half a dozen times offshore on the troll. I too am finding this thread to be very interesting.

Cheers,

Ryan.

[tugger]

teasers have mirrors and reflective colours on a large bodied bar that make a large trail of bubbles to get the bill fisshes attention to bring it into your wake then they turn to the lures and baits

[daveylad]

tugger wrote:

teasers have mirrors and reflective colours on a large bodied bar that make a large trail of bubbles to get the bill fisshes attention to bring it into your wake then they turn to the lures and baits

Sounds something like my missus did to me mark :laugh:

[dhess]

I think Ryan was referring to unrigged lures used to tease fish and then switch bait rather than spreader bars, squid chains and witch doctor type teasers.

Not sure of the answer, but possibly to do with better action due to less weight and billfish having fantastic eyesight.

LOL at Daveylad. Something similar happened to me.

[AZZA]

dhess wrote:

Terry,

Maybe we can tow you guys around in our lure spread as tiger shark teasers.

If I was trolling from a kayak I would try bridle rigging a yakka or slimy. This is a super effective way of trolling for most pelagics. Also you could try Pakula Dojo Peche Hybids. They are a funny looking lure that is a cross between a plastic and a skirted lure. They are meant to perform well as slow as 4knots.

I am in cairns at the moment and they have these in Rays Outdoors shop in the bargin bin for $15 and also Doorknobs unrigded for $19. I went in to pick up some Outdoor Expedition Braid that they had in the Bargin bins for 20bucks for a 150meter roll but this week it is $30 a roll

[Angus]

Interest is looking good. I hope this means we can expect some awesome reports over Summer!

Clue a novice in... What would be the "best" month for Bill Fish?

Angus

[AZZA]

I belive it is Jan ,feb in our neck of the woods but I could be wrong

[AZZA]

I think I will need to make a list of deckies wanting to get on board so every one gets a run. I think I could run 3 off my boat at a time