TOP DAY! Black, Hoo and Fins without spots

[Brownbear]

8-) With my mate Mick waiting for me at the Grand at 4am (had drove down from Bris), there was no getting out of facing that 20knt SE'er... So #out of the Seaway and into some slop ::) off to chase a spot. After an hour or so and dropping the only 2 hits (only saw 1 other boated) #i decided to pull the anchor and do some towing out a bit wider, Mick and i had a little comp #Minnows(me) V's Skirts(Mick) 1st #strike was me to a mtuna >:(, 2nd to me a hoo, shook the hooks #:'(, 3rd goes to mick and we land a nice hoo, 4th to me a bonito so small i didn't pull drag ::) 5th to Mick and misses a small black as it launches and shakes the hooks :'( 6th to me and a nice yellow.. Hadn't even set all the lures and I'm on again Its a small black doing some great areails and playing up ;D unfortunatly by time we had him boatside he was bleeding from #the second trebble in his gills....
Go the Minnows!! :)

[outwide1]

Welldone brown bear,bloody good effort ;)Hope you dont mind me asking but how deep were you 50m line???mick

[aussiefool]

well done mate ..... what are those black's like to eat??? worth while fishing for?

[Brownbear]

Mick- 24's SE mate....
aussie- pretty good on the chew, simular to the hoo :P

[jackreeper]

Nice haul mate, well done.

How big were the wahoo.....any pics ??

[Jay_S]

Nice Marlin mate :o :o :o
Well Done ;)





Cheers Jay 8-)

[jeffo]

did you keep the black>? do them and yourself a favor and tell ya mate to leave his hard bodies in the tackle bag.

[skulldrag]

Nice black Marlin, Well done.

[outwide1]

Thanks brown bear,i had a feeling that would of been the case.I think what jeffos trying to say is that the mortality rate is highly increased by useing hardbodies due to the 3 sets of trebles.I fish for marlin and couldnt kill one as they are the most amazeing fish that swims our waters,there for i tend to swim skirts with hooks designed not to tare the fish apart when you release it,this is a very touchey subject as everyone has there own opinoin.If you are going to target these fish in the future i suggest you find out more as you cant keep killing these amazeing animals,i would much prefer a fillet of pearlies anyday over a black marlin,now iam not haveing ago at you just hopefuly helping a little for the future,because at the end of the day i dont own the ocean. ;DTIGHT LINES OUTWIDE1 MICK ;)

[samson]

Brownbear nice fish mate i don't have any problem if any one wants to keep a marlin for a feed it seems to be a very sensitive subject when one is kept whether it be intentionally or not, i think that people who target them seem to do marlin more harm than the guys who just get the odd one as by catch every so often and they seem to be the guys that love having a dig, especially when their a nice eating size as yours was it was probably only a six month old fish anyway they grow that quick. I find it a lot more concerning watching people killing the bigger fish and aren't even eaten you can't catch the top class eating fish all the time you can only catch whats there on the day in this case a TOP DAY.
Cheers samson

[jeffo]

i chase them every day the weather is good...sure the odd one is going to die during or after capture- its part of the sport. but i will continue to have a dig at those who keep marlin and sailfish intentionally. they obviously have access to a boat big enough to get offshore- there for have access to reef fish and pelagics such as wahoo, mackeral and mahi mahi................MUCH easier to catch and taste a hell of a lot better-not to mention leaving yourself wide open for critisism.


If we are in need of fish for the table we will pull up on a patch of reef (99% of the time where we are chasing billfish) and drop down for a few reefies.

Im not having a go at you brown bear, as we still dont know if you kept or released the fish. I was just making the suggestion about using skirts next time when your out wider, everything that eats hard bodied lures out there will be more than happy to eat a well presented skirted lure.

On another note the 2nd (or 3rd in some cases) treble on that lure is bloody dangerous to you and your crew while a lively billfish is being handled boat side. One of my good mates ended up with a 10/0 stainless hook in his hand while handling a 100kg black at the boat. since then i have gone to single hooks on all my lures.

You mentioned that the fish was bleeding from a treble in the gills...doesnt sound good for the fish- BUT in reading Dr Julian Pepperell's (Billfish scientist) book "fish tails" i noticed a photo that brings hope to us when a fish is bleeding.
It is a photo of a blue marlin showing a completely healed gill arch which had been torn in an earlier incident. this would be the equivalent of surviving a severed artery!!

food for thought. they have more chance let go than in the esky.

my 2 cents.

[reel_scream]

Jeffo,

Curious as to what % of your fish you think would die during or after the fight?

scott.

[jimboomba_jed]

Goin and catchn as many as you can all the time and lettn them go cant be too good for them either, yeah sure go and catch one every now and then and let it go but it cant be doin the poor buggers too good coppn any sort of hook in the face! Why go and catch reefies when u can catch bream around a jetty? Cant see whats wrong with keeping one every now and then, but I think more damage is being done to the billfish population from charter operators nailen em every time they migrate down our coast than the average bloke gettn out and catchn the odd one and keepn it! thats my two bobs worth anyway!

cheers donnan

[samson]

Jeffo,
Samson mate i fully respect your position on billfish too good to catch just once, but you can't take peoples right away concerning a feed Greenys have been doing that for far too long now at the end of the day its just another specie thats very edible and people have got to eat its good to see someone standing in their corner though maybe get on those long liners backs i saw a video recently of a local southport longliner puting a bullet in the head of every fish boated that 303 rifle soon slows them down, as you would know its illeagal to take black or blue marlin for the commercial market but that doesn't stop every fish getting shot and dumped just to land the the more valuable species more quickly.


Regarding Brownbear using skirts rather than minnows your preaching to a preacher Brownbear has been manufacturing a good range of resin and lead head trolling skirts for sometime now for the open market, he has them in some tackle shops under the name of SPEEDY LURES but likes to sell them to the public direct at a very reasonable price consistent with cost of other brand name lures. They come with very good quality terminals and top of the range YO-ZURI skirts he is very flexible as far as customizing colours to suit your needs, these are of the very best quality, if anyone wants some for the up coming tolling season give Brownbear a PM he is situated on the gold coast and is more than happy to look after any punters that like a bit of trolling.

P.S i have been using these lures for more than a few seasons now and they have produced some incredible sized fish of a wide variety.

[Nobites]

Imagine being taken to the brink of death by a shark and then learning the shark was only playing with you for a bit of fun. Or maybe while a shark was circling you another shark came along and killed you but the circling shark was doing it for fun.

Snapper are as precious to me as marlin and I wouldnt target either of them unless I intended to eat them. I have more respect than that for them.

This is only my point of view and I do respect the fact that other people do fish for sport however I cannot see the value in doing this. Recently I saw a IFish DVD on Black Marlin fishing in the Coral Sea, they caught one marlin that they believed was possibly around 1200lbs based on the head size they pulled in after the marlin was sharked. I was dissapointed to say the least. All that for fun.

Hate to sound too harsh but I am a little too passionate about the subject.

[THE_PHOTOGRAPHER]

good on you nobites. like we can really help what jumps on our lures.we try for wahoo,tuna ,mackerel,kings etc..we cant help it if something different jumps on.so a few of us manage to hook up on a marlin and land it.and if we choose to eat it because it is bleeding.big deal i say.i could understand your point if we net them or long line for them.get over it.its a fish.they all are pretty.we still want to eat fish in moderation.

[outwide1]

You should go join the green party no bites,it would suit you. ;D or maybe we should all give up fishing as the snapper you just dragged up from 60mtrs with a hook in its mouth could be in pain and then to put him in a dark box where it cant breath or worst it could of been sharked on the way up as we have heard is very common when targeting reefies,it certainly opens a can of worms. ::)

[Edmo]

nice1 bear, i know 4 a fact you would put any animal that was suffering out of it`s misery, i think keeping a badly wounded by ca tch is fine as long as it`s not protected and within legal limits.
they are a beautiful creature and should be respected and dealt with humanly, sounds like you did this.
;)

[Nobites]

Firstly
Photoguy you misinterpreted what I said. My issue is with intent. If the intention is to target Marlin for release isnt that a waste, when marlin get sharked or die after release or taken to the brink for the sake of our fun. Man I have nothing at all against taken marlin to eat for any type of fishing weather it be sport or to specifically eat.

Dont worry outwide the snapper I catch suffer a quick death because I dont like blood in my fillets. Be assured When I hook a snapper it comes to the boat netted, bled and put on ice to feed my family. That is what fishing is about. (For me anyway) When I have my bag limit I will not keep catching for sport.

If I am fishing for mackeral and choose to use a hard body lure I will do so and if I caught a marlin as a result and it could not be returned safely I would definately eat it. Lets not waste any fishes time by targeting a species to bring it up for the purpose of return.

[reel_scream]

Jeffo,

Curious as to what % of your fish you think would die during or after the fight?

scott.

Also wondering what number of fish this would equate to this year that you have killed for your "sport"

scott.