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Bad_Bubby
03-12-2005, 03:30 AM
With the closure on reef fish still in effect Bazzaman and I went out yesterday morning aiming to troll up a spaniard or wahoo in the ideal conditions 8-). We bagan by trolling some skirts around pixie reef where a little bit of isolated bird action and some good bait showings on the sounder had us optimistic. First fish of the day...a mack tuna to me (incidently my first ever). He went straight into the esky for big red bait ;D. We moved onto the northern side of pixie and spotted a current line moving alongside the shallow reef edge. A subsequent troll through this zone saw Shane's skirt get 'trimmed down' by what looked like a wahoo of at least 15kg. It flew into the morning sky in spectacular fashion, but the drama did not end there.

Upon moving to some inshore marks we continued trolling the skirts only for the same thing to happen to shane again (no fish and destroyed skirt). We stopped to re-position Shane's line, from which point he revd' the outboard moving steadily west to our desired shallow water destination. Suddenly my ratchet screamed, I could see a misty spray where my lure was sitting so I just struck and hoped for the best :o. My backbone rod was well and truely doubled over with line melting off the reel. About 50m out a marlin made some serious air (twice) before running deep and long. Shane began the chase while I frantically tried to maintain the 7kg of drag pressure I had set earlier. I eventually retrieved the 170-200 odd metres I initially lost so things were looking good. It made some runs down deep causing me surprisingly little trouble with TLD25. When I saw colour I had to look a long time before my brain would accept the fact I was winning a fight against a huge marlin on a reel I was using to pull barra out of pylons not long ago :o. Near the surface the marlin looked as though it would jump but it just arced a bit like a tuna for about 5 minutes while Shane got a glove on.

We were both pretty excited by this stage and didnt really consider the reality of trying to control a fish of probably 70-90kg(that I had basically skull dragged to the boat on 24). A few akward turns by the marlin meant Shane was getting limited opportunity to get ahold of its bill. Then at the last moment the lure fell out of place and my marlin sank into the depths :'( :'(. We had mixed feelings about loosing the marlin and proceeded to get into some trevally while contemplating what might have been. My metals were hammered three times during this late part of the trip resulting in two very drawn out fights with a bludger trev and gt. I think loosing that marlin will haunt me for a long time but I am just grateful to be able to experience what happened. Heres the pics of the other fish...


Mack tuna

Bad_Bubby
03-12-2005, 03:38 AM
Bludger trevor...they seem to be around in good numbers

Bad_Bubby
03-12-2005, 03:41 AM
and a g.t

pittymick
03-12-2005, 06:02 AM
where abouts is pixie reef? near what major town and what would you say the visability was like and how many km out is it cheers ;D

S-Strike
03-12-2005, 06:54 AM
Pixie Reef is north east of Cairns - about 30-40 metres deep around it but it breaks the surface at the centre.

Lucky_Phill
03-12-2005, 07:00 AM
Beware the Bad_Bubby....be very aware ! ;)

noodlemantra
03-12-2005, 08:40 AM
well done mate, on ya

Fishinmishin
03-12-2005, 12:28 PM
Good on ya mate. It's great to see a fisho looking after the marlin and opting for an ealy release ;D. Karma will see you hooking many more this season. It has been one of my long time questions I ask myself...'when a good fish is hooked and near the boat and my confidence is low, do I go for the camera or the gaff or gloves' ;).
Cheers, Jay

Angla
03-12-2005, 01:16 PM
Great report and it sounds like a great time was had.

Great fish deserve a fair fighting chance and he just got the better deal today

I tend to think the fight is the best part and then the story telling afterwards over a cold beer.

Good luck in the future and tight lines to you

Angla
:-/

Franco
03-12-2005, 01:38 PM
Great report mate!

Hooking the marlin and getting it so close would've been super even He got off before the photo shoot. Better than a day with no bites!

Nice fish those bludgers, hey. Keep those good reports coming.

scuttlebutt
03-12-2005, 02:29 PM
Nice one dan, might see you out there on Sunday arvo,

cheers,

steve

flickflack
03-12-2005, 02:35 PM
Great report there guys, cant wait to get into them.

noodlemantra
03-12-2005, 04:07 PM
what concerns me most was the comment about the reel used to pull barra out from pylons.
a) how big were these barra
b) did they ever stand a chance?

:o :o

Jacksta
03-12-2005, 04:35 PM
Great story mate! Its hard when something like that happens, you feel so happy that you hooked it but then when it gets away at your finger tips your just in shock lol i know the feeling... but maybe not a marlin but great shots of the other fish nic work mate congrats. That GT would have gone like a train :P

Cheers Joel ;D

Bad_Bubby
03-12-2005, 05:08 PM
Thanks for the comments so far guys ;D

Steve- Hopefully between two boats we can get a jack onboard, I got an 85L ice box today in anticipation ::). I'm assuming you'll be heading straight out to Spot 'R'.lol

noodlemantra- The TLD25 was used for barra at Palm Cove Jetty, in response to your questions:
a) Average size for barra there is 90cm, common for 120cm barra to be hooked but rarely landed on anything less than 15kg due to structure. The heavy outfit is used in conjunction with 1kg sea mullet and 100lb mono trace doubled over.
b) Yes, I only landed one and lost a couple on 10kg. Everyone using light line got done over. My regular barra outfit is a 6kg baitcaster with Abu 5600c4 or sometimes my T2000F Abu spin set up if I'm feeling lucky.

bazzaman
03-12-2005, 05:17 PM
What a good day but could have been better with photos. Could be a late arvo troll morrow dan and see if we can raise another. I have the urge to just target em after yesterday!

This photo is of the skirts we used and the trimmings that are left! :-[ :-[

Eric_Percival
03-12-2005, 05:35 PM
Well done. Nice fish. I wish I lived nera Cairns.

Bad_Bubby
03-12-2005, 05:44 PM
Is the one on the far left the beakie special?

bazzaman
03-12-2005, 06:03 PM
beaky special thats it.! 8-) :) :)

The others are wahoooooo specials!

stubbie
03-12-2005, 07:12 PM
Top effort boys! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

HOOKLINEnSINKER
03-12-2005, 09:59 PM
hey bazzaman have you ventured to the shelf in your boat yet? nice report on pixie reef.
might be out trolling a few skirts on sunday as well scuttlebutt.

Zeeke
03-12-2005, 10:53 PM
El Bubbito strikes again with Cairns favourite pisspot.. Big Shane ;D


Geez Dan... a mack tuna is one thing... but... a bludger?? you got 2 thumping baitfish .... and ur smiling in both pics...

Keep it up.. one day you'll reach apprentice decky

Tim