Help with Marlin??

[FINICKY]

Trolled for 6 hours on Saturday north of sea way to pin and back in 30 odd meters of water. Trolled at 12 knots with two skirts out for 1 tuna.
Can anyone give me some advice on trolling for Marlin to help imrove the odds?
What time of day and speeds seem to be working best?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[thelump]

Im no expert mate and others may be different but I would think 12knots to be a bit quick. Maybe 6-8knots.

[serge975]

yeah i agree
im no expert at all, only got first couple this month, but all the advice i recieved was 6-7 knots.
look for birds/bait too

[cobiaman]

We have been trolling at 7 knots for marlin

[FINICKY]

Sorry. I meant 6 knots. 12 km/hr.
Thanks for pointing that out.

[outwide1]

As you could imagine there are alot of things to take into consideration.Pakulas site is a good start.
7knots is the preferred speed for trolling skirted lures unless your targeting wahoo with steel jet heads where you would troll at greater speeds.
One mistake i made in my ear lie years of trolling was i would troll from one spot(port)to another,now i just get where i need to be or close to it and then locate bait or birds until i mark some bait or see bill fish on my sounder then just stay there.Alot of people make the mistake of driving away from strikes or fish because nothing is happening.
If you know your in the right area stay there,if it gets a bit boring cruise a little further north or east in search of some bait or birds but don't wonder to far away.Tide changes this year have been some awesome bite periods,as for spots you have to have something that will hold the bait or a river outlet like the pin bar.Reef also holds bait or rocks hanging out the water,current ripping around point lookout things like that.Heavy tackle blues can be a little different as they are so far out where all you have are sea mounts or an increase or decrease in depth as well as warmer water etc.
We found that when we went out into the 36-40 mtrs one day when everyone was in 25-30 catching nothing we turned reels.
Welcome also to the game of trolling where you can burn fuel and not turn a reel all day,i was about to burn my rods and reels(an expensive fire)when i wasn't turning reels.
The small blacks have slowed down at the moment,the light tackle tournament just held down the coast on the weekend proved that with low numbers winning the comp in comparison to a couple of weeks prior where we were going 9 strikes in a day.Those trolling skirts did it tuff,Wayne (Kittykat)thought outside the square and trolled gar and reeked the rewards with 3 blacks when no one else could produce the same results
My believe is the dominate N/E winds pushing the water down south,as soon as a cooler S/E comes in and pushes the warmer water in close along with the bait they pop back up again.
I surely don't know everything about game fishing and continue learning but hope this helps a bit.
OUTWIDE MICK.

[Jeremy]

There is a lot to learn starting out gamefishing - rigging the lures, setting the spread, what to look for, trolling speed. The pakula site is very good and contains a wealth of information. Try going out with someone who knows what they are doing (charter maybe) or get someone to come with you. You need to have confidence in what you are doing and stick with it. Everyone has days when nothing happens, but when it comes together it is all worthwhile. Good luck!

[FINICKY]

Thanks for the advice guys. Will definately be paying more attention to my surroundings next time. Some great advice there.
Any preferences to time of day?

[Burnsy74]

My advice is go on a charter or a boat with great deckies.. I've grown up with great game fisherman and they never stop....
They are always watching the lures...or baits ...lures need to work and it's not just 7 knots it's understanding how they are meant to work through the water... I change my lures every hour rotating them through a pattern (somedays its bright colours others its dark) also checking nothing gets caught up.... If it is baits ur pulling change the speed stop the boat let them fall.. I've got heaps of hook up from this...
I keep marks of every marlin I have ever caught .. It's amazing how patterns develop for reasons you can't understand...
Totally agree about bait find it and work it sometimes it takes an hour to raise fish but they will be there....drop livies into it or troll skip baits around it..
Tides are important... Bait+ tide change = more chance of fish....
Finally it's always about time on water... the reason some boats catch more fish is when you break it down they spend a lot of time on water... You don't hear about all the 0-0-0 days but they constantly can gather info of where fish are not or maybe..,,
Hope that helps...

[Dicktracey]

https://www.facebook.com/events/546284565381587/
Offshore Fishing SEQ are proud to announce that we will be having an Offshore info Night with all proceeds going to Camp Quality.
The guest Speaker's for the Night will be Peter Pakula from Pakula Tackle, Greg Lamprecht from Wicked fishing & Seq's very own Jason Comino !!!
All have offered their services for the night to help raise some much needed money for Camp Quality.
We have heaps to do "Such as lock in a Venue" ASAP
So stay tuned guy's and spread the word to keep an eye out for upcoming details & how you can help.
Hoping to be the first week in February so stay tuned !

Corporate sponsors Welcome all donations will be Tax Deductible & will help a great Charity.

Not trying to hijack your thread mate but how about an opportunity to have a 1 on 1 with Peter Pakula ?

[wave dancer]

Could you send me a pm with your contact details Dicktracey so we can have a coldie and a chat. I run my own business and would gladly help sponsor this event. Each year we are a major sponsor of the Wilson/ Redlands boat club inshore/offshore family fishing comp. Last year we supplied shimano fishing reels to all the rods that were given out to the kids. Will be a major sponsor again this year. I am not a member of the club but enjoy seeing the smiles on the kids faces when they get given something. Sorry for going off track there fellas. By the way, my theory on trolling is 95% boredom and 5% mayhem. That 5% is one hell of a rush..!!!!!!

Cheers Mick..

[Goldfinch]

The 10+ hookups on small blacks that we had up here in Noosa in Dec were all on live baits and drifting, no trolling. We tried trolling fresh gar, livies and skirts to no avail. We found big bait schools on the sounder in 40-50m and then dropped live slimies and yakkas straight down into the balls. We also floated some out the back unweighted. The hook up rate was quite amazing. Also nailed some cobia in the mix. This was generally leading up too and around the high tide, then it would shut down apart from the occassional hit. I am a complete novice when it comes to Marlin fishing but this seemed to work for us.

[Smithy]

Was tough going on the weekend. 43 boats over 3 days produced only 55 tagged marlin. With a few boats getting 4 each, plenty of threes and twos, there were lots to miss out. Tide changes are a special for them to come on the bite. On the weekend they were also biting on the major solunar times. Solunar charts/Maori charts with moon above/below and moon set/rise can see them bite.

[reel scream]

This is just a personal theory but....... Don't troll into the sun. I don't like looking at it without sunnies on and I reckon the fish wouldn't either. Rarely have I hooked up trolling east early in the morning.

Cheers
Scott

[Darren Edwards]

I caught my first marlin by mistake trolling a Halco laser pro crazy deep diver off Point Cartwright on 27/12/2012. I was trolling for mackeral or tuna and the last thing I expected was my first marlin. Right place, right time I guess.