Calm seas and lots of fish got to love autumn!

Big tuna prediction

Its tuna time and things are looking really good.  The longliners have been having a blinder catching some jumbo sized yellowfin and bigeye off Sydney. What is really pleasing to hear is that the average sized fish is well over 50kg and some a nudging almost twice that figure. The sportfishing crews are still locked in marlin mode have yet to lock in on this bonanza, but some early season high speed trolling of Strikezone jetheads and fast swimming lures like the Halco Max will be well worthwhile.

Over the last few years the tuna have been getting bigger and bigger and last season saw some ripper yellowfin come in down south at Bermagui. While no one scored a fish over that magical 100kg mark I reckon this season we will. A tall call you reckon but i am confident they will encountered this year!

The best technique is to troll at dawn and dusk and cube during the day. Always have some live out the back too and if the conditions are right try sending one down deep. Not only will this produce the bigeyes but there is also a chance on the mighty gladiator of the sea the swordfish. On that same note I am going to be putting in a lot of hours fishing the night as well to maximise my time. The new Strikezone has been fitted specially for the darkside with Hella LED lighting to illuminate the deck and a new radar to compliment the Furuno electronics.

The bluefin have also showed up Victoria’s West Coast, but it is a slow start with only one big fish caught by gun skipper Matty Hunt, but there have been some big albacore. While Victoria’s season is slow Stu Nicholls from Tassie has already reported his first 100kg plus tuna caught on the ever faithful Laser Pro. This is an incredibly early start to the season so maybe Tassie is in for a big one!

Marlin still firing

Well the marlin season has certainly been a bit up and down for most anglers. Port Stephens continues to be the most productive location with the Carpark being the hotspot. Interestingly there were no really big days, instead it was the consistency that was so impressive for Strikezone we caught fish every day on the water. The Furuno 585 with the new thru hull 1kw transducer really outshone itself this season and has played an important role in marking fish and bait.

A lot of boats hit Jervis Bay hoping for a repeat of last year however it has been plainly obvious according the sea surface temperature charts that with a raging hot current it wasn't going to fire early in the season. Now this brings me to the point that if you really want to catch the fish then you need to monitor the SST charts and no time is it more important than now with the tuna season looming. 

I religiously look at seasurface.com every morning and can often see a hot spot forming. It really is amazing to think that you can pinpoint potential concentrations of fish while sitting in your office, but such is technology today.

Using the charts I suspect there will be a bit of a late season bite on the billfish and places like Port Stephens will continue to produce a trickle of fish along the shelf. Further south any spot where there is some hotter water chances are you will encounter some big fat striped marlin and if the water is really good there will be some blues as well. Traditional Seal Rocks with all its amazing canyons and deep water structure is worth a shot.

North Coast inshore

If you want to get away from heavy tackle and big tuna then head to the North Coast for some inshore fun. The spotty mackerel have turned up in force at hot spots like Grassy Head near South West Rocks and there are also some great repots of big spanish mackerel loitering around the headlands from there all the way up north past Coffs Harbour. 

The best technique is to anchor up and berley with pilchards and then feed unweighted baits down the trail. A couple of livies swimming around under small torpedo floats is also a good idea. Remember these guys all have razor blades for teeth so make sure you run a short length of single strand wire to minimise bite offs. There will also be some big cobia about as well.

Time to clean up our act

There was a really good concentration north of Broken Bay this year that Mick Lyons discovered after a night of swordfishing on Reel Diamond. The following weekend the Broken Bay Tournament was on and they really hit the fish hard. While I understand the exceptional fishing was abnormality this is no excuse for the slaughter. Don’t get me wrong I am not against killing marlin, but if you kill it you have to use it. Weighing a fish for points then towing it out to sea and dumping it should be illegal and it amazes that the GFAA has not acted on this especially since we are in the public eye these days.

How on earth can sportfishermen complain about longliners killing marlin when at least they utilise what they catch. At time where anglers are getting smashed by ever increasing anti fishing marine parks i think it is high time that we started working on our public image. The Gamefishing Association of Australia needs to make some dramatic changes and become media savvy very quickly changes because there is a very bumpy road ahead and we need public support. While i suspect my comments will ruffle a few feathers I am not interested in blaming individuals, my only concern is standing up and being counted to protect our right to fish and that is exactly what everyone else should do as well!

Strikezone TV

Just a reminder if your not sick of me yet then you had better tune into TVS channel 44 8.30pm Thursday nights for the debuting series of Strikezone TV