Will we see another billfish bonanza in Hervey Bay this season? …..

You would have to have been without internet access and a Facebook account if you didn’t heard about the phenomenal black marlin run we experienced in Hervey Bay over the last few years! Reports from the light tackle tournaments to our North have not been as strong with fish numbers as we saw in previous years and there have been reasonable numbers of small black marlin and some large sail fish caught on the outside of the Break Sea Spit down around Sandy Cape. This may indicate that the main run of fish have gone down the outside of Fraser Island already as I write this towards the end of October 2016. It does need to be understood that this unique marlin fishery is not a consistent or predictable fishery – it’s not even an annual event & this year may reinforce. So where do you start if you want to land your 1st marlin? We are talking about juvenile black marlin in this piece which can be targeted using a number of techniques from lures, live baits, dead swimming baits, skipping baits, teasers – bait and switching and flies. Due to these little blacks arial antics they can be difficult to stay connected to once hooked and I have found it very frustrating using skirted lures in the past. There’s no doubt to the effectiveness of skirted lures in raising fish and getting the strikes – it’s just staying connected after that! Juvenile black marlin are also very aggressive and appear to have little fear when attaching their prey and will also strike at hard bodied lures and even soft plastics. We had a number of fish strike stick baits and soft plastic last year when casting to fish sighted up on the flats. But again these lures where often thrown during wild acrobatics early into the fight. We initially started trolling small pushers like Mold Craft Little chuggers but found the conversion rate on towing lures was awful at around 1 in 3! After speaking with mate and experience game fisher David Granville I tried running some swimming and skipping gars to even our odds. Our best conversions came using skipping gars rigged using Eagle Claw Circle Sea Hooks Light Wire L2004EL in 8/0. I stitched my gars using waxed thread from just behind the head and left a bridle loop of about 3cm from the eye which you simply just loop onto the circle hook (See picture attached). Once the marlin takes the bait you need to allow them to run for approx. 10 seconds before closing the bail or lifting the lever ( depending on what tackle your using ) and just let everything come tight “without” striking. The circle hook will generally locate itself near the corner of the fish’s mouth or hinge. Once hooked circles rarely fall out and are also better on the fish without deep hook sets. The other great thing about using the skipping gars rigged with circle hooks is you can use light threadline gear as setting the hook was not the issue. My favourite combo for this season will be the Shimano JDM Grappler S80M saltwater spin stick matched with Stella 8000 SWB spooled with 40lb Power Pro braid. I then run a 100lb wind-on leader to which I snelled the circle hook. We have managed a few on lighter 4000 spin combos more suited to barra but got spooled by a good sailfish on one occasion – which we may have stopped with more line capacity! The general consensus is that snelling the circle hook also improved your strike rate as opposed to crimping them as it aid in the way the circle moves when set. I also had mates pitching small live baits like yellow tail back to teased up marlin with great results again on circle hooks. I have found that different teasers improved fish raised with smaller profile teasers bring more fish to the back of our boat. My favourite combination has been made using Mold Craft standard soft bird at the front followed by five 6” pink squids with a Mold Craft Little chugger on the end. But I have just received a “Squid Nations - Flippy Floppy Billfish Edition” in Col 665 Killer Pink which I am looking forward to swimming shortly. Optimum trolling speeds vary between 4 and 6 knots depending on what lures, teasers and baits you are towing with 5 knots being a great speed to start with. Just ensure your lures or baits are swimming well and this may even need to be adjusted as you change direction and need to allow for the tide or run in the area you are fishing. The technique for fly fishing is much the same as we use teasers to raise the fish along with a hook -less belly flap which is what you will make the switch from. You never know which teaser the fish will come up on but if they come to the daisy chain/pusher first you will need to bring the belly flap in near it and get them to switch. Once they get a taste of the belly flap they will generally fire up and the hardest part then is to keep it off them. The key is to let them get a taste and just keep it ahead of them while bringing them into casting range for the fly. They are generally not shy and can be teased to with –in metres of the transom. Once the fly angler is ready the teaser person will call “out” which signals for the boat to go out of gear and teaser to be whipped out at the same time. You want to ensure the cast lands the fly slightly wide of where the teaser was last positioned. This will mean that the marlin will swing around and take the fly going away. This is really important as if the fly drops short and results in a head on shot you just won’t get a good hook set. It all happens really fast and the blink of the eye the marlin will pounce on the fly the instant it hits the water. I generally let some fly line slip through on the take allowing the fish to get its head around before tightening up on the fly line and striking through the rod. DO NOT “trout strike” by lifting the rod! Once hooked the marlin will usually put on the arial antics they are renowned for so it is important to keep the rod low and as much of the fly line in the water as possible. It is actually the drag or water pressure on the fly line that will keep the fly in place as well. Switching marlin on fly really is awesome fun and very visual with them generally spending more time out of the water than in once hooked! We also have the unique opportunity of sight casting to free swimming marlin on the flats at the top of Fraser Island. These free swimmers are generally much harder to get a bite from and then even harder to stay connected too once you get a bite from one. But I do not believe there is anywhere else you can sight fish to a black marlin in a few metres of water anywhere else in the world! My preferred fly fishing tackle consists of a #12 weight fly outfit with large arbor fly reel that has a large/ smooth drag. Sinking shooting head style lines like a Scientific Angler Bluewater express in 500 grains is ideal. For leaders you can keep as simple as a 1 ½ metres of 100lb leader material if not chasing records or fishing to GFAA regulations. I prefer tube flies around 120mm in length in a colour to match your teasers i.e. pink & white. Hook arrangements consist of Gamakatsu Octopus 6/0 at the front with a 4/0 approx. 100mm behind. We have used larger and different patterns – BUT this arrangement has resulted in our best hook up / conversion rates There is no where else in the world you can you sight fish to black marlin on gin clear sand flats only metre from the beach in a few metres of water – if you haven’t experienced it yet keep an eye out for what’s happening across Facebook & Instagram and head up the island when you can make it. #HowGoodIsHerveyBay #fishingfrasercoast #fishingwithscotto