Just prior to Easter, the South coast of NSW experienced a hot marlin bite from Eden all the way through to just South of Sydney. Customers Anton and Justin fished the Alliance tag and release tournament at Bermagui recently - where the boys tagged some solid striped marlin. Justin caught his first marlin on a lumo Topgun skirt and 15kg. Customer Ben also fished out from Bermagui recently to land a nice striped marlin of around 80kg on a live slimey mackerel.

A bit further away customer Peter was fishing offshore from Yamba in far Northern NSW when he landed this nice cobia of around 8kg. Peter caught the fish on an unweighted pilchard on wire trace intended for mackerel, and fought it for 30min before it gave up. Customer Kevin from the Noble Park Angling Club sent in a picture of a nice Golden trevally he caught when was in Broome last. Kevin caught the 16kg fish on squid on a local charter.

A little closer to home, the Eastern estuaries are fishing well at the moment. Customers Terry and Peter recently fished around Merimbula with baits and lures. Tailor to 4lb were chopping at lures of all sorts in Merimbula lake, along with some nice silver trevally. Peter caught this thumping yellowfin bream in the lake also on a small piece of striped tuna fished around the weedbeds. Customer Andrew was down at Lakes Entrance over the Easter break and he took some time to fish the local lakes and also chase prawns as well. Andrew and a mate had a blast catching prawns, and between them they managed about 8kg of quality prawns, along with some sand crabs.

 

A lot of bluewater anglers have marlin on the brain at the moment. The run of fish from around Eden through to just south of Sydney has been excellent, with even a couple of reports coming from Eastern Victoria. On the marlin front, customer Jacques fished an international billfish competition in Mauritius last month when away on holiday. Jacques was the only Australian angler in the whole field, and even though it was his first time fishing for billfish, he managed to land this nice 124lb blue marlin and finish up coming 5th in the competition. Jacques also caught and released another fish the day after, along with a solid 20kg dolphinfish.

 

While there are plenty of kingfish being caught in local waters, reports one end of the state to the other have been of yellow-tailed missiles along inshore headlands and reef systems. Customer Tony did a quick trip down West with a couple of mates in search of a few inshore kingies on baits and artificials. Tony managed to catch a few around some of the shallow bay structure mixed in with couta and pinkies. Out a little bit deeper from Portland there have also been patches of Southern Bluefin Tuna hanging around large bait schools, with most of the fish being quality school fish in the 15 - 22kg mark. These fish have responded to jigs, poppers, stickbaits and also the odd trolled lure.

Customer Romelo spent a few days up along the southern coastline of NSW at Eden with some mates. The guys fished wide where they experienced a marlin bite but didn't manage to land them, then went back in close to target kingies around the headlands and points. Romelo managed to catch a few school sized fish in amongst a thick school of pinkies, with most of the kingies around the 70cm mark. It was Romelo's first tangle with a kingfish and he is now hooked on fishing for them!

 

For anglers hot on the game fishing scene, the Summer run of striped marlin along the south coast of NSW has been good again this year. The fish seem to be good from around Eden/Merimbula north to Bateman's Bay. Customers Andrew and Steve fished out from Bermagui just last week in search of these fish and they weren't disappointed. In a short 2 day trip the boys hooked up to 2 marlin, one which was lost after a 45 minute fight and estimated 100kg+ and another one boated at around 50kg. A few more fish were raised on lures but no more strikes, but during their stay they heard of over 20 fish tagged and released. The marlin fishing in the area has been exceptional, with fish seen free swimming and also herding baitballs around as well.

Staff member Dylan spent the weekend just north of Sydney last week, and although not a fishing trip some fishing was still done, surprise surprise.....Dylan took some mates out collecting prawns near the entrance and plenty of small prawns in the 4 inch size were caught. In a short hour session fishing a small entrance channel Dylan caught dusky flathead to 68cm, along with yellowfin bream and also tarwhine. The new Squidgy 'paddle prawn' pattern was dynamite when worked along the channel edges and drop offs.

 

Customer Stuart has been holidaying down at Mallacoota in Eastern Gippsland where he has been having some fun chasing the bream and other estuary species around. Stuart has been catching plenty of good fish on both hard and soft baits. A lot of the bream have been coming from secondary drop offs in the system, with small metal vibes accounting for a lot of fish, with UV green colours being the real killer. Stu has been using scent on all of his lures, to give the fish extra time to eat the lure before striking.

Customer Chez fished offshore from Bermagui with some mates over the Christmas period with marlin the target. The boys managed 2 fish, 80kg and 85kg. Both fish were caught on small skirts in slimey mackerel and small tuna colour combinations. 

For the game anglers that frequent the southern coast of NSW, the marlin action around Bermagui has been good recently. Anglers fishing out towards the kink have been reporting some good success on the striped marlin in the area. 

Customer Chris called in and gave us a recent report from the area where he fished on the marlin with some mates. Chris and mates landed 4 marlin during their stay, ranging from 70 - 100kg and mainly on lures. The guys fished around the bait hole and also the kink to find their fish, with 8 inch Pakula skirts taking the fish in colours like evil angel and the old faithful lumo. 

Customer Hiepp recently towed his boat up to the Gold Coast where he stayed for a holiday. Being a keen fisherman he got out offshore from the Gold Coast and fished near one of the most productive reef patches.

Hiepp spent most of the time trolling skirted lures around with spanish mackerel to about 6kg taking the lures, along with a small black marlin which ate one of his skirts too. After a tense battle, Hiepp landed this marlin which weighed around 40kg on his 40-80lb Terez and Saragosa 18000F spooled with 80lb frog braid.