1. Rocky Creek
2. Claustral
3. To Be Decided

Resolution No. 2

I will catch the following game fish in 2006

1. Bonito
2. Mulloway
3. Yellowtail Kingfish
4. Tuna
5. Brown Trout

Home

Goal Species No 1 - Tuna - Goal Accomplished 26 Feb 2006
My best tuna to date - a Striped tuna - approx 8 lbs of pure muscle and speed.	Striped Tuna - Dorsal View Yes Another Striped Tuna Dolphin Fish Tea & bait - Bonito & a small Striped Tuna

By sheer chance, I was invited to go chasing marlin on a friend's game fishing boat.  One of the boys had to drop out, and so there just happened to be a free seat.  Did I want to come?  Gee let me think. . . 

I chose the species for my New Year's Resolution based upon the species prestige as a game fish against the realistic chances of me actually catching one.  When I nominated tuna, I actually had Mackerel Tuna in mind, as they can be quite common off the rocks around here.  Striped Tuna didn't even make the "possible" list as they are rarely taken from the stones.  What are mates for eh? 

At 5.30am we headed thirty nautical miles straight out to sea from Swansea, through a bumpy 2 - 3 metre swell and 10 -12 knot northeaster.  We were constantly scanning for birds working over baitfish, but not a sausage.  As we reached the edge of the continental shelf, the water changed colour to the most amazing bright blue.  We had reached the warm eastern Australian current racing southwards bringing 28 -29 degree water chock full of life.  I had never seen such cobalt blue water before - literally as blue as a Harpic-treated toilet.  We rigged the trolling gear and had been trolling for about fifteen minutes before we heard that fantastic sound - "twang" - as the line pulled free of the outrigger release clip.  I was the lucky bugger on strike.  My first ever tuna took about 5 minutes to subdue, and was only about 3 lbs in weight.  But what a fighter!  Unfortunately, the photo was really bad, so it won't appear here. 

Soon afterwards we ran across schools of small dolphin fish and more Striped Tuna.  It was like "bus stop" trolling.  Every five to ten minutes, that wonderful "twang" followed by the loud wail of a protesting drag would have everyone diving to grab the rod.  The strikes came without the slightest warning - there were no birds diving or dolphins or sharks harassing bait schools.  Sometimes we would have three or even four simultaneous hook-ups, with mayhem ruling the cockpit as the fish arced off in different directions.  Sadly our depth sounder decided not to work, so who knows just how many schools of bait (and predators) we drove over without ever knowing.

I was lucky enough to boat a genuine 8lb Striped Tuna, which is pictured hereabouts.  If you look at how thick these fish are, it will really impress you - they are like medicine balls of muscle power and sheer speed.  It took me almost 20 minutes to land the fish, and I can honestly say it was the best fighting fish I have ever caught in my life.  Neil reckons they don't grow much bigger than this.  I have read that size for size, they pull harder than a yellowfin tuna, but sadly don't grow to the massive size that yellowfin do.  If they grew as big, they would be the hardest fighting fish in the sea by far.  I believe it.    

About lunchtime the seas and swell smoothed off to a mere 1m, and the wind died.  The water was a smooth sheet of bright blue glass.  The sky was clear and the sun was directly overhead.  No marlin had been seen, so we headed shoreward for the FAD off Swansea.  Despite having the FAD's precise co-ordinates, it appeared to be missing.  So we continued trolling back towards shore.  The bus-stop fishing continued. 

Unbelievably, we finally came across a large Black Marlin, only two nautical miles off the coast.  It was almost 3 metres in length from the tip of it's tail to the end of it's bill.  It was absolutely creaming a school of dolphin fish - there were dolphin fish leaping a metre or more in the air in a vain attempt to escape.  We trolled around the area for around 20 minutes without the marlin taking the slightest interest in our offerings. 

We eventually reached the coast and trolled from Wybung head to Moon Island, catching 6 Bonito and a heap of Australian Salmon.  We passed two rather large sharks that I would definitely NOT want in my bathwater.  They were cruising on the surface not far from a group of surfers off Catherine Hill Bay. 

All in all, it was quite a memorable day.  We released 90 % of our catch - all of the tuna except a very small one that I kept for bait, a half dozen dolphin fish and four Bonito.  Unfortunately I was not on strike when the Bonito were caught, so I will have to catch one another day. . .