File - The Solitary Islands Game Fishing

WEEKLY ROUNDUP 18.3.16
11 SIGFC boats were out there last Saturday sharpening their blue marlin skills in preparation
for the club’s Heavy Tackle Challenge, which is in a couple of weeks’ time. Wicked Weasel,
Geeza, Seaborn, Alcatraz, Pheel the Bite, She’s A Dream, Better Than Vegas, Players,
Foreign Exchange and Matador all fished, and Karen Butler’s Seafarer Yorkie was having its
first hitout with the club.
Wicked Weasel went for a scout around on Friday, with Andrew Mayo catching his first
marlin — a nice blue of about 110 kilos — up around 30° 08, so about where the bite was
during the HTC last year.
The fish were holding there on Saturday too, so that’s where quite a few boats headed —
except for Matador, who went and did their own thing straight out the front of Coffs at 30°
19. They went 3.3.3 on blues and Mark Kirkman tagged two, while Dr David Clarke rallied
from a heavy dose of mal de mer to tag the third.
Another marlin cherry busted. Andrew Mayo got this nice one on Friday.
Unfortunately, Sultan’s new full length super-thin high-tech carbon fibre stealth bomber tag
pole that’s worth more than a spread of five lures let him down, leaving the important part of
the tag behind, which sure suck diddly ucks.
Foreign Exchange had a 6.3.2 day up around 30° 07, with John Stafford tagging a 175 kilo
fish and Vashy Dolezal a 130 kilo specimen after relatively short fights. The other blue
popped them off after doing the big line dump.
Got ’im on! A screenshot bite on the flatline from Foreign Exchange.
On Better Than Vegas, Pete went for a look out wide to 153° 40 and found ripping current,
birds, bait, and lots of flotsam in current lines — including a fridge. The boys wanted to open
it up to see if it was holding any beer, but Pete figured that whatever it was it was probably
smelly as all get out (most likely a dead body), so the door was left shut.
No marlin though, but it did look good out there.
Vashy Dolezal with his blue alongside Foreign Exchange — one of two they tagged on
Saturday.
Bill ‘Quint ‘Reider was able to put Karen Garcia onto a mako on a lure, which might not
have been the marlin they were after, but it’s certainly a novel way to catch one. The skipper
piked it on retrieving the hooks, but did get the all-important lure back.
As Clayton (Quint Mk I) will explain to you Bill (Quint Mk II), once those damn sharks find
you, they won’t leave you alone!
Bill Reider explaining to the club committee why we now have a shark problem on the
marlin grounds, and an image of what happened behind She’s A Dream on Saturday — or
something like that…
Aboard The Geeza they tried to find birthday boy Nic Crutchfield a marlin, but a lost wahoo
after a brief fight was the total for the day. Still, there was a nice cake and candles waiting for
him back at the yacht club to compensate. Happy birthday mate!
Here comes Marvin the Mako behind She’s A Dream.
Pheel The Bite hooked one of those psycho fish that did a loop-the-loop in the wake and
picked up another lure before falling off, while Alcatraz saw a couple and actually broke the
double at the wind-on end, getting both strands of the loop back, which is a bit unusual.
On Wicked Weasel we had a 3.2.1 day, with two absolute line burners that got way down into
the Dacron before they pulled up. Andrew’s blue fell off just 50 feet behind the boat, but
Garry ‘Bigfoot’ Simpson’s 90 kilo fish did the right thing and stayed connected.
Garry ‘Bigfoot’ Simpson tight to his first blue on Wicked Weasel. We need to dress up
more for marlin success according to Garry. Straw hats are in!
Garry and his wife Julie own Fiddler VI, that kick arse cruiser on the first arm of the marina,
which they sailed down from Darwin to escape the Wet. Beautifully appointed, it’s a
complete go-anywhere fishing base, with a barra boat on the roof. It’d look pretty good with a
couple of us tied up to it overnighting at North Solitary I reckon…
And Seaborn continues to trundle along, with another blue to Dylan Steel. It’s all just so
routine for them these days!
More fun than a chocolate barramundi! Bigfoot with his first blue.
It was interesting to note that despite the cobalt blue and incredibly hot water there was no
bycatch in the form of mahimahi or wahoo, with the latter being particularly common until a
week ago. Wicked Weasel still hasn’t caught one this season!
Another blue marlin tag and release to Dylan Steel and Seaborn. On fire, boys!
An out of sync barbecue was held at the Yotties after fishing. Roddy was flat out doing some
pretty tasty hamburgers for not only our club, but also the Ettalong and Hook Line and
Drinkers mob who were fishing here for the weekend.
AN ANAL FIN NOMINEE!
With no slipway and no sign of one being built in the foreseeable future, Air Docks and
similar are a good alternative, keeping the boat out of the water when not in use — except
when they go flat during the night…
Cammo noticed that Top Shelf was cuddling up to Wicked Weasel in the pre-dawn gloom last
week after one sponson deflated. Despite the suggestive lingerie, WW is not that kind of girl,
Ross!
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