25 July 2010

Headed out with Justin, Kurt and Aussie on 'Flying Fish' to look for tuna and marlin yesterday. Unfortunately, the conditions that had brought the striped marlin on during the previous week had changed a little and the warm EAC had moved further offshore. 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' We left Coffs Harbour before sun-up and headed out to the shelf on autopilot. At the shelf, new co-ordinates were set for fish traps at 'hole in the wall' and we put out our teaser spread to try for an elusive billfish. We had 4 hookless kona-heads chugging behind the boat from the 3rd wave back to the 5th. The ocean was a cool 22 degrees and we set about kitting up. Each diver would get a 1/2 hour on and during that time any fish raised would be his responsibility. Kurt took first watch, then it was my turn, Aussie next and finally Justin. It was on Justin's watch that he and Aussie spotted something behind the back teaser. They weren't too sure but their excitement was contagious. Kurt and I looked back to see the bill and dorsal fin of a smallish billfish behind the port teaser. I could see the fish's colours all lit up under the lure. Justin was about to go over when the fish just disappeared. What an anti-climax. Hindsight is perfect sight and some-one should have gone over at the point the fish was seen. Probably a good idea to have the skipper clued up too because you don't want a marlin boat running over you with its props turning either.

We found the traps and took to burleying which brought interest from some good dolphinfish. We gave them a while to settle around the boat and soon Aussie and Justin had fish on board. The school then seemed to become quite elusive. At the second fish trap, we did not wait for the burley to have any effect and the dolphinfish were wary from the start, not offering much of a chance at a shot at all. This was a great trip but long and probably not something I would engage in regularly unless the chance of success was greater.