With the school holidays on, mint weather and a break from kids sports for 2 weeks it was the perfect time to take a day off work and get on the water.
As well as my kids(Lola aged 7 and Hunter aged10) my parents were on the boat too which was great .
I told Hunter if you want to have a crack at a marlin on 10 then todays the day, lets not do it half arse but have 2 10s out, one on each rigger and a 24 and 37 on the flats. No more gear out as if we get lucky we will need to chase it quick.
With the gear set we looked for life...nothing...a few gannets gathered so we followed.
At 12:00 the kids were getting bored when bang..the rigger got bit, then a dorsal popped up behind the short flat...we were on a double with one on 10!
Chaos in the cockpit as gear was cleared and fish screamed line in different directions. My Mum whos mid 60s scrambbles up the front of the boat with a 37, Hunters in the chair on the 10 as we back down hard on his.
Both anglers still losing line.
Hunters got a lot out on the little TLD, not ideal on 10 but slowly we regain line for him, he did fantastic. Grandma on the bow feels her fish pull free, not a bad thing as we can now concentrate on Hunters.
We know its a good fish so the call is made to setup the gaffs.
An awesome bit of angling for a 10yr old and after an hour the fish is boat side. I get the wrap and set a fixed head gaff with the other hand. The fish still has a bit of fight but isn't going anywhere.
This was the little turds 8th marlin.
I start to reset the gear, just 2 lures popping in the wake when up pops a dorsal behind each lure!! We hook one and Grandmas on it. This fish was on 37 so there's no real stress. It puts on a great show then sounds.
We get it to the boat, tag in est 95kg, give it a we tow and set it free. Oh yeah, great day.
By this stage our anglers have had enough, Lola asks if she can have a go. I tell her that shes not up to a marlin yet, but a yellowfin would be nice.
I couldn't be arsed resetting all let gear, just 2 lures run out of the chair, that will do, cant be arsed setting anything else.
A few gannets gather, a few splashes under them, to big for skippies, to small for marlin, they look like fin, could it be? Splash on the lure, definate fin bite, you're on Lola.
She does real well, to be fair the fish was well behaved and she has her fin..fantastic.
We head in to weigh.
Lolas fin was 28.4kg, Hunters Stripey was 133.4kg on 10kg, both great fish. Both have some stories to share when back at school