It was a great gamefishing season but also quite a difficult one, given the large number of fish hooked and lost.
I wondered if the trolling drag settings had anything to do with it? What settings are people using - both full strike drag and trolling drag? Are they measurable, i.e. 2kg, 3kg, 4kg or whatever?
I'll start the ball rolling. We had the 24kg rods set on 7kg maximum strike drag. We trolled with just enough drag pressure to stop the lures dragging line out (number two on the Penn VSW 50s but not sure what that equates to in kgs of drag).
One strike, one marlin.
Bit early in the winter for this sort of thing, Shane.
'Single or double hook rigs' normally comes up around August, 'roller trollers or blacks clips' September and, from memory, drag settings are slated for the second week in October.
hahahahaahaha....very drol Mr Obald but my thoughts exactly!
but on a different note:
Did you catch a marlin Bender?
Sorry chaps I'm suitably chastised and thoroughly repentant. I just got excited looking at this photo stuck to the side of my computer at work. I don't like to go on and on about it but....
I've obviously totally got things screwed up. I went out about a month ago and bought some new Blacks clips. And I've just ordered a rigging kit and new crimpers. I was just thinking last night Mr Obe wan Kenarkwright, that it was time I had discussions with you, over one of your beers, re the hot lure colours for next season.
At this rate I'll be ready by about August 8th.
Good eh?
You spent 1day on the water Bender, raised 1 marlin, hooked it and caught it! 100% hookup rate and 100% fish per days ratio! And you are wanting advice from us?
Dont know if I agree with the difficuilt season comment though, best season weather wise in years, best hookup rate we have had in years and best fish per days ratio we have had in years( nearly as high as yours Bender), and to top it off, most of the good fishing has been on the back door step in only 80m of water. I have ordered another one just like it for next year.
Kerren....
Adam - all I can say is thank goodness luck plays a role in fishing as well!
had to do a double take then Bender.....reckon from that angle you are a stunt double for the skipper of the Far Side.....
And as Adam says...you want advice from us?....piffle waffle....just keep doing what you are doing till it no longer works mate.
minimum over-run if off the rod tip, lighter if using a drop back and 1/3rd breaking strain @ strike?.....seems fairly straight foward?
After the fish settles down go up to the corner with confidence....I don't believe you will be able to break 24kg line thru the rod tip employing say 20kg of drag.....that is assuming there isn't any impact or jerky movements (read: get rid of your Penns) in the system at this stage.
Damn...didn't want to get dragged into this thread just yet.....I am pathetic!
roller troller??......you still using Hardy Bros Reels, linen line and splitcane rods as well??.....
After viewing (underwater cam) over 80 striped marlin attempting to bite, biting and hooking up on lures I have never been anymore convinced about using a light breakaways, dropbacks and a light drag system.....
very few of that 80 actually pounced on the bite out of share rage but those that did generally got hooked up anyway on the breakaway, dropback and light drag system. The one's that did pounce generally had competition from another fish or 2 or 3!
Most seemed to have a 3 step procedure......and that was...
give the lure a couple of twaks with it's bill at speed thus tripping the breakway.
Then slow down from attack mode with flared gills and with mouth agap attempting to suck the lure in to it's gob - which all things being equal should be dead in the water like everything else they have ever hit with their bills...this is where the dropback comes into effect....also remember that when a marlin has it's mouth open it's vision severly compromised beacuse of the bill....this is why they have an erratic side to side movement at the moment of truth....trying to get a bead on their target!!....
(NB to the above: you hear this all the time..."it had it's bill out of the water wagging over the lure....but never bit....obviously wasn't hungry!!"......ummm...the answer to this is "it had it's mouth open, so yes it wanted to eat but you were obviously moving the 'plate' away from the dinenr table" - this is what happens when you don't have a dropback in my opinion)
They then turned (generally away from the spread so as not to scatter the "bait") to swallow their "food" and I guess line themselves up for another go at the spread (bait). Of course at this stage the lever was slowly being pushed up to set the hook or if chaos was happening in the cockpit and no one was there to push the lever up then water pressure seemed (not %100 but well enough) to do the job even on a very light drag.
Just some observations that backed up the way i have been taught to fish for striped marlin by someone that has much much much more experience than most......but at the end of the day you have to use the method you have confidence in.....
damn damn damn....you owe me a beer for getting me further involved in this Rendle!!!
Using rubber bands as breakways?
Kezz- re your double take. Can I help it if I look astonishingly like Bradd Pitt's fridge.
dacron loops into blacks clips.....but yeah a #32 rubberband will surfice but nowhere near as good at releasing as immediately or as cleanly as a dacron loop and a tuned Blacks Clip.
hahahahaha....funny man!
Can't let it go. I can't get dacron loops to stick on the nylon. I've tried sizes from one inch to four inches and they just slip. The main line pulls through. I tried half hitching them with waxed thread, which is not fool proof and is a bloody hassle on a small boat out at sea, with a lure running on the line. It still slipped.
Same with powergum - 9 loop uni around the line - pressure - slip.
Faaaark.
I find even rubber bands slip if you've got too much baby oil on your hands Bender. I was baby oiling my lures on the weekend and had this problem.
had to do a double take then Bender.....reckon from that angle you are a stunt double for the skipper of the Far Side.....
Kerren, same angle but compared to Bender's photo, you will notice in the Far Side photo, cigarettes , alcohol and general decadent behaviour just around the corner.
You should know Kerren, I took your place at Hohoura and wound in your fish for ya too.
Bender... What size dacron are you using, and what size mono? The dacron should be as snug on the mono as possible so it grips better. say 80 dacron for 80 mono, 130 dacron works good with 130 mono... I haven't really tried with 50 mono but I've used 80 dacron with 60 mono with no problems. The other problem most folks have with dacron loop slippage is they don't make the dacron section that holds the mono long enough. 4 inches should be OK but I make mine about 5. The finishing hitches you make (I used waxed dental floss but you can split up a piece of waxed rigging floss into 3 narrow diameter strands which should work even better) are critical. They must be tight enough to stop the dacron end from unravelling, but at the same time not too tight otherwise you can't slide the dacron up and down the line. Practice makes perfect.
I've had somewhat similar experiences as Adam re the dacron loop moving during the fight but resetting the loop has never really been a huge problem for me personally; then again we aren't normally besieged by hordes of hungry marlin so I guess we don't have such an urgent need to reset the spread in perfect position instantly after a caught fish.
As for drags.. well I have to say after reading Matt's article in NZFN and also Kerren's post above the rationale behind what I thought were unbelievably light drag settings is now a lot clearer to me... Thanks Kerren and especially Matt for giving me (us) some real food for thought.
Tasman and Golden Bay snapper still running hot We are not far away from daylight... Read More >
Variety is the spice of life On one recent trip, the plan was to spend a... Read More >
Fish where the fish are! Catching fish or just going fishing? I tackle this issue... Read More >
Thoughtful tactics required for better fish Over the course of each year the fishing varies,... Read More >