Awesome..... 26mtrs

Probably off one of those rocks that cole out of 60-70m.... a perfect baitstation for a marlin cruising for a feed of reefies.
I heard that one boat got 3 marlin on drifted live baits off the astrolab off Tga the other day, so I guess drifting some livies around deeper reefs may not be such a bad idea.

Hi guys, need some help... we are currently sitting on 20/0 for strike/landing marlin. Our hooks are needle shape and sharp as. We are running light drags, just to hold lure in pattern, but wonder if we should try heavier drags... got to do something!

Had same problem season before last basically 10/0.  Nothing seemed to work.  Last season managed to get 4 to the boat (2 of which dropped off before tagging) out of a similar number of strikes.

We switched from fishing 6-8kg strike drag to light 2-3 kg drag.  We now let em run out a way then whack up the drag to strike.  Worked last year.  But this year 4/0.  But the fish are finnickier this year.  So could be going for a poor return again. 

We fish single 7691S hooks in the tail with hook locks holding the point up.  They are seriously sharpened on a sander with mirror finish polishing.  Mix of 8 / 9 / 10 and the odd 11/0 s in the lures.  Check if you are running 12's or something you will struggle....

Thanks El Robbo, we are using same hooks, sharpened in similar way. We are letting fish take plenty of line before pushing drag up to strike. I think you're right, they do seem to be a bit timid on bite this year? We are using 10/0 hooks set right back in skirt too. I guess our luck has to change soon?

Plumb Crazy - One scenario for loosing that fish on 400 lb trace is that it was a blue or a black, which have a hinge in the corner of the jaw which if the trace goes in just right they can cut/crush any weight mono.

Cheerz for that thought about the leader. It was a new roll of a different type than we usally use.

Plumb Crazy - I have been using either Black Magic or Momoi Marlin Ultra Hard on my lures and live bait traces (have heard they both come out of the same factory - can anybody confirm this). The hammerhead we got yesterday was on a 400 lb mono trace (not sure which brand it was but have found that both brands stand up very well to marlin bills with not much scuffing of the trace) and was hooked in the corner of the mouth nicely as expected with a ringed tuna hook but the trace was coming out the other side through all the teeth, I put a fair weight on the trace whilst getting it into tagging range and it was at the side of the boat for probably 2 minutes before it finally bit through the trace. So I am quite happy with the abrasion resistance of these leader brands. Only comment isd that they are quite stiff and people may not like this much.

skippy68 wrote: Blue Asparagus - all our gear is 37 running 400lb leaders. In our bigger lures we were using 12/0 hooks, but given our shocking run of solid hookups, we have dropped down to 10/0. Thanks for the feedback

My marlin shots usually seem to stick - we use light drags but I push up the drag as soon as I can get to the reel once the reel starts howling.

Plumb Crazy ,was aboard "Requin" but usually out in my boat "Angler Management " ,sit on 61 while out on the water  Saw you guys in the Blue Lagoon It wasnt you in the toilets next to me when your name was called for a spot prize ,everything was hurriedly put away as you ran for the stage