TightLines January 2019

Welcome to 2019! I hope everyone enjoyed the festive season and managed to spend at least a bit of time on the water chasing the fish. After an extremely wet start for Reel Smart on their maiden voyage to Lord Howe Island Elena Smart managed to hook and capture a pending Australian record of a wahoo weighing in at 45kgs on the dot. Congratulations to junior angler Ethan Moses for his first stripe marlin which he caught just SE of the Hacking FAD 23 degree water. There was a lot of bait both east and west of that FAD, water colour was sort of blueish. Not only one happy angler but one proud Dad (David). First Marlin of the season goes to Lubi onboard GaleForce, well done to all onboard! As the fishing heats up so to is the tournament season which is now underway. SGFC has had an impressive track record over the last few years and it's through only your involvement and the great results of our teams that we can continue our hot streak. As you'll be able to see from the Calendar, it's a busy season coming up and there's a lot of tournaments on the list – it would be great to see as many SGFC boats fishing as many tournaments as possible. With so many tournaments it's worth highlighting the Central Zone Tournaments, marked in bold, as they all count towards the Central Zone Championships. Last year SGFC were winners in the Tag and Release category and 2nd in Capture category, let's try and go one better than that this year. This year the Inter Club is essentially the same format as last year, running the three days from 22nd to 24th Entries close very soon for the InterClub so please get in contact with Secretary Annita as soon as possible if you intend on, or would like to, fish it. A friendly reminder to all Club members that you need to be a financial member in order to fish any Tournament, so please ensure that your fees and memberships are paid up to date. If in doubt, please contact Annita. Club Point Score days are held on the first and third weekends of every month, for all the details and current scores please checkout the website which is kept up to date. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome all new members and boats into the Club, it's great to see many new faces around the Club. As always, don't hesitate to ask anyone for assistance or advice, you'll always find someone willing to offer an opinion! In finishing let's hope that it's another big year with lots of good fishing and calm seas. Tightlines Tiddles FROM THE PRESIDENT Calendar of Events SGFC February 2019 2nd - 3rd Summer Pointscore Weekend 5th Club Meeting - Daniel Carlson Port Stephens talk and Calcutta for Interclub 15th - 17th Newcastle & Port Stephens – Billfish Shootout 16th - 17th Summer Pointscore Weekend 21st - 24th NSWGFA – Interclub State Championships 26th Committee Meeting March 2019 2nd - 3rd Summer Pointscore Weekend 5th Club Meeting - Alex Fishing Station 15th - 17th Broken Bay – Invitational Tournament + Central Zone Weekend 16th - 17th Summer Pointscore Weekend 23rd - 24th Bluewater Classic - Central Coast GFC + Central Zone Weekend 26th Committee Meeting April 2019 Ambition Report 21st. December'18 Summer and the mighty marlin go hand in hand. Reports and contacts are becoming more frequent each day. Black marlin are showing up inshore around the bait schools though not many have been caught yet. Out wider striped marlin are coming down the coast with the warmer water and mahi mahi are turning up in numbers around the many 'secret' FAD's. On Christmas eve I took Levi and his friend out on a beautiful day weather wise. We ended up raising six Marlin, hooking two and tagging one. Benn Dullard in his boat Markoo tagged one near us. Also a couple of others boats around Terrigal encountered some Black Marlin in close. There is obviously some really good water just to the North. From Norah Head up to Port Stephens those fishing for Marlin are having a lot more success than us. Hopefully over the next few days that current will move down and closer to shore. Also the much vied for Sydney Game Fishing Club's trophy for the first Marlin tagged has finally been taken out. Congratulations to the winner Michael Kirby, in his boat Gale Force, who tagged a Striped Marlin off Terrigal on his way to Port Stephens. Ambition Report 8th. December'18 Marlin madness is a strange condition. I could go on about Marlin for hours but those smitten know without me saying anything further. All I will say is, it is marlin madness season. Whether you are a dialed in game fisher or a novice catching or tagging your first marlin or the first of the season has special meaning. Mike Schlezinger in his boat 'Restless' raised eight marlin, tagging two on his way up to Port Stephens a couple of days ago. I had a charter booked and they were keen to catch Marlin, perfect. Wide of Broken Bay in about 200 fathoms the water warmed to just over 23 degrees and went blue. About an hour into the troll we raised a striped marlin which hit the 'Lumo' on the rigger but didn't come back. A little further on Linden spotted a marlin tailing. but it didn't go on with it. From there the troll to the canyon was uneventful. We reached the southern canyon, did a lap with no result and started the long downhill run home. Just when we were losing hope the 'Lumo' on the rigger took off, then the other rigger with 'Blue llusion' screamed. On deck they were calling double strike but I was fighting one on the teaser and Linden while pulling in the shot gun had another hitting it and I could see yet another one about to inhale the Blue Angel. We had been pack attacked... In the end we tagged one them but lost one of the others after a short fight. Pure pandemonium reigned for a short time and that's what Game Fishing is all about. I would like to clarify the fact that this fish does not qualify for the First Marlin Trophy at Sydney Game Fishing Club. Firstly it was not caught by a member and secondly was caught on a charter. . So boys and girls go for it... . Unfortunately as often happens on perfect days the fish were shy. Inshore the water was still coolish even though there was plenty of bait. I went out looking for warmer water. It never really did warm up, the best temp. I got was 21.8C but it was a good colour so in 80 fathoms out went the lures. Well, after several hours of rolling and seeing the occasional bait school, lots of dolphins, a few manta rays and no marlin it was time to give up our hunt for the mighty marlin. The weather then intervened and I didn't get out for another couple of days. Again there was lots of bait inshore in fact there were schools of slimies on the surface at The Heads. The water was still coolish so I went back to where I'd been previously. This time however it was rough, blowing 20 to 25 knots from the north-east and there was a colour change with a slight increase in temperature. The lures went out and I watched as one of the clients slowly turned a light shade of green. His friend, Walter was immune and raring to go. I don't know if it was the rougher conditions or not but there was bait and it was high up. About half hour into the troll the lure on the short rigger took off at a rate of knots and just kept going. I actually thought it was a blue. Walter's friend took the rod and the greenish tinge slowly took on a reddish hue as he fought to both stand up and keep winding as I backed up into the sea. We eventually tagged the fish, a striped marlin and not even a big one, which had been tail wrapped. A little later on we had another stripey come into the spread, have a look at all our lures, hit the lumo and after a decent run just drop off - now that is frustrating. By then Walter was sympathising with his friend whose greenish tinge had returned and called an end to the fishing. Elena Smart Wahoo Boat: Reel Smart Captain: Winston Smart Location: Lord Howe Island Weight of fish: 45kg on 24kg Line Pending Record: NSW, Australian 1st Marlin 2-1-18 Ethan Moses got his first striped marlin today, just SE of the Hacking FAD 23 degree water, there was a lot of bait both east and west of that FAD, Excellent work congratulations Ethan and nice way to christen the new boat well done team. Sydney Game Fishing Club's trophy for the first Marlin tagged has finally been taken out Congratulations to the winner Michael Kirby, in his boat Gale Force, who tagged a striped marlin off Terrigal on his way to Port Stephens. Boat Name Owner Model Build Date Registration Body Colour Fly Bridge (Y/N)? Length or OAL Width or Max Beam Deadrise Material (Plate or Fibreglass) Engine(s) Total Power (hp) Total Weight Cruising Speed Top Speed Fuel Capacity Cruising Range Trailer Boat Mooring Type Storage Location Licensed to Carry “This article continues looking behind the scenes at some of our club boats and their skippers” Spending time with “My Girl”. Sounds like a fairly good thing to do especially if it relates to spending some time on board this beautiful Carolina Classic owned by fishing buddies Ron Kovacs and Alan Dowling. I must confess to having a special place in my heart for this boat as it was on board “My Girl” that I officially caught my first Marlin (my Intro to Game Fishing was actually aboard Tantrum hooked up to mental 1000lb Blue off Sydney but sadly it got the better of us that day). My first successfully tagged Marlin however was a little black and it wouldn't have been 1 km straight out from Sydney Heads. Ron and I had decided to go out and have a poke around to see what was out there and when we quickly hooked up unexpectedly, that's when the real fun began! With just the two of us on board, I was pretty much kept busy on the rod chasing the little bugger from side to side on the back deck while Ron took turns running from one end of the boat to the other (from steering to trying to install some body art in our new found friend). All that aside, after about a 20 minute juggling act we had the tags into a nice little Black of about 60kg on 15. Guess it was an early present for me with my birthday three days later on 15th February. Since then we have had many great battles on this beautiful boat from doing drifts outside the heads for a feed of flatties, heading out to some private FAD's in summer swarming with Dollies to fighting to mighty aerial Mako's in the SGFC Mako Shark Tournament (a day that is still remembered with fond memories by co-owner Al). He loves to fish Mako Ron and Al are also regulars contributors at several of the SGFC community events each year like the Kids Fishing Day and the Randwick Children's Hospital Christmas Parties. On entering the roomy back deck (no game chair) with transom live well, transom door, fresh and saltwater wash down and twin 50-gallon fish boxes, you proceed up a couple of stairs into the helm with all round clears and seating for 6. The console comprises of a Furuno B24 Radar and a Furuno FCV 1100 Sounder and Northstar GPS/Sounder and Radar with 2 x VHF radios and a Simrad Autopilot. Past the helm you head back down 3 stairs to the Salon which features the galley with sleeping quarters, the head on the left (rarely used with mostly guys on-board) and a microwave and refrigerator to keep bourbons cold on the right. An athwartship double in the forepeak augmented by a narrow, straight settee affords three people comfortable berths. The carefully hand-laid solid fiberglass makes it a tough, durable hull. Being such a deep V it comfortably slices through plenty of slop even in a stiff wind. If you get the chance, spend a day with this beautiful lady and her crew. My Girl Ron Kovacs and Alan Dowling Carolina Classic 32 Express 2004 AGC148N White Express with full tower 33 feet 13 feet 20 Degrees at Transom Fibreglass Twin 440 HP Yanmar's 880 HP 9 tonne 19 knots 30 knots 1400 Litres Diesel Approx. 385 nautical miles No Swing Mooring Roseville Bridge 15 People Here are some basic specs on this boat: The Cairns 2018 heavy tackle season was one to remember for us on Little Audrey. We fished a total of 60 odd days with 10 of them light tackle and snorkelling. The weather this season was nothing short of fantastic. In all the years I've been up there it was the best I've seen. There is nothing quiet like the Great Barrier Reef, the beautiful calm anchorages along the ribbon reefs and Lizard Island with first class fishing from reef fish to pelagic's, not to mention snorkelling in places like the cod hole and going for tough walks up cooks look out on Lizard Island. The fishing throughout the season was amazing. September kicked it off with some wild weather and a roaring southerly current and with that a bite or 2 a day from small fish and the odd big one. A patchy start in early October for most boats had everyone wondering where are they? The water was great, the bait was there and the current slowed right up and just like that a wave of black marlin moved into the reef along Ribbon Number 10 just in time for the Lizard Island competition. Majority of boats witnessed first class fishing with some really big fish seen along the reef with a lot of fish between 1000LB - 1200LB's encounted. On the Little Audrey we had Phil, Ken and my wife Sarah on for an 8 day trip when #10 fired up and which saw us catch 6 fish over 700lb. Phil saw himself in the chair this trip with two fish over the mark, one of those fish we straightened the hook boat side on her, the other well what a story that was. Fishing of the mud hole on #10 the baits had just gone in when I screamed 'big one on the scad' (which meant Phil's fish!). Phil hooked her up and the boys were clearing the 2 skips baits when a 800lber jumps on the tuna. I start yelling to get that out of its mouth as its only 800lb (there's no where in the world where you can call a 800lber small). After we ripped the bait out of her mouth we were off but little did the boys know how big she was, they just heard get the gaffs, so everyone was fired up by now. Unfortunately it just wasn't meant to be and again after numerous times on the leader, we just couldn't get close enough. She was too good for us that day and with some fantastic breaches on the leader and after 4 hours we broke her off. I was asked on a estimate on the big girl and still I'm not quiet sure, I just know she was very very large. www.littleaudrey.com.au The cairns 2018 heavy tackle season was one to remember for us on… That week, by far, was one of the most memorable trips on the reef. Great fishing and getting to spend some time with Sarah showing her what I do was special. The rest of the season just kept producing good fishing for our clients, with our best day releasing 7 from 9 up to 850lbs and backing up the next day with a fish over the mark and a nice one at 800lbs. We also encountered a lot of double hooks. The highlight of the season was catching a 800lber and 200lber of a double hook up, then setting the baits and minutes later hooking up a beauty, and weighing a 1012LB black marlin for our guests from the gold coast all by lunch time! All up we released 60 Black marlin and caught 4 over the mark. We are so very lucky to have the best fishery in the world on our door steps, if you haven't been up there yet, get a group of friends together and give me a call, it's most definitely worth it! My First Marlin Nathans first marlin was on the 8.1.19 none comp day and I have all ready sent the tag card in that's him holding the bill of his first marlin. The crew for the comp was David / Nathan Boughton / Craig McCallam all SGFC members this is how the days went Day 1 of comp all zeros / Day 2 all zeros / Day 3 Craig McCallam 1/1/1 Black Marlin on 15kg line that's him in the blue shirt (photos) / Day 4 Nathan 2/2/2 Black marlin on 10 kg line. Just a few quick words about our trip to the Golden Lure at Port Macquarie and Nathan's start to his now passion for marlin fishing. I joined him up as a junior to SGFC in 2018 at 12 years old for the Shoot Out at Port Stephens aboard our new to us, trailer boat, Bullet Proof. He was very scared and used to hide under a towel at the top of the bow of the boat. The tournament wasn't a success, except for the fact that I got him in the boat. Next was the Golden Lure. The first two days was hard with no fish and a south running current against a southerly buster, and we had to get from Hat Head back to Port Macquarie. His confidence was shattered, so we decided to go out on the weekday with no pressure because he didn't want to fish in the Juniors day. It all happened then......we hooked up to a 50kg Black marlin on 15kg line and he fought it for about 40 minutes until we were able to get a tag in it. The expression on his face was priceless and he turned from a scared boy to a very confident young man, all from that one fish. The next two days of the tournament, there was no hiding under towels and no sleeping in the cabin and we were able to get him two more blacks but this time on 10kg line and a lot smaller. I've been fishing for a long time and was hooked from a young age and now there is another kid hooked and looking forward to the Shoot Out at Port Stephens. Nathan, Dave and Craigo . aboard "Bullet Proof" The SGFC Children’s Hospital Christmas Party Saturday 8th December 2018 By Greg Wall It was a perfect blue sunny day on the water and the smiles on their faces said it all! Once again the Kids Christmas Day on Saturday the 8th of December at SGFC was a great success. As always, it was an exciting day full of adventure, laughter, face painting, boat rides, jewellery making, swashbuckling pirates, crazy clowns and of course the big man himself “Santa” gave up some of his valuable time to hand out presents. For both the kids, their parents and siblings it was some much needed respite from the day to day hospital visits, specialist appointments and doctor's surgeries. A day when the sparkle in the kids eyes and smiles shines just a little bit brighter and for many gives them the strength to battle on for another year. To say that the parents are relieved to see their kids beaming with happiness is an understatement and it's a day that many look forward to each year. As per usual Santa gave his reindeer that day off and hitched a ride over to theclub house with Sydney Water Police. A big thank you is required to the boys in blue for stepping up to the plate and delivering the big man safely to the club yet again. While on the topic a lot goes on behind the scenes to make an event like this happen. Many SGFC Boat owners offer their boat, time and resources to this worthy cause. Doyle's yet again provided us with some amazing seafood for the event and we also had a great sausage sizzle. We had Many SGFC Members and friends give up their time to come down to the club to help load kids and parents onto the boats, help out around the clubhouse and serve as deckies and watch over the safety of the group. Thanks to all who participated on the day both on and off the water. It really does make a huge difference to the kids and families from Randwick Children's Hospital to have this day out away from it all and it's testament to the graciousness to all involved in making this day possible. Well done to the entire SGFC extended family! Little Black Marlin: covering your bases and using the method that suits your style of fishing. Beginning with lures lets outline some of the pros and cons of both methods. . There's an old saying in the fishing world; give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll drive around drinking beer in a boat. This is probably the main advantage of using lures over bait when targeting little blacks. Their simplicity and practicality enables a 'set and forget' approach, whilst bait can be a fiddly and involved procedure, especially early in the learning curve. Lures represent a simple and reliable option which will yield results. Even fishing from a small trailer boat, a two man crew can easily run a five lure spread which not only allows you to cover a large range of options in terms of both colour and size of lures, it also significantly increases your chances of maximising the number of fish that you can land during that prime bite period. Double and triple hook ups are a relatively common occurrence when targeting little blacks. When talking about running lures it's important to remember again that these are juvenile fish eating predominantly small bait fish. Small lures are therefore the go to, with most fish being taken on lures between 4-7 inches. Styles and colours will always revert back to personal preference and past experiences but in general terms small cup faced pushers and lures like the Bonze 'Huntress' and 'Rambo' models in blues, greens and pink seem to find their way into most anglers tackle boxes. The other distinct advantage with running lures is that it allows you to cover a lot more ground than bait fishing. Even running swimming or skip baits can drastically reduce the amount of area you can cover within a session. This is often a greatly underestimated factor when considering the lures versus bait debate. The most critical component in any sort of fishing is to find the areas where the fish are holding. As a much older and therefore wiser seaman once said to me, “the ocean is a desert; we're just looking for the oases”. On the flipside to all these positives, the down fall with lures can be the hook up rate and the number of thrown hooks. In times where the bite may be tentative missed hook ups and throw hooks are commonplace and are just a part and parcel of lures in marlin fishing. On the flipside to lures, the term bait covers a wider array of techniques within itself. Skip baits, swim baits and live baits represent the most popular and prosperous techniques when tangling with little blacks on bait. There are a number of advantages in using bait when targeting little blacks; ironically enough one of the most exciting is the opportunity for bi-catch. Whilst using lures will confine you to mainly marlin, sailfish and perhaps the occasional mahi mahi, using bait opens up an entire assortment of other species depending upon where about's on the coast you are fishing. Cobia, GT's, snapper and a myriad of other species are often inclined to snap up a live bait whilst they wouldn't look twice at a lure that's being trolled past. The other distinct advantage of bait over lures is the ability to use circle hooks over j's. Circle hooks The black marlin is arguably game fishing's ultimate trophy, the 1000lber club is an elite society that very few of us will ever get to join unless we're prepared to part with multitudes of our hard earned dollars and even more time and effort to encounter one of these beasts. At the opposite end of the spectrum the black marlin also represents one of the most accessible and obtainable game fish for the average angler. Every year swarms of little black marlin are swept down the coast line from the Great Barrier as far down as the NSW South Coast. Clinging to the coastline the run of little black marlin down the coast is a predictable and exciting time of the year and is arguably about as accessible as marlin fishing can get. Each year with the black marlin run the populations of small coastal towns such as South West Rocks and Hervey Bay (known black marlin hotspots) swell with fishing enthusiasts of all pedigrees looking to tangle with the aerial antics of little flying blacks. Double and triple hook ups are often common and in some parts of the country sight casting is regarded as a consistent way to target them in the shallows. If the sound of affordable inshore marlin fishing has pricked up the hairs on the back of your neck then here is a brief rundown on the how-to of successfully targeting little blacks. Over the previous seasons I have personally found that two key principles have rung true time and time again. The first of these is that these little blacks although small, are marlin. They bill whack like marlin, they light up like marlin and they certainly jump like marlin. So taking that into account you want to focus on areas where marlin would congregate. Current eddies that force baitfish to take refuge inside, changes in water temperature and colour, schools of bait fish and flotsam and debris all represent good areas to start searching. The second key principle is that even though we're targeting marlin, it is essential to remember that these are still juvenile fish and as such you shouldn't be looking for them where you would normally look for marlin. Juvenile blacks generally hang in close to the shore and are most commonly encountered in 15-40m of water. It is this fact that tends to make them so accessible to any angler wanting to target them; they're proximity to the coast and the broad area of the Australian coastline along which they can be found. When it comes to targeting little black marlin there are more methods out there than there are freckles on a sun beaten rangas (red headed persons) face. The first and most critical decision however is always going to be the choice between lures and bait, and here is where it gets personal. Like buying a boat or choosing someone to date, whichever choice you make is going to involve some sort of compromise. For example if you're dating Miranda Kerr, it means that you're not available when Taylor Swift or one of the other models who's being hanging around the traps giving you the ol' eye comes knocking on the door. The choice between using lures and bait can present a similar predicament so you want to make sure you spend a bit of time better for everyone involved in fishing, including the fish. When targeting little blacks they maximise hook up rates by ensuring a solid hook up in the corner of the jaw thereby acting to minimise the risk of thrown hooks during any aerial antics that follow during the fight. Whilst swim baits and skip baits are fairly self-explanatory and seek to combine some of the advantages of both bait and lure fishing, the technique for live baiting, especially with marlin is a little different to in other styles of fishing. When live baiting for marlin you ideally want to be drifting and targeting specific fish or fishes that you have previously sounded out. The marlin will be relatively easy to identify as with most predatory fish as they are often visible on the sounder pushing the bait up into a tight ball. For this your live bait may require some 'encouragement' to get down to where the fish are hanging so it's often worth having a series of different sized 'encouragement devices', or sinkers, which can be rapidly attached or detached to the mainline via an elastic band depending on the depth at which you're marking fish. If you're not marking fish but you have found the bait and it seems like they should be around the area the other option is to simply deploy your baits and drift the area. If after a number drifts of the area you still haven't marked the fish or connected its often worth moving on to a new bait school and repeating the process until you come up tight. The compromise with using baits can be the difficulties that are often associated in locating and catching it first of all and secondly in the extra effort of ensuring that the baits are rigged and presenting appropriately. It's worth remembering that a poorly presented bait is about as appealing and useful as a concrete life jacket. So if you're going to fish with baits take the time and effort to make sure that they're rigged properly. This is especially critical with skip/swim baits. In terms of rods, reels and tackle options for tangling with little black marlin the number of freckles on a sun beaten rangas face don't even come close to indicating the potential number of possibilities available; Spin sticks, overheads and fly outfits will all do the trick. Think lighter instead of heavier though. A 4000 sized reel with a full spool of good quality 20lb braid coupled with a rod with a reasonable amount of flex to kids college funds and invest in a new arsenal of rods and reels although if that option is available why not? You only live once. Despite the light lines, leaders should be comparatively heavy with 60-80lb races representing the lower limit of the scale as the bills while shorter still have that raspy, sand paper effect that wears through leaders. Light/fine gauge hooks like Gamakatsu SL12's or Owner inline circles are also essential to ensure that the hooks are able to penetrate with only the light drag pressures that can be applied with light line. Overall the tackle shouldn't differ too much from what you would normally be using for live baiting or light trolling. With all that in your arsenal you're ready to put down these pages (on the proviso that you pick them back up on your return) and get out there and get amongst it. In concluding it is worth pointing out that as with all avenues of game fishing chasing little black marlin is an extremely visual affair. When you really start looking out at what's around you when you're out on the water it's amazing how much life is actually right on your doorstep. It's incredible the number of little black marlin that you will see tailing along the surface of the ocean if you keep your eyes peeled and for us this has become one of the most successful means of targeting these fish. Spotting a tailing marlin then managing to convert him into your spread and watch him light up and smash a lure right at the back of the boat is exciting no matter how many times you have seen it before and something that you all should have witnessed by the end of this year's little black marlin run. BLACK MARLIN - 1431 pounds 30-11-18 It's official! Gold Coast boat "Too Easy" captained by Russel Gage has just weighed in their big black marlin at 1431 pounds. The weigh was done in Urangan this afternoon after "To Easy" made the trek down from Lady Musgrave Island, just north of Fraser Island. The catch seems to confirm a 2nd, more southern spawning ground for East Coast black marlin. Capt. Russell Gage confirmed that this huge Female came into the lure spread light-up electric blue and surrounded by an escort of several small males before taking the short-corner lure. Once on deck, the fully ripe spawning female was oozing eggs. The marlin's ovaries will be extracted and forwarded to Dr Julian Pepperell and will be a break through in scientific research for this species. Congratulations to the team. What a mighty effort. 2nd biggest ever caught in Australia, Peter bBs was 1442 in 1973 Some interesting info about that Big marlin! The original post has some many people raving on about the fact it was killed, half of them with profile pics depicting dead fish of different species that are up to twice the age of this fish! We sift through the fact and fiction on this large 1431lb black marlin that was caught off Lady Musgrave island earlier this week. We are not advocating for, or against the take, but just looking to provide context. Many people in the public have raised concerns of this being a old fish. This fish is likely to be in the range of 15 years old, give or take a few years, and while this is old in terms of marlin, it is relatively young in terms of fish and animal lifetimes. In comparison to other fishes, a 40cm yellowfin bream would be around 5 years older than this 4m marlin. There is a large range of social views around the landing of big fish, so we ask how common is this? Estimates suggest that over 95% of marlin caught in Australian Waters by sports fishers are released alive. The release of marlin is a voluntary practice that has become the social norm within the sports fishing community and as a result the majority of fish (over black marlin 65,000 to date) are tagged to support research on the species. Do the fish survive once released? Our research suggests that overall there is 90% post-release survival on black marlin, with a greater likelihood of survival in larger fish than smaller animals. Finally, there were suggestions that this fish will be used for research purposes, so what can it tell us? As few black marlin this large have ever been aged, if the otoliths (ear bones) or dorsal spines can be collected from this fish it can help to refine the age estimates for this species. Additional, black marlin from the southwestern pacific have only been recorded to spawn on the northern Great Barrier Reef, so if the gonads can be preserved and are found to contain hydrated eggs, it may provide information on the importance of Lady Musgrave as a secondary spawning site. A comparison of size (lower jaw-fork length; LJFL) at age for Black Marlin and Blue Marlin based on presumed annual increment counts in anal fin spines (this study and Hill et al. 1989) and daily micro increments in otoliths (Prince et al. 1991) SAINTLY WHISPERS Love the SAINT LoL Love THE SAINT Love THE SAINT SAINTLY WHISPERS The Mexican Maid The Mexican maid asked for a pay increase. The wife was very upset about this, and decided to talk to her about the raise. She asked: "Now Maria, why do you want a pay increase?"    Maria: "Well, Señora, there are tree reasons why I wanna . ... ..increase. The first is that I iron better than you."  Wife: "Who said you iron better than me?"   Maria: "Jor huzban, he say so." Wife: "Oh yeah?"  Maria: "The second reason eez that I am a better cook than you."  Wife: "Nonsense, who said you were a better cook than me?"  Maria: "Jor hozban did." Wife, increasingly agitated: "Oh he did, did he?" Maria: "The third reason is that I am better at sex than you in the . bed."  Wife, really boiling now and through gritted teeth, "And did my . .. husband say that as well?"  Maria: "No Señora...the gardener did."  Wife: "So - how much do you want?"