FROM THE PRESIDENT
Welcome to 2022. Being February it means it's Interclub time again. I wish all club boats and anglers the very best of luck and may the fishing gods and weather Gods be all on your side. Please remember we need all paper work to be handed into the club and for all those boats fishing the Interclub weekend it's a also point score weekend .To all boats taking advantage of the all ports weekend good luck to everyone. There are a lot of tournaments coming up so mark them up in your diaries but make sure you have our Peter Goadby Tournament as a priority. It will be running on the 9th & 10th April. This year is also our 70th Anniversary so a special one. Once again we will have excellent CASH & prizes and we are running with a bonus $10,000 cash for tagging 5 marlin plus cash for heaviest Marlin. On the fishing scene a big congratulations to boat Reaper on there catch, bringing back the heaviest shark. A tiger shark weighing in at 356.5kg on 15kg. It took Jayden 2 hours to reel in but all signs of any discomfort were short lived once they weighed their tiger shark and realised that they just weighed a fish worth $25,000 to them. Congratulations to Jayden & Matty! Our Tightlines magazine is always looking for articles, stories photos and so on so if you have a good photo of your latest fishing trip or a great story to tell please let us know. You can contact Stephen Pitchfork or our secretary Annita. We also have great advertising sponsorship packages available with all proceeds going towards running of and improving of the club. Tightlines. Tiddles Tight Lines
Calendar of Events SGFC February 2022 1st Club Meeting 5th - 6th Summer Pointscore Weekend 19th - 20th Summer Pointscore Weekend 22th Committee Meeting 25th to 27rd NSWGFA Interclub and Allports Tournaments March 2022 1st Club Meeting 5th - 6th Summer Pointscore Weekend 12th Central Coast GFC Tournament 12th - 13th Central Zone weekend 19th - 20th Summer Pointscore Weekend 19th - 20th Broken Bay Tournament and Central Zone Weekend 29th Committee Meeting April 2022 2nd - 3rd Summer Pointscore Weekend 5th Club Meeting 9th - 10th Peter Goadby Memorial Tournament Sydney GFC 9th - 10th Central Zone weekend 16th - 17th Summer Pointscore Weekend 26th Committee Meeting
Cover Photo Courtesy of Al McGlashan www.almcglashan.com
ww.tantrumlures.com
2022 NSW Interclub & All Ports Teams
Port Stephens Team 1 Tantrum, Double Trigger, Wild Blue Team 2 Ambition, Smartbill, Blondie Team 3 Deploy, Casey, Ballistic Team 4 Groundswell, Allora, Gamechanger All Ports Team 1 Happy days, Going Rouge, Midnight Team 2 Reaper Tight lines
SGFC thanks all Skippers & Crews participating in the 2022 Interclub & All Ports Tournaments.
Jayden Millauro ( Smallfry angler) Fishing aboard Sammy - Jay New members they fished the Botany Bay Tournament they had a great weekend Jayden Day 1 saw them hook up only to loose the marlin at the boat Day 2 hooked up again only again to have bad luck so close to the boat but it was third time lucky for the Jayden & Team Sammy- jay tagging a stripe Marlin on 10kg they also tagged a Dolhpin fish.
ADVERTISE WITH US Tight Lines advertisement is open and welcome a good way to get your message out to your fellow members For more information please Email our club secretary Annita Flannery on secretary@sgfc.com.au
Tight Lines is a members base magazine we welcome and ask for any article stories photos information on what is going on from the members. No matter how big or small "remember it's your club two". Send all info to Email: stephen@pitchforkprinting.com.au all Call Stephen Pitchfork on 0404019683
Focus on...FinFinder
After trialling many boats out there they stumbled across the Supersport and absolutely loved it, mostly because of the way it rides. It turns out "FinFinder" is a great all rounder boat, ideal for gamefishing, deep dropping, snapper fishing and even cruising around the bay all without breaking a sweat. The hull design of their "Supersport" has a very sharp V at the front which then flattens out in the rear making the boat very stable and safe in rough conditions and when doing a drift. She has a cruising speed of 20 knots and a top speed of around 35 knots. The centre of gravity is great meaning it gets quickly up onto the plane quickly and gives a nice comfortable ride once there. The hard top means great protection from the elements and a less tiring day when you get to the end of it. Their favourite Tuna lures are Pakula brand with their go-to lure being the Phantom Jet Screamer. Second to this would be JB Lures.
This article continues looking behind the scenes at some of our club boats and their skippers
Sleeping on an Air Dock at Birkenhead Point
Simrad NSS 12 evo 3 chart plotter Simrad auto pilot Furuno 295 sounder 1kw SS175HW thru hull, 2kw 82b35R thru hull VHF IC-M5060EURO Fusion 650 Savwinch s.s Electric anchor ACR RC100 LED spotlight
Other features
By Greg Wall
This issue focuses on mad keen fishing brothers Ali and Hussein Kobeissi and their pride and joy, a 7.5 metre plate boat affectionately know as "FinFinder". This is their second boat with the first being a classic 2012 Barcrusher 670c that they enjoyed for around 3 years before deciding they wanted to upgrade to something with a smoother ride.
Reelax outriggers Large live bait tank Bait crusher 2 x minnkotta plugs for deep dropping Sea deck on deck
electronics
Boat Specs
Electronics Setup
It would seem "FinFinder" is an apt name for the boat. In fact their first trip on the new girl was out to 12 mile which was full of jackets. They pulled the pin and decided a run out to Browns might be the go. They were rewarded that day with an approx. 80kg Yellow Fin Tuna (not a bad way to get the monkey off their back in the first trip). The boys initially installed their own chinese branded sea deck which got them by for a few years. Since then they have gotten Spiro from Blue Bottle Marine (he should have an ad in here) to install a genuine Sea Deck. The boys say "It is absolutely amazing!, the workmanship and product are second to none." You can see some great examples of the work in the photos. All in all it's a great setup that keeps providing.
Boat Name
FinFinder
Owner/Skipper
Ali and Hussein Kobeissi
Model
Custom built 2012 Super Sports Hardtop
Registration
AGV460N
Body Colour
Blue (White Cabin & top)
Fly Bridge (Y/N)?
N
Length or OAL
7.5 Metres
Width or Max Beam
2.7 Metres
Boat Material
Aluminium Plate (6mm top & bottom)
Engine(s)
Yamaha 4 Stroke
Total Power (hp)
250 HP
Cruising Speed
20 Knots (top 35 knots)
Fuel Capacity
400 Litres
Boat Type (Trailer)?
Trailer
Mooring Type
AirDock (see pictures)
Storage Location
Birkenhead Point Marina
19/1/2022. 1st Marlin of the Season - Capture
1st Marlin of the season capture has gone off to junior angler Charlie Hare finishing on board with his dad Matt Hare on Blood Vessel Charlie's Marlin weighed 82.4kg on 15kg line Hugh congratulations to Charlie for his 1st capture. I know they have had a few near misses in the past Charlie also managed to tag a stripe marlin on the same day so not a bad day out for the young junior.
NSW Marine Protected Areas Overview-Map
Check out our handy ID guide for hammerhead sharks in NSW. Three of the nine species of hammerhead sharks in the world occur in NSW waters, and two of these are listed as threatened species in NSW – the Great Hammerhead Shark and the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark. In NSW waters, Great and Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks are most likely to occur north of Sydney and mainly during the warmer months. The Smooth Hammerhead Shark is the only hammerhead species permitted to be caught in NSW. For recreational fishers, most interactions with hammerhead sharks in NSW are likely to be with Smooth Hammerheads. Here are some tips to help you correctly identify the species. The shape of their heads is one easy way you can tell them apart. Correct identification is very important to ensure that if you accidentally catch a Great or Scalloped Hammerhead Shark it can be returned to the water as quickly as possible with minimal harm. If you do unintentionally catch a threatened species or see one, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take a photo and log a sighting on the DPI website. This data can be used to help us better understand the species numbers and movements to support recovery efforts. Report a threatened species here -https://bit.ly/3H5qlpf.
Why do blondes always smile during lightning storms? They think their picture is being taken.
Basic Bar Terminology
Love the SAINT
“LOVE __ When all the songs on the radio describe exactly how you feel. LUST __ When the song on the radio determines how you do it. MARRIAGE __ When you listen to talk radio.
Love, Lust or Marriage
SAINTLY WHISPERS
“EXCUSE ME.” (FEMALE TO MALE) (Don’t even think about groping me, just get the hell out of my way.) “EXCUSE ME.” (FEMALE TO FEMALE) (Move your fat ass. Who do you think you are anyway? You’re certainly not all that’ Miss Thing, coming in here dressed like a hoochie ... and get your eyes off of my man, or I’ll slap you like the s**t you are.)
“A woman is in bed with her lover ... who also happens to be her husband’s best friend. They make love for hours ... wondrous, passionate love. Afterwards, they are just lying there, each savoring the nearness of the other. The telephone rings and, because it’s the woman’s house, she reaches over and pick up the receiver. Her lover looks over at her and listens, only hearing her side of the conversation ... She is speaking in a cheery voice. “Hello? Oh, hi! So glad you called. Really? That’s wonderful. I’m so happy for you. Sounds terrific. Great. Thanks for calling. I love you too. Bye-bye.” She hangs up the telephone and her lover asks, “Who was that?” “Oh,” she replies, “that was my husband telling me what a wonderful time he’s having on his fishing trip with you.”
A cat died and went to heaven God met the animal at the pearly gates and said you have been a good cat all of these years anything you want is yours for the asking the cat thought for a moment and then said all my life I have lived on a farm and slept on hard wooden floors I would like a real fluffy pillow to sleep on God said say no more instantly the cat had a huge fluffy pillow a few days later 12 mice were simultaneously killed in an accident and they all went up to heaven together God met the mice at the pearly gates of heaven and with the exact same offer that he made to the cat they said well we have had to run all of our lives from cats dogs and even from people with brooms if we could just have some little roller skates we would never have to run again God answeredit is done all the mice had beautiful little roller skates about a week later God decided to cheque on the cat he found her sound asleep on her fluffy pillow God gently awakened the cat and asked is everything OK how have you been doing are you happy the cat replied oh everything is just wonderful I've never been so happy in my life my pillow is always fluffy and those little Meals on Wheels that you have been sending me over our just delicious.
Cat Joke
Hi Honey
Black Marlin Tactics and Tackle
By David Green | 20 January 2017
BLACK marlin (Istiompax indica) are the most widely distributed billfish in Australian waters. From the South Coast of NSW, up along the Queensland coast, across the Top End and south down the West Australian coastline, there are reasonable concentrations of blacks throughout the warmer months. Unlike blue marlin, black marlin are found on inshore grounds as well as on the continental shelf. Breeding populations of large adult fish congregate on the reef edges of the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef in spring. This has led to the famous black marlin fishery based out of Cairns and Lizard Island where more “granders” (fish over 1000 pounds) are caught each season than in any other part of the world. The annual spawning run of adult fish in North Queensland produces a massive tide of tiny juvenile black marlin. The often strong south-easterly trade winds push this tide of eggs and fry inside the many reef passages in the Great Barrier Reef where the juveniles rapidly grow inside the reef edge, gorging on a tide of plankton and bait in the fertile shallow waters.
These fish grow extremely rapidly and in about eight months reach a size of 6-10 kilos. Concentrations of these baby black marlin start to appear on grounds like Cape Bowling Green off Townsville in the winter, and there are also populations of small blacks, sometimes as little as four kilos, that show up in northern WA around Broome. While there’s a reasonable understanding of black marlin migration on the east coast, it seems likely that there are probably many other spawning aggregations in the west that we as yet don’t fully understand. When the East Australian Current starts to move south in spring it takes vast numbers of these small and hungry marlin with it, rapidly growing as they feed on big shoals of pilchards and slimy mackerel. These fish arrive in Central Queensland in spring. At times large groups of fish move inside the top edge of Fraser Island in October and November which gives rise to great inshore fishing on the flats and some fantastic fly fishing. The run of fish hits the Gold Coast in late November through to January on the inshore grounds, and these same fish usually arrive at ports like South West Rocks, Port Stephens and Sydney a month or two later. The number of fish varies greatly from season to season. It all depends on what happened on the spawning grounds the previous spring. If the spawning season went well and the winds blew hard in North Queensland, there’s usually a good stock of juvenile marlin. The black marlin fishery can be a feast or famine scenario, but in general there are enough fish to keep anglers keen. In the boom years getting more than 10 strikes per day is quite common. The smaller black marlin tend to run on the inshore areas in depths between 20 and 80m. At times I’ve caught them just out the back of the surf break off my home waters on Queensland’s Gold Coast, but I’ve also caught 20 kilo black marlin well wide of the continental shelf. While the juveniles move on the inshore grounds there is an accompanying run of two to four-year-old fish in areas between 60 and 100m. These appear on most east coast grounds in summer. Generally speaking, most fish range between 40 and 100 kilos. Black marlin are a spectacular gamefish. While the initial take off and run may lack the speed and crazy antics of a big blue marlin, a black will fight long and hard. While you can wear a blue marlin down in time, black marlin seem to have remarkable endurance. On light tackle they are never easy to land. The following is an overview of the tactics I have found to be successful when targeting black marlin off the Gold Coast. Most of my fishing is done from a 6m trailer boat with two or three anglers on board. We tend to concentrate on the small inshore fish in early summer using eight and 10 kilo tackle before heading out wider in February and March where we target the bigger fish on 15 and 24 kilo gear.
(https://www.fishingworld.com.au/how-to/black-marlin-tactics-and-tackle)
Hooked up on a typical breezy summer day off the NSW South Coast. Black marlin can be found around inshore reefs right out over the shelf. Image: Ian Osterloh
Lure Trolling Using lures for black marlin on the inshore grounds is simple and fun and the bites are usually spectacular. The main advantages of lure trolling are that you cover a lot of ground in a day. Also, it’s a good method to catch tasty bycatch such as dolphin fish and wahoo. The disadvantages of lure trolling is that it has the poorest hook-up rate of any method. In general, you’ll need three strikes to get two hook-ups and one landed fish. There are a few ways to improve these odds but it’s not easy to drive a hook into the hard bony jaws of a black marlin. A lot of fish will strike, run and then throw the lure on the first jump. Despite this, it’s a fun way to fish and the fight on a lure-caught fish is often a lot more exciting than happens when a marlin takes a deep live bait.
behind the boat. More often than not, it’s the shortest lure that gets the most marlin bites. I run my lures on quite a light drag setting so the fish can turn and run with the lure. I find this gives a much better hook up. When lure trolling I run an average speed of about seven knots when chasing black marlin. I concentrate on known spots where bait holds, and much prefer trolling over reef than over sand. Look for birds, bait, temperature breaks and warm water. In general, a water temperature of 24.5 to 27 degrees is the best temp zone for black marlin. If you find a likely area or you have had a strike and missed, stay in the vicinity. Don’t just randomly wander. Lure trolling is a waiting game; it’s all about using the subtle clues to your advantage. If you find good concentrations of bait, you’re in the right spot. Troll & Switch This slightly more complex method combines the ground coverage of lure trolling with the hook-up rate of bait fishing. I like to troll two rods with hookless lures and a belly strip sewn under the skirts. Plus I run a Witch Doctor and a bird teaser out the back. The bird teaser flaps on the surface and has a daisy chain of squids and skirted lures running behind it. When a marlin is raised it will often come in on the bird teaser, then chew on the hookless lure (the belly strip sewn into the skirt of the lure makes them hold on to it better). At this time we cast a live rigged slimy or a rigged dead garfish to the billfish which generally swims over and takes the bait. This is a standard trolling method for sailfish as well as black marlin. It is a very visual method and quite exciting. Casting a bait to a lit-up marlin is something you don’t forget in a hurry. The disadvantages of troll & switch is that it requires constant attention and getting a good “tease” takes a bit of practice. It can also be a very frustrating method when the wahoo are thick and absolutely destroy your hookless lures. Ideally, you need a crew of three to do it well: an angler, someone working the teasers and a boat driver. It’s a challenging method when you have inexperienced crew. While I use hookless lures with belly strips of tuna or dolphin fish sewn into them, rigged hookless baits such as slimies, bonito or queenfish are also very good. Small queenfish make great teaser baits as they are very tough and last numerous “chewings”.
I troll a spread of five lures and I vary the size and colour on all of my offerings. I am also a big believer in trolling a mirrored teaser like the famous Pakula Witch Doctor when targeting black marlin on lures. Over many seasons I’ve noticed that the lure closest to the teaser draws a disproportional number of strikes. Lure size is generally between 15 and 25cm. My favourite lure brands for black marlin are Black Snacks, (made locally on the Gold Coast by Mitchell Calcutt), Meridians and small Pakulas. Sometimes a really tiny lure like the Pakula Uzi gets a lot of bites when fish are on small bait. Good colours include lumo green, purple over pink, blue, gold and silver and plain white. Different lure head shapes work in different conditions. In calm conditions longer heads are often effective and stay true and straight; in rougher conditions you may need something with a more cup shaped face, such as the Black Snacks Hot Head. This lure leaves one of the biggest bubble trails I’ve ever seen. I rig all of my light tackle lures using 10/0 Gamakatsu saltwater fly hooks, using a pair of hooks on the larger lures and single hooks on the smaller ones. The second hook is mounted on a short length of 49 strand cable which gives some protection from wahoo and mackerel teeth. I use these hooks on tackle up to 10 kilos and also put a small zinc corrosion anode on the hook shaft. Lure positioning is important. The “shotgun” is mounted high and runs from the rocket launcher in my boat. This lure is positioned between 60 and 80m behind the boat. I like something small and straight running in this position. From the outriggers I run two medium sized lures in different colours at around 30 to 50m back. The two short flat lines carry bigger, darker lures that are easier to see in the prop wash and are positioned 10 to 20m
Running a teaser definitely seems to draw more bites, especially when targeting aggressive juvenile marlin.
Dead Bait Trolling This method has been traditionally used for many decades in Queensland ports. A combination of swimming and skipping gars and a spit tail mullet carefully rigged and trolled at around 5 knots is a great way to target both small black marlin and sailfish. Bait rigging has become a bit of a lost art in many places. Rigged on small circle hooks, the swimming or skipping gar is trolled from the outriggers and the mullet runs from the flat lines or downriggers. The release clips are set at a light pressure, and when a billfish takes the bait it is let run, the boat slows or stops and then the angler pushes the drag to strike and waits for the circle hook to lock in. Dead bait trolling is a very effective method but requires a high degree of skill and preparation time. Getting good quality garfish can also be difficult. That said, this method is a great way to fish with a very high percentage rate of strikes to hook ups. Live Baiting Drifting a live bait through a big bait school is probably the most effective but least spectacular method of catching a marlin. At times, however, when fish are deep, a live bait is the only way to get a hookup. I fish two rods, one with a small lead and one with a bigger sinker to get down deeper. I like to have the leads so they are well away from the bait and preferably so they break away on strike. I use Eagle Claw laser sharp circle hooks. If there’s a massive school of bait, you will generally see marlin marking on your sounder. Using a controlled drift or slow troll, it isn’t too hard to get your bait in the zone. Sometimes when large schools of slimy mackerel are holding in one spot, many marlin will be caught in that area. At times this attracts a ridiculous number of boats. If you like crowds, fights, abuse and having your lines run over, then this type of fishing is for you. While I do spend a bit of time live baiting for marlin, I much prefer to find my own bait school and have plenty of room to fight my fish. It’s a very effective method and I much prefer to slow troll my baits rather than drift with a massive lead. Now is black marlin time all along the inshore grounds of the east coast. They are a great fish, providing spectacular action for all anglers with a suitable trailer boat.
The first thing to consider is: not every bit of food eaten is digested at the same speed.
Figure 1- Processing and identifying stomach content in the lab
By Tristan Guillemin
For example, something soft like a squid may dissolve far quicker than something a tougher like a crab. So, when we cut open a stomach, we need to ask ourselves, are we seeing everything the fish has eaten, or are we just seeing the few bits of food tougher to digest? As scientists, it’s important to factor this into data interpretation or use modern methods like DNA metabarcoding which can detect even the faintest trace of DNA in a stomach therefore overcoming this bias. The second complication: how do we judge what’s more important to the fish? Lets say a stomach contains one 10kg yellowfin and 25 little scad, by weight the yellowfin is more important prey, but by count,
The Art of using the Stomach to work out what fish eat
Mama always said, “fish stomach contents are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get”. Since the overfishing of prey species can cause decreases in predator stocks, understanding what a fish eats is key to maintaining their populations. As we all know, chopping open the stomach of a fish is an exciting way to work out what a fish has eaten. However, there are a few complications one must consider when using a stomach to understand diet.
the scad are more important. This gets further complicated when you analyse multiple stomachs and find that every single stomach has one or two scad, but that just one or two individual stomachs have 40kg of squid in them. Which is more important, the prey that occurs in every stomach, or the prey most abundant in one or two stomachs? To overcome this, we use an equation known as the index of relative importance(IRI = %F x (%N + %W))*. This factors in weight of prey, abundance of prey and stomachs analysed to make sure we accurately identify the prey most important to the fish.
Figure2- Stomach content of a Yellowfin Tuna. Full of yellowtail scad (left: yellowtail scad in stomach, right: stomach cut open)
Figure 3- Example rank abundance curve from a paper on marlin stomachs in Mexico (Rojas et al. 2013)
The final complication: how many stomachs are enough? If I just sample a single blue marlin stomach, can I confidently say I know what blue marlin eat? What about if I sample 10? 100? 1000? And does the amount of stomachs needed differ between fish species depending on whether they are more or less picky eaters? Well, luckily, there’s a way to work this out too. Each time we find a new prey item in a stomach, we count it. The more stomachs we sample, the less likely we are to find a prey item we haven’t seen before. We can use this to create a rank abundance curve (Figure 3). As the rank abundance curve starts to flatten out, we can conclude we’re not finding that many new prey items anymore, and that we probably have enough stomachs. Almost every angler I’ve spoken to has awesome stories about unexpected findings inside their catch, hopefully this article gives a bit of an insight into the science behind stomach content analysis and builds on that excitement! Stomach content analysis is commonly used by scientists for understanding diet and will likely be used for years to come to ensure our much-loved predatory fish have healthy food stocks. References: Torres Rojas, Yassir, Agustin Hernandez Herrera, Sofia Ortega-Garcia, and Michael Domeier. "Stable isotope differences between blue marlin (Makaira nigricans) and striped marlin (Kajikia audax) in the southern Gulf of California, Mexico."Bulletin of Marine Science89, no. 2 (2013): 421-436. *(Where %F = number of stomachs including weight items, %N = total number of the food item in stomach, %W = total wet weight of food item.)