Written by Jono Wroth
Over the years I have been privileged to visit the Abrolhos Islands targeting the world-class diving and table fish the coral islands offer. These trips have always been memorable but left me wondering just how good is the game fishing out a little wider? Many chats with game fishing legends such as Neil Patrick had wet my appetite to one day target billfish here. So when I received the call from Hamish, who was spending 4 months with his family at Pigeon Island, I needed little convincing, despite just arriving back from Exmouth only a week before! The offer was too good to refuse. “Johnno if it’s a leave pass you need then we will fly Casey (my fiancée and also a keen game fisher) up too, just bring all your big rods and reels and lets catch oneof these marlin!” Hamish offered over the sat phone.
Artillery
So the queste had been set and Casey and I flew into the Wallaby Group feeling like rock stars to spend a week fishing the tournament on a 50 Key West and experience some of the best game fishing WA has to offer. The Geraldton Game Fishing Club has organised the annual Halco Lures Abrolhos Islands Game Fishing Tournament for 16 years generally held during April. This year not only saw a record number of 20 boats enter but also a record number of marlin hooked and tagged over the 5 days.
Hamish’s Key West, Queste, is very well set up for extended live aboard trips to remote places which was also valuable for Casey to continue to run her business remotely as we trolled for marlin. Minimal changes were required to Queste to transform it into a formidable battlewagon to plough the Abrolhos group’s outer canyons in search of marlin.
Abrolhos Tournament Tactics – where’s that reef?
The first day of fishing half the fleet headed south and the remainder were pretty much spread out all working along the edge of the continental shelf 5 Nm west of the islands. The water quickly changes from the shallow turquoise blue around the reefs and sand holes, to a deep indigo blue plunging beyond 1500m. Not long after lines in we found a wrack line that identifies converging currents and has weed or flotsam and jetsam collecting in it. These lines are good indicators of temperature changes and often upwelling’s that bring nutrients to the surface and with it the oceans’ food chain. Working the boat in a very technical zig zag pattern, pre-set on the auto pilot, we gradually covered the necessary ground in a systematic way picking up bait fish at depth on the sounder. We all kept our eyes on the 4 lures that were plunging up and down set at varying distances back in the boat wake. Often we would see “wish fish” – the dark shadow, dorsal fin and long sickle of the tail sliding off a wave or coming up behind a lure but often these were illusions resulting from staring constantly at the water too long.
Then as we squinted into the mid-morning light, a long brown shape beneath the surface 20 meters astern, streaked towards us lighting up with blue stripes and suddenly a massive head and shoulders as thick as a 44 gallon drum started coming out behind the boat, swiping at the lure on the short corner. Again the marlin lifted itself out of the water and inhaled the lure and crashed back in, throwing water like a depth charge so loud that we could hear the explosion over the engines.
Despite all the role playing we had done with Hamish and super decky, Geoff, a local Cray fisherman, in preparation for this moment, nothing prepares you for what happens next.
As it was Hamish’s first marlin he leapt from the helm, not even touching a ladder rung and landing right next to the reel which was still screaming as this marlin tore hundreds of metres of line out in seconds. Realising I too should be on the deck, Casey quickly swapped places with me and took she took the helm. We all now had our positions, the arsenal of cameras and go pros were all activated and we could start putting pressure on the fish before it continued to empty the spool which had already lost 400m of 37kg line. Lucky for us Hamish had recently taken up an early morning regimental gym program and was clearly in shape to keep control of this monster. He gave it little relief and only using stand up tackle (no chair) and harness he gradually won back the line through a crank and wind approach carrying most of the weight on his legs and saving the lower back. This fish was not beat, every 50m we won back it would sometimes surface and grey hound across the ocean stripping more line out. We knew it was big as it still was able to drag Hamish around his cockpit which certainly no dhuie had ever done before. Estimating it over 200kgs, I too became quite apprehensive as despite leadering a few fish in my time, I am usually on the helm and a fish this big is quite intimidating when wrapping the leader around your gloved hands in order to tag and retrieve the hook. Within 20 minutes from the hook-up we had it alongside and on the leader. Super decky completed a text book tag shot in the shoulder and we now just needed to remove the hook rig and take a quick photograph.
Casey on the helm made sure the boat was always in gear knocking each engine separately in and out of forwards to keep the idle speed as low as possible. This allows the marlin to never get ahead of the transom and the leader man to maintain good control as the tag shot is placed. Given the short fight time it was of no surprise the marlin showed good colour and health as it was still very green. Despite being quite subdued at the boat, marlin can still be a ticking time bomb ready to explode.
Partly due to this marlins size and the difficulty to get near it in the water to remove the hook rig and also the desire to take a photo of the boat’s and Hamish’s first marlin we decided to bring it aboard. This is certainly not a common practice and should only be done very quickly and always with sea water pumping on the deck and through the marlins gills in order to keep it oxygenated. With a firm grip on the bill by both Geoff and I we slowly, a manoeuvred the fish onto the swim landing and through the transom door onto the deck making the most of the following sea to assist in the lift and slide. Quickly the hook rig was carefully removed having lodge solidly in the upper underneath of the bill and a quick photograph taken before we slid this magnificent blue marlin back into the water.
Hamish’s Big Blue
Despite coming out of the water for 3 minutes she remained docile and once back in her colour quickly regained and the tell tail kicks of its tail commenced as we slowly dragged her with a rope slip noose from the bill. We tried to hold her by hand but the sheer weight and drag was too heavy for our arms. Ensuring she was upright and vertical after 15 minutes we released the noose to record her on underwater video gently kicking away back down into the deep blue.
Releasing fish is the most wonderful and fulfilling experience despite doing many times, each one is as unique as the other. Seeing a marlin light up taking a bait or lure behind the boat and then close up again to release it, is a personal privilege, and something that only a few anglers witness in a lifetime.
We ended up tagging and releasing 2 Blue Marlin over the tournament. A total of 20 marlin were hooked and 14 tagged. The Champion Boat Billfish was won by Balek III, tagging 3 Blues and 1 striped Marlin.
Marlin’s lunch!
The presentation night was held on “Big Pigeon Island” Wallaby Group with a lot of camaraderie and jovial banter between the local Cray fishermen and the visiting game fisherman. The hospitality from the locals who allow us to invade their piece of paradise for the week is second to none and the Geraldton and Districts Offshore Fishing Club’s certainly run a very well organized tournament and are very welcoming to new anglers. For those boaties who already visit the Abrolhos I strongly urge you try this world-class marlin fishery and suggest you do it during this competition. For those that haven’t been to the Abrolhos yet, you are missing out and it definitely this needs to be added to the bucket list! More information on the Halco Lures Abrolhols Tournament can be sourced from www.geraldtonfishing.westnet.com.au
