All At Sea - Fishing Charters

This was one day we get in a hundred…

All At Sea — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:02:35 +0000

We had one of these magic days on the water today, no wind and the sea like a lake, clear sky, sunny and warm. With big schools of mackerel mixed in with bonito and reef fish. And Sammy The Seal wasn’t there stealing the catch like yesterday. The team did really well with a 25 + kilo box of mixed fish. This was Mandy’s first fishing trip and she did very well, outfishing a couple of the guys. You know, sea conditions make a big difference to the day. That is why we are conservative and with difficult conditions rather reschedule to make it a positive experience for our customers. It’s been a strange summer, in fact no summer at all with below average temperatures and lots of rain. And the catchment dams have filled up to 83%.
But it is hopefully getting better, the offshore water temp is coming up to 25C, dolphin fish are there and marlin in about 70 fathom.

Hey Baby, you did well today, hooking up an Australian Salmon!

All At Sea — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 07:37:53 +0000

So his name is Babib Baby! We had Jobin’s team onboard today, originally from Kerala, India. We don’t speak malayalam but enjoyed their positive attitude and laughter. As we were preparing to go back to our home port, Babin Baby hooked up an Australia Salmon!
The sea conditions were good early in the morning, then the wind picked up and made it a bit messy. I think the guys enjoyed the king fish and mahi mahi under the FAD, unfortunately under Fisheries minimum size limits. Sorry about a few of the guys being a little sea sick. Take care and hope we’ll see you all onboard again.

Mahi mahi down under! Lisa from Pennsylvania enjoyed the day

All At Sea — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:57:18 +0000

We were lucky with the sea conditions today. A little choppy to start with but the sea improved as the day went by. Very nice team, great catch of tuna and dolpin fish under Fisheries FAD.
Water temp about 24.5 at 140 metres. Current from the north at 2, perhaps 2.5 knots.

It was a great day on the water with Herbert and his friends

All At Sea — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:40:35 +0000

We were luck with very good sea conditions and a box full of fish. The best fish was a mac tuna but also interesting with some mahi mahi, unfortunately less than 60 cm, the minimum legal size.
Mackerel Tuna are striking looking fish, easily recognized by the patch of wavy mackerel-like markings on the back which extend from the dorsal fin to the tail and four or five rounded black spots on the belly between the pectoral and ventral fins. They are robust, tapering fish which school in inshore coastal waters, where they feed on pilchards, blue sprats and herring. They were called mackerel tuna because they are common on mackerel grounds at Middle Ground.

Matt’s team hooked up a marlin, stripies and mackerels

All At Sea — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:51:53 +0000

Matt’s team had a good day today. Starting a bit slow with pretty lumpy sea, up to two metres and short and sharp. So we decided to head out about 4 nm to our nearest float, ie FAD. Nothing there but pushing on further east with our light tuna trolling gear we suddenly had a great hook-up – a striped marlin around the 100 kg mark! After a few minutes and sensational out of water jumps, unfortunately the hook pulled out.
But they also caught a couple of striped tuna. The skipjack or striped tuna is also known by many Australian anglers as the “stripey”. As with all the tunas, the name “tunny” is still sometimes used, and skipjacks are often confused with bonito. In the past, skipjack were not often eaten in Australia because of their dark, blood-rich meat and strong flavour. However, if bled promptly and kept on ice they are quite palatable in casseroles, pies or when baked. They are also well suited to canning, smoking, salting and drying.

‘Dan the Man’ from Sweden caught a dolly, ie dolphin fish at the FAD, about 12 nm from Port Hacking.

All At Sea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:05:27 +0000

It was a quite nice day with a slow rolling swell and clear sky. No rain or storm! We have had a very difficult and strange season with volatile and quickly changing sea conditions. Like today with a 30 + knot southerly change arriving unexpected very early.
But well done Roberto’s team and Geoff and Bob.

Speaking of mackerel, here they are! Football fields of fish and the sea boiling

All At Sea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:56:07 +0000

We are not sure what brought in this massive number of big mackerel. But it is a wonderful sight. And we like them in the smoker or pan fried. As always with tuna and fish with a high blood content we bleed them on capture and put them quickly on ice.

Well done Harry, Radi and Edward – nice mahi mahi at the Port Hacking FAD

All At Sea — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:42:53 +0000

The day started with a bit choppy sea. Huge schools of mackerel at Middle Ground, they have been there for a couple of weeks now. And big ones, up to 40 cm.
Unfortunetely no luck with tuna trolling but a striped marlin a few metres from the boat turned up the blood pressure. He was so close I think we frightened him off!
But the FAD worked and we ended up with a couple of keepers, Radi’s 69 cm was the best one. And about a half dozen throw backs.

Ross and his team did very well last Sunday

All At Sea — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:36:29 +0000

With a mixed catch of australian salmon, bonito, sweep and mackerel. Australian salmon, known as kahawai in New Zealand, are medium-sized perciform marine fish of the small family Arripidae. Four species are recognized, all within the genus Arripis; they are found in the waters off southern Australia, including Tasmania and New Zealand. Despite the common name, Australian salmon are not related to the salmon of the Northern Hemisphere. They are a great sportfish.

Andrew caught a ‘lobster fish’ i.e. a Red Rock Cod

All At Sea — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:28:23 +0000

Good news, 13 year old Andrew caught a Red Rock Cod! They are common on NSW coastal reefs and may attain a total length of approx. 45cm.

The Eastern Red Scorpionfish colouration is highly variable from light grey/brown to bright red with blotches or may also be a mottling of all these colours and blotches. They have skin flaps on the head, lateral line and other parts of the body, 12 venomous spines on the dorsal fin and a very large mouth.

They are very good eating, also known as ‘poor man’s lobster’