Today we are going on Broome Billfish Charters. This was a Sailfish trip and we would be going trolling for Sailfish. Chris, the skipper picked us up at our accommodation and 2 more anglers and we made our way to his boat, Billistic. We steamed off for 90mins to our fishing grounds north of Broome. I decided to try out my Shimano Overhead rod paired with Talica II for the Sailfish. Chris was running Shimano TCurve Offshore rods with spinning reels. He said spinning reels are easier to perform switch-baiting but I'm welcomed to use my own setup. The deckie rigged up my setup with a bridled mullet along with the rest of the rods for everybody else. The deckie gave a brief on how things were going to be done.
1. When a Sailfish is sighted, everyone get ready to feed line back towards the Sailfish.
2. When its near the fish, 'dump it' or free spool the bait so that it sinks.
3. If the fish takes, count to 5 and then close bail arm and raise the rod
4. The circle hook should hook at corner of mouth.
We started trolling at 0930 and had our first sighting of Sailfish at 1000. Chris yelled out from the fly bridge and all of us got ready with our baits to pitch to the Sailfish. I saw the Sailfish and fed the line out. I couldn't really see my bait anymore so I decided to put the reel in free spool. Then the ratchet went off, indicating the fish is taking line. As I moved the drag lever to strike and lifted the rod at the same time, I felt a slack. The fish spat the bait. It then went to take the bait of the angler next to me! He hooked up solid and fought the fish. The Sailfish gave quite a good aerial display before being brought boatside for release. I learnt from Chris later that overhead reels don't free spool as well as spinning reels. Baits on free-spool on a spinning reel will drift down faster in an enticing fashion as
compared to overhead reels which the bait will no sink as fast. I guess I learnt my lesson!
We continued to troll and next sighting came at 1045. We saw the Sail checking out the teasers and we dropped the baits to near where the Sailfish was but it was not interested. At 1115, we saw another Sailfish and this time angler Lee hooked up. The Sailfish brought him round the boat and did a few jumps before coming boatside for release. Both anglers opted not to pick up the fish for a photo but instead just unhook and release the Sailfish boatside.
From then on till 1400 was dull, boring trolling.... Skipper Chris then asked the deckie to put out a trolling lure that he wanted to try for Spanish Mackerel. Within minutes of putting the lure, a giant Mackie jumped out of the water and attacked the lure! Fish ON! Since I was the nearest to the rod, the deckie passed me the rod and I fought the fish. The gear was pretty heavy so I had no trouble bringing the fish in quickly. The Spanish Mackerel was quickly dispatched and bled. Down went the lure again and 10mins later, it was hit again! Another Mackie! This time I shouted to Bruce to take the rod as he had never caught a Spaniard before. He fought it and soon the fish was gaffed. Posed for some pics and both fish were expertly filleted by the deckie.
At 1430, Chris shouted out and we headed to our rods. All 4 of us with rods in hand were waiting for the Sailfish to show. Instead, a group of fishy shadows appeared on the teasers and I knew they weren't Sails. There was a least 8-12 of this fish approaching as a pack. I saw my chance and free spooled my mullet right in front of one of them. Straight away, one fish took my bait and turned around and sped off! Fish ON! Then I heard everybody shouting. Everybody had a fish ON! Quadruple Hookup!! I could hear skipper Chris shouting from above, "Don't get the lines tangled!" Some of the unhooked fish swam by and I saw them as Cobias! Even as each fish was pulling in different direction, we managed to work our way around, under and back over again. I was the first to bring the fish boatside and the deckie quickly unhooked the fish to get ready to unhook the next one. Bruce's fish was in the transom door and flapping about. In the process, the hook dislodged itself and it flapped its way back into the water. The other 2 anglers fought a little while longer but then one opened the circle hook and escaped while the last one was busted off when it went right under the boat. The action happened so fast that no photos were taken!
In the final 10 mins of trolling, the deep diving lure was again successful in hooking up a Spanish Mackerel. Another 10kg version! The fish was brought in through the transom and flapped around like crazy that the deckie couldn't get a chance to grab the tail. The fish flapped so hard that it broke its own gill! It then shook out the lure and flapped back into the sea.... all on its own! I felt bad for the fish as with its gills broken, it wouldn't have survived but I guess it'll become fish food for the 'man in the grey coat."
With that last piece of action, we proceeded to steam home. We took home 2 fillets each of Spanish Mackerel for dinner and man were they good on the BBQ!
Gear used:
Rod - Shimano TCurve Revolution Overhead Travel PE2.2-3.3 (10-15kg)
Reel - Shimano Talica 8 II
Line - Fireline Tracer 40lb
Bait - Mullet
Rig - Trolling
Fish ID - Indo-Pacific Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus)
- Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson)
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