Tackle World Port Stephens' Brent Hancock believes the black marlin run on the inshore reefs will better the memorable season of 1997 - if it continues.
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An abundance of mostly small black marlin off Port Stephens has been all the talk in local fishing circles in recent weeks and Hancock said the run was showing no signs of slowing down.
"It's been unreal," Hancock said.
"I fished for two days last week and caught 18, which is nowhere near what Calypso and Freedom are doing. Calypso, a local charter boat, and Freedom's Scotty Thorrington on Tuesday, they caught 13 and 14 apiece. It's just been crazy.
"It's anywhere from Seal Rocks to the Uralla at Birubi, it's been fishing really well.
"They've been anywhere from 15 to 70 kilos, which is typical of Port Stephens. We get that good range of fish."
And the many tagged marlin caught have led to some interesting discoveries.
"A good mate of mine, Andrew Chorley, from Hervey Bay Fly and Sportfishing, he tagged a fish 98 days ago up there and it got recaptured last week at the Gibber, so it's swum 470 miles in that time," he said.
"Scotty Thorrington caught one with a tag on Friday and rang fisheries, and the guy who tagged it was next to us and had tagged it just two hours earlier. It just goes to show that if you use circle hooks and release them right, they will feed again."
Hancock believes the run was on its way to being the best he's seen in the area, which is good news with the Newcastle & Port Stephens Game Fishing Club hosting the Billfish Shootout (February 17-19) and the NSWGFA Interclub State Championships (February 23-26) in the coming weeks.
"The run in 1997 was one of the best I've seen on black marlin," he said.
"I remember at Interclub we caught 34 in four days, but this one is going close to rivaling it as one of the best black marlin seasons we've seen on the inshore. If it keeps going the next couple of months, it will be the best."
Elsewhere at Port Stephens, Hancock said: "All of the other fishing has been sensational. Some really good flatties around still, there's been bonito in the bay, plenty of whiting on the beaches.
"One of our young customers, Jay, he caught a small giant trevally off the breakwall last week. There's been a couple of cobia on the reefs, so it's definitely happening."
BIG BITE
A couple of decent shark catches were among the highlights at the Lake Macquarie Game Fishing Club's Big Fish Bonanza on the weekend.
The heaviest shark catch prize went to X-Stream for a 367kg tiger, while a 324kg whaler was also reeled in and is pending confirmation as an Australian record on line class.
Champion boat tag and release went to James Norris' Lucky Strike. Norris was also champion angler.
The heaviest other game fishing prize went to Gary Hoff's Outa The Blue for a 61.5kg yellowfin tuna. Reel Crazy won most sharks tagged with three, while Nightmare took out most other game fish tagged with four.
Heaviest marlin was among the categories not won, although there were many catches that didn't reach the minimum standard, including 31 just on day one. Junior tag and release went to Jye Banek.
Jason Nunn, from Fishermans Warehouse at Marks Point, said 116 anglers and 29 boats took part in the event, which was marred at times by stronger than expected winds and current.
"The guys that got the results were all fishing the inshore reefs, particularly up towards Port Stephens," Nunn said.
"There were a few that went wide and there was a bit of action out there on the Sunday especially. There was some good striped marlin caught out on the shelf."
Game fishing competition heads to the Central Coast club on Saturday for the Bluewater Skins Marlin Shootout.
Also on this weekend is the Great Australian Pub Fishing Competition in Newcastle and the Bulahdelah Bass Bash.
The pub comp allows anglers to compete individually and also as members of a social fishing group associated with their local pub or club, forming teams of up to four to chase more than $20,000 in prizes.
The Bulahdelah Bass Bash is back after three years lost to COVID restrictions then flooding. Both comps have more info on their Facebook pages.
ROYAL RUMBLE
Kings were biting hard in Swansea channel on the weekend and some people seemed to be getting a little too excited.
The area around Swansea bridge was packed as anglers, armed with a resurgence of squid in Lake Macquarie, chased kings. However, Nunn said it was clear some fish kept were not the legal size of 65cm or more.
And he said the amount of people illegally fishing off Swansea Bridge of an evening "has just gone next level".
Meanwhile, he said plenty of whiting, bream and crabs were still getting caught in the lake.
