The southern NSW coast marlin season, is likewise off to a raring start. There have been plenty of big numbers reported and getting amongst them as usual is Richie Abela’s Dream Catcher.

Richie says that they have been fishing between Jervis day and Ulludalla and had a couple of great days before this moon hit. Plenty of bait, blue water and 22 to 23 degrees water saw them raising 13 on Sunday for 10 Bites and 7 conversion.

Since then they’ve been having two bites a day with other boats fishing nearby also hooking between 2 to 4 fish on any given day. Richie says the fish are mainly stripes with a few blacks thrown in and that the most productive water has been east off Ulludalla to south east off Ulludalla.

Sam Owen from “Spread Em” fished Australia Day out of Ulladulla alongside George with Richie at the wheel for the day. Sam says they copped a good soaking from a large storm first up but the weather settled for the first tide when they popped a good stripe off on the leader. The bite had certainly slowed from Richie and Georges numbers the days previous and there was no action until the arvo tide for a nice stripe, and shortly after they hooked up a double header on, dropped one and tagged the other for Mark Doyle’s season opener.