Shy Blue Marlin but More GTs Tagged

Tim and Paul Wedlock came with their father John to treat themselves to a boys fishing get-away and have a go for some marlin with the heavy tackle aboard Bite Me. Unfortunately the marlin bite was very quiet this week. In three days of offshore fishing in some pretty ordinary weather, the boys raised just one nice blue marlin around 400lbs that smashed a rigger, jumped around the spread and managed to throw the hook. There were plenty of school yellowfin around and catching dinner at least was easy. With the weather starting to improve on their last day the guys decided to have a go at Kadavu Islands famous GTs....

Tim tagged and released this excellent fish of around 30kg measuring 44" short length, 32" girth using a pink/white R2S Dumbell 200 Popper

Paul weighed in first with his first GT around 12kg...

Then upped his PB with this healthy 40" fish of about 25kg on a red/gold Buffalo Popper

All three GTs were tagged and released quickly and in good condition. Lets hope we see them again next season and get some new measurements.

Dogtooth Tuna and GT Tagging Programme

With the kind assistance of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) we have started a programme here around Kadavu Island to Tag and Release primarily Dogtooth Tuna but also some Giant Trevally caught and released aboard our gamefishing boats Bite Me and Tease Me.

Our first Tagged GT measured 37" Short Length and weighed 16kg

Our second GT Tagged measured 46" Short Length and was estimated to weigh 35kg

Tag placement

We also tagged our first Dogtooth Tuna of 15kg but no photos - a quick release...

Although it is believed that GTs and to a certain extent Dogtooth Tuna are terratorial and spend much of their adult lives staking out their particular patch of reef, relatively little is known about them. We hope to shed light on the following grey areas :
1. Release mortality rates - GTs seem to be very hardy fish but how well do they really release ?
Dogtooth tuna are monsterous brutes but do they survive a fight ? Does invisible barotrauma affect release mortality rates ? Do release weights improve the chances of a healthy release ?
2. Movements - Do these species move significant distances ?
3. Growth rates.

It will take a while to get recapture information but we are optimistic...
Last month we caught the same GT two days running, in the same place, on the same lure....
Obviously its first days encounter with anglers didn't seem to cause the fish any great disruption.