Going fishing is supposed to be fun so this month we’ll look at getting out and enjoying yourself when fishing instead of being all uptight and stressing all the time.

Over the past three months my father and I have been doing a lot of marlin fishing out of our 5.4-metre Cruise Craft and that can be a bit stressful at times. We spend a lot of time and effort trying to get a marlin hook-up, so losing that fish before it can be tagged is quite annoying. It is especially stressful when you finally hook a fish and end up right in the middle of a dozen boats and it’s even worse if some of them are anchored up.

Some boats will realise you are hooked up and get out of your way and show some courtesy but others who don’t game-fish just don’t realise how far and fast a marlin can run, or they don’t even know you are hooked up at all.

It’s not unusual to have some boats just sit right in the way or troll across the back of you while you are hooked up and it’s also not unusual to see the odd argument – especially at The Banks on a good day when anything up to 30 boats can be sitting in a small area slowly trolling live slimy mackerel for marlin.

Over the past few seasons we’ve gained some experience on fighting marlin in between boats so we don’t get stressed out or start yelling if a boat gets in the way these days. We just go out and enjoy ourselves and think how lucky we are to have such good fishing just 10 miles from home.

The same goes for fishing in Jervis Bay or the local river. They are such beautiful places and you can sometimes get all wrapped up trying to catch a fish and forget about the big picture.

By this I mean getting all stressed out about catching a fish when it’s not the most important thing in the world.

Sure, we all go fishing and hope to hook something but you should never lose sight of your surroundings and what a wonderful thing nature is and how lucky we all are to have a sport and hobby that puts us so close to it all.

Andrew Finney hooked up to a marlin on 10kg tackle and enjoying every minute of it. Note the beautiful surroundings.