This post was imported into WordPress from my old Black Marlin Fishing Blog website without any accompanying photos. If you’d like to see the original post, with the accompanying photographs, go to the original Black Marlin Fishing Blog site and navigate to the post using the archive navigation links on the right-hand-side.
The weather finally played nice allowing a number of local Townsville boats to hit the Bowling Green grounds over the weekend. Leigh and Pete and family on board Leigh’s tricked-up 26 foot O’Brien, aptly named OB26, had plenty of action. In a day and a half’s fishing they released 4 from 12, including young Reece’s very first marlin. Mark and Jan Parkes on board Mojo went 3 from 3, not letting any chances slip by. Mark reports that both the bait and marlin are thick — it seems like all the boat that ventured down had good action — when the marlin were raised on the baits, they came up in packs of up to 8 fish at a time. It’s an excellent sign and the fishing should only get better. The club boats once again enjoyed an overnight raft up behind the spit, putting them right in the action early for day two. All eyes will once again be on the club for this weekend’s Billfish Bonanza Tournament…if the weather holds out.
This post was imported into WordPress from my old Black Marlin Fishing Blog website without any accompanying photos. If you’d like to see the original post, with the accompanying photographs, go to the original Black Marlin Fishing Blog site and navigate to the post using the archive navigation links on the right-hand-side.
Blue MarlinUltimate Lady is fishing in Port Villa and reports that while there hasn’t been a lot of fish, when they’re on, they’ve been pretty good sized. It was looking very good in the leadup to the one-day World Cup Blue Marlin Championship (4th July – boats all over the world compete for the largest blue marlin) with one over 800lbs, others 750 and 600 and a few 450-500lb released. Unfortunately on the day of the cup, the tournament vodoo struck and the team did not see a fish. The Ultimate Lady crew have had a very interesting year in their travels around the South Pacific thus far, read all about it in Capt Tom’s Log. We look forward to catching up with them again on the Ribbon Reefs a little later in the year. [As a side note, the Blue Marlin World Cup was taken out by Ihu Nui in Hawaii with a 773lb blue.] A Pacific blue marlin greyhounds away from the boat and a Port Stephens striped marlin. Striped MarlinMeanwhile Port Stephens reports what Scotty refers to as Christmas in July – Capt Tim Dean released 6 from 6 striped marlin on Saturday, all bigger than every one he caught during the Summer/Autumn season and over the 100kg mark. Proving that the stipies are still there with bells on during the winter. 2 on lures and 4 on pitch baits. With Calypso on the slip undergoing preparations for the season up north, Capt Tim was at the helm of The Force with lady angler Deb. Husband Doug flew out to PNG the same day and missed all the action – apparently not too amused by the fish by fish reports of what he was missing! 
Black MarlinThe juvie marlin bite continues in Townsville if only the weather would let the fleet get out and catch them. The monthly club comp was again blown out but early last week Mick Meirs headed out in Princess C. While they released just the one fish, Mick reports that they were thick, at one stage they had 5 on at once–only still so small they were hard to get a hook into (10-12kg range) . In Cairns, Capt Ross Finlayson on board Top Shot reports similar good numbers of small blacks. On daily trips to and from the mackerel grounds recording 5-6 bites a day releasing 2-3, mostly small blacks in the to 30kg range with a few 30-40kg sailfish thrown in for good measure. Capt Ross says this is a very good sign for things to come – for the rest of the light tackle season and the heavy tackle season from September – particularly in comparison to last year when the smaller juvies were mostly non-existant and only the next size up coming through from August. Another boat also released one approximately 250lb. A juvenile black marlin at Cape Bowling Green, and angler Graham and his Weipa black. Last but certainly not least, Capt Ben Bright in Weipa reports an unusual catch (release) that is sure to raise even more interest in the fishing oasis on the other side of the Cape. While mackerel fishing last week his angler released an estimated 350lb black marlin which had eaten a 6kg mackerel they were fighting at the time.
This post was imported into WordPress from my old Black Marlin Fishing Blog website without any accompanying photos. If you’d like to see the original post, with the accompanying photographs, go to the original Black Marlin Fishing Blog site and navigate to the post using the archive navigation links on the right-hand-side.
The Black Marlin Fishing Blog is the brainchild of Kelly Dalling. In 2005, Kelly spent her first Giant Black Marlin Season alongside her skipper father Jim aboard
Reel Chase. A long term blogger, Kelly thought nothing of creating a new blog to post daily fishing reports from the Coral Sea. Fortunately the technology has not let her down and Kelly is able to post reports from miles out to sea where even mobile phone service is sketchy – from right amongst the action! And the readership has not let her down either. During peak season the blog receives thousands of visits each day from gamefishing enthusiasts around the world.
Kelly has continued blogging through the 2006-2008 Giant Black Marlin Seasons and has also expanded the blog to include year-round marlin fishing reports from up and down the East Coast of Australia, and occasionally, throughout the world. The archives are available online through the home page, feel free to wander through. Warning, it can be very distracting! (Although – due to a computer glitch – the 2005 archives no longer exist. Weep!)
In 2008, the fleet came on board with a huge number of boats also contributing to the reports. Please show your support to these wonderful and talented Captains by visiting their listings in the boat directory. If you’re planning a trip, these guys are the pros and they fish all up and down the coast.
Of course this blog would not be able to continue without the ongoing support of Capt. Jim Dalling who provides in-depth background and knowledge at the drop of a hat (he’s like a walking and talking encyclopedia!) and non-stop action to report and photograph, but who also provides Kelly the opportunity to blog every day there is fishing action to report via an amazing infrastructure on board Reel Chase.
When Kelly is not fishing on Reel Chase, you may find her on board KEKOA with partner Capt. Luke Fallon. When she’s not fishing, writing about fishing, or taking pictures on the boats, she may be busy working behind the scenes at Pelagic Gear Pty Ltd (Kelly is co-owner of Australian operations with Capt. Luke) or helping out in the office of Australia’s premier gamefishing magazine BlueWater. In her spare time, Kelly likes to produce websites and graphic art (ads, business cards, photo art) – usually fishing related of course – and would love to be involved in your project too. Contact Kelly by email, it all starts with a simple idea.
This post was imported into WordPress from my old Black Marlin Fishing Blog website without any accompanying photos. If you’d like to see the original post, with the accompanying photographs, go to the original Black Marlin Fishing Blog site and navigate to the post using the archive navigation links on the right-hand-side.
Please feel free to submit your marlin fishing report to the blog. If you have any action to report, photos to ad or video of you trip you can send them by
email or by SMS/text to 0434 520 343.
Photos: Images of less than 500kbs are preferred. Mobile phone pictures are welcome.
Video: Upload video to You Tube and send us a link.
If you would like to advertise on this site or be a part of the BMFB Boat directory, please contact me.
This post was imported into WordPress from my old Black Marlin Fishing Blog website without any accompanying photos. If you’d like to see the original post, with the accompanying photographs, go to the original Black Marlin Fishing Blog site and navigate to the post using the archive navigation links on the right-hand-side.
Fancy sharing your marlin pics to be in with a chance to win? I’m giving away a couple of Pelagic T’s to the best photo to be added to the BMFB Flicr Group by December 1. That gives you plenty of time still to take a magic shot or dig through your existing collections. As you share your photos with our Flickr Group, you’ll see them in the slideshow at top.Enter the Photo Contest using FlickrTo add a photo to Flickr and enter the BMFB photo contest, just follow these easy steps:1. Log on — Use your Yahoo! ID to login to www.flickr.com. If you don’t have an account, you can sign-up for free. Join the Black Marlin Fishing Blog group by clicking “Join this Group?” on the group homepage.2. Upload an image — After logging in, upload your images from the “You” tab. 3. Send the Image to Our Group — Use the “Send to Group” function above the image to add your photograph to the Black Marlin Fishing Blog’s photo pool. It’s as easy as that.Photos above from the BMFB Photo pool from myself on Reel Chase and Capt. Tim on Tradition. Read on below for more information about Flickr for novice users.
