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.
It was almost as if someone flipped the switch yesterday. After such a good day for all the boats at the Bank Wednesday, Thursday suddenly went quiet. But if the fish want a one day break, we’ll be there waiting for them today instead. With bells on! We had this guy following us for close on 10 minutes – and he came racing in, all lit up – a swatted at the bait back and forth, not really interested in eating, before eventually fading away. As you can see, the TowCam is providing us endless entertainment.Defying the shut down – a small number of boats had a good day. At Spur Reef, Hot Shot released one they put over the mark. At the Bank we saw Capt. Bill with a bit of activity and KEKOA lost one est. 500lb after 15 minutes of jumping and darting. On the Ribbons, Capt. Laurie and team on board Ningaloo released a little one and pulled the hooks on a much bigger fish. Then, on another late bite lost a big fish after an hour and a quarter’s fight. And we heard over the radio that Capt. Sharky on Mauna Kea lost a big one on the wire after a long fight. Capt. Ross and the Top Shot team showed up at the anchorage behind Opal Reel last night as well and told me they’ve seen some big fish in recent days on – including a couple of their five bites yesterday.More good news from the Gold Coast and the blue marlin fishing – Ross McCubbin caught two from four, 300 and 500lb yesterday and Craig on Grinner released another at 350lb.
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.
After spending a few days in town hearing the reports from the fleet, it was great to get out amongst them, and even better, to be amongst the fish.Things didn’t start so well with a smaller fish that we managed to jump off twice, once on each bait. However, the next aggressive bite mid-afternoon had Kevvie on the board with a beautiful 450lb-er hooked perfectly in the corner of the jaw with an 18/O circle hook. A few more tentative bites and follows later – there are still plenty of fish on the bank – including a nice fish that wanted to check everything out but not eat, a ‘not a bad day’ suddenly got better. At 5:30pm we got another very aggressive bite from an 800lb-er that pulled the scad off and then charged in to eat the huge scaley just off the transom. 20 minutes later Dave had released his equal biggest fish. He didn’t have it easy, with a blistering 500 metre run on the strike, and some hard coaching from the gallery. Meanwhile on the other boats: Moana III started the day off on the Bank early with a 700lb-er before lunch while Capt. Tom on Ultimate Lady staked his turf on the middle of the Bank and worked it religiously producing three fish – including this big one they unfortunately lost on the wire (below left) and other they fought into the dark. Capt. Bill on Viking II released a 300lb-er early before introducing his clients to yet another big fish which Capt. Bill called well over the mark. After five big jumps on the wire and she went deep and 88lbs of drag could not stop a blistering 300meter run. The size of this fish had its tail beat hitting the end of the wind on (a video still of the absolute monster below right). On Too Easy Capt. Russ had the bites from the big fish, estimated at 700 and around the mark, but unfortunately could not convert. Meanwhile, at the bottom Ribbons, Capt. Laurie reported a quieter day with his team on Ningaloo making the most of a bite out of a good size fish to released an estimated 700lb-er.
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.
Well its still all happening from Linden Bank to Opal Ridge and on to Number 2 and 3 Ribbon Reef. Seems like school was out and all the fish were tailing along with the majority of fish seen being small but a few good sized girls among them. Moana III caught one estimated 800lb and jumped a smaller fish off between the Bank and the Ridge. Mistress went 4 for 4 on little guys at the Ridge – including one blue marlin – unusual in so close. And The New Allure also released a big fish at the bank before returning to port. Ultimate Lady is here and fishing although reports were a little ambiguous, managed a couple of smaller fish. At Number 2, Kianja raised a lot of small fish and saw plenty more tailing releasing two – 300 and 600lb – for the day. Capt. Steve also reported boats everywhere with lots of bites. Ningaloo went 3 from 8 bites on smaller fish as Capt. Laurie spent the day dodging other game boats. UPDATE: Since we are still at the marina (Cairns Marlin Marina is currently without power which makes is a little difficult to re-fuel), I have the opportunity to provide an update with a couple of reports that have just come in.From Pete, news that Gorilla caught two beauties at Number 1 yesterday at 850 and 900lbs. Depending on who you talk to Sparrow had an awesome day at Number 2 with ‘plenty’ including a big one. And Capt. Bill and the team on Viking are still enjoying the bank with yesterday’s fishing bringing their total to 6 for this four day trip including 4 over 850lb. The late bite is winner for the team, Sunday they were 0-0-0 at 6pm and 4-2-2 by 6:30. Yesterday, another good one at 850lb and a little guy who reeked havoc on the new paint job~!
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.
Not too much to report this morning as a lot of the fleet are in town for changeovers and a short reprieve from the weather. The good news is that they weather looks good for later in the week – and for longer than a day. We can’t wait! Capt. Dan on Moana III sent me this little pic of this little guy that he released on the way to Linden Bank from Jenny Louise, bringing him into the boat briefly to retrieve the lure. Capt. Luke on KEKOA also released a little guy at the Bank adding to his total for this trip – now 12 in 9 days.On the big fish side, Capt. Ashley on The Ultimate released an 800lb-er at the Light and Capt. Laurie on Ningaloo has been releasing a few little guys in the middle Ribbons as well but yesterday managed two including one at 900lbs for their lady angler Mary.There was a huge number of tailers sighted at the Bank again Monday proving the fish have really shown up in numbers now. We are out again tomorrow and looking forward to getting our piece of the action!
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.
I owe my headline today to Capt. Bill who had an outstanding day yesterday with a twist – bringing a bit of a hit and miss theme to today’s report. After releasing a solid 850lb-er earlier, the Viking team hooked up on a fish that Terry and crew wanted to put in the Boat. Then a most bizarre thing happened. As they were about to grab the leader, one of the following male fish got the line caught in its mouth and started jumping next to the boat, getting caught up in the whole thing breaking off their donkey of a fish. The small fish was released while caught up in the line and leader, and the big girl owed it’s male partner a big thank you. In Capt. Bill’s 25 years on the reef – he’s never seen anything like it!More great news from Iona II which left Capt. Adam with a big smile on the dial as the team returned to port yesterday – topping off a great few days of fishing with 5 at the Bank yesterday. 550, 500, 400, 200 and 100lb – the little guy who Adam told me they had to switch onto a queenie because the big baits were too big! That’s awesome fishing and proves that the fish are coming through in numbers. That’s what we want to hear!Capt. Luke on KEKOA released two smaller fish also at the bank and had trouble setting the hooks in a number of others. And Capt. Kim on New Moon lost one estimated at 800lb on 50lb. Capt. Dan on Moana III at Jenny Louise caught one at 450lbs from three. Not much talk from the lower Ribbons at all and Capt. Dean on Castille, who had ventured back up to the top, lost two nice fish – pulling the hooks on one and jumping the other off – at second corner on Number 10. At least TowCam gave them some great footage of the bites (below). Hopefully more fishing sticking today. (For those who notice an update here – apparently I can’t read. Congrats to the team on board Mistress who have taken out third place in the GFAA Highest Point Scoring Boat in Australian Waters – Tag and Release for 2007/2008.)
