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In good weather, the bank can be an awesome place to fish. It is just 35 miles from Cairns and even if you’re on a day trip or overnighter, a popular destination. And, if you’re not catching yourself, you can alway enjoy the view of what is going on next door.John on Shaka sent me this pic during a lull during the day of a trailer boat hooked up on a giant black marlin, estimated at about 650lb, Linden Bank style. Unfortunately, not long after, the fish was lost and John took a moment to sit down at his email and send me this pic. No sooner had he hit the send button than Capt. Jared pointed Shaka to one of their own, hitting paydirt for angler Dave Tuthill on his first ever black marlin. Picture of Ant on the leader with the big girl, estimated at 950lbs. The fish was released in great shape after a 35 minute fight.Also on the Bank, Capt. Luke on KEKOA reported a massive bite on the stinger out of a fish he estimated at 700lbs, unfortunately they pulled the hooks soon after. It wasn’t any consolation to see the Capt. Tiger hook up next to him soon after and release one they called 800lb. Askari finished their reef fishing trip Thursday bagging out on coral trout and red emperor, and the guys were glad to head out to the Bank for some marlin fishing Friday, raising three and pulling the hooks on one after 5 minutes. News also from Shane that The Force is in town with new owners Doug and Deb from Port Stephens and it has not forgotten how to raise fish going one from one est. at 300lbs on their first day on the Bank. Heading up the reef yesterday, it was quieter near the middle, we ended up at Number 3 Ribbon. Nathan did it again during the mornings sport fishing-fest landing the largest spanish mackerel we’ve seen in a long time as well as the full compliment of smaller spanish, northern bluefin tuna, coral trout etc. We came across Sunshine Coast boat Kaizen who joined us fishing at Number 3. Kaizen released smaller fish the day before at St. Crispins on their way up. We’ll be heading back that way today as we return to Cairns on Monday.Back up at the top of Number 10 Ribbon, Capt. Dean on Castille saw 8 marlin (mainly tailers) converting one, a 300lb-er for Katie, which indicates a number of fish are moving into the northern area. Nearby, Capt. Tim on Tradition has welcomed back Lydie and Pete, all the way from China. Lydie is chasing the 50lb women’s world record (needing 880lbs or better). Saturday, they had two bites and fought a 500lb-er into the dark, getting the fish up close a couple of times but losing it when it went straight down and popped the line.On the reef overnight, its been extremely calm again. As Capt. Luke said, we’re all doing donuts on the anchor because theres no wind to keep up pointed one way or another.

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.

Fraser, Kathy and Jim are joining us again on Reel Chase in 2009. For Jim’s son Nathan “The Fish Magnet”, it’s his first trip but for the others, after 3 years fishing with us they certainly know what they want to do by now. And, on Day 1 we managed to check almost all of the boxes. After putting in the lures for some light tackle fishing (resulting in some good spanish mackerel) we put the marlin lures out and steamed North trying to make it as far up the reef as possible. On the way we picked up a triple header of yellowfin tuna (the third destroyed the laser pro we were running down the middle) and another XOS wahoo. Just off the tip of St. Crispins Reef, I was up the tower delivering a snack to Capt. Jim when we saw 200lb marlin pile on the left rigger and (angler) Jim was on! After some early energetic jumps, the marlin managed to get itself tail wrapped which made it tough for Jim in the chair, pulling it in backwards. But he soldiered on, getting the fish to the boat as fast as possible where we swam it for a while to get the water moving through the gills in the correct direction again, and watched it swim off. We anchored overnight at Escape and head a bit further north today. As we moved through Linden Bank, Capt. Jim marked a couple of fish on the edge of the yellowfin schools and we had a bite out of another small fish and we saw Capt. Darren (Biggles) on Allure hook up nearby successfully releasing a smaller fish as well. In the afternoon, Cool Runnings also had success at the bank releasing one estimated at 250lb for angler Jye Claydon, a former champion junior angler from Newcastle/Port Stephens GFC four years running. This fish marks Jye’s 76th marlin! Also fishing the bank Tiger added another fish to his collection.The weather is once again fantastic and no doubt because of the weekend the local boats will be out joining the charter fleet in force!

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.

Capt. Tim Ryan, on another day trip ex-Port Douglas, sent me this still from the video footage of the 600lb-er they released yesterday at Opal Ridge for Melbourne angler Tom Cuttigieg. Joining Capt. Tim on the Reel Ripe this year is Dan Klein on deck and Nick Duram yesterday. They were certainly enjoying the action.Also in the action yesterday, this time on Linden Bank was the team on Cool Runnings releasing a 450lb-er. The team are heading out for an extended trip today. Also on the bank, Capt. Allan “Tiger” Geale on a private boat from Port Douglas released a smaller fish as well. Tradition made it up to Number 5 with a couple of bites at Number 4 on the way but no conversions.KEKOA returned from their six day trip with Brendan and Stu enthused by all the action, in addition to their marlin enjoying non-stop action for the light tackle fishing behind the reef (mackerel, GTs, wahoo, coral trout..) The boys on Calypso also returned yesterday from their trouting adventure. On Reel Chase, we’re heading out this morning and making our way north.

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.