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Matt’s fish on the lead on Reel Chase and the trailer boat Spread ‘Em battle a beauty as well! There was a bit of a hot bite at Linden Bank yesterday and on Reel Chase, we arrived just in time. The baits had only been in the water less than a minute when we saw a marlin swim by the teaser on the camera and just after that, the shotgun went off. Courtesy of Dad Jo being at that moment downstairs and out of sight, 13 year old Matthew was onto his first Cairns black marlin and it was a nice one too, released after a 15 minute fight estimated at 750lbs. By the time Jo came upstairs, Matthew was well and truly into the rhythm of the chair and making good ground on the fish. Nearby, we saw Gorilla hook up on two fish in reasonably quick succession, the larger of which was approximately 700lbs as well as some Cairns private boats including Fifth Dimension and trailer boat Spread ‘Em on a massive fish – which Adrian tells me they successfully released after 45 minutes on 80lb stand up. They also released another 250lb fish earlier in the day ending with two from three. Soon after Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso had also hooked up and released one that Tim called well over the mark. Congratulations guys! Grander number 1 for the day. More big fish also out wide for Ultimate Lady. Capt. Tom reports that they fished for some tunas in the morning before heading south and jumped off a blue marlin. Later, they had another three bites and released all three, black marlin at 250, 200 and another around the grand mark! Grander number 2! At Jenny Louise, Capt. Luke on KEKOA fished Scotty and friends for two from four at 200 and 700lbs enjoying having the shoal to themselves for the day!

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.

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.

Ultimate Lady on the leader at left and Brendan holds up his big eye tuna on KEKOA. Just in: Ultimate Lady has weighed the first grander of the 2009 season, a fish that unfortunately died on the line yesterday, at 1058lbs to Stuart Potter from Gisborne. The fish was weighed after returning to the edge this morning. The team spent much of the day yesterday hooked up again, going 3 from 4 including the big one they fought for 5 and a half hours. The other two were released at 250 and 800lbs. Tom’s certainly finding the fish! More of the fleet went for a wander out wide yesterday. Calypso left the anchorage in the dark and was hooked up to a blue marlin by 6:30 am which they released, approximately 400lbs. On KEKOA, Capt. Luke tells me they had a great day out there although they didn’t find a big marlin. They got some mad tuna footage, above and below water of a huge school of big eye and yellowfin eating a hookless popper off the rod tip at the back of the boat and a whale shark thrown in for good measure as well. As Brendan was winding in a 60lb yellowfin he felt the line go slack and thought he had lost the fish. Suddenly a 700lb black marlin swooped in all lit up in he discovered it was only hiding from the marlin under the boat. They released two small marlin including one bite after dark as they headed back into the reef.Back on the Bank, Watchdog released two smaller fish as well for Jon and Bill Creswick, owners of well-known ex Cairns charter boat Sea Strike. In the middle it was quiet with just Iceman releasing one smaller fish from two bites.Photo: one of KEKOA’s pics of the tuna bite.

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With the fantastic flat glass calm conditions, the wander urge hit big time yesterday with a number of boats heading east after Ultimate Lady’s report. While back at the Bank, the dedicated stuck it out, marking fish and waiting for the bite.Those who went wide included Hattitude who caught a 600lb-er wide of Spur. And Capt. Kim on New Moon who left the Bank late morning heading for the Sea Mount released two on lures on the way and a further three on baits upon arrival going 5 from 6 on one of the best days all year. The team encountered Little Audrey on their way back in who reported a 850lb-er out there the day before and a 250lb on the way back in and missing another about 500lb.Meanwhile back at the Bank, on Reel Chase we played Russian Roulette with trailer boats all day waiting, waiting until after 5 o’clock we finally got a bite along with a couple of other boats. Luckily, ours was worth waiting for and 73 year old angler Julio landed his first ever grander after a solid 45 minute fight. This was one of the most spectacular bites and fights we’ve had all season which you’ll no doubt see more of. Ben was wearing his hatcam so we got some spectacular close-up footage which I’ve uploaded. Update: View the footage here. Filmstrip of stills from Ben’s hatcam footage of Julio’s est 1100lb black marlin on Reel Chase. And same from my fixed camera of Julio and crew in action on Reel Chase. Update: I’ve also just heard that Wild Turkey had a good day at the Bank yesterday as well with two big fish that Captain Tye called 850 and 1100lbs! Congrats guys!Nearby, KEKOA released two smaller fish and a 700lb tiger shark. And Ultimate Lady had the big one up early but didn’t hook up and broke off another good fish after a heartbreaking 7 and a half hour fight after dark last night.

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Sit down and grab a coffee, this is going to be a long one!A very promising day at Linden Bank came true for Iona II, but for the rest of us, it was all anticipation but no result – marking lots of bait and lots of fish in the area but raising little. Still, after watching Adam fight two good fish including a 800lb-er for John and this big one (below) that Capt. Adam called 1050lb for Norm, we’re keen to get out there again today. Both John and Noel from Newcastle are new to marlin fishing but something tells me they’re hooked now! Two pictures of Noels fish at 1050lbs on Iona 2 Tuesday. Also nearby, Capt. Kim on New Moon caught a very nice one that he called 900lb ( below left) for angler Jason Carter from Townsville and had another bite while Capt. Darren on Allure released a smaller one in the morning as well. Photo from Ben of New Moon’s 900lb-er and one I took of Iona 2′s 800lb-er for John. Capt. Tom on Ultimate Lady went for a wander out wide and ended up with three good fish including two big ones at 950 and 900lb and a 400lb blue! Starting about 30nm east of Fin Reef, just outside the GBRMPA line trolling north outside the green zone they ended their day wide of Norman Reef where we spent the night in the glass calm conditions.At Jenny Louise, Shaka released one about 300lbs and jumped off another around 500lb.Up at Number 10, Capt. Dean on Castille III reports loosing a big fish after 10 minutes when the hooks pulled while Capt. Trent on Iona (original) released one at 900lbs. Trent has Ian and James Bladin on board this week. Its good to see them both back on the reef. Capt. Dean also told us that although Iceman had a quiet day yesterday, Capt. Bob enjoyed a successful double header the previous day including his biggest fish of this season.I had a chance yesterday to speak to Capt. Haydon Bell on the Release. We’d been hearing chinese whispers of his good fishing from time to time but yesterday I was able to confirm it’s all true! In his last trip alone (which ended in Cooktown for changeover yesterday afternoon) fishing up the top they released 11 in 8 days fishing with 4 over the 900lb mark! Awesome stuff!I also caught up with Capt. Chris (Sharky) on Mauna Kea after his trip with light tackle specialist Mike Levitt which ended Monday. In the 7 days they teased 15 fish and had 7 on of record class (fishing 4 & 8lb) including an estimated 800lb-er they fought for 2 and a half hours. They managed to get the double out of the water before the lines parted.