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Update: Top day for Capt. Trent on the original Iona who released five at the Bank on Friday to 650lbs. Good on you Trent. Also more from Joe Joe and angler Dougy who is fishing stand up 50lb with Capt. Barry and team for the 19th year! They fished the bottom of the Bank once again on Friday raising five and hooking three – unfortunately busting a big one off, breaking line one approximately 600lb close to the boat and releasing a smaller fish at 200lb. On the northern end, Cool Runnings started their four day trip by adding two more to their season tally at 350 and 400lbs.Also fishing the bank Capt. Daren ‘Biggles’ Haydon on Allure released two. And after a mammoth 1 and a half hour plus battle on 130lb standup in the rough conditions, the guys on Dreamcatcher, 21 ft Haines trailerboat released a big girl they called at over 1000lb.On a day that the rain bucketed down both in Cairns and out on the bank, the guys in the tower did it hard – and wet!Up North, Capt. Dean Beech on Castille III went one from three at Day Reef and back to the rock (Lizard Island) overnight for changeover and Capt. Tom on Ultimate Lady got the payoff for the long trek up the reef from Linden Bank on Thursday going three from three black marlin at 200, 400 and 700lb.No reports from in the middle.

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.

Tainuii backing down on their big-for-an-850lber! It was like stepping through a time warp at Linden Bank yesterday. As we arrived the beautifully restored Tanuiii was backing up hard on a good fish. This boat was built and operated more than 25 years ago by the legendary Capt. Bill “Eagle” Edwards and was the super gameboat of the mid ’80′s. And here it was providing a display for all the other gameboats fishing the Bus Stop as they went on to tag and release a total of four marlin for the day at 950, 750, 850 and 450lbs for anglers Al and Gary with Capt. Pete Kirkby and Matt on the deck.Luckily for the rest of us, we managed to pick up a few dregs, with Capt. Kim on New Moon releasing two smaller fish and on Reel Chase we also released this 350lb-er (below left) for angler Daryl. It was Daryl’s first marlin but certainly not his last! He was over the moon to catch it, but not as relieved as his wife Later, as we were leaving to head back into Cairns at 4pm, Joe Joe hooked up a big fish on 50lb that Capt. Barry called over 1000lb – their third over 1000lb in two weeks I believe – and they also released a smaller fish as well. At the northern end of the Bank, Capt. Luke on KEKOA went one from two at 200lbs. Capt. Luke reports he marked a lot of fish there yesterday which is a good sign. They made their way down from Escape Reef where they met with the sea plane earlier in the morning delivering their other angler to the boat. Another blast from the past and not something you see too much anymore. Capt. Luke tells me that Capt. Darren on Allure also released at least two, Iona caught one and Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso released a nice fish at 600lb and yet another sailfish! Capt. Tim Richardson on Tradition had his day with the rubber hooks seeing 8 fish and getting bites out of three with no conversions.On Number 4 Ribbon, Capt. Dan on Moana III finished the trip with a 450lb-er while Capt. Tim Ryan on Reel Ripe released another fish in the 900lb range. Capt. Craig “Sparrow” Denham, who is driving Wild Turkey released one at 600lb.At Fraser:Meanwhile Capt. Ross McCubbin reports that back at Fraser Island, Grant, the new owner of the ex-Fascination Riviera 48 Express, has christened his new boat with four blues released in two days (to 600lb) missing another one estimated over 800lbs at the back of the boat and losing a couple of bigger blacks as well. There are large schools of pilchards throughout the area.Australian Fishing & Lifestyle Party Update:And thank you to Mark for asking for an update on how we went with membership for the Australian Fishing & Lifestyle Party. Capt. Dan tells us that of the additional 70 members we needed, we got 600(!) membership applications which have been submitted to the electoral commission. Because we were granted an extension to the deadline, the commission now needs to call a sample (50) of these applications to check that all is well. Then everything should be up and running. Thank you to all for your overwhelming support!

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While the fishing during the tournament last week seemed to be on at the top of the reef, this week the action seems to be down south with many of the fleet making their way to or already fishing the Bank. The big blue boat, Ultimate Lady fished Linden Bank yesterday releasing their first Cairns black marlin of the season 2009 – an active 750lb-er who tried to remove some of their brand new paintwork after an almost two month refit! Iona 2 with Adam back on board seems almost to be a permanent fixture on the southern end of the Bank at the Bus Stop. Adam tells me he’s having the time of his life going three from 4 yesterday (to 550lbs). The day before he saw 8 fish and got bites out of three including one in the monster category.Also fishing the Bank Tradition got in on the act and released two fish at 200 and 900lbs – picture from video on left below. Same result though different location, KEKOA also finished the day with two fish Tuesday, also 200 and 900lb for angler Eric from New Caledonia fishing down from Number 3 Ribbon to end at Ruby Reef overnight. Another still from the video of Erics fish on right. I spoke to Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso who reported slightly slower fishing since the comp, averaging a fish a day. Capt. Tim is making his way south from the middle. I also spoke to Capt. Ross Finlayson on Top Shot who reported just a couple of bites Wednesday including a double header from a big girl and a smaller fish, with 3 from 5 on Tuesday at Number 8 Ribbon. Also fishing up on Number 9, I received this picture from John on Shaka. John reports the fishing has been mostly smaller fish for the Shaka team for the last week or so but they are getting bigger.John released this one at 450-5000lb that crashed on the big bait at the top of Number 9.Up the very top, Castille III released another sailfish – there have been a few around this year. In the middle Capt. Peter B. on Sea Baby IV released one about 450lb and lost another in the 750lb range.

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.

Tracking back down the inside of the reef on our return to Cairns yesterday we came across the big blue boat, Ultimate Lady once again heading over the horizon and into Cairns having just done some bait fishing out wide, the team are ready to go black marlin fishing!Also back on the reef at the wheel of New Moon, Capt. Kim Andersen headed to Linden Bank yesterday going two from three in the 200-300lb range. Tradition reports seeing two and also releasing a smaller fish and watching Capt. Darren Haydon on Allure get a monster. That tops off a great couple of days for the team on Allure as Capt. Tom reported they also released four the day before.Up the top, Capt. Dean Beech on Castille III left the lodge at 11am to do some spearing then headed out to Jewell Reef at 2pm going 3 from 7, back anchored in the bay by 6pm. Not a bad day by anyone’s standards!Some more footage to share:Bill Borken’s grander on board Kanahoee on the final day of the competition. Parke Berolzheimer’s grander on board Castille on Day 1 of the competition. (Originally called 950lb, photo and video have been provided to the committee with an application to join the Lizard Island 1000lb club.)Jason Hassett’s grander on board KEKOA. The boys didn’t get a tag in the fish and so it didn’t count for the comp as Capt. Luke made the call to crack it off so the fish would get to swim another day. Good footage, of course the boys topped it a day later with the 1200lb-er.Hiroshi Ogawa’s 900lb-er on Reel Ripe. The week before the tournament at Number 2 Ribbon.You can see some of the other clips I’ve uploaded from season 2009 on YouTube (Keruko Channel). I’ve got some more to edit and upload hopefully today!Picture of 1100lb dedication from the team on Joe Joe who release two of this size during the comp. Hopefully footage and photos coming soon!