• Capt. Darren “Biggles” Haydon has up-sized for the 2010 season and will be at the helm of the new Allure, a 48 Riviera, this year.
• Also scaling up in 2010, Capt. “Too Nice” Tim Ryan joins the team on MV Joe Joe in 2010. No doubt Capt. Tim and his guest will also be enjoying the bigger and better, read spacious and luxurious accommodations of the 65 foot Precision.
• In case it’s not been glaringly obvious, Capt. Luke Fallon, is also at the wheel of a bigger machine in 2010, with the launch of the new 56 foot O’Brien, KEKOA.  You can read the boat test in the upcoming Issue 80 of BlueWater Boats and Sportsfishing Magazine.
• Likewise, Capt. Corey Hard’s new charge from 2009, the 55 foot Assegai  Askari was reviewed in the last issue, Issue 79, and if you haven’t read it already, grab a copy before it leaves newstands.

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• News from Brendan in Tassie that the Jumbo southern bluefin are here! Catches the last week include, 125kg, 122, 117, 110, 93, 85, 78 plus others hooked and lost! Game on!
• Likewise by the sounds of it on the NSW south coast.  Neil Rowlands from Culburra caught this 111kg tub on Highlander on his own out at the Drum Canyons on 24 kg tackle. He called over the guys on Moontan to give him a hand getting it in the boat. Thanks Craig for sending this along.
• Capt. Tim Richardson reports his 2 and a half month refit is over and the Tradition is looking all sparkly and new.  Check out the website for pictures of the project.

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The Kingswood Marlin Broome Billfish Classic starts on July 2 and recent reports indicate its going to be another ripper. During last year’s comp, over 300 sails were tagged and the Champion Boat Game On released an amazing 38 sailfish and 2 malin for the week!

Broome GFC President Jeff Cooper reports that in the leadup, the fishing has been firing off Broom with the blue water going right into Barred Creek and the pelagics following it all the way in. On the first day of the sat tagging project (more info below) they saw more than 100 sails. Big longtail tuna are also being caught at Barred Creek amongst them and recently a kayak fishermen found out about the follies of having two rods on board, suffering from a double hookup that saw both reels cleaned of all their line.

Jeff has also shared some very interesting information from regarding their recent visit from internationally renowned researcher Dr. Julian Pepperell and the launch of his world-first satellite tagging project with help from the Broome Fishing Club, the Kimberley Marine Tourism Association (KMTA), and Woodside in Broome waters.

“The study seeks to answer a range of questions about the habits and movements of Broome’s most famous fish. There will be three tagging programs that will see two types of satellite tags, known as PSATs, and one type of ‘transmitter tag’, known as a SPOT tag deployed on the fish.”

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Brendan with a big eye tuna — Cairns 2009.

Click below to see a random selection of 2009 Cairns Giant Black Marlin season shots to try out the new gallery feature of the new BMFB layout. Enjoy!
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With our off season adventure almost over, we’re looking ahead to the upcoming Cairns Giant Black Marlin season once again. And so I thought, I’d whet your appetite for it as well. While things will most likely be a little quiet on the blog over the rest of the winter, it won’t be long until the NQ marlin season starts with the little blacks in July/August, and then the big black marlin in Cairns in September. (I heard that the first few little black marlin were caught in Cairns this past week.)

For those who may not have seen it, click to read my recap of the 2009 Cairns Giant Black Marlin Season from BlueWater Issue 77.

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