The weather finally played nice allowing a number of local Townsville boats to hit the Bowling Green grounds over the weekend. Leigh and Pete and family on board Leigh's tricked-up 26 foot O'Brien, aptly named OB26, had plenty of action. In a day and a half's fishing they released 4 from 12, including young Reece's very first marlin.

Mark and Jan Parkes on board Mojo went 3 from 3, not letting any chances slip by. Mark reports that both the bait and marlin are thick -- it seems like all the boat that ventured down had good action -- when the marlin were raised on the baits, they came up in packs of up to 8 fish at a time. It's an excellent sign and the fishing should only get better. The club boats once again enjoyed an overnight raft up behind the spit, putting them right in the action early for day two.

All eyes will once again be on the club for this weekend's Billfish Bonanza Tournament...if the weather holds out.

Blue Marlin
Ultimate Lady is fishing in Port Villa and reports that while there hasn’t been a lot of fish, when they’re on, they’ve been pretty good sized. It was looking very good in the leadup to the one-day World Cup Blue Marlin Championship (4th July – boats all over the world compete for the largest blue marlin) with one over 800lbs, others 750 and 600 and a few 450-500lb released.

Unfortunately on the day of the cup, the tournament vodoo struck and the team did not see a fish.

The Ultimate Lady crew have had a very interesting year in their travels around the South Pacific thus far, read all about it in Capt Tom’s Log. We look forward to catching up with them again on the Ribbon Reefs a little later in the year. [As a side note, the Blue Marlin World Cup was taken out by Ihu Nui in Hawaii with a 773lb blue.]

A Pacific blue marlin greyhounds away from the boat and a Port Stephens striped marlin.

Striped Marlin
Meanwhile Port Stephens reports what Scotty refers to as Christmas in July – Capt Tim Dean released 6 from 6 striped marlin on Saturday, all bigger than every one he caught during the Summer/Autumn season and over the 100kg mark. Proving that the stipies are still there with bells on during the winter. 2 on lures and 4 on pitch baits.

With Calypso on the slip undergoing preparations for the season up north, Capt Tim was at the helm of The Force with lady angler Deb. Husband Doug flew out to PNG the same day and missed all the action – apparently not too amused by the fish by fish reports of what he was missing! ;-)

Black Marlin
The juvie marlin bite continues in Townsville if only the weather would let the fleet get out and catch them. The monthly club comp was again blown out but early last week Mick Meirs headed out in Princess C. While they released just the one fish, Mick reports that they were thick, at one stage they had 5 on at once--only still so small they were hard to get a hook into (10-12kg range) .

In Cairns, Capt Ross Finlayson on board Top Shot reports similar good numbers of small blacks. On daily trips to and from the mackerel grounds recording 5-6 bites a day releasing 2-3, mostly small blacks in the to 30kg range with a few 30-40kg sailfish thrown in for good measure.

Capt Ross says this is a very good sign for things to come - for the rest of the light tackle season and the heavy tackle season from September - particularly in comparison to last year when the smaller juvies were mostly non-existant and only the next size up coming through from August. Another boat also released one approximately 250lb.

A juvenile black marlin at Cape Bowling Green, and angler Graham and his Weipa black.

Last but certainly not least, Capt Ben Bright in Weipa reports an unusual catch (release) that is sure to raise even more interest in the fishing oasis on the other side of the Cape.

While mackerel fishing last week his angler released an estimated 350lb black marlin which had eaten a 6kg mackerel they were fighting at the time.

A recent spate of small blacks at the (now) famous billfish grounds off Townville at Cape Bowling Green have us holding high hopes for the season ahead. Since early May, Townsville Game Fish Club members have already been catching a number of blacks - in the small to teeny range - although the weather has stopped much of the fleet from getting out as often as they would like. Typically these smaller fish caught early during May/June indicate a nice run of larger blacks (with full bellies after a season on the grounds) ahead once the season is full underway in August and September. And we are very much looking forward to that!

Cape Bowling Green is now known as one of the premier spots across the globe for light-tackle marlin fishing. But is wasn't always that way. After many moons fishing amongst the many reefs off Townsville, it wasn't until the early 80's that the CBG grounds were 'discovered' - and it wasn't originally a marlin fishery either.

It was conversations fishing at Cape Moreton that put the idea in Capt. Jim's mind at least. Jeff Ferguson and Bill Edwards telling of similar (to those at Cape Moreton) bait congregations in forming at CBG area that they had noticed on their yearly sojourns north for the heavy tackle season. Without the time or inclination to investigate further they nevertheless planted a seed. Finally, in 1983, opportunity struck on the return from fishing the Whitsunday tournament with both Capt. Jim and mate Calvin Tilley detirmined to take some time to check it out. Although that day was pretty uneventful, Calvin did manage to hook a sailfish which they fought for over 4 hours (before losing it). It was enough to spark the thought - we should come back here.

And so they did. At the next available opportunity Capt Jim took the ol' Shark Cat Jac-Kel down for another look. The place was thick with sails. Saturday, they saw them all over the place but didn't catch a single one. Re-gathering behind the spit that night, and maybe fine-tuning the game plan, they had more luck on Sunday, catching a few fish. Word spread amongst the always enthusiastic TGFC members and soon they were all trying their luck.

A sailfish haul aboard Chenoa in the 80's, and Mike Levitt's 21.3kg black marlin on 1kg line.

From that time, Cape Bowling Green was put on the map and people came from all over the world to fish there. While mostly sails, there were a few small marlin creeping in as well. Capt. Luke took early honours as the first person to catch a billfish in a Townsville Tournament in 1984 (at the ripe old age of 14), and it was a marlin. A world record on 4kg that stood for a mere 24 hours before OB Junior (Leigh) caught one bigger the very next day. Since that day, literally 10's of thousands of billfish have been released at CBG. In 1985, Anne Dalling became the first woman in the world to catch a black marlin on 1kg line. And Mike Levitt, the famous light-tackle angler later made the trip himself and landed a much sort after world record after a mere 2 hours of fishing.

Capt. Luke's logs as a deckhand on board Jac-Kel with Capt Jim show that for their 3 month season in 1987 - fishing for 70 days - they averaged 8 fish a day with a ratio of 3 to 1, sailfish to marlin. Within a year though, it had all changed. From 1987, the sailfish started to slacken off and the great numbers have since disappeared. Since then it has been mainly marlin, and in great numbers. With the decline of the sails, the sardines and annoying long tom's have mostly gone with them. And the schools of hundreds of dolphins that you used to see have gone as well.

But the bait is not all gone. In fact, the single best peice of advice anyone gives with regard to fishing at CBG is to find the bait, and you'll find the fish. Huge schools of yakkas and pilchards still plague the area and the juvenile black marlin set up camp around these schools from May to October, litterally putting on up to 10kgs a season. A 10kg marlin may double his weight by the time the September tournament rolls around. There have also been a few big ones thrown into the mix - who can forget Utopia's 800lb-er during the tournament in 2006.

A haven for juvenile billfish, sails and black marlin alike. And Anne's 1kg world record, an 11kg black.

Those in the know have observed the particularly good years versus the not-so over time. The stand out year being 1996 (a 32 black marlin day on board Orca with Capt Jim, a 36 day on board Assegai with Capt Greg 'Muddy' Edwards). 2006 wasn't too bad either. Let's hope that 2008 registers on the list. The indications are good, and I know a few captains who can't wait to get there and check it out in person.

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