Reel Chase fished from Number 5 Ribbon to Number 8 for 3 bites and caught this little one for Simon estimated at 200lbs.

The team are heading back to Number 10 today as Capt. Jim believes the high numbers they've been marking up there mean they are going to fire again soon. The bite was very late again yesterday with Kekoa catching two including an 800lb-er after 6pm. Kajiki and Topshot both caught 900lbers before lunch but the rest had to wait till late in the day while Tradition, also at Number 10, finished the day with three tagged the biggest 900lb.

With a camera now mounted in the tower Capt. Jim is practicing his coordination skills taking pictures whilst backing down on the fish. So far no success with the camera (haha - I'm not surprised!) however he did manage this one of Calypso hot on the trail of a big fish.

Reel Chase spent most of the day back on Number 10 despite the long run to Cooktown for the end of the charter and although Capt. Jim was marking heaps of fish on the sonar - no bite. The team watched Calypso catch a big one next to them and Hayden on Don’t Ask Me also battled the monster on 20lb for 2 hours, unfortunately not successfully in the end.

Capt. Jim moved down to #9 for the last hour and low and behold marked two fish, one of which rose to the bait and Moose was finally on!

At first they were not sure how big the fish was as Moose wanted to boat any over 1100lb but they quickly realized it was right up there (see photo) when it rocketed out of the water on the leader. But fortunately we didn’t have to make any tough decisions as the hook pulled on the jump after the gaffs came out. Oh well, there's always next year for a take home for Moose.

Kekoa on Number 10 caught two for the day and to steal a joke from Capt. Luke, two 500lb-ers equals a grander right?! Reports from futher South indicate good bites at #5 and Linden bank. Diamond Girl was to weigh a fish last night.

The most amazing thing about the last few days is all the veteran skippers are all talking about the numbers of extra large fish this year. It seems that the 1000lb mark is an average bite in the last week.

Reel Chase starts a new charter today and will leave our options open by starting the day on Number 7 Ribbon.

The other photo is to show how good the weather can be!!!!! (Finally!)

Lastly - I'd like to offer big congratulations to Capt. Jim and Annie D celebrating 35 years of marriage today!!! Big congrats!! And sore heads this morning perhaps?

It was a slower day on the reef. We marked a lot of fish on the sonar on Number 10 Ribbon between The Marks and Heartbreak but only raised 3, 2 of which we lost on the strike.

Most boats were reporting the same and Capt. Luke and Capt. Jim were just talking about a possible late bite when they got hungry.

About 5.50 Capt. Luke got the big one on and Reel Chase circled him for 10 minutes before heading away to the anchorage. That’s when we got he awesome bite on the scaley and right from the first jump we all said monster. Lucky for us she stayed on the surface and did a lot of jumps and we managed to tag the fish est. 1100lbs in 20 minutes for on-fire angler Kev. Unfortunately Capt. Luke's fish pulled the bait at the back of the boat about the same time, leaving us a run into the reef with just enough light. Even still Kekoa finished the day with three smaller fish tagged.

Both Sir Reel, Calypso and Iona let go big fish in the same area on what is turning into a year of really big fish. Shaka released 3 fish at #5 Ribbon and as Reel Chase is going into Cooktown to night they will be fishing down the reef today.

How good does it get to be fishing #10 Ribbon Reef when the big girls are firing!?!

Reel Chase by no means had the best day as boats were hooking up constantly, but they did manage to tag 3 blacks with the biggest a 950 lber for veteran angler, Lucky Kiwi Kev. The others a 500lber for Tony and a consolation 200lber again for Kev. Big Moose is saving himself for Big Julie, a certain to appear before this trip is over.

Unfortunately because of all the activity we don’t have any reports from down the reef; Reel Chase used at least 10 big baits and a few scad on a very busy day.

Also on Number 10, Kekoa and Mauna Kea both caught 4 each and everytime Reel Chase boat passed Assegai she was going backwards. Wild Turkey and Tradition both tagged 2 each and Allure was heading into Lizard to weigh an estimated 900 lber on 50 lb test. We believe they caught at least another 3 as well.

Today Reel Chase visits the codhole and then will knuckle down to some serious bait fishing as the stocks can’t stand too many days like this one.

The big fish on the leader and the happy angler Dave.

Finally it looks like the 2006 season has hit top gear. Big fish are showing up all along the reef and many anglers are catching the fish of their dreams. The top of #10 Ribbon seems to be the best with a lot of boats encountering granders including Seababy IV, Tradition and Castille.

Ribbon #5 is also firing with a number of big fish showing up late for Sir Reel, Laid back, Kajiki and Calypso while the Wild Turkey, Kekoa and Reel Chase made the move north all finding fish along #6 and #7 however it was Ribbon #8 that Reel Chase found this 800lber for Pommy Dave. After feeding the local wahoo population for the last couple of days we made a decision to only run big baits and save our scad for later. This wasn’t so good when we lost a pair of 200lbers while trying to hookup on the large scaley mackerels but it sure worked fine on the big fish which hooked up instantly.

Further south Moana 3 managed a large fish for the second day in a row at Lena Reef which still seems to be the focal point for the EAC. While the weather seems to be improving each day the water temperature is also increasing to a respectable 25 C up 1.2 C from a week ago. The first quarter moon on Saturday night should see all the big girls out and doing their thing over the next few days so here’s hoping our move to #10 Ribbon tomorrow puts us in the middle of the action.

The team heading out for their regular spear fishing sojourn and, as promised, Miss Behavin's grander from
the Lizard Island Tournament. Many thanks to Roger who sent this along. Beautiful fish!

Video Footage
Lastly, at the risk of going overboard on content today, I put up a short video of us releasing Mike's final fish for his trip on October 23 for you to take a look. Taken on my hand held digicam it's pretty good footage of giving the fish a little reviving swim before sending him on his way. I have a reef and island video or two for later as well.

Another day not to be missed on the GBR with plenty of wind and rain. They are still forecasting 10 to 15 on Friday though the team are trying not to get too excited as the forecasted fine weather has not materialized before.

Yesterday's fishing on board Reel Chase brought a small 150 lb-er for Angler Kevin. Had another bite but the fish spat the bait.

Reports are coming in that lots of fish are showing up now so hopefully the big bite is about to start in line with the neap tides this weekend. Moana caught a 350 lb-er and a 1100 lb-er at Linden bank, Deano on Castille caught 2 over 900lb on Number 10 Ribbon and Calypso also caught 2 including a 750 for the start of a new charter while Kamari managed a fish just shy of 1000lb for their angler on the last day of his trip on #5 Ribbon.

Reel Chase is planning to be in the action when they fire and will probably go North today to see if the reports are as good as they say.

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I have some short videos from my time on the boat last week to post over the next few days so look out for those. Also, I should have a picture of Misbehavin's 1000 lb-er from the tournament to put up for you tomorrow (again congrats to the team!) The boys have the camera out today so hopefully so photos on Reel Chase for you tomorrow as well.

Reel Chase finally found the fish yesterday raising a number on the baits throughout the day including one on a delicious live tuna bait in the morning that unfortunately jumped off. Later in the day we had a couple of fish including one large sally following the baits before tagging a 250lb-er for Angler Mike later in the afternoon.

Tenacious have taken out the 20th Annual Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic for the second year running. Congrats to Sharkey and his team!

Final results are:
Champion Team/Boat: Tenacious
Runner Up: Diamond Girl
Champion Female: Trudi Myberg on Marlin Blue
Champion Male: Jim Walpool (apologies for the spelling!) on Allure
Daily prizes went to: Billfish (who unfortunately had to pull out of the tournament early due to engine problems), Diamond Girl, Kanahoee, Sea Baby IV, Cabochon, Tenacious and Mistress.

I have photos and will put them up tonight. We are out again fishing our way down the Ribbons from number 8. Now that the tournament is over, maybe our luck will change.

Tenacious jumped to the lead on Day 6 with two more fish to bring them well and truly to the front of the fleet on 8 tags. It was another day of big seas and big fish but very slow overall with the fleet rapidly reducing with some suffering mechanical and other weather-related failures.

Townsville private boat Misbehavin' caught an estimated 1000lb fish after a two hour fight which was a lot more successful than the big fish who won the day with marathon fights again with Cabochon and Jag. We also witnessed the awesome sight of the 90 foot kiwi boat Ultimate Lady backing down hard on a big fish which they successsfully released after cease fishing. Other boats catching on Day 6 included one each for Adrenaline, Hell Raiser, Kanahoee and New Moon.

Update from tournament base: Leading boat is Tenacious with 8 tags from Diamond Girl with 6 and then Allure behind them on count back also with 6. Don't Ask Me are next with 5 from Kanahoee also with 5 and Billfish, Adrenaline, Iona and Marlin Blue all on 4. Day 6 brought 41 strikes, 32 hook ups and 16 tags. In addition to those I mentioned above, there were one fish each for Allure, Balek, Castille, Don't Ask Me, Top Shot, Viking 56, Kamari and Marlin Blue.

First sked of Day 7: three fish tagged including one for Diamond Girl hot on the heels of Tenacious.

Tenacious caught one on another slow day of fishing for Day 5.

The fish brings them up to 6 for the tournament, behind Diamond Girl also on 6 who failed to tag yesterday. Other boats catching fish on Day 5 (including some reported over 1000lbs) were: Fascination II, Cabochon, Jag, Hard to Swallow, Iona, Marlin Blue (est. 1000lb), Viking II, Tenacious, Moana III (two fish est. 500 & 1150lbs) and Don't Ask Me (1100lbs).

Additions to results for Day 4 were Sea Baby IV and Balek who I missed on the skeds. Sea Baby IV caught two for the day with Balek tagging one making Day four's totals: 29 strikes, 23 hookups and 10 tags.

Photo is the view from Reel Chase in the rough weather yesterday. Big waves, strong winds.

On another fabulous (um...!) day on the Great Barrier Reef, the following boats caught fish:

Allure, Calypso, Castille, Diamond Girl, Shaka, Viking 56 and Whirlpool - one each. That was the sum total of the day and puts Diamond Girl in the lead outright with 6 fish.

Castille ran out in front of us through the opening of #9 and #10 and caught their estimated 60kg fish in the first 10 minutes. Shaka made the brave move of running back to Linden Bank off Cairns and it came very close to paying off for them as they were still fighting number 2 at cease fishing (however we believe it may have been sharked).

Little Audrey fished the same barren piece of water as us yesterday for the same result. No news on XO. Moana III made the long journey down from Jewel Reef to the bottom of number 10 yesterday for the same results again and was anchored in front of us overnight. Calypso caught the fish of the day at the top of number 10. An estimated 900lb-er for Gold Coast Angler Greg Bell. No fish for Billfish on Day 4 either.

Updated results from tournament base will be out at 10:30 am and so I will add to this entry at that time. Didn't catch the final sked yesterday however we believe it was a very slow day yesterday with only 9 fish caught in the 47 boat fleet. We believe that Diamond Girl caught another two yesterday which would put them in the lead.

Correction for yesterday: Tenacious was also with the leaders on four fish at the end of Day 2 (leaders on Day 2 were Billfish with four fish on count back from other boats with four which include Kanahoee, Tenacious and Allure.)

Castille results for you: 1 from 3 on Day 1. Jumped one off on Day 2 and raised a monster yesterday but no bite. Will try and find out more about Little Audrey, XO and Misbehavin too.

Updated results from Day 3 from Tournament Base this morning: Day 3 brought 32 strikes, 25 hookups and 11 tags on 9 boats including one estimated at 1100lbs.

The leader board from Day 3 is as follows:

Diamond Girl leading from Tenacious both with 5 tags. On 4 tags is Billfish in front of Allure and Kanahoee. Joe-Joe, Don't Ask Me, Iona, Shaka are all following on 3. Adrenaline, Top Shot, Hellraiser, Whirlpool, Bill Collector, Bite Me, Marlin Blue, Fascination II and Kajiki are all on two fish. There are a number of boats with 1 tag as well but I couldn't catch them all.

Day 4 is looking a bit overcast with some rain but we're looking forward to start fishing at 11am.

In a much better day on the water weather-wise, the fishing slowed for much of the fleet. For us on board Reel Chase, our luck from Day 1 continued into day two. Good news however with three boats reporting granders caught on the day including Kanahoee who top scored for the day with 3 fish.

Allure, Diamond Girl and Tenacious tagged two and other boats with one for the day included Bill Collector, Fascination 2, Don't Ask Me, Iona, Kamari, Sea Baby IV, Hell Raiser and Kajiki.

In a season that has been dominated by small fish, the two caught on Diamond Girl with Capt. Kim Anderson were both large fish, a 1000+ for Gold Coast Kevin Cook and 850lb for Danny Simons caught within 10 minutes of each other. With no fish for Billfish yesterday, the top of the leader board is starting to jam up. By my calculations, Kanahoee, Allure and Billfish combined on top with 4 tags. Misbehavin' hooked up just before cease fishing but unfortunately lost the fish.

Update from Day 1: My apologies, I somehow missed Joe-Joe's sked with 3 tags on Day 1.

Day 1 results as per the end-of-day sked. As of cease fishing, at least two boats were still fighting so I do not have their results for the day (Castille and Hell Raiser - I believe Hell Raiser's fish may have been sharked). A couple of others missed the sked altogether but this is what I have and will add to it this morning with any re-cap.

Leading boat = Billfish with 4 from Joe-Joe with 3.

Several boats with two tagged for the day including Adrenaline, Allure, Don't Ask Me, Iona, Shaka, Tenacious and Top Shot. And another group of boats with one tagged including Bill Collector, Bite Me, Calypso, Diamond Girl, Kanahooe, Mistress and Whirlpool. I'm not quite sure where Castille and Hell Raiser fit in there but will endeavor to find out. From those results you can see that not quite half the fleet have fish on day one, which started rather wild weather wise but calmed down to 15 knots later in the day. Unfortunately the wind is expected up again this afternoon.

As you can see, Reel Chase was not amongst the action of Day 1 but we'll be chasing the big one again today. Apologies to any boats I missed. (I don't have any fish tagged for Misbehavin - will follow up to check today.)

After the briefing last night we are out for Day 1 today. Start fishing is 11 am. Weather has improved (ie. no rain) but still very windy. Some photos of the sailpast this morning and from the briefing last night. Will put some labels on them for you later. 47 boats competing. 7 days of competition.

Quick report in via telephone from Capt. Jim tonight before I head off to Lizard Island in the morning. Two from four for Angler Mike on stand up at Number 10, both weighing about 300lb. Windy and rainy weather.

The 20th Riviera Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic starts this Sunday. Reel Chase was into the Island last night for a change over and is out from today with our angler for the tournament (more on that later). Capt. Jim described the bay as a 'parking lot' with quite a number of boats in already for the start of the tournament.

Heading up to join the boat myself tomorrow, I may not have an update for you until then, but I will certainly have plenty of pictures, updates and results as things get underway starting with the briefing at the barn tomorrow night. Stay tuned!

Fishing report from yesterday: None for Reel Chase in what was described as even worse weather with the boat having to make it all the way up to Lizard last night. Kanahoee reported two on Number 10 and Alure and Sea Baby report good fishing on the middle Ribbons. As if the wind wasn't bad enough, I've heard it's now started to rain! Everyone is counting on it turning around for the start of the tournament.

On another wild weather day, Reel Chase have introduced a new technique to marlin fishing on the GBR. Capt. Jim picked up this while salmon fishing in the fast flowing rivers of Alaska. Its called back trolling and they used it to stop the baits from flying while racing down the front of 20 foot swells yesterday. Simply put the motors into reverse to reduce the speed down the front of the big waves. Hopefully the fish find it interesting as it certainly creates a lot of white water! ;-)

After a slow start with lunch on the mothership, the team ventured out quite late in the day to hear that Kekoa had already tagged 3 marlin. As usual the bite shut down as they arrived! Capt. Jim trolled down sea to the opening of 5 & 6 Ribbon where they had a couple of bites the day before and raised a large angry fish. Unfortunately she got the scaly mackerel and we got our hook back, leaving a quite dejected crew and anglers as she was the biggest fish the team has seen this season. Luckily they returned to the same spot late in the day and managed 2 good fish to turn the trip around.

Angler Greg caught the first at 400 lb and as it was tail wrapped it gave us quite a good fight in the big seas. Angler Brian caught the second at 300 lb to make sure we returned to the mothership with plenty of tales of the day.

Kekoa finished the day with 4 tags along with Sir Reel. With the huge seas a lot of the boats chose not to fish but both the 2 new O’briens were out proving how good a sea boat they really are.

Reel Chase is off to Lizard Island tonight and will be fishing in that area in the lead up to the big tournament. If the weather God is reading this, we have a credit of 60 days of 5 to 10 knot weather and at least 10 grander blacks.

We would like to collect anytime soon thank you!

I thought I'd put this photo in so the man up there would remember what fine weather days look like at Lizard Island!

Still not much to report on board Reel Chase with just 2 bites yesterday. One tangled himself in the scaly rig but fell off after 5 minutes and the other, a small fish, jumped off on the strike. Calypso had abetter day with 2 tags also at # 5 while further south Kekoa caught 2 at # 3. Most boats coming up from down south for the Lizard Island tournament which starts this Sunday, report slow fishing. (Kanahoee was in to Cooktown overnight.)

The main interest in the last couple of days has been a group of spearfishermen trying to get a black marlin record. Apparently a number of boats saw them with a 600lber jumping and three divers hanging on to the cord until something broke a couple of days ago, and yesterday they managed to land an estimated 180lb fish. Scary stuff on the outside of these reefs. With the wind again howling at 30+ knots until Friday, we will probably be limited to a lot of bait fishing and some down sea trolling, the good thing is that when it finally eases most of the fish should be stacked up against the reef front for the next round of small tides.

It also may be a long season as the water temperature is way down due to prolonged wind ( 24.0 c) and if the fish need warmer water to spawn, we could be still seeing a lot of fish into December.

Have not heard from Capt. Jim this morning so I do not have a fishing report for you today. Have been experiencing some major computer problems on board Reel Chase including some difficulty even getting the computer started yesterday. Thankfully the team were in Cooktown and thus in phone range. Today is a different story. Being a big believer in Murphy's law I would suggest this is because I ordered a new computer for the boat yesterday and intend to deliver and set it up this weekend. He may get it working a bit later today so stay tuned as there may be something to report yet.

PS - thanks for the note Roddy. Will try and find out what Kanahoee are up to. News from Kekoa mid afternoon yesterday was one from three.

Update
Spoke too soon. Quick report has come through from Capt. Jim with a quiet day yesterday - one bite. Kanahoee had the same luck and both were anchored at Number 5 overnight. Kekoa and Sea Baby both caught one yesterday in what was reported as a quiet day all round.

Managing a quick conversation with Dr. Julian Pepperall in Cooktown, Capt. Jim has learned that two blue marlin tagged by Reel Chase on the Gold Coast on April 29 this year (both by superman Angler Mark Griffith) have revealed some interesting information. One popped off on 19 June with the fish having travelled an impressive 326 kilometres north east in 51 days. The second popped off earlier on 23 May, after travelling a staggering 549 kilometres north east in just 24 days. Scientists are still analyzing the information they got back from them.

Speaking of Dr. Julian, Kekoa finished their 7 day charter with two tagged on number 7. Kekoa was fishing this week with Sir Reel off mothership The Boss with a team that included Dr. Julian and Guy Harvey and photographer Bill Boyce (who were filming for the new "Portraits of the Deep" series), as well as recently hall of fame inducted Dennis "Brazzaka" Wallace. They also managed to tag a couple of good sized blacks with Satellite tags during the week. Kekoa's back out today with our regular blog commenter Brendan on board - good luck to you!

No marlin fishing to report yesterday for Reel Chase who arrived in Cooktown mid afternoon after a morning spent bottom fishing on the reef with some happy anglers on board. After stocking up overnight, they are heading back out today - mothershipping this week. Without a photographer on board for the next few days, I fear for photos for you, but hopefully one of the anglers will get some shots off for us (Kirsty is back on board Kanahoee for a couple of weeks with Capt. Dave. Meanwhile I'll be up there and resuming cooking duties from Saturday for the duration of the Lizard Island tournament and then some. I promise lots of pictures and results - like last year, let me know who you want to know about and I'll report it for you.)

Lastly, the award from the GFAA. Thanks Wild Turkey for the good wishes - I hadn't heard about this but Capt. Jim confirmed for me that Reel Chase did indeed win the The Game Fishing Association of Australia (GFAA) award for the most marlin tagged by a boat in Australian Waters for 05/06 year and was presented the trophy during the Cairns 40th Anniversary Tournament. This is the second time for Reel Chase to win this award. Great result for the team and congrats and thanks to all the anglers who made it happen!

Today Reel Chase is at #5 Ribbon Reef preparing to run into Cooktown after lunch. Although the fishing slowed yesterday, the team managed their aims for the day - coral trout and Spanish mackerel for dinner (very fresh!) and a lot more scaly mackerel for bait. And, best of all, a nice 300lb marlin for James.

Capt. Jim also had a pack of marlin up at the bottom of Leana Reef and although there was a bite, he thinks the group had other things very much on their minds (mating) and they eventually lost interest in the offerings. Another bite from a fish which all Capt. Jim saw from the tower was a huge head followed seconds later by a tail but unfortuneatly the scad stayed in the rigger clip and that was the day.

Weather wise, yesterday was the pick of this season with winds even below 15 knots for part of the day but this morning they are back to the usual 20 knots +.

The few reports in from the top suggest the fishing has slowed and with the full moon last night we can look forward to the action again hotting up about Wednesday.

Yesterday Reel Chase started with a new group of anglers from Adelaide. Father and son Matthew and James along with business friends Steve and Mark. As they put the baits in at Spur Reef just south of Linden Bank, they imediately had a strike on the scad but no hookup.

10 minutes later though, Mark the expert whiting fisherman from St. Vincents Gulf, was on to his first marlin, a solid 450lber tagged to fight another day!

Both Matt and Steve also released smaller fish to complete the triple for the day. Although James had a couple of bites he will be on strike until he catches his first Black Marlin. He was not to be disappointed though as on trolling into the anchorage we had a double header of Giant Trevally with his just slightly bigger than Marks.

Other reports indicate good fishing at #10 Ribbon and on the Bank with dirty water spoiling the action in the middle reefs.

Come on Wade-ikins, smile for the camera!

Its about time but the law of averages has finally caught up with us. After some slow days the team managed to tag 4 from 5 marlin bites yesterday.

Fishing Linden Bank with only a couple of boats includeing Shaka, Balek 3 and the trailer boat Inside Edge, we saw a total of 8 fish in beautiful clean blue water. Junior Angler Alex caught all his 5 for the trip on 80lb, fishing for the elusive Australian record but despite releasing a 500lber on the first day of the trip, we could not find a bigger fish on the day. Oh well, theres always next time.

The photos are from Mark Griffith who has developed a passion for Marlin arials plus another sashimi shot with Aaron to get the taste buds going.

Today Reel Chase heads North and into Cooktown Sunday night, hopefully they are ambushed at Linden Bank again but should find out more from the bulk of the fleet who are in that area.

The word I'm hearing from the skippers is that they are seriously sick of the weather! White knuckles from holding on in the tower...

Reel Chase is back into Cairns tonight after another day of 25knots. It was supposed to ease today but once again no change.

Another fish yesterday about 250lb for Angler Aaron. In the photo the fish is doing a Blue Marlin type jump. The team had one other bite but overall a much slower day by all reports.

Reel Chase will fish Linden Bank today before going into Cairns this afternoon and hopefully getting a good night's rest in the relative calm of the Marlin Marina.

Mark (Griffo) caught this one about 200lb at Anderson Reef. It was definitely lot slower yesterday with only a few bites for the day. Kekoa caught 1 from 2 at Ribbon Reef #5 with Sir Reel also at #5 having a slightly better day.

All reports from the top indicate less fish as the tides start to build and the dirty water starts to influence the openings and reef front. Escape and Opal seem to be doing better with Bob Jones reporting big numbers of small fish at South Escape and Noel Jones on the private boat Kajiki (ex Kanahoee) catching 2 from 5 at Opal.

A lot of boats went into Cooktown last night for their changeovers so the party atmosphere should be in full swing.

Using the (still!) bad weather to get a lot of line out, this is a small black estimated about 250lb was caught before lunch yesterday for Angler Andrew (not a great shot sorry!) A lot of other bites from small fish throwing the hook. Reel Chase stayed at Escape Reef and were joined by Sir Reel and Kekoa and their mothership The Boss overnight, who also caught a couple for the day.

Kanahoee caught one about 20 mile out from the reef. A few other boats also caught fish although it seemed to slow at the Bank. Capt. Jim believes it is also slow up at Lizard Island though only a few boats there.

Griffo and the A-team on board Reel Chase as they head out from Cairns.

Griffo and the three A's heading out on the second part of their charter on board Reel Chase yesterday morning and finally found some success seeing a lot of fish including one for Junior Angler Alex about 500lbs on the 80lb rod (photo below).

Capt. Jim relates that is has been very frustrating trying to catch 70kg fish on 130lb tackle and 15lb baits but that is all the small fish want to eat.

Reports from Linden Bank to the middle Ribbons show a lot more fish being seen with some boats tagging up to 3 fish for the day (including Tradition with three for the day at Linden). With the small tides of the first moon quarter Capt. Jim expects to see all the early fish to arrive on the Ribbon reef up and tailing over the next few days especially seeing the 25 knots of SE trades are back.

The second photo is of a nice dolphin fish which along with many wahoo were released after making sure our two deckies Brad and Wade are not getting fat and lazy. They must have rigged 30 baits for the day.

Hopefully this is the start to a busy week with big hungry fish.

100 fish caught for the four days of the tournament. Mauna Kea won with 9 black marlin tagged from Viking II with 7 tagged. Jo Jo caught the 100th (and final) fish for the tournament about an hour before cease fishing on the final day - a nice sized black estimated at about 850lbs.

The presentation was a gala event with over 700 people attending and several game fishing identities inducted into the hall of fame including the late George Bransford (accepted by his daughter), Jack Erskine, Peter Gouby, Johno Johnson and Dennis 'Brazzaka' Wallace. Lots of quality footage both old and new was shown including a good segment of hat cam from last season on Reel Chase from Notso.

Reel Chase is back out today and heading up to the Ribbons. The wind is still up quite a bit so heres hoping they get a break some time soon.