(Hi everyone, just a quick note to let you know I’m working on the resource issues so that we can get the live-blogging back onto the website. Please bear with me as its hard to organise these things from at sea! )

Day 3 Lizard Island Results

The day went from all quiet on the radio to periods of hot fishing and the hot fishing was BIG.  The first burst of activity came through at just on noon with Viking II hooking up to a 600lb fish for junior angler Connor Craven which was tagged quickly followed by a 400lb-er for Askari.  Soon after, Little Audrey tagged the first of their four fish for the day at 500lbs to Ken Klein.

Then all was quiet again before the three o’clock hot bite started and was lead off by owner Barry Alty fishing on board Mistress with a nice fish that they put at 900lbs. Then the big fish kept coming!!  700lbs for Robert Rich on Calypso, 900lbs for Andrey on Moana, 850lbs for Little Audrey, 900lbs for Mitchell on Askari and 850lbs for Tomonori Omi on Top Shot! 6 big fish in the space of an hour on the reef!! This is still the best spot in the world for giant black marlin, without a doubt!

Just when you though the day was all over, another flurry at just before cease fishing which included a double hookup for Little Audrey which were both tagged at 150lbs for owner Phil and another big fish at 800lbs for Jamie!

What a great day of action with just on 21 fish (by my records) tagged.  The standouts were Little Audrey with four tags, Top Shot with three (to be confirmed – may also have been four) and Askari with three.  Hellraiser, Spartacus and Moana each tagged two and Viking, Mistress, Calypso, Reely Black and Onsite (on the board now) each with one.

To put the leaderboard into perspective–its crowded at the top! By my results I have Little Audrey in front on 5 tags followed closely by Top Shot, Askari and Spartacus each on four, followed by Viking on three who held the lead early on Day three. With two tags each, in order, are Amokura, Kanahoee, Fascination, Hattitude, Calypso, Reely Black, Hellraiser and Moana. On one tag each are Bill Collector, Castille III, Hot Shot, Tradition, Mistress and Onsite.

Outside the comp–Down the bottom there are still a few boats fishing with Cjig joining them again on Monday, this time with Capt. Ross McCubbin on board (now that the flathead classic is over!)  Grant tells me they have been fishing Linden Bank to Opal and released a 350lb-er on Monday and followed up with a 500lb-er yesterday.

More to come as I hear…

The view of the bays at Lizard Island which come early October, is where you will find a great many of the fleet on anchor.

News came in from Capt. Craig “Brutus” Newbold yesterday that the Lizard Island boat Fascination has kicked off their 2011 heavy tackle season with a 650lb black marlin at Day Reef on Tuesday. We always look forward to hearing how the Island boat is fairing this early in the season because once their seasons get under way, a lot of the fleet will be making a bee-line straight up there.  Also spending the night in the relatively calm waters of the island last night is Garry Holt’s Diversion, which he’s brought up to the reef for the first time this year.  Garry has reported 3 marlin in 4 days (no size given) in some pretty rough conditions.

Further down the reef, Capt. Damien Collette on Saltaire reported fairly average conditions with the winds up to 30 knots over the weekend. He likewise kicked off his 2011 season this week with a 200lb black at Jenny Louise. Damien also told me that the Nomad boys are heading their way north to the rock,  caught a 300lb-er from one of the dories at Number 8 Ribbon Reef on Monday.

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For the marlin fleet: The Lizard Island Marlin Bar is open for meals every night of the week this season (excepting Monday’s & Tuesday’s) and serving food until late.  If you’re heading in and are worried that the kitchen will close before you make it, just give them a yell on your way in and they’ll stay open for you.  Brutus says they have a great menu this year.

They are also looking to enhance their memorabilia collection on the walls of the bar.  If you have any any photos from year’s at Lizard Island gone, please let me know and I’ll pass it along.

And speaking about memorabilia, I came across this travel tale from David Fleming who traveled from the States in 1981 to do some deck work on boats based out of the island. It’s a very interesting read and a glimpse of a time on the reef gone by!

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More from Townsville: Capt. Tim Richardson took Tradition in a straight line through Cape Bowling Green yesterday morning and came up with an estimated 50kg black marlin within 5 minutes of the baits hitting the water.  Tim said the water temp is still pretty cold at 22 degrees, but wished he had more time to spend there. Alas, they are continuing the trip north and should be into the marlin marina in Cairns on the weekend, ready to start their 2011 season on Tuesday.

Some quick news for this Friday:

• Boats fishing this weekend’s Mike Carney Toyota Townsville Billfish Challenge will be aware that the committee confirmed at the meeting last night that teams will be able to nominate their fishing days at tonight’s briefing.  Due to the weather forecast for this weekend, they may choose to fish Sunday through Wednesday instead of the original Saturday through Tuesday.  Teams that do fish on Saturday will still be required to call in their skeds but without a grid reference. 

  The sailpast and shot-gun start will still go ahead on Saturday morning so look forward to some photos as we will be among the fleet returning to the marina on Saturday and plan to fish the Sunday to Wednesday option.


• A reminder that the Innisfail Billfish Tournament follows soon after — its being held on the 23th – 25th September, with the briefing night on Thursday 22rd.  Ben sent me a pic to get you in the mood!
• Lastly, next week BlueWater Magazine Issue 87 goes on sale. Here’s a sneak peak of the cover and what you’ll find inside.

  A feature from Pelagic Pro Team Captain Josh Temple and a journey to the realm of the biggest yellowfin tuna on the plane as well as a look at Cairns’ Giant Black Marlin and much more.

  Issue 87 on sale September 7.
  
  

Some photos courtesy of Rhino from yesterday’s fish on board Iona 2 at Linden Bank’s Bus Stop.  Capt. Adam tells me they finished the day with 2 from 3 black marlin. The first one 10 minutes after the baits went in the water that he put at 800lb, plus another at 150lb.  Adam says they also had a bite out of a fish in the 600lb range and boated 4 yellowfin and a wahoo as well.

First heavy tackle marlin of the season!  Congrats guys – great start!

Another light tackle report has also come in today from Capt. Rob Wood who tells me that the sails have arrived off the spit at Fraser Island. Rob tagged one while passing through the shallow water last week and reports that there is plenty of bait in the area with some good size fish spotted on the sounder.

Black marlin have also turned up at 1770, within 3 km of the coast. Rob says the arrival of the small blacks in August usually coincides with a good years game fishing in the area so we’re looking forward to hearing more!

Meanwhile, boats in the south are making the most of an awesome bluefin tuna bite wide of Sydney.  Mark Curtis tells me that fish to 90kg were weighed on Saturday. On Sunday Ivan Bennett on Ambition got a 60kg fish and then weighed another 130.5kg!! Mark predicts the weather will probably shut it all down tomorrow but in the meantime, boats in numbers are getting great quality fish.