Black Marlin Fishing Blog

BMFB: Weekly Sked 27 July

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:29:13 +0000

The weather has claimed another victim with Yorkey’s Knob Fishing Club canceling their weekend comp due to the 30+knot winds.
The world has been watching the grander count as reports filter in that Bermuda weighed their third grander of the season last week. While 2009 was a great year for grander black marlin on the Great Barrier Reef (search “grander” in the search-bar to read 2009 reports), July 2010 has been a great MONTH for grander blue marlin in Bermuda with 1012lbs for Playmate on July 12, 1005lbs for C Ya on July 21 followed by another 1005lbs for Que Mas on July 22. Just a short couple of months now until the Cairns Giant Black Marlin season kicks off once again in September.

The Dampier Classic kicks off this weekend. We’ll be looking forward to hearing how it all goes and are hoping they have better weather than the recent Broome comp.
As is often typical of tournament fishing, Jeff reports that winner Billistic went out again the day after the Broome comp in blue skies and had a pack of 10 sails come up while putting the teasers out — finishing the day in double figures. Not bad for the guests on board who’d never even seen a sailfish before!
There are new tournaments in the calendar – check it out here.
Any experienced crew looking for work in Cairns?

Freebies: BMFB Desktop Wallpaper

admin — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:39:52 +0000

Something different to inspire you for your fishing and the seasons ahead, a free desktop wallpaper, this first one celebrating the start of the little black marlin season.

The wallpaper includes a calendar to see us through the season. (Isn’t it easier to check your fabulous desktop wallpaper calendar instead of launching some application?) Look out for more wallpapers to come – the next one will of course be celebrating NQ’s Giant Black Marlin season’s start in September. If none of the below fit your screen, use your image editor to refine its dimensions or choose “Stretch to fit”.

Read on for instructions and links for download.

For the iPhone – 320×400 screen resolution (no calendar)

For the computer – 1024×768, 1280×800, 1280×1024, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1680×1050, and 1920×1200.

Simply open the picture in the resolution of your choice and from your browser file menu, save it to your computer. Once the image is on your computer, right click and select “Set as wallpaper” (for PC users) or select “Set Desktop Picture” (for Mac users).

The wallpaper is free for personal use only. You may not re-distribute or use the wallpaper or the images it contains commercially. Thank you.

I hope you enjoy

Broome Billfish Classic Tournament Report

admin — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:39:37 +0000

Photos and report courtesy of Jeff Cooper, President of the Broome Fishing Club:

The recent Kingswood Marine Broome Billfish Classic was held in what was has been described by all competitors as the most atrocious weather possible for the event. Howling wind, torrential rain, and freezing cold conditions ‘blessed’ the competitors–extremely unseasonal weather for Broome during this time of year. Despite the conditions, the 19 teams stuck it out for the six days of endurance event to finish with a total of 128 billfish tagged.

Interestingly the sailfish numbers were down about a third on last year, but marlin tagged numbers were about double. There were some big marlin in amongst them too with an estimated 180kg model giving 13 year old Bryce Marinis a run for his money on 10kg.

The final stats were:

Sailfish – 351 raised, 281 strikes, 170 hook ups, 105 tagged.
Marlin – 53 raised, 52 strikes, 33 hook ups, 23 tagged.

The winning team for the event was last year’s runners-up Billistic who finished strong on the last day to take the lead from the rest of the fleet. The battle for Champion Angler was one of the hardest fought contests for years with three anglers all finishing on 4000 points. In the end, Matt Booth won the title on count back from Jason Bull and Rodney Sanders. Champion Female went to Deb Whitcombe who once again asserted her dominance to take the title.

Despite the ordinary conditions the anglers and teams had a great time once again over the entire event and the presentation night provided great entertainment and was fun for all!

BMFB: Weekly Sked 20 July 2010

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:35:46 +0000

The first Black Marlin Fishing Blog monthly email newsletter is out now. If you’d like to subscribe to the newsletter, you can do so here.
A story from Towcam’s John Faulkner that he’d like to call–”Shut up and listen!” John took his boat Five Star out from the Gold Coast seaway with just him and a mate on board for their usual Sunday, to get some towcam vision. John reports “Calm crisp weather, the SST charts showing good water temp at 80m we arrived to find good bait mid-water. After a quick drop and just one huge slimy, we decided to pull lures. (After listening to GCGFC guest speaker Capt. Ross McCubbin recently on striped marlin techniques.) We scanned with the 360deg sonar for bigger schools, found a good patch of bait stacked up high in the water and marked a few large fish so we pulled up and let the lures sink and pulled them into the bait. Double hook up striped marlin!
One took off leaping all lit up along side the boat and the other the opposite direction. Throttles mashed, we tried to take up the slack, but with only 8kg gear, none of the hooks set and exit 2 nice striped marlin. Unreal this is July isn’t it? With only 1 horse slimy in the tank we circle hooked that out on a new virgin baitcaster on braid and slow trolled back into the same bait we had marked, instant hook up! Over 90 minutes later and after too many attempts at a tag shot, we lost the fish, a nice frisky 130kg black marlin.
Lessons learned = Should have taken the 15kg outfits, listened while McCubbin was speaking and most importantly, always push record!“
The Townsville Billfish Bonanza was postponed again due to the weather and things are not looking too good for this weekend’s Yorkey’s Knob tournament either. Also, please note that due to the Federal Election on August 21, the big Yorkey’s Knob tournament, the Norship Marine Light Tackle Slam has been moved to September 10-12. More information on the Tournament Calendar.
Listening to Fish Talk on the weekend we heard from Capt. Ken Bryant that the little black marlin are thick in the Whitsundays. Touching base with both Shaka and Iona II who are spending some time amongst the islands at present and neither have heard that rumour but are keen to get out and have a look!
Warning dead fish–>whispers this last week of a 600kg blue marlin in Tahiti but perhaps not caught on rod and reel. (Unless you already read french) you can read the google translation of the newspaper article here with picture here.

BMFB Weekly Sked: July 13

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:02:54 +0000

On the West Coast: The Broome Billfish Classic is over and Broome GFC president Jeff Cooper reports that they had their challenges with the weather. Over 106mm of rain fell during the week’s competition and on one day the temperature barely reached 18 degrees (not quite the warm sunshine competitors are used to!) As for the fishing, sailfish numbers were down a third but they raised twice as many marlin. Significant catches include a 180kg range black marlin on 10kg for a junior angler which was tagged and released. Full report to come.
On the East Coast: the upcoming Townsville Billfish Bonanza and Yorkey’s Knob Light Tackle Tournament (members only) should finally give us some indication if the little black marlin have arrived in the north. Read more about these tournaments on the new Tournament Calendar page.

Of the few boats that have made the most of small breaks in the weather, Capt. Scott “Bat” Taunton and crew on Imagine released their first sailfish (picture) of the season off Cairns last week. Capt. Tim “Too Nice” Ryan reports that he’s heard of a couple of small blacks released mackerel fishing as well.
Team Hardcore and Askari took a trip up the Ribbons to the Big Rock (Lizard Island) last week and the boys enjoyed introducing owner Shane’s 5 year old daughter Monet to game fishing. She ended up with 6 scalies and a nice Spanish Mackerel and showed some pretty nice form in the chair – a certain future junior angler. She also kept on asking to catch a big Marlin (Shane you’ll have to bring her back in September!)
Owner John and son Jye joined Capt Troy Dallman on Cool Runnings for a day off Opal Reef on the weekend and got stuck into the yellowfin. John tells me they were everywhere!
More tuna news: Craig reports that the bluefin are still thick at Bermagui right now. Double D fishing last week had their bag limit by 8am (photo) and spent the rest of the day videoing fish at the back of the boat. All boats have seen plenty of fish, mostly wide of the 30 line.

BMFB: Weekly Sked July 6

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:39:47 +0000

Another year, another Blue Marlin World Cup over! And congrats to the first (although still unofficial) repeat winner, Happy Hooker in Cape Verde who boated a blue marlin at 1097lb! For those not familiar with how the BMWC works, boats from all over the globe, fishing on July 4 (their timezone) compete for the biggest blue marlin above the qualifying weight of 500lbs. It’s interesting to watch the different timezones come into play. Once again in 2010 our part of the Pacific was represented by the team on Ultimate Lady fishing out of Vanuatu—fishing in the same time zone as Kona and were some of the last to compete. But fortunately for the team on Happy Hooker, they set the bar pretty high! Congrats to Capt. Berno Niebuhr and angler Chris Brand who I understand was the same angler to reel in the winning fish on Happy Hooker in 2006. Thanks to @BlueMarlinWC.
Steve Tatham reports there are good numbers of billfish around on the bait balls at the moment at Dampier promising another cracker tournament (if the WIND would quit as its been blowing!) 2009 produced 297 sails and 56 black marlin. Tournament runs at the end of the month.

The Townsville Billfish Bonanza has been postponed to a tentative 17/18 July due to weather. Here’s hoping the tournament goes ahead so we can see what the little blacks are up to. It’s a good gear up for the main tournament, the Mike Carney Toyota Billfish Challenge in September.
More from Brendan on the bluefin in Tassie. Last week 126kg, 115 and 101 southern blues were weighed at Eaglehawk Neck and rumour has it that more caught but not weighed? Brendan recommends Stuart Nichols and the Big Pig if you want to have a shot at a Jumbo Blue!

BMFB: Weekly Sked June 29

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:21:51 +0000

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.

Still on BlueWater, David Granville reports that he and the boys on Reel Capture put the strategy outlined in the recent ‘Daytime Swords” article into practice over the weekend on the Sunshine Coast. While they didn’t have great success with the broadies, he can see that it will garners results. They were bit off by two sharks and lost what they believe was a sword. They also trolled for a bit in the morning jumping off a blue marlin.
On the same trip, they brought this fella in but are having trouble identifying it. We think it’s some type of jobbie but anyone else more in the know?
Tournaments: Broome’s Billfish Classic kicks off on July 2 and the Blue Marlin World Cup, around the world on July 4 so hopefully some billfishing news will be heading our way.

BMFB: Weekly Sked June 22

admin — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 22:09:36 +0000

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.

The Cairns Post reports the Cairns BlueWater Game Fishing Club is in negotiations with Fitzroy Island to relocate their clubhouse to the island. Sounds interesting!
KEKOA has now returned to Cairns after our successful Gulf Barra season and we are looking forward to some time off before we start to prepare for the marlin season ahead. We’re in good company here at the Marlin Marina where we’ve joined the likes of Askari, Moana III, New Moon, Shaka and Top Shot who are based here year-round. Although we’ve heard there have already been a few little black marlin caught, no-one is going anywhere right now with the early winter weather very windy and unfriendly!
The Big Rock Tournament in South Carolina has just finished and while on the whole fishing was slow, there were some big catches including an 883lb blue marlin weighed by the boys on Citation. Unfortunately, controversy has hit the tournament with the winning fish’s $900,000+ in prize money currently withheld while the tournament committee investigates the claim a Citation crew member was without the appropriate fishing license which contravenes tournament rules!

Broome Sailfish Satellite Tagging Project

admin — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 04:13:32 +0000

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.”

Watch the clip below for more information about the project or read the full press release here. We look forward to hearing more as the study progresses!

Thanks to Jeff for all the information and good luck to all fishing the tournament!

2009 Actions Shots

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:48:50 +0000

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!

2009 Season Gallery

Visit the photo gallery for more pictures.