Plenty of big fish raised again yesterday on the reef although only a few converted. Capt. Daniel Carlson on Little Audrey caught their third grander black marlin in as many days. Unfortunately the fish died during the fight and so it was weighed at 1038lbs to Dominican Republic angler Eduardo Read. Capt. Dan says that soon after they also lost a 700lb-er which, on the same rod as the big fish, wore through the line. This marks Capt. Dan’s first weighed grander and also puts the team on 45 marlin for only 28 days fishing. They are having a remarkable 2011 season–congratulations to all on board!

Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso returned to port on changeover last night with a 1 from 2. And Capt. Jared Weir on Shaka tells me they pulled the hooks on a big fish at the back of the boat.

A couple more of the fleet have taken advantage of the perfect weather conditions to head wide for a look-see. Hopefully we’ll hear good reports from them when they come back into range. Capt. Dean Beech on Castille III headed out wide yesterday and had already jumped off a blue marlin prior to traveling out of phone range. Capt. Dean ends his trip in Townsville. Capt. Bett and Barry Alty will likewise be steering Mistress back to their home port on the Gold Coast via the seamount and Myrmidon. Barry says its been a great season for them as well — their best since the early 2000′s! We look forward to hearing how they go as well. And likewise, Garry Holt’s Diversion also leaves our tropical waters on Friday on his way home to Port Stephens, where early season striped marlin may be keeping them busy soon.

Also currently underway south, I heard from Capt. Adam Jordan on Iona 2 who, although not on the boat himself, told me that the boys released a 500lb blue marlin at the top of Fraser Island yesterday. With Mustard at the controls, Rhino did the rest solo on the back deck and I’m told that although it nearly spooled him on the 130lb, after it settled down he even had time for a beer and a ciggy before vacating the chair with the fish beside the boat to wire it himself as well!! Knowing Rhino as we do, I’m sure there will be a video coming soon!

I also heard from Drew Willis who fished east of Cape Moreton on Saturday in his 6 meter centre console Mates Rates for blue marlin on light tackle. Drew says they went 1-1-’almost’ on a 400 pound blue on 30 pound line class, after a 3 hour fight and the double on the rod, lost the fish beside the boat. Drew also tells me Bribie Island boat Hard N Up fished nearby for the day going 1-1-1 on a 200 pound blue. Thanks Drew!

I’m writing early again as we head back out this morning after a couple of days off. Looking forward to hopefully getting amongst these big fish again ourselves!

Is there nothing worse than being in town when big fish are being caught?  I think not! There are still opportunities to fish the reef this year. If you haven’t already, contact one of the very reputable Captains on the directory page for your trip of a lifetime. Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso has advised me of a late cancellation for the 2-10 December or part there of.  If you are interested, contact Capt. Tim directly via his website www.marlinfishingaustralia.com or mobile 0411 111 476.
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Capt. Simon Carosi, left Cairns yesterday on board his charge, private boat Brilliant Company which calls the port of Gold Coast home. Simon put the lures in outside of Noggin reef and released one from one at Raff Shoals. Just a couple of hours later and a several miles further south, they hit the jackpot and released another that Simon put at right on the mark!  What a way to end your season with a 1000lb black marlin!

Meanwhile on the edge off Cairns, boats reported a quieter day but still plenty of big fish caught and raised.  Capt. Jared Weir and team on Shaka sent me this photo above of a 900lb-er they released for owner John Hendry’s son Matthew. Congrats Matthew!

Capt. Jared also reported fishing nearby to Capt. Bobby Jones on Iceman who released a fish that he put at 1100lbs!! Way to go Bob!

Capt. Daniel Carslon on Little Audrey also had another big fish day releasing one about 800lbs.  Capt. Dan said they also raised another bigger fish.  Meanwhile owner Garry Holt and the boys with sore heads on Diversion also released another fish around 400lbs.  (I’ve included the Youtube video clip for their big fish on Monday at bottom so check it out!)

South-East Queensland Blues
Southern Stroke Fighting Chairs‘ Brad Carlin has spent the last few days off Fraser Island aboard his 43 Cabo Aurora and have released 3 from 4 blue marlin including one they estimated at 600lb plus heaps of yellowfin.

On the Gold Coast, Larva Lures‘ Dan tells me they took Channel 9 identity Paul Burt and his camera team out fishing on Monday and released another blue marlin for the cameras. Dan said the fish put on a great display for the cameras.

Also this is a link to a video clip from Capt. Ken Brown on Megumi of a blue marlin for Felix off Moreton last week. Good stuff!

Diversion’s big fish video:

And, Rod Findlay’s Murrifin went 2-2-1 on stripes again on Sunday and Rod’s put together another great clip:

A lot of reports and lots of photos in today’s blog. Read all the way to the bottom – I assure you its worth it!

There were certainly some more big fish caught on the reef yesterday. Little Audrey headed out on the first day of a 5 day trip and found two big girls that Capt. Daniel Carlson put at 1000 and 1050lbs, as well as a smaller 200lb fish all within an hour of fishing. Capt. Dan says the fish only really did half jumps so no real good pics and that they also missed an estimated 700lb blue marlin and two other small black ending with 3 from 6. (Photo from brokenfoot Brady on deck with Jeff Hudson on the leader.)

Also having a great day, and topping off a few awesome days of fishing, Garry Holt’s Diversion also recorded three yesterday that they put at 1000, 800 and 150lbs. This makes the score 7-7-7 for these guys who seem to be on fire in the past three days. Garry says the other fish were 150, 250, 300 and 350lbs. Calvin Miller was the angler for the 800lb-er and son James “Fabio” Holt for the 1000. Garry sent me the above photos–thanks Garry!

I also managed a shot from a bit further away (you can see KEKOA in the background of photo up the top to get an idea of where we were.) The big lens works pretty good!

On KEKOA, as we were running in for the end of the trip, we moved further to the south and scored the last minute bite for Cas to put him on an individual 4 black marlin for the three days. After having some fun with the smaller fish on the previous days, this one put Cas through his paces and gave me a couple of good photo opportunities (2 photos above–lit up throughout the fight) before she was released after 30 minutes. Capt. Luke Fallon put her at a solid 850lbs.

Amokura was also fishing nearby and also had some luck after moving away. On the first day of a new trip they released that Capt. Chris Jolly put at 700lbs. And also starting a new trip on a high, Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso was straight into it releasing 2 from 2 at 250 and 350lbs.

Capt. Brett Alty on Mistress tells me yesterday was pretty slow compared to their previous day [ ] but they released another one yesterday about 500lbs. And Paul from Think Big sent me this picture from their fish that he put at 500lb tagged on Sunday. Thanks Paul!

Catching up: Capt. Brett Thomas on Gorilla sent me a round-up of his Cairns 2011 as he and the boat head for home (Sydney). Brett says they finished their season on Sunday with two from four – a small one and one at 800lbs for Paul Bandeira. They also released a 900lb-er for Dennis Webb earlier in the same trip as well as 4 other smaller fish. A great result for the five days.  Brett says their final numbers were a very impressive 20 fish in 22 days, with two weeks lost due to engine troubles, and includes 7 fish over 700lbs! Great stuff Brett, look forward to seeing you back on the reef next year!

We have the next two days off in town (after 7 weeks straight — yay!) and I’m hopefully going to be catching up on some footage so look out for that soon! We are back out again on Thursday so I’ll have to rely on others for photos until then!

Lots more bites yesterday with most of the fleet encountering fish–although most were of the smaller size.  Capt. Brett Alty on Mistress put father Barry on a couple of bigger fish however, ending the day with three that they put at 1000lbs+, 600 and 300lbs.  This is a photo that I took from nearby (above).

On his way in for changeover, Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso released two as did Capt. Chris Jolly on Amokura, who went 2 from 3 at 200 and 400lbs.  Capt. Kim Andersen on Reel Shock went 2 from 4 on the small guys while Capt. Corey Hard on Askari caught two as well.

On KEKOA, we went 2 from 3 for Cass again approx 350lbs (above) and we saw Capt. Bobby Jones on Iceman catch a couple of smaller fish next to us for Lorraine and Bob says they’ve been catching a couple each day.  Likewise Capt. Chris “Sharky” Miles on Kanahoee (below) releasing three.

Paul Poulter’s Think Big was one of a few private boats out enjoying the weekend. Paul says they raised three and tagged one about 500lbs just before 6pm after a 15 minute fight.

More blues on the Gold Coast with Vince on Barco telling me they went 3 from 4 on Saturday–a top day–but were donuts on Sunday with the north-westerlies. I also got this picture (below) from Kurt de Villiers who fished the Point Lookout wide grounds on Saturday in his 24ft centre console. Kurt says the water was great, good current, temperature 24.8 and flying fish everywhere.  They hooked a blue just before 5pm but had ‘moment’ and the rod was knocked into free-spool (now a sour topic).  Still they were content with two dolphin fish and this wahoo.

Well the fish are here, though in our experience not biting real good. [ I passed it around the boat to get some descriptives about the bite and what I got was "soft", "doughy", "toothless tigers" ]

It seems like the same was experienced across the fleet. Capt. Corey Hard on Askari reports one from three at 300lbs. Capt. Corey said it was one half of a double header and the other fish, the big one, fell off.  Capt. Chris Jolly on Amokura also reports 1 from 3.  And on KEKOA, we went 1 from 4 for Cas’ first black marlin (above – it didn’t jump at all so this was my best shot).  Among the other three we had up a nice one that ate the stinger bait no less than 5 times, each go taking it for a quick run and dropping it before coming back to take it again as Dingo wound it up.  5 times!!

We also watched Capt. Damien Collette on Sailtaire fighting a nice big fish in the middle of the fleet for quite some time but I’m not sure of the result (Damien?).

This is a shot of some of the fleet here on anchor at Opal Reef this morning. We had some good rain overnight and the cloud/sunrise colours are amazing.  By my count, there are 12 boats here at South Opal Reef and another 5 or so at North Opal.

NSW Central Coast

Capt. Scotty Thorington’s Flying Fisher started off their marlin season yesterday with 2 from 3 striped marlin on their home grounds off Terrigal.  A great way to start the season!

Gold Coast

The boys from Larva Lures sent me the video footage from their blue marlin on Wednesday which shows the fish in the spread on the Towcam tow camera as pole camera footage of it beside the boat.  Check it out here!