Just a couple reports from the reef yesterday. Cool Runnings had the pick of the day at the top and bottom end when John notched up his second and third fish in two days with a nice one that Capt. Troy Dallman put at 900lbs as well as a smaller fish at 200lbs. Fishing nearby, Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso raised the big one but couldn’t get her hooked and Capt. Simon Carosi on Brilliant Company reported a little fish that was all over his bait, when a big girl whooshed up and tried to steal it out from under him, and then they both disappeared. On the Ribbons, Capt. Bobby Jones released a nice that he put at 950lbs! And Capt. Corey Hard on Askari released a small fish before heading in for changeover as well.

Mick Keogh’s 800lb marlin on Lucky Strike

On the Gold Coast, Mark Moreland on Lucky Strike headed out to the sea mount and put electronics guru Mick Keogh onto a nice solid marlin that they put at 750-800lbs out at Jim’s Mountain. Happy with their day, they started to head in and then released two more on the way back for Bruce Willis and his daughter Kelly (Kelly’s first blue marlin) bringing their total for the day to 3. Congrats to all–what a great day! Thanks Bruce for the photo (above). Clarification: the Captains who’ve seen the photo have correctly identified Mick’s fish as a black.

And Ben sent me a teaser trailer YouTube clip from his solo sailfish (2) on fly. Can’t wait to see the full clip!

While it was a quiet Friday for many of the boats fishing the reef, there were a couple of boats who found the big black marlin. Capt. Adam Jordan on Iona 2 caught 3 from 4 yesterday at 80, 200 and 700lbs. Adam says that they also jumped off another fish about the 400lb mark. The Lake Macquarie guys from the boats Magic and Weapon, Robbie Hyland, Dale Green, Pete Sutcliffe & Mark Griffiths are having a great trip with 10 in the last six days. (Thanks to Rhino for the photo and another video link, I don’t know how you do it Rhino!!)

Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso meanwhile was heading in early for changeover but still managed to go two from three at 400 and 150lbs to finish the trip on another good note.

Capt. Ian “Wobbles” Ford on Hot Shot fishing Euston Light released two at 200 & 350lbs. And Jye on on Cool Runnings tells me they also released one at 550lbs at the top of the bank.

Port Douglas Marlin Challenge: These are provisional results. Unfortunately the committee have not been in contact with all of the boats fishing and so these results may change. In the lead after the first two days is George Hickory’s Kyrnia with two fish including one that Capt. Damon put at 850bls.  Following on one fish each is Joe Joe,  Gorilla and Hellraiser.  (Please forgive my spelling if I’ve got the lead boat wrong.) The boats have a lay day (golf day) today and will be back out tomorrow for the final two day’s fishing.

A few more big fish around yesterday.  At Flynn Reef, Capt. Ian “Wobbles” Ford on Hot Shot released two at 800 and 200lbs. Fishing down to Escape Reef Capt. Jared Weir on Shaka put Dave (Kevin’s father) onto a 750lb-er late in the day.  

Fishing at Number 3, on KEKOA we released three from three.  Two black marlin for the day for Richard including one at 650lbs that put on a great display and had everyone leaping to their feet with a spectacular outside-in bite on the big bait. Michael also released his second black marlin of the trip, this time on 50lb stand up which also gave Chase his first opportunity to leader a black marlin. One of the marlin was obviously a Cape Bowling Green model that got lost but all in all, another good fun day.

Capt. Adam Jordan on Iona 2 went one from two with a 650lb-er and jumped another fish about 500lbs off.  Another great photo from Rhino and a YouTube video link).  Ross tells me that Capt. Ashley Wallis on Kalira released a 300lb-er for angler Luke at the Light.  And up the line at Lena, Capt. Simon Carossi on Brilliant Company added another small fish to his trip tally.

Other boats in the area were fishing in the Port Douglas Marlin Challenge but I couldn’t quite hear the skeds.  From what I could make out it seems like Gorilla is the boat to watch with a smaller fish on the first sked.  They also broke the leader on a big fish in the afternoon unfortunately without getting the tag in. I heard that Hellraiser was hooked up at one stage but I couldn’t hear the result.  Anyone?

Plenty more big fish around Wednesday, just in time for the start of the Port Douglas Marlin Challenge today. That one snuck up on me sorry (is it really November already?)  Good luck to all the boats competing, there’s the feeling about that its all about to go off!! There are 14 boats competing and we look forward to hearing how they go.

On KEKOA, we certainly got our mojo back on yesterday with two from two including a fish that Capt. Luke said was nudging the mark. So we called it 950lb++.  It was one of those un-predictable fish from start to finish. Luke marked it and put the boat into a turn and she came up on the stinger, just lazy and content to follow.  Then she noticed the scad and had a bit of a swipe. Luke told Braden to wind the scad straight up away from her and that did it to get her whipped up, she piled on the stinger and went down, and stayed down.  Just over an hour later, Chase (who is a seasoned blue marlin angler and crewman but this was his first black marlin) finally managed to get her up so that Dingo could get a wrap on the leader, and then she went nuts, swimming straight at the boat like she was going to jump on board and doing one awesome vertical jump clear of the water at the back of the transom (video still).  This is why we love marlin fishing!

Fishing at Lena Reef, Capt. Simon Carosi on Brilliant Company followed up on his top day on Tuesday with a 700lb-er yesterday from a couple of bites.  Updated: I also heard from Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso who tells me he released a 850lb-er and 350lb-er on Tuesday for his birthday.  Yesterday, recovery day, saw them hooked up and fighting a big marlin for hours and unfortunately lost it.

At Jenny Louise, Capt. Adam Jordan on Iona 2 released a smaller fish (above), lost another one about 500lb at the back of the boat and had a bite out of another fish.

Two more links for Iona videos:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ybvj8PC88_Y Mark Griffiths.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KU-NehyxyDo Dale Green

I heard Capt. Jared Weir on Shaka on the radio earlier in the day and he said he’d caught a smaller fish and lost a big one. It sounds like there were a lot of fish around yesterday and every one fishing had bite.  Once again, hopefully I’ll find out some more as the day goes by (stay tuned for updates).

Videos:

Nick’s 950lb-er on Square Bear last week:

Johann’s 950lb-er on Gorilla:

Awesome stuff!

Hot Shot released one at 300lbs.  Kalira released a 200lb-er for Brian. Iona 2 released this 300lb-er for Dale Green. And Tradition released a smaller fish on Number 3.

Big Fish Update: On the Ribbons, Capt. Simon Carosi’s Brilliant company marked their first grander of the 2011 season with two fish including one that Simon put at just on the mark.  Fishing nearby, Capt. Corey Hard on Askari was likewise having a big fish day with a few fish including one around 950lbs!  The big fish are here again!!  (I’ll try and find out more.)