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Back on Reel Chase, Scott and Merideth from Tulsa joined us for 3 days fishing at Linden Bank and although the weather has improved it still remains sloppy. Scott who has mainly fished freshwater, started the day well by providing fresh Mahi Mahi fillets for dinner.Shortly after lunch, a small marlin tried his very best to eat the 15lb Spanish mackerel out for bait. Despite a small scad also on offer he had several goes at the mackerel before the boys managed to give him a decent fright. And so the team went back to trolling and wondering if that was it for the day. Also at the bank Don’t Ask Me caught another “big one”, Kajiki one about 500lb-er and Pirate also a small one. Just as 6pm passed Reel Chase had a lightning bite on the scad and Scott was on to his first Black Marlin, an active 150lb-er who put up a great fight for his size and finished the day on a high for a fishermen who’s previous best were 10lb carp and 30lb salmon.Futher up north, the fishing slowed with Calypso catching 2 at Number 5 Ribbon and all boats suffering massive bait shortages thanks to the Barracudas. Kekoa caught a small one at Number 8 but reported dirty water moving back in. Pictures of Scotts active fish and the happy angler. Great job Scott – bet you have the marlin bug now!

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Though I’m now home on dry land. Doh! Reports from Bobby Jones on Fascination II on Linden Bank yesterday indicate the fish are still there. Fascination released one as did most of the other 6 or so boats fishing there for the day.Up North, Kanahoee have re-discovered the fish on Number 10. Venturing north and away from most of the fleet Capt. Dave tagged three on Monday and another yesterday proving the fish are still spread along the length of the reef. Reel Chase is heading out this morning from Cairns to the Bank with Scott and Meredith on board for the next three days. Capt. Jim reported the wind has eased a little down south although it’s raining! (You can’t win!) Also, Moana is heading out today with regular reader Bill on board after a couple of extra days in port because of the weather. Will hopefully have an update tomorrow on their first day out on this trip as well.Meanwhile Kekoa heads out from Cooktown. Hopefully some good reports and photos to come tomorrow. In the meantime, some more pics from my trip out and fishing on Saturday. Above, Allure and fish almost lost in the big waves. Below, some still captures of Paul’s 700lb-er released from my again, very damp hand cam.

This post was imported into WordPress from my old Black Marlin Fishing Blog website without any accompanying photos. If you’d like to see the original post, with the accompanying photographs, go to the original Black Marlin Fishing Blog site and navigate to the post using the archive navigation links on the right-hand-side.

Its good to know all the hard work and long hours in very trying conditions eventually pays off. For the team on Reel Chase, after suffering two days of no tags in 3 to 5 metre seas and 30 knot winds, the group from the Heart Foundation Auction in Adelaide proved what tough salts they were by tagging two – a 400lb-er for Chris and a pretty 150lb-er for Graham. On board Kekoa, we also found the fish on Number 5 Ribbon from the day before and were kept busy with a number of majestic bites from big fish before releasing an 1100lb-er for Angler Paul which marks the brand new Kekoa’s second grander in two trips.The ferocious razor gang of Number 5 kept our Kiwi deckie Jerry (Jeremy) very busy going through nearly twenty baits for the day. When it wasn’t the wahoo or barracuda’s it was the big marlins. A particularly spectacular bite, which the whole boat saw, gave Andrew a quick but strenuous five minute fight on a grander before pulling the hook. The baits were barely back in the water when Capt. Luke brought the boat back over the same water and this time an even bigger fish came up, swallowed the freshly rigged tuna and Paul was on. Photo top: Andrew steers the chair for Paul; above: Paul’s 1100lb-er shows it’s fat back beside the boat and on the leader for Jerry with a very wash splattered lense. After some early erratic jumping, the fish went deep for much of the fight. Capt. Luke kept us all in the cockpit nice and wet backing into the 3 metre waves with the line crackling off the reel under 70lbs of drag. Paul never let up and gave it all the fight he had eventually raising the fish after 40 minutes for a few lightening fast jumps at the back of the boat on the wire – giving us all a close up view of the monster. Five o’clock came too soon and we headed into Cooktown for the end of our trip. We left Castille, Viking II and Tradition still working the hot bite and am sure that many were caught between the three for the day.On both Kekoa and Reel Chase, despite the appalling weather conditions the enthusiasm level even amazed Capt. Jim and Capt. Luke and every angler was keen to go each morning.Reel Chase, fishing the bank with 4 other boats found an improvement from the past 2 days with just Sir Reel for company, and a number of fish were caught but not as many as further North on 5 where we were. Reel Chase is in Cairns, Kekoa in Cooktown, both are out again Wednesday.This photo of Grahams 150lb-er beside the Reel Chase.

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Not sure why they didn’t come out before but here are pictures of Paul and Andrew’s three fish from Saturday on board Kekoa. Photos: Paul, then Andrew’s ‘warm up’ fish, estimated both at 250lbs released. Paul’s 700lb-er with some amazing air at the back of the boat and Deckie Jerry up close on the wire.

This post was imported into WordPress from my old Black Marlin Fishing Blog website without any accompanying photos. If you’d like to see the original post, with the accompanying photographs, go to the original Black Marlin Fishing Blog site and navigate to the post using the archive navigation links on the right-hand-side.

With even the weather behind the reef being rough and rocky, instead of an overnight raft-up, we opted to visit with the team on Reel Chase for an hour or two in the morning. Was nice to have a chat with the guys and to ogle some photos.Commitments back in Cooktown meant Kekoa soon headed north again, bait fishing our way up to Escape Reef netting a few Spanish Mackeral and tuna for our efforts. When we could put it off no longer, we headed out from behind the reef to the wind, rain and waves, seeing nothing until we approached Number 4 Ribbon and better water again. As we got closer we heard about some action on Number 5 where we will be fishing today – Viking II released 4 from 9 bites finishing off with an 850lb-er.Back on Linden Bank, Sir Reel caught two small fish with Capt. Laurie surprised to find himself fishing all alone on the bank on November 19. Reel Chase fished Opal Ridge where they had bites the day before without luck.I’ve added quite a number of bruises to my collection in this weather and will be glad for a break when we head into Cooktown tonight. See photo for an effort to show you just how rough it’s been. I will put up yesterday’s tag photos when we are back in town.