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!
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The latest issue of BlueWater Magazine will hit newstands in the New Year (Jan 6) and for those eagerly anticipating my 2009 Cairns Season Recap (recapping on the season for the professional charter fleet), you’ll find it within. There are plenty of big fish photos included as well.
“Each year from September to December, the grounds between Cairns and Lizard Island, along the outer edge of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, provide your very best chance to catch a marlin of over 1000lb. The 2009 season was a good one for the professional charter fleet and many anglers caught the fish of their dreams.”
On a separate note I wanted to mention that while we were still up north, Dr. Julian Pepperell released his labour of love titled “Fishes of the Open Ocean” (and illustrated by Guy Harvey), perfect for your family fisherman’s Christmas stocking. Annie’s Books on Perergian has signed copies for sale at $59.95, also available online from various other retailers. I got my copy this week for a certain someone for Christmas and I can’t wait for Christmas Day for him to unwrap it again so I can have another (longer) look through!
We first met Julian many years ago when he was the head of the tagging program and travelled around to the different tournaments to promote it. He is now one of Australia’s best known marine biologists and a world-wide authority on large oceanic fishes. More recently been heavily involved in the pop-up satellite tags, collecting very valuable data from those. Julian has always maintained close contact and a great rapport with the fleet and we wish him the very best with the book!
Reports will start to wind down now as the season does too. Thank you to everyone for reading this year. Please stay tuned for periodic updates throughout the summer as well as the fishing moves down south. Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso fished Linden Bank Saturday going two from two at 700 and 300lbs. On Reel Chase we fished out to the Sea Mount and back for the last two days and came across a lot of marine life although not all the marlin action we’d hoped releasing one from three on Saturday and none from a few yesterday. We raised a number of fish, in particular a pod of 3 or 4, this big girl coming up on the teaser (shot below) at the same time both rods went off. But none of the bites stuck. We raised and got bites out of the fish again but they were just toying with the baits rather than seriously trying to eat.We also got some good underwater footage of other critters including wahoo and dolphin fish like the below.
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.
Wednesday: Top Shot with Capt. Ross Finlayson got into the action at Linden Bank releasing a real nice fish that Ross estimated at 1000lb and getting a bit out of another in the 800lb range. I also heard from Capt. Dan Carlson on Little Audrey who have now left the Sea Mount and added three more to their tally on the last two days (2 blues and a black) bringing their total to 11 for the trip. Daniel says they also saw some whale sharks and a very lost humpback whale.
Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso found the late season fish in the middle Ribbon Reefs with another fish he called well over the 1000lb mark, the biggest he’s caught all year, as well as two more at 250 and 400lbs. The fishing was strong for other boats in the area as well.
Thursday: KEKOA found the fish at Myrmidon Reef although they couldn’t convert. From a double header they released one at 200lb and jumped off the bigger fish that Capt. Luke called 1100lbs. They Also jumped off a 400lb blue, 350lb black and raised another grander class black.
Friday: At Linden Bank Capt. Kim on New Moon went two from four at 800lbs and a sailfish as well. Back at Myrmidon, KEKOA kept the hooks in going three from five before running into Townsville. With the weather glamour this weekend, no doubt some of the Townsville GFC fleet will be out there getting in on some action themselves.
We’re heading out wide too so blogging will hopefully resume Monday when we are back in internet/phone range.
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.
A rainy morning in Cairns as we head out for our last heavy tackle trip of the season. Blogging will be by Twitter and the comments section for the next couple of days as I leave my faithful computer behind for a couple of repairs. (Follow BlackMarlinBlog on Twitter here or in the sidebar). Yesterday we fished Euston Light going none from two, a couple of messed up bites like this one on the left (note the bait in the picture left under his bum). Capt. Tim on Tradition tells me there were a few nice fish seen on the bank yesterday, and they tagged a little one. Tangled on Reel Chase and a picture from Capt. Dean Beech of Gorilla’s big fish the other day. I heard from the boys on Nuvatu who passed on a few more details from the team on Little Audrey with 8 fish for their trip out to the Sea Mount, mostly in the 3-500lb range. Each day the team returned to Holmes Reef which meant that they missed the late bite but they were still getting 5 fish up a day. Little Audrey now heads down to Myrmidon Reef off Townsville where they should come accross KEKOA. Myrmidon is typically a telephone/internet black hole so I haven’t heard any results from the boys, but hopefully they are getting into a few as the reef has been fishing well this year. KEKOA finishes in Townsville tomorrow where they will farewell the 47 and preparations kick into high gear for the launch of the new KEKOA 56 – with high expectations that it will be just as fantastic as the 47 which is now NZ bound. Peter sent us some more photos and she is looking very good. After some outer reef trips in the new year we will be taking the new boat north again and around to Weipa, base for the Gulf Trips (still some spots avail). I’m joining Capt. Luke and team on board for these trips and I can’t wait to get into some barra action!
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