There are always a few big girls at the Bank and so when word filtered through last night that Troy on Cool Runnings had just released one he put at 900lbs, we weren’t surprised. Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso, who returned to Cairns on changeover last night was reluctant to leave the spot as the water looked good and he was marking plenty of fish. Congrats to the Cool Runnings team who are spending another day on the bank today.
Hot Shot have also returned from their last 5 days of light tackle fishing–a successful trip–which now sees them move onto heavy tackle for the season.
A few of the professional fleet have also encountered over the last few days a 5.8m runabout called Extreme with owner Shan who tells me he spends a lot of time fishing both Linden Bank and Jenny Louise. Shan fished Monday at the bank amongst the fleet and raised two blacks estimated at 600lb+ and 2-250lb with no conversions although he did sink the tags into two nice wahoo (22.5 & 17kg) before beginning his eventual 3.5hr journey in, due to the squall that came through. Its always great to see the little boats out there–and sometimes showing us all up too!
This will be the last weekly sked until the end of the season – with daily reporting so close now, there’s no need for a weekly roundup.
Sunshine Coast: Another good day on the water. Ymer released 2 blacks, 2 sails and landed a 23kg mahi mahi which is a pending new 8kg Australian record. While Spot On went 1 from 3 on black marlin. David also sent me this link to his footage from Tuesday. Great stuff!
Ribbons, Cairns – Capt. Adam continues to get the jump on most of the fleet who are just now turning their attention to the impending start of the heavy tackle season as Iona 2 released another two smaller fish yesterday at 80 and 100lb. He saw five for the day including a monster at Number 10 Ribbon.
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From Cairns heavy tackle, Capt. Adam and Iona 2 have been heading up the Ribbons in not too favourable weather. Even still they managed to release two yesterday on Number 10 Ribbon Reef at 300 and 150lbs (picture). Its a really good sign for the season ahead, the fish being around so early.
From Townsville light tackle, today was Day 1 of the Mike Carney Toyota Billfish Challenge. Unfortunately, the quiet we experienced before the tournament has continued through the start. Not a single black marlin was seen although two sailfish were tagged and released from amongst the 30 boat fleet.
On board Screamer, Pemberton Jnr (Lindsay) tagged the first billfish of the tournament just after 1pm. At 2, the team on board Elektrakushen put a tag in a sail that angler Brad Kane had been fighting for two hours on the 6kg line. These were not the only seen. On board Castille III, Capt. Deano raised a pod of sails for a double hookup which unfortunately turned to a double jump off soon after. And there were a few more reports of fish lost around that same time including Burgundy Lady who had a couple of bites that couldn’t be converted.
Thank goodness for the west! With no reports from either of tournaments held in NQ over the weekend come in yet, Broome has come to the rescue once again.
(UPDATE: Billistic (Broome Fishing Charters) has released 62 sails in the last 6 days!)
