Hailey’s photo of her twin sister Hutton’s first sailfish!

Following up on Day 3 of the trip, the girls stayed home while Dad Terry and Dingo headed 15 miles off shore to try help Terry Fohey catch the last billfish he needed to finish his billfish slam (every species around the world). Set up with 80lb braid, 10lb  lead weight, light sticks and mac tuna belly for bait, they hooked up on the first drop in 1700 ft of water. Soon after Terry boated a sword with a 48 inch short measurement to complete his world slam – an awesome feat.  Big congratulations to Terry (and Hailey and Hutton too!) and thanks to Dingo for the report!

—
Meanwhile, Broome FC has been hectically trying to keep up the live updates but great fishing is getting in the way!  Day 2′s recap was missed however Day 3 was reported as 146 sails raised, 110 strikes, 85 hookups and 56 tags as well as 11 marlin raised, 7 strikes, 5 hook ups and 1 tagged.  Sounds like its hotting up!

—
And, more Aussies fishing overseas: The annual HIBT is once again underway out of Kona, and Aussie anglers are well representated.  Day 1 results were 16  blue marlin tags and 1 weighed as well as a stripe and short-nose spear each tagged and a yellowfin boated.  Looking forward to hearing how the rest of the tournament pans out!

—

Lastly, for those who aren’t subscribers, the July newsletter went out last week and you can see it here.  I also have some exciting new features coming up over the next two months and subscribers will get the announcement first so if you would like to sign up for the monthly newsletter, you can do so in the sidebar on the rights.

The Broome Billfish Classic has kicked off and for those (not fishing and) following the results as they come in – its proving quite distracting – great job guys!  Day 1 sailfish stats are 110 sails raised, 89 strikes, 59 hook ups and 30 tagged.  There has also been a few marlin on the scoreboard as well.  The Fatty Albert Trophy (Champion for Sunday) went to Steve Ring with two sails and a black marlin.  And there’s still 5 more days of fishing to go!

Meanwhile, on another west coast (the west coast of the cape), Ben “Notso” Bright added another sailfish to his 2011 season tally on Saturday off-Weipa.  On ya Ben!

Some cool footage I came across of a marlin eating/chasing a dolphin fish off Japan.
–
There have been reports of a few blues being caught off Sydney and Jervis Bay and a few stripies back at the Car Park off Port Stephens. And, there was a 269kg blue weighed at Eden yesterday as well. Off Cape Moreton, Capt. Ken Brown’s on Megumi been plugging away at the blues adding another for Peter Mitchell on Wednesday he put at 250lbs.

Meanwhile, in the Gulf off Weipa, Ben has been plugging away at the billies again on Last Cast. He released two sails on Tuesday and jumped off a black and had another at the back of the boat while they were fighting the sail. Barra fishing has been pretty good too!

I hope everyone has a great Easter long weekend and can make it out onto the water one way or another!

• Port Stephens – more hot hot hot fishing as Flying Fisher added 9 from 11 marlin yesterday to their season tally to bring them to 103 for the season.  7 striped marlin and 2 black marlin was the breakdown.  Fishing nearby, Tsunami also released 10 and the next generation of marlin fishermen and women had a great day on board Ningaloo with Capt. Brad Curtis.  9-year-old Conner caught his first and second marlin (both black marlin) while his 11-year-old brother Isaac caught his first and second striped marlin.  Not to be outdone by the boys, their 12-year-old sister Ebony caught her second and third marlin (both striped) bringing their total to 6 from 11 for the day – what a top result for the juniors!
• Gold Coast – results from the weekend’s Gold Coast CABO Yachts & Bruce Lynton Land Rover Blue Marlin Classic:  14 boats comprising of 45 anglers and 17 crew competed but unfortunately the fishing were in hiding. Only three blue marlin were tagged over the two days . The winning boat, Kiwi, representing the Solitary Islands GFC took it out on countback from Gold Coast GFC boats Larva and Zeus, each with one blue marlin tag.Time Out were unlucky to hook up and tag a blue just after cease fishing and the boys on Larva lost a potentially tournament winning blue at the back of the boat. The Gold Coast GFC Light Tackle dates next year are the 12th – 15th January 2012 for those wanting to get along to the Gold Coast for a fish and a great three days out on the water. (Read about the Larva team in today’s Gold Coast Bulletin.)
• Sunshine Coast – Some more sailfish reports filtering in as they start to turn up on the close grounds off Mooloolaba. Over the weekend Reel Capture got two, Sailfisher got two and Walk the Line got one. SCGFC President David Granville tells me the pilchard schools are starting to congregate again so hopefully the packs of sails aren’t too far behind.  And fitting to end with a report showing that the seniors can do it just as well as the juniors, Capt. Robert “Smithy” Smith fishing with his 85 years young angler Ed Martin on Triton IV went 1-1-1 sailfish yesterday as well.

Some more fantastic reports are filtering out from South East Queensland.

Sunshine Coast GFC President David Granville reports that on the light tackle side, the black marlin and sails have arrived on the Sunshine Coast! On Tuesday, Watch Ya Problem released 8 and yesterday, Reel Capture released 6. A mix of blacks and sailfish.  Thanks David for this great pic of action in the air!

Heavy Tackle out of Brisbane, Capt. Ken Brown on Megumi added another 1 from 3 blue marlin off the Cape.  And on the Gold Coast yesterday, Capt. Ross McCubbin at the wheel of Cjig went three from three blues. Congrats to Grant who managed to catch one from the chair of his own boat! Grant tells me the fish were all in the 350-400lb range.  The weather’s not looking terribly friendly for the weekend but hopefully we’ll get some reports in the next couple of days before it comes up.

Beautiful sunrise in the Gulf this morning. You know its going to be a good day when you wake to this!

Sunrise on the river from KEKOA in the Gulf of Carpentaria