For those who picked up on my typo in the newsletter yesterday, thank you for that. It is indeed the Surfers Paradise All Tackle All Species tournament that is coming up on March 12 & 13.

Down to business – if you’re not fishing right now, chances are pretty good these reports are going to make you wish you were:

Coffs Harbour - Boats heading through Coffs on their way down to Port Stephens for the tournament season have been enjoying some good fishing on the way through.  Capt. Bob Jones’ Iceman with Capt. Ross McCubbin joining him on board went two from six blue marlin in a straight line between Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour. Barry Alty’s Mistress is heading down there to get amongst the action this week.

Rick reports the the Solitary Islands Club members ended up with 12 blues, one black and one spearfish last club weekend.  Local boat Matador went out for another perfect day yesterday and had gone 2-2-1 by lunch after a relatively late start at 9am.  And Glen (Booth) also reports that the Kanahoee and Makaira each released a blue yesterday as well. Conditions look pretty good for them all this weekend as well.

Port Stephens – Said tournament season kicks off with the Luhrs Billfish Shootout this weekend. And apparently because the prize money did not go off last year, the Heaviest Marlin prize has jack-potted this year to 20k!  Good luck to all who are competing!  Brent Hancock reports the bite has slowed a little but boats in the know are still finding the fish.  Capt. Corey Hard on Askari reported 8 in the last few days with the rest of the fleet are averaging a couple a day as well.  Capt. Tim Dean on Calypso has just wound up a few days fly fishing, while Iona 2 have been filming the last few days with the crew of Lifestyle Channel’s Fishing Addiction on board.  Capt. Adam sent me this pic of a nice chunky stripe they pulled on board for a photo before releasing.  Between Capt. Adam and Capt. Trent they’ve released the stripe and a black a jumped off another couple of billies.

South Coast NSW – Boats getting out on the water had some good action yesterday with Batemans’ Bay club reporting two from two for Double D and one from one for Frigate yesterday.  And Bermi has been ever consistent with a couple of good days of weather coming up as well!

Just some little bits and pieces to report this week:

• Gold Coast: There are still a few blue marlin being caught.  Capt. Luke took Lenny and the boys out on KEKOA on Sunday which was probably the pick of the ‘fishing’ days on the water this week.  They went two from four with a double header of spearfish netting the boys this little fella.  And a double header of blue marlin, netting the boys one not too much bigger! 

  Capt. Luke said that the blue they caught was about 60kg, which is pretty small for what we usually catch around here.  But another local boat released one even smaller on Sunday as well, that they put at 40kg. The blue they jumped off was bigger, in the 200lb range.  On Saturday, Capt. Ross McCubbin on Lucky Strike broke the hook on a nice sized blue (approx 400lb) and missed another on Sunday.

  Congratulations go to Ross Martin on deck (pictured holding the spear) who went from holding this baby during the day, to holding his own baby overnight as partner Shelley gave birth to the latest addition to the Martin clan, baby Jet.

• Sunshine Coast: Ross tells me that over the weekend Luna released a 80kg black between the banks and the 18 mile while Paul Jones also released his first marlin on his boat, on a laser pro!  The Bribie Island tournament (postponed from January due to weather conditions) also wrapped up with Fido taking out the top honours with a bunch of other gamefish while BlueBlack released a sail.
• Port Stephens: Hot and cold, but mostly HOT water. Capt. Tim on Calypso has been getting a few. Before the southerly came through he released a double header and will be out there chasing them again this week on fly.  Little Audrey has joined the boats at Port and Capt. Dan reports that he released one for his first time angler on the way up from Sydney on Sunday as well as a 20kg dolly. 

  The crowds have been present on the car park and will only continue in the leadup to the Luhrs Billfish Shootout which is on this weekend. I heard that the Luhrs is maxed out for boats and that they have been turning entries away capping it at 80!  Should be fun! 

  The Interclub also starts next weekend so this will be a good indicator of what to expect then for the (usually) 200+ boat fleet.

• Bermagui – Slammer’s Capt. Dave Cassar tells me they’ve certainly been ‘slammed’ by the weather of late but the fish are still there.  Over the weekend, boats fishing in the 25knot southerly including Hot Shot who released two striped marlin to 200lbs on Sunday and Mr. Hooker with one. Hopefully the weather clears up to get them out there again this week.

A report from Rick O’Ferrell from the Solitary Island GFC’s monthly competition day on the Coffs Coast yesterday.  Rick reports the forecast was great as were the SST satellite shots, indicating a big pool of warm water passing down the shelf abeam Coffs right on cue.

11 club boats headed out and the blue marlin were biting. The water was clear at 28.5C in the middle of the warm pool at 400 fathoms where almost all the action was with good bait on the sounder, and birds all over the place — but the EAC was flowing downhill at 4.5kts, so things went past pretty quick.

The standout boat of the day was Rob Lang’s Blackwatch Black N Blue who hooked up mid-morning on a big blue which smashed a lumo green Ocean Tech plunger. A nice big blue, it gave angler Jason Everson a real run for his money. Finally after two hours, with the drag on sunset, she finally gave in and was tagged next to the boat. After consulting the length/weight chart the boys put her at 300kg (660lbs).

A couple of hours later another smaller blue window shopped the selection then had another go on the same lure and was tagged after 35 minutes estimated at 120kg (260lbs). It seems ilke that was the hot lure of the day as it also netted the boys a dolphin fish.  Both marlin were caught on 37kg (80lb) and gave Black N Blue top points for the comp.

Roughy released a nice little black marlin on the shelf while No Frills tagged a solid 200kg (440lb) blue on 24.  Several other boats also missed strikes from the blues but the hard luck storey of the day was from Alcatraz, who hooked up a great-looking blue which Ricks says took off heading for the South Pole at a hell of a pace. To keep up, Alcatraz was backing up pretty hard, but took one green one over the stern in the process, and some of the water found its way under the engine hatch, and then shorted out the distributor cap (another reason not to have a petrol engine…!). So the boat stopped dead, and they sat there powerless to do anything but watch the marlin empty the reel and spooled them!

Thank you Rick for the report and the photos of Black N Blue’s fish – big fish with skipper Rob Lang on the left and the smaller blue to follow on the right.

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More excitement from Port Stephens: If you aren’t on Facebook you might have missed the report yesterday from Ben on Flying Fisher 1, with Ben taking the helm again from Scotty who is on R&R.  They boys followed up their two blacks on Wednesday with a grand slam Friday, a black and a stripe followed by a blue that had the boys thinking outside of the box.  When the reel seized mid fight, Ben had to leave the helm with the boat in reverse still backing down on the fish to help tie the line off onto a working outfit.  (Which they were able to do despite some confusion which initially saw them tying the line off onto the same seized outfit it came from!)  After three drama filled hours in very trying conditions (weather wise) the fish was released. Not a bad day too for the 16 year old decky who had leadered his very first marlin that day!

Ben says a much quieter day Saturday with the only fish he heard caught down deep in the cooler water.

It seems like the Port Stephens striped marlin season is finally starting to take off with reports from Capt. Tim Dean who went 3 from 6 on Tuesday and 4 from 4 on Wednesday. I hear the carpark park is living up to its name with plenty of boats out on the water!

Many of us heard about Al McGlashan’s close encounter with a mako and striped marlin sandwich earlier in the week. Well, this morning its hit the mainstream media so you can check out the photos online. I’ve often wondered if I would ever work up the ‘guts’ to get in the water to take a picture of a marlin beside the boat. Now I know the answer to that is a resounding “No!”. Good on you Al for keeping the shutter clicking while it was unfolding.

Also, while we’re online, check out this marlin from a Yak (with a difference) story on Fishing World (striped marlin at Greenwell Pt, NSW South Coast).

And winners are grinners at the recent Sunshine Coast Classic. I’ve already reported the results but you can now read the full tournament report here.

And finally, Glen Booth sent me this shot of angler Andrew Madden with a 65kg yellowfin which took a Mackerel Mauler trolled for mackerel off Little Bay (SWR).

Nice fish for in so close!

• Club President David Granville, who caught the only billfish on the final day of the tournament I might add (a 250lb blue marlin), sent me the final results from the weekend’s Sunshine Coast Classic 2011:
  - Champion Boat Overall, Over 7.5m and Heavy Tackle was Fish Whisperer – on countback from Reel Capture.
  - The Champion Boat Under 6.5m and 3rd place overall was Inside Edge.  The Champion Boat Light Tackle was Out Quoting.
  - John Dwyer took out Champion Angler Overall and Champion Angler Heavy Tackle while Tony Cross was Champion Angler Light Tackle.
  - The lucky winner of the boat, motor, trailer package in the last man standing draw was Jim McKinnon.
• Capt. Tim Dean demonstrated his home advantage prowess winning the Lake Macquarie Big Fish Tournament on the weekend at the helm of Born Free. Tim tells me Saturday’s bite was the best they’ve experienced yet this year and that they went 4-4-4, all striped marlin and followed up with 2-2-2 on Sunday.  Three were caught on 30lb and three on 50lb.  The water is still a hot 26 degrees at the carpark, which really affects the stripes, and most of the fish were caught deep in the cooler water on live baits.  Born Free’s George Trinkler took the Champion Angler T&R gong, and Greg Miles runner-up.  Calypso has had a late cancellation for the NSW Interclub coming up at the end of the month and so if you are interested in fishing one of the biggest tournaments in the country, contact Tim now.  On the capture side, Iona 2only fished Saturday but still managed to take out Champion Boat and Champion Female angler (Amanda Cromaty) for the second year running!
• Meanwhile at the Jess Sams Tournament (Ulladulla) the final wrap up was:
  - Champion T & R Non Trailer Boat – Dadsboat
  - Champion T & R Trailer Boat – Lexie
  - Champion T & R Sharks – Childs Play
  - Champion female Angler – Sarah Meharg
  - Champion Junior – Jakob Murphy (Dadsboat)
  - Champion Small Fry – Jakob Murphy
  - Heaviest Capture – Sarah Meharg (155kg black)
  - Heaviest Shark – Childs Play (118kg whaler)
  Congrats junior Jakob Murphy’s first marlin on board his Dad’s boat (Dadsboat) about 90kg on 15kg line and to Sarah Meharg on Blue Alibi who tagged 2 marlin and won heavies capture with a black marlin as well.
• Glen Booth reports from Coffs Harbour:
  

  Kestelle is visiting here at the moment, and they’re really showing us locals how to fish! Last week they caught two black marlin, lost two blacks and a blue, as well as boating some nice yellowfin, wahoo and dolphin fish.

  There was at least one black tagged and a couple lost inshore on Saturday, before the nor’ easter really got into gear.

  A few mackerel are poking about, although slimy mackerel for bait are a bit hard to come by, so most are being caught on lures. School yellowfin are also popping up in the same territory.

  The weather for the next couple of days is looking a bit suspect, although the cooler conditions are definitely welcome. The Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club has its pointscore day this coming Saturday, so hopefully that will produce a few fish.

• Glen also sent me a quick report from South West Rocks.  Apparently there is no billfish or bait to speak of, but a mate of his caught 20 spanish mackerel to 15kg and a lone 4kg spotty trolling lures. Then, just as quickly as they were there, they’re gone again!
• The Bega District News featured a tournament report from the Bermagui Bluewater Game Fishing Tournament.
• Capt. Tom Francis on the big blue boat Ultimate Lady found some time to update his Captain’s Log.  Tom you only kept us waiting a year!