From heavy tackle back to light: Townsville clubbies will be taking advantage of some nicer weather after the tournament later this week to head down to Cape Bowling Green to see what may still turn up (water conditions were more like early-August during the comp and so Townsville Game Fishing Club boats could be light tackle fishing right into October this year).
Michelle Harries and her partner Peter fished the northern grounds Sunday on their 25 Betram Midnight for Michelle’s very first sailfish! Michelle has the billfish bug now and tells me they’ll be back out there again to find a little black to go with.
The water temperature during the tournament was averaging about 21.6 degrees on the grounds and still needs to get a fair bit warmer before optimal conditions for the juvenile black marlin. So the Townsville clubbies should hold out hope of fishing late into the season this year. The fact that after a couple of years absence, that any black marlin were caught at Bowling Green this year gives hope to the Sunshine and Gold Coasts who have likewise been pretty light-on for little blacks over the past couple of years.
Some more promising news for crews fishing any of the light tackle tournaments upcoming over the next month in North Queensland with a few first year marlin reported during the first two days of fishing at the Cairns BlueWater 6kg Tournament being held out of Fitroy Island at present. On both Day 1 and 2, 3 billfish were tagged each day and a number more raised and lost. And, what is most promising is that 5 of the 6 fish have been ‘first year’ black marlin in the 30-40lb range.
Last year the Cairns BlueWater comp, like the Townsville Billfish Challenge which follows next weekend (Sept. 2-7), saw the majority of all billfish tags being sailfish with only a single black marlin released. (Likewise the 2010 Townsville Tournament saw all sails and a single black which was a bit larger than the usual first year model.) Hopefully this is a promising sign that there are still some juvenile blacks around in the north and with weather conditions settling down considerably this weekend, hopefully more results will come through all the way down the coast from Cairns to Townsville.
Day 1 tags went to Nickers and Kanahoee which has Capt. Chris “Sharky” Miles at the helm this year. (Sorry I don’t have the third boat’s name. Anyone?) Day 2 tags to Marcel, Chaos and Hellraiser and so the tournament is still anyone’s to win with the final day’s fishing today.
(Apologies if I’ve spelled any boat names incorrectly. I do that!) Thanks Mick for the update!
Mooloolaba: The ‘model up’ black marlin have already shown up on the Sunshine Coast. On Monday, Outside Edge released three black marlin between 70 and 120kg. On Tuesday, Reel Capture release two blacks at 90 and 120kg both on 8kg and also jumped off 100kg stripe and saw a free jumping sail.
And Heath Irvine on Tanjian solo released an 80kg black. Shaping up very nicely for the tournament at the end of the month.
David Granville took this great shot of one of Reel Captures‘ fish.
Townsville Tournament: Congratulations to the teams on board Sea Baby IV (over 8m) with 4 tags and Elektrakushen (under 8m) with 2 tags for their wins in the Townsville Mike Carney Toyota Billfish Challenge. The presentation is tonight and so full results up tomorrow.
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Still slowly adding numbers to the tournament tally.
In trademark Capt. Chris “Sharky” Miles fashion, Sea Baby IV swooped in to take the lead with a total of three fish tagged, adding two on day 3, a double header of sails. The first fish of the day (sailfish) went to Princess C who picked right up from where they left at cease fishing yesterday. Kanahoee made it onto the scoreboard with a sailfish at lunch and the Phantom were hooked up at cease fishing.
