David Cox sent me some more information from the Gove tournament where he fished with the team that came second in the billfish section with 6 sailfish and one marlin. David said that conditions were perfect this year–under 5 knots and glassy seas–which is great as most anglers fish in trailer boats under 7m. The average size during the comp for sails was 15-30kg and 20-120kg range for blacks. David confirms the reports of marlin jumping into boats. You can see the first on on YouTube here. And he also sent a video from the winning team 4Play(3 blacks and 1 sailfish). During the comp, for the second time this year, they put 4 PSAT tags into 3 sails and 1 black marlin with help from CSIRO. Earlier this year in February club members put 5 PSAT tags in 5 sailfish and should have the report of the data gathered from those fish next year. Above is a photo of the marlin Dave’s team tagged, caught by Barry Pickering a sponsor of the tournament who caught his first sailfish and black marlin during the comp. Thanks for all the info David!
More reports from boats heading south from the season. Spartacus, which will be spending time on the Gold Coast this summer, caught a blue south of Lady Musgrave and dropped another half way down Fraser. A few fish reports from the coast itself: Michael Russell fished from the Gold Coast on Sunday and released a blue on the edge. And Honey Badger‘s Capt. Brent James had a 60kg black up first thing off the water tower on Saturday.
For those who are not subscribers, you can see last weeks newsletter here.
And, if you are on Facebook, you’ll know that I’ve started a “Photo A Day” project. 365 days of marlin photos, one per day. I’ll bring those across to the blog every couple of weeks so look out for that after Christmas.
Lastly, all the best for the holiday season to everyone!