Some great catch up reports have come in – only going to show that when you’re hot you’re hot. And when you’re hot when the fishing is like this, the results are outstanding!
Capt. Haydon’s Bell on Kanahoee is on the last day of a 10 day trip with Alfred Wagner, old school client of the GBR who has been fishing here for 31 years. As I told you last week, he achieved his dream with a 1130lb black marlin. Well since then, he’s been achieving a fair bit more of his dream, as well as a whole lot of other peoples as well! At the end of Day 9, after another ripper day on the reef that saw them release 6 black marlin to 990lbs, they are on a total of 21 fish. As well as the 1130lb-er there was a 1037, two that Haydon put at 990+, 2 at 950, a 900, 850 and 700lb and the rest under 500.
If you want to catch a grander black marlin, the Great Barrier Reef is the place to be. Full stop!
And the other who is having a ripper season has been quietly (!) plugging away since I last had a report with fish after fish. Capt. Corey Hard on Askari tells me that in the past 3 days they have added another 8 fish. Two days ago they had an outstanding day with 5 including a 650 and 700 and the rest ranged from 80lb to 400!
As for the rest of the fleet, good fishing continues at the top. Capt. Tom Francis’ Ultimate Lady started the day with a successful double header which included one fish about 500lb and another in the big fish category! He added another 300lb-er late in the day to make it three from 5. Capt. Brett Goetze’s Amokura waited out the late bite for a nice one that he put at 800lbs. While on Capt. Luke Fallon’s KEKOA, we converted two from four bites – one of which Capt. Chip Van Mols jumped in the chair for to cross off the final species (Aussie black marlin) in his Royal Slam – congrats Chip! We also caught another billfish, the not terribly unusual Number 10 Ribbon sailfish – on the scad bite – which was a first for Jada as well.
Capt. Damon Gruzdev on private boat Kyrenia has also made his way up the Ribbons. Damon tells me they have traveled all the way up from Port Douglas to Number 8 Ribbon over the past four days for four fish ranging from 150lbs through to 900.
Capt. Tim Richardson’s Tradition tagged one for Greg but also gave him a fight boating a 143lb dogtooth tuna on the 30lb bait rod and laser pro!
And at top, another catch up photo from the Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic on Capt. Russell Caporn Kaizen. While unfortunately they missed the tag for the comp, this one for angler David Trask that Capt. Russell put at 900lbs.
