Photo taken by photographer Chris Maait on boat Shakara on Sunday – one of their 12

Jess Sams Touranment at Ulladulla

• Summary (full report after the jump): 36 boats fished. Unfortunately Friday’s weather kept many boats off the water (and only two hammerhead’s were tagged) although it cleared for the final two days. On Saturday, Mr. Hooker tagged 5 striped marlin to take a significant lead with only 7 or 8 fish tagged amongst the rest of the fleet.  Trailer boat On Sitetook the lead of the small boat category with two fish, one caught by their super keen junior Jack Stewart.On the final day Sunday boats struggled to find the fish with Canberra GFC boat Apothecary managing a couple to sneak into second place. Sunday afternoon the fleet noticed a significant change in the water with a nice blue colour and some warmth to it which bodes well for the Shellharbour GFC Open Tournament next weekend.

More from Port Stephens

• Darren Buttigieg sent me a note to let us know that it wasn’t just the big boats in on the insane action over the weekend.  On his trailerboat Happy Hour, 6.25 metre Cruisecraft, Darren tagged 15 from 19 – the best of the day I’ve heard so far.  Some of you may remember Darren from the Bluewater article about when he caught 55 marlin in 15 days.  Darren has been fishing Port every year for about 8 years now and says it just keeps getting better.  They began the day with a triple hook up and got all 3. Later in the day they also retrieved 2 tags out of marlin previously tagged.  And the day before (Saturday) they also tagged 8 from 10!
• I think many boats had a rest day after the tournament yesterday however Flying Fisher was out again adding 6 more to their season total which is now 29 from 31 in 4 days.  Likewise, Gunrunner also fished with 5 for the day before the southerly came through and spoiled the fun for both.
• Rod sent me some video from Sunday on Murrifin‘s 9 stripies below;

Gold Coast / Cape Moreton

• Vince from Barco tells me the fishing slowed down over the last week on the Gold Coast. On their recent trips they went 1 from 1 blue marlin on Tuesday and again on Saturday.
• But marlin fishing yesterday, Capt. Ross McCubbin showed the bite is back out wide going 3 blue marlin from 5 shots at 130kg, 140kg and 150kg – and they had to leave them biting to return to Port.
• Capt. Ken Brown on Megumi fished east of Cape Moreton Sunday going 1 from 2 on blue marlin for angler Guy Jones (280lb). And yesterday he fished owners Laurie & Gail Smith for 1 from 2 blue marlin about 450lb for Laurie.

Western Australia – Abrolhos

• Murray Olden landed a 250kg blue marlin off the Abrolhos onFriday and had two other strikes on the first Abrolhos attept for 2012 – and bodes well for the tournament.

Full Ulladulla Report

• Full Ulladulla Tournament Report from Craig Murphy – thanks Craig!
• Unfortunately Friday’s weather was rubbish with 20-25 knot south westerly’s hammering the fleet.  Child’s Play from Ulladulla tagged two hammerhead sharks to be the only boat on the board!!Saturday dawned an absolute glamour day (some sunshine at last!!!), light southerly winds (Yay!!).  For most of the fleet the fishing was very poor with terrible water quality and very little bait.  Tathra GFC boat Mr Hooker, skippered by Paul Blacka found a bait ball wide of Brush island and tagged 5 fish for the day to street the field.  The race was on for second place with only another 7 or 8 fish tagged by the fleet for the day.  On the capture side of the sheet there was a 431kg tiger shark weigher by Kevin Clapson on his boat Just Rah.  The trailer boat category was being lead by Batemans Bay GFC boat On Site with two fish, one caught by their super keen Junior Jack Stewart who was now leading the junior categories.Sunday again was a lovely day with light nor easterly winds for the most part of fishing.  Again the boats struggled to find the fish.  Canberra GFC boat Apothecary managed a couple of fish to sneak into second place in the big boat section of the tournament, but mostly again the fishing was very poor.Sunday afternoon we noticed a significant change in the water with a nice blue colour and some warmth to it.  This bodes well for the Shellharbour GFC Open tournament next weekend.Category winners for the Jess Sams were:

  Heaviest Marlin: Not Won
  Heaviest Shark: 431kg Tiger – Kevin Clapson on Just Rah
  No other captures were weighed.

  Most Marlin, non-trailer boat – Mr Hooker – Tathra GFC
  Runner Up – Apothecary – Canberra GFC
  Most Marlin, trailer boat – On Site – Batemans Bay GFC
  Most Sharks T & R – Childs Play – Ulladulla GFC
  Most Marlin tagged, Female Angler – Elspeth Finney – Shoalhaven GFC
  Highest point scoring Junior/Small Fry – Jack Stewart – Batemans Bay GFC