Big fish for Capt. Chris “Sharky” Miles on Kanahoee’s lady angler on the 50lb tackle yesterday. They caught a 500lb-er followed by another big fish that Sharky put at a massive 1200lbs. An unbelievable effort on the 50lb!

Photo of Amanda Thompson in action yesterday on the big girl. Thanks to Steve for the photo!

I also heard from Darren Butteig who has spent the past 5 days on deck on the Iceman with Capt. Bobby Jones.  Darren tells me they got 5 fish in 5 days for guests from Sydney at 200 and 400lbs as well as 3 fish over 800lbs. One of those fish was well over the mark (1100lb) and was satellite tagged for angler Luke Cefai who also caught a 950lb fish.

Darren says that the GT fishing has also been great on the reef this trip.

Capt. Craig “Sparra” Denham on Bounty Hunter did it again yesterday with a top day at Linden Bank to finish up his trip. While the fishing was tough early on, they certainly made up for it on the final two days with 7 caught. Yesterday they added another three fish at 150, 850 and 950lbs to finish on top and lost another mid-ranger.

Capt. Brad Craft on Castille III was back out yesterday and joining the South Pacific tour.  He put ex-Creek to Coast seafood specialist Sally Jenyns straight onto a real nice fish which she fought for over an hour in the chair before breaking her off on the leader.

On KEKOA with Capt. Luke Fallon, we had better luck on Monday. After getting a sailfish straight up on the laser pro out the front of Opal Reel in the morning, we followed up with three marlin to 650lbs (losing the bigger one after having her on the leader) and were hoping for a blue right up to cease fishing to complete an unusual GBR slam. Picture of the sail for a change which had to come on board for a quick pic and to retrieve the laser pro from its head!

Capt. Adam Jordan on Iona 2 made up for an earlier missed opportunity with a 400lb black to John Sullivan later in the day.  Capt. Simon Carosi went 1 from 2 at the bottom of the Ribbons as well.

I also had an update from Capt. Ken Brown on Megumi who is fishing out of Urangen off Fraser Island.  Brownie says after catching the first blue about 350 for BSFAC club member Michael Josefski on Day 1 (his first marlin) they had a quiet day on the shelf SE of Indian Head on Day 2.  The water looked great and the bottom terrain is sensational, but they saw no birds, no dolphins….and no marlin.

Yesterday they ran up to just outside the 13 Mile channel through Breaksea Spit and had a lunatic session on tiny blacks.  They had  12 shots in 1.5 hours and jumped 10 off, catching just the 2.  But it was all great fun for the first time anglers. Ken has a three day trip from today with another BSFAC member Simon Marshall, who is one of regular blue marlin anglers and goes well in the chair.  Davy Granville is along to shoot pics so hopefully we’ll see some of them soon!

Also at Frazer Island on Ningaloo again, Brad Curtis reports that the little black marlin are thick both on the inside and outside. They were catching them on laser pros meant for mackerel yesterday and soon decided to target them instead catching 6 in short order, including one in less than 7m of water. They are already on the board and catching them again today.

The Port Douglas Marlin Challenge begins this Thursday and the briefing on Wednesday night.  They’ve got plenty of boats lined up for the start including last year’s winners on Kyrenia, Joe Joe, Gorilla, Mistress, Reel Chase, Reel Impression, Hellraiser, Castille III, Sea Baby IV, Calypso Mango, Happy Jacks and Saltaire with some late entries also expected. The fishing is heating up just in time!