Cairns giant black marlin season

While we’re well and truly at the tail end of the 2014 Cairns giant black marlin season (have a season video to share? Email me the link to share on the blog) there are still a few big fish around. Furuno’s Shane Beardmore fished on board Capt. Haydon Bell’s Kanahoee on Saturday and released a 990lbr + GST for Jeff Mount from Tassie (photo above). A great fish to end the season!

Capt. Daniel Carlson’s Little Audrey has likewise begun his trip home. Dan released a one from two at 450lbs on Friday before heading south for a stopover at Myrmidon on the way to Hamilton Island.  At Myrmidon they went two from four and missed a big one which puts them at 60 fish for the season for 43 days fishing!

And back from 5 days at Osprey Reef, Capt. Brett Goetze on Amokura reports 5 from 9 blue marlin. Brett says though they were mostly targeting dog tooth and other pelagics, they managed to get a little time in marlin fishing including 2 double headers in which they only stayed connected to one both times. One of the blues was quite a nice one at 550lb and the others all 200lbs or less.

Capt. Corey Hard’s Askari is likewise still fishing. Corey tells me they caught a small one on Saturday and Sunday each.

Update: and a report from Capt. Alex Johnson on Shikari who went 2 from 4 on Thursday and then added another two plus a sailfish on Friday!

SEQ blue and black marlin

And just in time for the summer holidays, some more good news from the Gold Coast with quite a few heavy tackle blue marlin, and light tackle black marlin, encountered over the weekend. Capt. Ross McCubbin on Lucky Strike went two from five blues yesterday (150 and 200kg) – photo.  While I heard that there were several encounters with the little blacks inshore north of the Pin.

Likewise on the Sunshine Coast, for the Mooloolaba Billfish Bash both light and heavy tackle were options with the score 2:1 (double points for heavy tackle).  While I don’t know the full results, Robert “Smithy” Smith was pipped at the post by a field guy by the team on Liquid Asset with four little black marlin and a dolphin fish. It was the dolphin fish that gave them the edge over Smithy and team on Capricorn who were 2-2-2 blue marlin.

Exmouth Heavy Tackle Tourney leadup

Report from the lovely Jeni Gate in the leadup to Exmouth GFC’s Heavy Tackle tournament which runs next week (Dec 8-10 inclusive).  Jeni says that while a cold current from the south shut down the blue marlin for a brief period mid November, the fishing has picked up again as we head to the full moon. Last year the club had some great captures of big blues and blacks during this period.

The sailfish in the gulf have also continued to be thick with baitballs being hammered by pods of hungry fish around the 30kg mark.  Sight casting to these large pods can be exhilarating.  The numbers of entrants for GAMEX in March is growing and if you’re keen to participate, we suggest to get your entry in early, or you may miss out!