At Coffs Harbour, 11 boats fished the Solitary Islands Game Fishing Club’s In Hours comp, and the blue marlin are building in numbers in time for the Club’s Heavy Tackle Challenge (April 2-3 if you want to fish it). Matador was on fire with a 3-3-3, while Foreign Exchange had five bites, including a double header, for two tags. Wicked Weasel went 3-2-1, Seaborn a 1-1-1, and She’s A Dream a mako on a lure (not a marlin, but a bucket fish effort nonetheless!)

The boats encountered light winds, little current, and purple blue water at 27-28 degrees. Most of the activity was up around 30° 06 to 30° 08, which is about where the hot bite was during last year’s HTC.

Photos show first time marlin angler Andrew Mayo with a practice blue on Friday, and Garry ‘Bigfoot’ Simpson with a 90 kilo fish from Saturday, both caught on Wicked Weasel.