Updated Day 2: The first fish was hooked up at only 2 minutes into fishing yesterday but a tougher fight gave Paul Poulter on Think Big a nervous wait to record the first marlin at 08:18am! And it was another great day on the water with it becoming more of a two boat race leading into the final day today.
The current standings are (provisional): Amokura leads with 17 tags from Levante on 15 tags and Bounty Hunter on 11.
On 9 tags each are Black Magic and Dun Deal.
On 7 tags is Hardline.
On 6 tags each are Escape, Ocean Haze, Off Tap, Reel Cross, Sea Bird, Entourage, Hellraiser.
On 5 tags each are Kaching, Reel Dream, Think Big, The Chapel, Madfish, Adrenaline.
On 4 tags each are Tag Team, Trophy Hunter, Out There.
On 3 tags each are Chestoo, Emma Kate, Reel Thing, The Edge.
On 2 tags each are JCA Spirit, Carribean Dream.
On 1 tag each are Black Label, Black Pearl, Luna Sea.
And Bounty Hunter has already tagged the first fish of Day 3!
Day 1: I remember fishing in Townsville 3 years ago when word filtered down about a crazy good day of fishing for Day 1 of the Cairns Bluewater Billfish Tournament with 91 tags among 41 boats….
Well yesterday that ‘record’ was smashed with an opening day of the 2017 tournament that hit 3 figures (100 tags recorded) for a fleet of 35 boats!
Boats were straight into the fish upon start fishing and in good numbers with the leaderboard changing several times throughout the day.
Capt. Darren “Biggles” Haydon’s Bounty Hunter was in front on the first sked with 4 tags. By the second sked, Capt. Brett Goetze’s Amokura had joined them at the front with 7 a piece. By the final sked, Capt. Chris “Sharky” Miles’ Levante had taken over with 10 tags and only extended his lead with one more fish tagged before cease fishing to put him on 11 tags.
The current leaderboard standings are:
- Levante on 11 tags
- Amokura on 9 tags
- Bounty Hunter on 7 tags
- Black Magic and Dun Deal on 6 tags each
- Ocean Haze and Hellraiser on 5 tags each
Photo of Bounty Hunter in action at top.
I’ve been reporting the skeds on the Black Marlin Blog Facebook page and will do again today (as long as I can hear them) so head over if you want to keep up-to-date. The fleet was pretty well split yesterday evenly between the Fitzroy and Wide Grounds but it seems more action was Wide. Will be pretty congested out there today I would say :-)
4 Comments
Wow. I’m presuming the great majority were little blacks?
I didn’t hear of any sails Julian. Of course there were probably a couple but the vast majority were blacks. Unlike Townsville huh!
Do you no how black label is going and what position they are in thanks
Hi Wayne, they have been a bit unlucky. Zero first day, only one yesterday I believe.
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