It’s the time of year that we look back on the Cairns marlin season that was and quite fittingly I had a final report from Capt. Corey Hard’s Askari yesterday – 2017 was certainly the Hardcore team’s season and will set a benchmark for years to come.
On the final trip, 7 days out wide exploring the coral sea Corey reports one of the best trips with full glass out conditions and exceptional fishing. They caught multiple species all of the larger variety – the biggest of which a dogtooth tuna whiuch came in at 107lbs as well as many big yellowfin, coral trout and much more.
On the marlin front they went 7 from 11 for the 7 days 2 of which where blue marlin with the biggest being around the 500lb mark.
Over the season Corey said they did 85 days at sea, 80 of which were heavy tackle. Over the 80 days they notched up a staggering 144 marlin, 11 of which they estimated to 800lbs or better.
Corey wanted to say a special thanks to everyone who was a part of their best season ever and a special thanks to his crew Rhys and Jay (Junior) for their tireless efforts and for all the fun laughs and fond memories over the 2017 season. Bring on 2018!
Some photos from and of Askari that have graced the blog this season above and below!
Juvenile black marlin
Those on social media would have seen the report from Michael Umback at Fraser Island I shared yesterday. Michael reports teasing up 23 blacks and caught 9 in four days fly fishing to the weekend. His best day was on Saturday teasing 15 and catching 6 on fly!
It might be a late firing of the blacks at Fraser and south to the Gold Coast and northern NSW and port for Season 2018.
In line with that reports yesterday from the Townsville Game Fishing Club and Pelagic Research Network partnership which saw some sub-10kg juvenile fish satellite tagged of Townsville earlier this year. One such tag popped up in November and the track it followed is below.
The fish was tagged and released by TGFC Club Boat Kiama on 6 August this year, n the grounds of Cape Bowling Greenand estimated at only 8kg and 110cm long. The satellite tag remained successfully attached to the fish for 3 months as designed although they are still yet to be able to recover the tag to retrieve the remainder of the data from it.
As you can see from the map, while the fish stayed in the vicinity of and wide of Bowling Green for much of the duration, it swam as far south as the southern end of the Whitsundays before returning north.
Interestingly for the case for the late season, we were still catching the little blacks while the big blacks were starting in Cairns at the end of September and Capt. Scotty Thorrington reported raising quite a few at Bowling Green on his way through still in November returning Dog House south. Thought quieter so far this year at Fraser it seems to be firing their now too which is only good news for those awaiting their arrival further south.
Bluewater Issue 128
On sale this Thursday (14 Dec) this issue has a lot in store for the Black Marlin Blog readers! We have the 2017 Cairns marlin season recap as well as a great feature in Life on the leader by well-known crewman Jarad “Dingo” Boshammer.
As Tim summarises, this special edition of BlueWater – “issue 128 explains how to use NASA’s amazing satellite technology to find and catch way more big game fish in far less time. You’ll also learn the how-to insights from a master deckie, be astounded by the huge marlin at Cairns, and be inspired by Indonesia’s push in to eco-sportfishing. You’ll discover how government agents help to protect gamefish resources, and why Dr Pepperell travelled to Costa Rica and Guam after tagged black marlin crossed oceans to get there. Plus you get boat tests, new product reviews, big fish news and loads more in BlueWater #128…”
