Updated Tuesday: Off Cairns Andrey Tivey reported a solo black fishing a half day yesterday on Hook In. Well done Andrew! Andrew says the fish are there, just need to find the bait.

Hot in the west

Broome Billfish Tournament Day 1: 262 sailfish raised, 170 hook ups and 96 fish tagged with one boat tagging 30 fish and another tagged 26 fish! Huge day!

Off Dampier, Scott MacGowan’s The Wench has been into the sails again with 37 sailfish in 5 days of fishing. He followed up Saturday with 3 from 3 juvie blacks.  Best of both worlds!  Scott said that while they do catch the little blacks all year round, August and September are usually particularly good for them!

And at the Montebello Islands and still out of phone range (more to come when back in service) Capt. Chad Mills’ Blue Lightning Charters released 16 sailfish Saturday. Awesome fishing!

Warming up in the east

Off Cairns reports have been comparitively slow with the weather playing its part in that. But a few boats were able to get out on Friday with Capt. Ross Finlayson’s Bounty Hunter reporting 1 from 3 on the little blacks. Also with weekend commitments, Paul and Sharon Poulter on Think Big took advantage of the show day holiday for a black and a sail (pics). Paul said that there wasn’t much bait around but sticking with the small patches paid off.

Don’t forget the 15-18 August Cairns Bluewater Billfish Tournament is coming up fast! Enter online here.