Cairns Late Season
Late season fishing is hot with some big fish around. Capt. Chris “Sharky” Miles’ Katana wrapped up his season this week with regulars the Fischer boys with 5 for the trip including 3 big ones over 900lbs.
Capt. Dan Bergamo’s Wild Turkey just finished a trip with Ben catching a nice one that Dan put at 900lbs (photos) and Shane doing the Linden Bank double of a black and blue marlin — overall 3 from 7.
Mooloolaba Billfish Bonanza
Also great fishing enjoyed over the weekend for Mooloolaba GFC’s annual Garmin Billfish Bonanza with 21 boats fishing. With most boats opting to fish heavy tackle, an outstanding 26 blue marlin and 3 black marlin were tagged Day 1. Day 2 conditions were a bit sloppier but still resulted in 9 blue marlin, 4 black marlin, 2 stripe marlin and a rare shortbill spearfish making a total of 31 blue marlin, 4 black marlin, 2 stripe marlin, 1 shortbill spearfish and 5 mahi mahi.
Congratulations to Ryan McKinnon and team on board his Galaxy 11 who won with 5 from 8 blue marlin in the two days.
Final standings:
Champion light tackle angler- Josh Cox
Champion heavy tackle angler- Ryan McKinnon
Champion other species- Thomas Hallam
Champion male angler- Ryan McKinnon
Champion female angler- Amanda Phillips
Champion junior angler- PJ Bennett
Runner up junior angler- Ethan Kroll
Champion boat Over 7m- Galaxy 11
Champion boat under 7m- Reel Affair
Champion MGFC boat- Gusher
First billfish tagged day 1- PJ Bennett
Last billfish tagged day 1- Amanda Phillips
First billfish tagged day 2- Ryan McKinnon
Last Billfish tagged day 2- Jonathan Phillips
Calcutta-1st- Galaxy 11, 2nd- Tango, 3rd- Filthy
Photos from PJ Bennett on Ymer and huge thanks to Jamie Behrens for the updates.
Also the Gold Coast fishing well with Capt. Ross McCubbin’s Lucky Strike going 3 from 5 blue marlin before 11am on Saturday!
Introducing AURA
From Norman Wright & Sons Boat Builders
Having just completed her maiden season on the Great Barrier Reef with owner Marcus Hogg and veteran captain Simon Carosi, a timely introduction to the newest custom-built gameboat to join the marlin fleet, the Norman Wright 60 Aura. In her first season she accounted for several big fish in the 7s, 8s and 9s in what Simon says was a very enjoyable season with the highlight how hassle free the boat is. As Simon says “I’ve been lucky enough to work on and run some of the finest sport fishers built here and overseas. Hats off to the team at Wrights on creating one of the finest, right here in Australia.”
The next few months we will see her fishing Fraser Island for blue marlin in January.
I was lucky enough to do a tour my last day in Cairns this past week and she truly is a spectacular vessel! More about Aura and Norman Wright:
Aura shines in a sea of sameness
Fusing traditional craftsmanship and high-tech materials, Norman R. Wright & Sons have created the one-of-a-kind, 60ft Sport Fisher “Aura”.
Drawing on their 110-year history of custom-crafted vessels, Norman R. Wright & Sons have brought to life the vision of a seasoned sports angler in the “serious, go anywhere” game fishing boat called Aura.
The 60ft flybridge vessel was designed in-house by our intergenerational team of naval architects: Bill Wright, Adam Evripidou (from their Sydney office) and Angus Cameron, who was recently honoured with the RINA Award in London.
Read more including full specs on Aura here.
