After some bait catching this morning, Tim put us on some select spots of the reef where the conditions look good for casting. Prime Giant Trevally spots are places where no boater would ever intentionally maneuver their boat. Lucky for us, Tim has mad boat handling skills. And the Tradition handles like a sports car.
 
 
One of the bigger GT’s we’ve seen yet. But still a baby as far as GT’s go.
 
 
Our one bite today really had us all going. Late in the day the big skip bait disappeared and this fish stayed deep and pulled really hard for 30 minutes. It had all the right moves. The crew snapped on the gaffs just in case. About 100′ from the boat the hook pulled. Never did see how big she was.
 
 
Ended our day anchoring down in the tranquil bay of the famous Lizard Island with a few other gameboats. Very cool place. So much fishing history here.
 
 

After spending some time recently in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, I thought I would warm things up a bit, like maybe the Coral Sea. This months adventure has me at 15º South Latitude, on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). I was invited to document the Black Marlin quest of angler Stephan Kreupl of Bluewater Fishing. Our ride for this trip would be the charter boat Tradition run by veteran Aussie captain Tim Richardson. After a series of crazy long flights and layovers to get here, we finally meet the boat and head offshore. The deckies on the Tradition are Steve Hall and Carl Copeland. Both multi year GBR veterans.
 
 

300Km North of Cairns is the city of Cooktown, and pictured above is the Fisherman’s Wharf. This is the end of road in NE Australia and the jump off spot for most of the gameboat operations fishing the GBR. Folklore has Cooktown populated by as many Crocodiles as locals. I didn’t see any during my brief time on the ground, but I plan on looking some up on my return pass thru town.
 
 
 

On our way out to deep water we spent some time in the inner reef catching fresh bait. Large swimming plugs are the norm for this. Steve flips a nice one over the covering board. This one is headed for the rigging table.
 
 
 

When the Scads and Scaleys aren’t biting, a welcomed bycatch is this Giant Trevally.
 
 
 

Add some poppers and spin rods to the bait catching chore and it becomes light tackle game fishing!
 

It didn’t take long for me to notice that everything is bigger over here. And the rigged bait is no exception. I can’t wait to see the animal that thinks of this as a snack…
 
 
And then we had a bite.
 
Our first billfish of the trip, and our only bite of the day.
 

 
Carl and Steve make short work of the tag and release of this fish. They called her around 500lbs. This angle and lens combo make this fish look very small.