We didn’t catch many, but at least it was rough.  This four minute clip from my last trip to Australia will show you what I mean.

Time for another heavy tackle report from the reef. I arrived in Cairns yesterday and we met the boat in Cooktown this morning. It’s so nice to be out of what seemed like a never ending nap in an airplane seat. I’m fishing again with Stephan from Germany on his continued quest for a monster. And we are lucky enough to have the charter boat Tradition with the same crew as last season – Capt Tim and mates Carl and Steve. This time we really did get the band back together.

Day 1 – Short plane ride via Hinterland Air to Cooktown early am. We drop our gear on the boat and go get a bite to eat while the crew finishes loading a few things. Cooktown is getting very modern with a coffee shop/bakery next to the marina. The Tradition crew are turning right around after a five day trip with their last group. The weather is ugly with plenty of clouds and 15-20 knots of wind. Rumors of improving conditions help make it seem nice. Today is day four of the Lizard Island tournament and there has been some bites for the 26 boat fleet. The exciting news is the report of several big fish caught or seen each of the last few days. We are bait fishing this morning and will be fishing close today while the wind is up…

We put the heavy stuff out around 2:00 in building wind and sea conditions. Solid 25 knots and big waves. Evasive action needed every few sets to keep the cockpit from disappearing. We get a on bite on the left swimming scaley and end up catching a medium sized fish. Can’t even bring a camera out in these condition with spray going over the bridge while backing. Anchor up behind Ribbon 3 tonight.

Steamers anyone?

Day 2 – Better light this morning with the same strong breeze. After a swim to spear some dinner, we bait fish to the North all morning and put out the heavy stuff at 11:30 and troll up the reef. The sea has settled some and this tack is slightly down sea. No bites for us today.

Having a midmorning spear.  Looks like Coral Trout for dinner tonight.

Day 3 –  Calm conditions this morning.  We throw poppers in the morning along some incredible reef edges.  Just some random small stuff biting.  Working our way still further North today.  Should end up anchoring around the top of Jewel reef tonight.  Everything looks great, but the marlin fishing is no good for us.  The local fleet reports releasing three Granders down the reef today.

Another popper eating GT comes aboard for a photo.  This little one properly tail roped.

Fishing right up to the end of the day.

Day 4 –  Flat calm sea today.  I’ve never wanted to see a jumping billfish so bad as I do today in these conditions.  It wasn’t meant to be however as we didn’t even see one today.  We did however catch one of the biggest Spanish Mackerals that Tim has seen, at about 70 lbs.  Hmmm, I wonder what the boys will end up doing with this one…

Before – A giant Spanish Mackeral showing her colors.

After – Nowhere else in the world would you even consider pulling this as bait!

Day 5 – A morning chat with the crew of the famous charter boat Nomad this morning.  They specialize in all things AU reef fishing in this area.  Good tips on certain parts of the reef for catching bait and throwing poppers.  The water and the reef colors are truly amazing up here.  The variety is off the charts.  We catch plenty of scads for swim baits.  Also our fill of scaly mackerel and several big spanish.  Throw in a few Bonita and a baby Black Marlin on a bait rod for good measure.  Did I mention the small Dolphin too.  Along the outer edge we encountered small Yellowfin Tuna.   These get eaten immediately by the White Tip Sharks if you don’t wind like a madman to get them to the boat.  We sacraficed one, and caught two others whole.  Then we see a cloud of shiny fish feeding along the outer edge of the reef.  Turns out to be thousands of 20lb Milkfish.  Never one to pass up one an interesting skipping bait, Tim looks for volunteers.  Mate Carl suits up and grabs his gun.  If there ever was a time for a surgical strike.  The plan is to spend as few minutes as possible swimming in this part of the reef – just on the deep water outer edge with bleeding fish at you side.  Two quick swims results in two baits.  The sharks were really moving in when Carl climbed back aboard.

We were targeting the extreme size Black Marlin.  I guess we forgot to be specific as to which end of the extreme scale.

Just enough left overs for a bit of sashimi tonight.  Please wind faster.

I’ve never before seen a Milkfish.  Has traits of a Bonefish and a Mullet, but is much larger.  And makes a great looking skip bait.

Day 6 –  The plan is to head back South from here.  We get an early start to take advantage of the morning high tide.  The popper fishing should be good in some of the passes.  Sure enough, Tim puts us on some world class GT fishing.  Then we run down to the Cod hole for a swim and some lunch on the hook.  Back offshore to finish the day with the big baits out.

Throwing poppers along the reef can result in some big bites.  This 80lb Giant Trevally “GT” made a huge splash.  This was one of several monster GT’s for this morning.

This smaller GT fell for a stick bait.

Day 7 – Not much to it today.  A nice swim at Secret Garden and some bait catching down the inside.  Then we fished our way down to finish the day working in front of number 3.  No sightings, no bites.  Very quiet for all the boats … except for this one bite on the Release.  I know that being close doesn’t count when fishing, but when captain Tim puts me right in front of the action, it counted for me and the camera today.  Nobody dared to put a weight on this one, but it made the grade for the locals to call it a “real nice one”, “a giant”, and “a monster”.  Ended up pulling the hook near the boat.

Day 8 – Today’s action started out with the vibrant colors of a Bluefin Trevally.  These critters always make for a pretty photo.  Then the afternoon spent offshore resulted in only one bite.  This was from a small fish that ate the swimming scad bait.  A few quick jumps and a clean tag and release.

Day 9 – An early start today.  The action sounds better back down the reef so we are headed there today.  Bait fish down the inside all morning and then put out some lures and continue south.  Arrive at Linden Bank around 2:00 and switch over to baits.  We end up with 3 bites when the whistle blows.  One pulls off a few yards and goes away.  Another gets all wrapped up in the leader on the bite and quickly jumps off.  And the third one stays on for a tag and release.  A late afternoon sky full of Aussie dust makes for a most incredible sunset.  Everything was dipped in gold.

The most ideal swimming bait in all the land – the Queenie.  We called him Sir Queenie.

Working late in the office.

Local gameboat.

Black Gold

Day 10 – Nothing for us today.  We had one bite on the swimming Scad that looked great.  Pulled drag and came off.  About a 500lb fish that got wrapped up in the wire leader and spooked.  Crazy red sunset again today.

Day 11 – A morning spear on some inside patch reefs comes up with a large Coral Trout.  Thrown in the boat just in time as the Bronze Whaler sharks were onto it fast.  We spend out day above Linden Bank and get no bites.  Only at 5:00 pm did we see any action as the Kekoa hooks a 400lb fish and we make a few photo passes.

Times are a changing. The postcard weather that we have been enjoying up to now is officially over. The trades have filled in with a vengeance. Fishing for us remains very frustrating. We aren’t getting many bites, and those few are all small fish. There is still some time however.
 
 
We have been fishing some great areas well to the North, offshore of Lizard Island. One benefit is getting to watch the neighbors catch a nice one.
 
 
So far the rumor has proven it self to be true – all Black Marlin jump at or near the boat.
 
 
Healthy, colorful, but oh so small.
 
 
The edge of patch reef is easy to see in these conditions.
 
 
More bites for the neighbors as they disappear in the trough.
 
 
Another small jumper puts on quite a show near the boat.
 
 

I’m just back from St. Thomas with a Virgin Island fishing report. I arrived on island within minutes of the leading edge of a tropical wave. So it was no surprise that there would be some rain and wind. Little did I know…
 
 
 
Day 1 – Fishing aboard the 58′ Paul Mann boat Prime Time today. Pouring rain and squalls all morning. A mid day arrival of charter party has us hitting the South Drop for a few hours. We end up with one billfish bite in just a few hours of trying.

 
 
 
 
Day 2 – Prime Time again today with a full day and an early start. Continuing steady rain with plenty of wind. Photo conditions were terrible but the fishing was ok. We ended up releasing 1 of 3 bites. A second fish that might have been a catch was cut off by accident. While we were hooked up, Bubba Carter on the Tijereta made a close pass in the hope of getting a bite. Sure enough he did. Happens all the time and it’s the right thing to do. The random part is the initial run by his fish was directly toward the one we had close to the boat. And since the moving line is the cutting line, we lost ours with 50′ to go. The good news is that it makes for some great photos of a neighboring boat (below) and Bubba did end up getting his fish. And I got to say hi to mate Terry and old friend Tony as they roared by. So a happy ending.

 
 
 
 
Day 3 – I’ve been wanting to ride with Ronnie Fields for a while now and today was my chance. The 60′ Sportsman boat Big Oh was hitting the North Drop for the first day of their summer season. Even the light tackle and very light leader they fish didn’t scare me away. I figured I might get some shots of jumps near the boat and some water splashing photos. Sadly, both of the fish they released today did not jump. But the team delivered on the splashing water opportunities. As the backing performance of the boat gets sluggish (below), Ronnie is forced to give back some line and have the crew open the tuna door and let the sea back out where it belongs.

 
 
 
 
Day 4 – The last few days have been spotty on the North Drop so today on the Prime Time Butch decides to give the South Drop a try. His clients also have a flight to catch so they have to be at the dock early. The rain is intermittent today with moments of actual sunshine. We spend most of the day near the FAD and start out with a rare 35lb Dorado. Ahh, another benefit of the South Drop. When the call for lines out comes, we have released two Blue Marlin. What a great way to wrap up a trip.

 
 
 
 
Day 5 – Today I have the good fortune of riding along with an old friend Terry aboard the 72′ Merritt boat Tyson’s Pride. I first met Terry in the Mona Passage when I was working on the Key Venture while we were rafting off Jim Edmonston’s mothership the El Zorro for a few weeks. Terry and the Tyson’s Pride stopped by for a few days of what turned out to be very slow fishing that season. Now 20 years later I get a chance to spend a day with him and his ace crew of Shaun and Newt. Turns out that he is going to try to get his seven year old son Charlie his first Blue Marlin today. A good day for the cameras, despite the return of the steady rain. Since the North Drop is still spotty, we again hit the South Drop and go right to the FAD. Charlie wastes no time and gets right to work on a small Blue Marlin. After watching Charlie catch his first Tarpon the day before, and now a billfish from his dad’s fighting chair … the name Charlie Robinson is one we will be seeing in the future associated with some notable catches. We have a strong day by releasing 3 of 4 marlin bites and seeing 2 other lookers. This turns out to be more action than anyone on the North Drop saw. It’s going to be crowed at the FAD tomorrow…

 
 
 
 
Day 6 – The newest boat in the fleet is the 57′ Paul Spencer boat Southpaw. This state of the art vessel looks like any other sleek, modern, sportfisherman from the outside (photos 1 and 2 below). But what you don’t see is the high tech components within. Most notably the propulsion system is Volvo Penta and their pod drives (photo 3 below). I can’t wait to see this hardware in action. Unfortunately, we trolled the North Drop all day today without a bite. The fishing overall is terrible today with very few bites. Looks like the action today is South with the Chach catching 5 of 9 bites. I will say that the ride is very smooth and there is little or no vibration at any speed. I’ll have to try my luck again next moon.
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