Heres the follow up to the report I started while I was over in Cairns last week.
Sometimes life has a way of treating you big time and when you are least expecting it. Out of the blue I was invited as a guest for 8 days fishing the Great Barrier Reef out of Cairns on one of the most magnificent game fishing boats “ Ultimate Lady” . Having delved completely and hopelessly into the world of game fishing over the last couple of years I have read voraciously of the giant black marlin that inhabit this area and the available DVD’s on the subject had further frustrated many restless nights dreaming of one day having the opportunity to fish for these denizens of the GBR.
It was not a hard decision to accept and I counted my lucky stars many times over and this is a brief run down on the events of the trip.
Day one started with a direct flight Auckland - Cairns arriving early afternoon . I had not flown to Cairns before and the flight initially took us towards Brisbane and then up the coast towards cairns which gave me a great opportunity to get a view of the GBR. A couple of hours into the trip from New Zealand I was amazed to fly across a couple of coral formations which I later found out were the Elizabeth Reef area which is made up of a couple of beautiful Atolls in the middle of nowhere . As we flew over them I pondered on whether or not these had been fished and what fishing would be available within there structures.
On arriving in Cairns I couldn’t really be bothered heading into town for a gander as it was darn hot and humid and I really just wanted to soak up the atmosphere of the boat and settle into the pace of things on board. So after meeting Captn Tom and the crew, Ben and Jim I spent the afternoon chilling out and watching the locals catching fish off the wharf and checking out some of the fabulous boats in port.
Once everyone had finished their chores and preparations for the stay away trip we took the boys into town for a dinner and an early night was had.
My 1st up close and personal view of “Ultimate Lady” was to say the least impressive and is a Craig Loomes designed Wavepiercer layout at 90ft overall with a 33ft beam, twin 1200hp MAN Diesels giving her 32knts at full noise and what is essentially 5 Star accommodation on the water I was quickly developing a serious case of nervous apprehension.
There had been some big aggregations of YFT and Big Eye out wide of the main reef systems at the Seamount area which the commercial boys were working over and this is where a lot of the end of season Blacks were being caught. So we left port at 0630 with an 80nm steam at 10knts out to the fishing grounds. This gave me a great chance during the morning to get into the swing of things on board and also to start checking out some of the tricks of the trade which was near the on my list of things to do on the trip so that I could apply them into my NZ season. Rigging swim and skip baits properly was the No.1 and then its all the little things that go along with fishing these methods.
As soon as we cleared the main reef the rest of the day was spent trolling lures before the main bite kicked in later that afternoon and with a bit of swift talking with the skipper out popped my new 22 Piper from the Legend Lures stable which was rigged with an on board lure skirt and accompanied out back with a 5.5 Zucker in black purple being the lure that landed the 1080lb blue on the way over from Vanuatu and a rather large hollowpoint. I hadn’t run the Piper 22 before so this was a great chance to give it a run and see how she performed and I must say that the crew were most impressed
With little bait or bird activity we had a pretty slow morning and at 1.00pm news came in that that there had been a pretty reasonable bite 20nm further north of the seamount the day before and that the commercial boys had moved up as well. So a course change was dialed in and on arriving at 3.00pm we set the 1st baits for the day.
Our standard set up for the trip was an 80w and skip bait set off the left rigger in close, a 130w with skip bait up the middle and a swim bait on another 130 on the right rigger in close.
An hour later 4.00 on the dot and I was in the chair for my 1st crack at a black. A solid take on the swim bait and my 1st go on a 130 which certainly is a very different beast to my 80w’s. To be frank I was ****ting myself as my fitness levels have not been of the highest caliber recently and the thought of an extended battle with a 1000lb bull of the ocean had me wondering if I was up for the task.
Fortunately or unfortunately I had a solid 250lb fish on and with a trade mark stick of the head out of the water with a big angry shake, a few solid jumps and thrashings it was quickly to the boat and dispatched after some quality boat control and furious winding on my part. The boys got a solid wrap on the wire leader gave it the snip and away it went free again. I kept the remnants of the trace as a memento of my 1st black.
With that over and done with I had a rest and smoke and a quiet down. At 5.40 we had the 2nd much larger fish of the day at 500lb come in on the 80w which struck hard and put up a great show before being dispatched by Robbie who would be my sole angling partner for the trip
To be honest we were so excited to have credited 2 fish in as many hours that not much more was expected but the day was not over and at 6.00 I had my 2nd fish in the bag a much smaller 150lb little scrapper which put up the best show of all.
So the day ended 3 for 3 80 odd miles out at sea with the Sea anchor deployed , Sat TV, an awesome dinner and happy thoughts about what possibly could be tomorrow.
Day two on the water started with a 5.30 rise, breakfast and after some crew work completed we were off towing lures. We decided to stay in the area as this is were the fish had been yesterday and the commercial boys and been picking up a few more over night on the long lines .If there was no action then the seamount which was to be our target area for the 1st part of the trip was only 20m away.
The wind and sea was staring to pick up quite a bit making for a sloppy sea which was of no consequence for the Ultimate Lady and there was plenty of humidity and dark clouds on the horizon which at least kept the blazing sun at bay.
There were certainly high hopes for the day but as fishing goes you take the good with the bad. We had two knock downs with a baby black on the Zucker 5.5 which was the designated stinger for the morning and then had two knock downs on the baits later in the afternoon for no hook ups and one big Skippy which was rigged and sent out back for the rest of the afternoon. Sign was scarce to say the least with Captn Tom commenting that he only marked one fish all day on the side scanning sounder and that was right on dark.
Highlight of the day was catching up with the commercial boys who were our only company out this wide for the day and we snaffled a couple of small big eye for baits.
Now these are a real big girls bait and so big that they were pulling 9kg on the drag scales and would not hold in the release clips. As such the boys needed to hang on to the Dacron loop to get it working and looked more like a long board than a bait, but I was assured that the big girls love BIG baits like this and the Wahoo we were catching.
Yes it was disappointing not to get onto anything during the day, but there was always tomorrow, so we cleaned up and got into a decent feed of roast beef and then it was of to bed in what was a rather sow lumpy sea. At least I had my own state room and nice big comfy double bed to get settled into and not roll out of, and was probably the best sleep I had all year.
Well it was up early again, and as the UL is realistically just a big old floating FAD at 80 odd miles out to see I snaffled a rod , rigged a flying fish that had landed on board over night and flicked it out to see if anything was around for no result. So with high hopes for the fishing day ahead , the massive sea anchor was pulled in and we were off for another days fishing. The normal ways of the day kicked in and lures were deployed. Mr Piper on the long corner, Mr Hollowpont on the short and Mr Zucker out the back on the stinger and we had all 80 wides deployed for the day.
We had headed about 20miles north from the sea mount yesterday and so we stayed in the area, 10knts trolling speed and at 9.00, bang. A nice strike on the big Hollowpoint and then the fish obviously thought better of it and switched over to my Piper 22. Following it for all of 5 seconds he scoffed it and I was on again. Not a big fish and initially picked for a small black I had it at the boat in all of 10mins and I had just nailed my first Blue at 150lb.
The next few hours were pretty busy as we had come across a massive log floating out in the ocean , and with that came the Mahi-mahi and Wahoo. In short order we had 3 nice Mahi on board, 2 for eating and 1 was later rigged as a skip bait. Some nice Wahoo came on board as well some Rainbow Runners which were also destined to the swim bait position
At midday Tom marked a fish on the 360deg side scanning sounderand ordered a bait to be deployed out back. Circling the fish for about 5 mins it rose and smashed it, coming out of the water like a nuclear sub. It showed itself as a very big fish and Robbie was hooked solidly and on 37kg.
The boys had the leader in hand at 15 mins but this big girl thought better of it and with one great surge and thrashing Ben was forced into letting the leader go and she was off again.
She was the biggest fish I had ever seen and called for 950 ( Pity my camera was noy up to the task ! ! ! ) . She went deep and set the course for the next 3.5hours. Remember now that Robbie was on 37kg and she fought the good fight. Coming within tantalizing reach of the leader time and time again only to re-gather her strength and head for the depths again.
Oh how demoralizing it is for the angler in a fight like this to be so close to that Dacron loop, to have it back on the spool and then to see it peeled off again. So 3.5 hours later and after the better part of that time the drag being set to where the sun shines the line parted at the rod tip with the fish pretty much within a meter of the leader and she was gone. Technically a catch I suppose, but also a catch that the angler will feel deeply disappointed with ending that way after such huge effort was put in. Just goes to show the real need to get these big fish to the boat as quickly as possible and to take advantage of any chances you get, and that was pretty much it for the day.
We were an hour back to the Sea mount and had one good strike on the lure again for no hook up. Baits were deployed for the last hour and half of the day and all was quiet. With the sea anchor deployed, clean up completed, it was fresh Mahi-mahi for dinner and a well deserved sleep.
So our tally so far was 4 Blacks and 1 Blue. 4 Mahi-mahi, 3 Wahoo and a few Rainbow Runners. I must say that drifting so far out to sea is just darn pleasant. A quiet smoke and contemplate in the pit with Flying fish and Squid dancing in the lights while the ocean swell rolled through put a smile on my face and happy thoughts in my mind and sleep would come quickly that night.
Day 4 at the Seamount and the day kicked of with the normal routine of lures in the water for the morning and baits in by one for another very quiet day. The fish just seemed to be not around and it turned out that the current for that area had gone westerly which meant that it was time to slow troll back to the Jenny-Louise reef for a change of scene, a peaceful by comparison anchorage and a fresh start in a new area the next day.
Day 5 kicked off with a quick breakfast and a plan to hang around Jenny Louise for the day. Troll lures in the morning and getting the baits in the water by Midday. This was the area where the Black Marlin Fishery was kicked off all those years ago and with a little bit of a history lesson from Capt. Tom we were off for the day.
The day once again was destined to be a slow one until right at the end at 6.45pm and right on sunset a little Black of 150lb once again nailed the swim bait which we had a Rainbow Runner rigged on and I had my 3rd Black in the can with a total skull dragging on the 130 which had it to the boat inside of 5 mins and on Ben handling the leader and drawing it to the boat it spat back a perfectly good bait, and that was day five over and done with and a new running total of 5 Blacks and a Blue.
Day 6 brought with it wonderfully fine weather and slight seas and a 20mile run up to Linden Bank which is the true home of the Cairns Black Marlin fishery. On the way we ran through some nice reef systems which meant bait and mahi-mahi.
And also gave me a chance not only to catch some nice bait fish, but also to complete my instruction from Ben and Jim on the art of rigging baits which concluded with the very secretive and highly effective “JELL-BEAN” Skip bait
Which received the appropriate tacit approval from Capt Tom and a questioning of the crew to find out who was responsible for passing on this bait rigging secret weapon before giving final approval for its deployment straight out the middle,
The early part of the afternoon was tinged with excitement and a little despair. We had been working the Linden Bank area in a grid format for a number of hours when the area seemingly all of a sudden started coming to life .
In quick succession we had a couple of small Blacks into the baits with no success as the baits were just too darn big for these little fellows to even contemplate swallowing and even after the preparation of some lovely Mahi belly flaps by Jim which were pitched out on the 15kg rig they ended up being more curious than hungry and soon lost interest.
At 3.30 and with the sun directly in our eyes we had a knock down on the short skip bait and in amongst the pandemonium of trying to get the bait skipping gain and getting the fish back up to the bait we ended up with a very unfortunate situation occurring and one of our team went down.
The end result of this was the early cancellation of the rest of the trip, a quick retrieve of the gear out of the water and a very quick run back to Cairns to have him checked out at the hospital.
Unfortunate as we were obviously in amongst a good patch of larger fish and unfortunate as it cut our fishing time short, but, such is life and acceptance of the situation was quick as our concern was very real and required urgent action.
Fortunately every thing worked out ok for him and we were settled back in port early that evening with myself reflecting on how grateful I truly was that I not only had the chance to fish an area so rich in history but had also landed my 1st Blacks, my 1st Blue marlin and witnessed the awesome size and power of a fish so tantalizingly close to the fabled 1000lb mark.
Day 6 ended up being a rest day before heading back home and a chance to have a good look around the main Cairns shopping precinct. No disrespect whatsoever to Cairns but with nothing but fishing on my mind, the most interesting place I found was the public swimming pool area, so after spending a little time checking out the local wildlife I headed back to the boat to relax do some reading and get ready for the trip home.
This was a trip that offered up and delivered fully on so many of the goals I had set for myself. I had caught two species of Marlin that I had previously though would take a lot longer for me to notch up on my belt. Tom and his crew had also been very keen to satisfy my enthusiastic requests to show me how to incorporate these new methods of fishing into my battle plan for this coming season and the amount of little things that I learned and picked up especially with respect to rigging techniques that I had previously not been exposed to.
So thank you, thank you, thank you, to some special people that made this possible for me and to Tom and his team on Ultimate Lady who have one very special ride at their care . This has turned out to be THE most special event of my short game fishing career and one that will be hard to top even if one day that elusive Grander comes along and smashes my bait.
Now its time to head out onto New Zealand waters and track down some of the local pelagic species and hopefully be in a position in 7 months time to reflect on what a fantastic and successful summer hunt we have all had.
Catch up soon with whats happening during the game season in my world downunder in New Zealand.
Sounds like it was a great trip & what an increditable Cat......
Been to Cairns in the late 90 on our way to Lizard Island did not fish them & am still regreting it...........
Did get to SCUBA dive the Great Barrier Reef for a brief trip........
Loved the Outback & did get to climb Aryes Rock.........
Maybe someday I will get a chances to cross that off my Bucket List......... ICM
Author, writer, marine artist, charter captain, lure manufacturer, ind. consultant
Wetspo,
Good on ya, mate! And a great job on the story told and pictures. Good to see the big bait rigging thing displayed, especially about the big stuff just "plowing along the top like a wakeboard". I took a lot of that exact sort of stuff and used it down in Cabo on both big blues and blacks. You can't hide "waking" a thirty pound tuna up top, or a twenty pound or bigger wahoo from other boats ("you're doing what with a perfectly fresh, eater wahoo??!! And what's with that big tuna? Looks like a damned tugboat back there...you'll never - GASLAMMO! Holy cow, they hooked up on that tugboat tuna!"
I don't like trolling the live smaller tunas and skipjacks because of the "choke and drown" thing that happens way too much for my taste with them, but with the really big baits and immediately punching the throttles, most fish were mouth hooked, tossed the bridled bait, and made for healthy releases. But we surely got our chops busted for doing that big bait thing until that "nuclear explosion" that you described descended on a big bait. That's okay, though, because there's just something very neat about rigging up a big tuna or wahoo and putting it out and watching it do it's thing that causes a deep, visceral excitement about what is going to come up and slam them.
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