We Departed cairns on the 11th of January to try for some late black marlin out wide. Plan A, was to fish the bank, sea mount and catch up with the tuna boats and see what was around. If plan A failed we would then head straight down to Frazer island for Plan B. Which was to fish wide off Frazer for blue marlin.
The short of it all was that we jumped a small black off on the bank in the afternoon, followed by nothing at the sea mount, with not much going on with the tuna boats either. However they did say that we should have been here two weeks ago, when they were up to their necks in them! So, already I have a plan hatched for next year, fishing late into December out wide with the tuna.
Plan B started after a short steam south to the tip of Great Sandy Cape. Which is a sand bank that runs north from Frazer island. Bundaberg is to the west around 50nm and Hervey Bay or Urangan is to the south west around 40nm. Brisbane is roughly 150nm.
The area is known for its juvenile marlin in and around the sandy cape where fish of 30lbs can be caught right at the anchorage in 2 meters of water. However, another 40nm wider is the drop off, and here there has been some good fishing in the past. Boats returning south after the cairns heavy tackle season usually straight line through the area and it is known as a good spot to put your lures out. Black and blue marlin in the 800 and 900lb range have been caught here, and one old time cairns captain claims he saw his biggest marlin ever, while fishing through the area. Just a bit further south off Cape Moreton was where the previous Australian record blue marlin was caught, and at 815lbs is no slouch! The area is regarded as the place where Australias first 1000lb blue marlin will be caught, its just a matter of getting out there.
So, our first day, 22nd January, we fished the edge and shallower to 100meters, basically just having a good look around. We finished up the day raising 3 fish for 1 release. 1 small Blue marlin around 100lb. Albeit, there wasn’t any tuna or bait around, the fish were still here.
23rd
the Morning started well, soon after hauling the sea anchor, 300lb blue, caught us all by surprise and set the speed for the day. We raised 4 fish, for 2 releases.
24th
Again, this morning we let go 2 blue marlin in the 300lb range in flat calm conditions. Both fish performed just as blue’s should. Proving that they are the most exhilarating fish to catch. We had one more bite in the arvo. We had moved south and I was sure we had moved away from the fish.
On the 25th we had to cut our trip short, and head back to Brisbane. I had planned 4 more days fishing and was left wondering how many fish we would have seen if we had stayed?!!? And would there have been a big fish amougnst all the little ones?
One thing is for sure, we will be back at this spot again.
Good Fishing
Tom
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