Port villa to Townsville
Ultimate Lady is now based in port villa, Vanuatu as we are searching for a blue marlin over a grand and Vanuatu is one of the south pacific’s blue marlin hot spots with a number of large fish being caught here over the years. It is also very central to a lot of other very fishy locations. In the last 3 months of fishing out of port villa we have caught 3 blues over 700lb, one of which was over 800lb and I figure, its only a matter of time before we get a shot at a grander. Both Blue and black marlin over a grand have been caught in vanuatu waters, and I am a strong believer that Vanuatu is possibly as good as Hawaii, we just dont have the number of boats fishing day in day out to prove it.
We had a couple of days of preparation to get the boat ready for delivery to Cairns. The first leg of the journey was Port villa to Townsville and would take 5 days. From townsville we would clear customs and head out to flinders reef to fish for scad queenies before heading up to cairns. Similar to last year, there was thought that the marlin may be south off townsville, so I also was keen to fish my way north from Flinders reef to cairns, hoping to run in to a black marlin or two along the way.
Before departing I checked the weather and of course the latest fisheries info (I couldn’t steam through the Coral sea with out a rod over the side) and planned the course we were to take. I downloaded the latest GeoEye sport fishing pro images, which include sea surface temp, plankton levels, currents, sub surface temps, sea height, thermal layer depth and weather charts. We have been subscribing to Geo eye for about 8 years now and I wouldn’t go fishing with out it. It has put us on the fish time and time again. The plankton charts show me where the good clean water is and combined with the SST and current chart it has proved invaluable for deciding where to go. Particularly when it comes to our long range trips to the wanganella’ s or the Three kings where it can save you a hell of a lot of time and fuel, helping to decide whether it worth it or not to go. I have foolishly ignored its advice before and arrogantly headed off to the wanganella only to get there and find dirty cold water and very few fish! Never again with the price of fuel these days!!
We departed Port Villa on the 17th and set course and speed to comfortably travel at 10knts and head due west, leaving the northern reef structure of New Caledonia to the south and then towards Mellish reef and then to Townsville. I had noticed a small eddy of warm blue water with a nice little break on it just west of Mellish. It looked interesting and I plotted my course with a waypoint on the area. Mellish reef sits 530NM north east of Townsville and is one of the most remote reefs on the eastern seaboard of Australia.
The trip went like this;
17th October
Departed Villa 1300hrs. Light Northerly wind and over cast. Lines out, and 1 dolly in the boat for dinner.
18th
wind in the south, 15knts. 2 bites today. Jumped them both off. 300lb blue’s.
19th
wind still in the south, 20knts, alittle rolly but starting to surf abit better.
4 bites today, only caught 1. came across large amount of birds on a deep bank north of New cal. Came from 4000 to 3800meters, but sooo much life on it. Had 3 bites here. Always amazes me how deep the sea mounts can be and how effective they are.
20th
wind 20 knts. SE, more surfing on swells now. 10 to 11knts boats speed. Arrived at mellish reef at noon, had a snoop around, checked engines and moved on. Nothing much to see or catch???
Headed to our little spot, too rough, too tied and no time to fish around, so just straight line through area. Had 2 bites in it, caught 1. large blue in the boot. All smiles!!
We got the bite at 1730 hrs; we had just fished through a small amount of bird life when one of the three 80lb tiagra reels came to life. The fished on the first run headed northwest down sea and at a steady pace that looked like it wouldn’t stop. The boys were giving me heaps saying we were running out of line as we turned the boat in reverse to head down sea after it, as fast as I could go! Even at full reverse, (10ktns in these conditions) we were still loosing line at the same rate. I didn’t realize at the time, but the boys reckon we were very close to being spooled. Then all of a sudden the fish stopped and headed up sea, we turned, got every one soaking wet before turning again and driving in front of the fish. We still only had half a spool of line on the reel, so we steadily gained line for the next half hour. After the initial run, I was worried the fish may have died and with half the spool of line in the water in these conditions, it was going to be a long hard slog. But I was wrong as the fish casually swam up sea, dodging us as I continually tried to up set it by driving in front of the fish and pulling from side to side. We gained line slowly but played a tug of war with the fish, as every time we gained 50 meters, it would take back 80. This continued for the next hour, of steady gain and lose. The fish kept swimming and by this time, after no jumps we assumed it was a large marlin. Just after 7pm, we got hold of the leader for the first time, Ben strained as the fish dug in deep under the boat after what seemed like eternity a large tail emerged behind the boat, Greg, tag pole at the ready tags the fish. As the tag went in the fish dived under the boat, as we went over a swell. Ben got pinned to the gunwale with leader in hand and hauled to bring the fish back up beside the boat so we could release her. The boys call up and say its about 7 or 800lbs. We got our big spot light angled over to get a good look at the fish and notice that it has blood streaming from just in front of it’s peck fin, which is now dangling and flopping in the water, as the fish got under the boat it must have come up against one of the blades that put a small gash across the front side of the fin. The fish wouldn’t survive with this injury so it was decided to boat the fish. Once the fish was well lit up under the flood lights, we noticed how big she was, it was more like 900lbs or better. With the fish secured beside the boat I leave the controls and come down to help the boys who are having some trouble getting it through the door. In the rough weather we all struggle to control the fish and line it up to come through the door, once lined up, our deck winch make short work and hauls it into our cockpit. With head up one end and tail still out the door, we all look at other wondering just how big the fish really is.
I go to grab the tape measure and try to step over the fish, only to almost trip up, as my stride isn’t big enough! With the tape I measure the girth up at the shoulders. 3 foot 7 inches. “nah that cant be right” I noticed I have the tape over the peck fin which adds more to the girth. So I go under the fin and read 3-foot 5inch. I check both ends of the tape are where they are supposed to be. “yep, shit! That’s 6 foot 10 girth!” Ben then ask’s me if thats good? Im like yeah that’s really good!! Again I double check the girth before taking the anal girth of 6 foot, tail stump of 19 inches and short length of 10 foot 9inches. The measurements indicate that’s it is an enormous fish, but just how big? The length and tail would suggest it is a short but fat 900 or 950lb fish.
Over the next 2 days we steamed to Townsville, and the trip couldn’t be over quick enough! We were so anxious to see what the fish would weigh. On arrival into Townsville we were greeted by customs and quarantine to check us over and grant us our cruising permit. Our friendly quarantine officer was the most thorough person I have ever witnessed, much to the disdain of the gathering crowd on the wharf and the crew!
The fished was weighed with the onboard-certified scales from the davit. It pulled the scales down to 1080lb. This is the first blue marlin caught in Australian waters to weigh over 1000lbs. It was caught on 80lb test line on a Zuker lure. Interestingly, the measurements calculated the fish out to be 1084lb with the 800 formulae. We decided not to claim the Official record due to the fish being slightly mutilated as stipulated by
the IGFA rules.
The following day we caught another 2 billfish. This time a striped marlin and 300lb blue. Altogether, in the five days fishing, we caught 5 marlin from 10 bites, and as I write this, we have just tagged out first black for the season wide off townsville.
Only a week after weighing the blue marlin in Townsville, we were fishing off Cairns on the Linden Bank where we fought and let go a black marlin that was significantly bigger then the blue marlin. I told the boss that we may as well stop fishing now, as it just doesn’t get much better!
2008 isnt quite finished yet, but our anglers and crew have been privileged to some amazing fishing through out the year!
Good Fishing. |
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