Port Stephens Marlin Fishing - Red HOT

I flew down last weekend for the Broken Bay 50th Anniversary Game Fishing Tournament.    I fished this onboard a 45' Rampage "Grommet" with Andrew Tonini and the boys.  On the first day we caught 2 from 3 (1 black & 1 striped), one fish behind the leading boat, a 55 Viking "Shelby" on 3 and remained this way as the next day was cancelled due to rough weather.   This finished us in 2nd position which was a good result amongst the 80 boats entered.  

After returning to Cairns, a phonecall from Tim Dean on the Calypso confirmed the old adage, "should have been here yesterday" as they bit their heads off for a couple of days with Tim catching 20 in 2 days.   First day of 12 and 2nd day of 8, featuring a grand slam of black, blue and striped.   He saw many other fish tailing, though the conditions were pretty ordinary with a 20-25 knot South Westerly.

Hearing from Tim Dean again yesterday he told me of a really nice black they got to the leader, estimated at 750lbs.  A great fish on the 50lb tackle and 150lb leader and just shows the quality of the fishing at this time year that Port Stephens has to offer.
Back in Cairns, the wet season has eased with a week of beautiful weather.    At the moment we have a 15-20 knot, South East tradewind blowing and I am heading out on a jigging and popper fishing day tomorrow.   

Hayden has been terrorising the local barramundi population whilst Biggles and I have been away and we will all be looking forward to getting into a few when we get the chance.     April, May should see the Spanish mackerel fire up with a few sailfish around at the moment.   All looks promising for a good light tackle season ahead.