News from the boat :     Last Updated - May 12th, 2008.  (Reports are posted with most recent events first so that regular readers do not have to scroll down too far to get the current news from the fishing grounds)

Live stories and photos can be viewed on the web log at www.blackmarlinfishingblog.com

************

REEL CHASE still has time available for the 2008 GIANT BLACK MARLIN SEASON in Far North Queensland.  Contact us to book your dates.

****************

AIBT:  During the Anzac Day long weekend, REEL CHASE travelled to the Sunshine Coast along with about 28 other boats for the AIBT.  Unfortunately the fish were thin and just five billfish were tagged for the weekend.  REEL CHASE had anglers from the Townsville GFC on board and managed to capture a good sized wahoo to win the Other Gamefish award.  They also were teased by a black marlin which came up several times to look at the baits, ignored the live bait as well, and followed up a bait jig, only to top that off by free jumping alongside the boat just to show he was there but 'Not interested, thank you'.   Frustrating, but at least they could say they saw one.  More recently the blue marlin tournament was held last weekend out of the Gold Coast and just a few were tagged with Mistress taking the honours with three.

****************

REEL CHASE and crew are now back on the Gold Coast and will be based here available for blue marlin fishing until July, when the northwards trek begins again for another year.

****************

Final Port Stephens days for 2008:   REEL CHASE and crew returned to the fishing grounds on Tuesday March 4th with some more Pierlite guests tagging one striped marlin for their day.  The following day saw guests of Moonlighting have a great day raising several fish and tagging 3 striped marlin from four that were hooked.  Back to earth the next day however when another group from Moonlighting endured a slow and fishless day.   That about sums it up for Port Stephens in 2008 - very patchy.

Second Inter-Club Weekend: The weather was again gale force for Friday and Saturday so the NSW Inter-Club Competition for Saturday was again cancelled.  On Sunday March 2nd, the fleet once again headed out into the sloppy seas and each skipper had a choice of two prime spots to fish in.   Unfortunately, Capt Jim chose the wrong one and the agnlers on REEL CHASE languished with very little activity for the day.  Townsville GFC members on board Kekoa with Capt Luke Fallon however did make the right choice and ended the competion as top visiting boat and team with 7 tags while the local Newcastle/Port Stephens Club were the top NSW Club.

Guests of Pierlite had a trip out of Port Stephens on Monday February 25th and tagged & released 1 black marlin.  Later in the day they hooked up on a 100kg striped marlin that had other ideas about coming quietly to the boat.  This fish wore out two anglers in the effort to finally get it tagged and subsequently released.   Another trip with a Pierlite rep and his guests on Thursday February 28th was cut short by the  lunchtime arrival of a series of extremely blustery storms associated with a southerly change.  The conditions of this change were seriously much worse than predicted and all boats fishing wide of Port Stephens at the time had a very torrid time returning to shore.  A gale warning has now been issued for the area for today, 29th - a bit belated but there now.

NSW Inter Club Competition:  Day One of this two weekend event was cancelled because of a strong wind warning.  Day Two dawned clear and calmish but the wind did get up again later in the day.  Most successful boats in the competition tagged 3 or 4 marlin for the day.  Anglers on REEL CHASE managed 1 striped marlin successfully tagged and released from just a few shots.

PORT STEPHENS:  Captain Jim and REEL CHASE have arrived in Port Stephens for a month long stay of striped, black and blue marlin fishing.  First day out on Friday February 15th was quiet, however Saturday found them amongst the action with 1 striped marlin successfully tagged & released and several free jumpers sighted.  Then Sunday was a much better day, both fish wise and weather wise.  Anglers on REEL CHASE successfully tagged 3 fish from 5 shots, 1 black marlin and 2 striped marlin.

Guests of Pierlite Australia spent the day aboard REEL CHASE on Monday 18 February and got off the mark early with a 60kg black marlin tagged & released before 10am.  However the fishing shut down soon after seemingly for the rest of the day.

****************

FINALLY, SOME FISHING NEWS:  After having to cancel this particular fishing trip three times since just after Christmas last year, Captain Jim was able to take anglers out on board REEL CHASE on Saturday January 19th to see what fish were actually out there.  The local Gold Coast Light Tackle Tournament was held over that weekend as well.  Reports from the tournament were a few marlin tagged & released, mainly mid sized black marlin and a couple of striped marlin.  Captain Jim reports seing plenty of baitfish schools and his anglers had one marlin on for a very short time as well as capturing a very good sized wahoo and a few tuna.  Finally on Thursday February 7th, we had a break in the weather with sunny skies (we had almost forgotten what they looked like!) and REEL CHASE was once again able to get outside the Broadwater for a fishing trip.  With lots of dirty water close inshore as a result of the constant heavy rains, Captain Jim took the anglers wider into the blue water looking for pelagic species but found just the odd mahi mahi.  On Friday February 8th, Capt Jim tried again to go offshore fishing, however huge swells (remnant from a recent cyclone off Fiji) and a 15-20 knotter combined to make conditions very joggly in the entrance and very uncomfortable on the open ocean.  Therefore the boat, crew and anglers were confined to the waters of the Broadwater for their sport.

Wild Weather continues!  REEL CHASE is now berthed once again at Marina Mirage on the Gold Coast where we have been having inclement weather conditions since before Christmas.   Christmas/New Year was blown away with gale force winds and blustery showers.  This was followed by heavy rain and flooding in some regions of the Gold Coast and Northern New South Wales and the resulting run off of debris has meant a necessary daily clean up by local government authorities along the beaches and waterways.  And it does not appear to be over just yet with yet another strong wind warning out for the next few days with another low pressure system hovering off Fraser Island.  The rain was certainly needed to replenish our water supplies, but our dam is overflowing and we have had enough for now, thanks Hughie. 

****************

Season Ender:  REEL CHASE departed Cairns on December 1st on the final trip for the Season.  Captain Jim took the anglers way wide to Flora and Flinders Reefs on their way into Townsville via Myrmidon Reef.  The boat has now returned to the Gold Coast for the Summer light tackle black marlin fishing here.

A Hit & Miss Affair:  The last week of November proved a frustrating one for all skippers.  Seems everyone had a lucky day or two but the fishing was anything but consistent.  Their 'turn' came on board REEL CHASE finally on Friday Nov 30th when a 450 lb-er was tagged & released after a good aerial display, quickly followed by a smaller black marlin very soon afterwards.  Boats ventured far and wide looking for the fish and some were found further south off the reefs wide of Townsville.

Back to Fishing:  First day back fishing after the cyclone threat was a good one on Friday November 23rd for the anglers on REEL CHASE who tagged & released 3 black marlin, between 250-450 lbs, on Linden Bank.  However the following day proved how fickle the fishery is this Season with no fish sighted.

Recapture of Tagged Marlin:  On 28th October, 2005, this 750lb black marln (pictured at right) being tagged on board REEL CHASE for Townsville angler Janelle Parkes at #6 Ribbon Reef, was subsequently released.  On 31st October, 2007, this same fish was recaptured at #5 Ribbon Reef by anglers on In Ya Dreams captained by Brian Felton.  Unfortunately the fish did not survive the fight and died on the line.  She was later weighed on a mothership at 782 lbs.  This is one of the very few recaptures of big black marlin and is of much note to NSW Fisheries who administer the tagging program as it bucks the belief that the fish continue to grow at a rapid rate.  However it does also back up the theory that the fish do return each season to the same sections of the Reef.

****************

Cyclone Guba.   After travelling to Lizard Island to meet up with the much larger white boat 'Ophelia' with a view to going further north to fish for pelagics, all plans came unstuck as for the first time since Capt Jim started fishing the giant black marlin season back in the early 1980s, a cyclone developed in the northern Coral Sea in November.  Both boats and much of the marlin fleet returned to Cairns, away from the immediate affects of the cyclone.  The cyclone finally turned full circle and headed to New Guinea, but not until it had turned the wind meter up on the fishing grounds for over a week.

****************

Change of Scenery:  Capt Jim headed REEL CHASE southwards on Melbourne Cup Day managing to travel from #9 to Opal Ridge in the strong current wide of the reef.  This move was rewarded with hookups on a blue marlin and a black marlin, but unfortunately both came unstuck.  The following day, November 7th, REEL CHASE went wide to the Sea Mount.  Whilst there they tagged 2 black marlin in the 300-400 lb range but also caught several species of other pelagics as well as had a swim with a whale shark.  On returning to the reef edge on November 8th, angler Mike hooked up a really big fish which unfortunately spat the bait after several jumps.  Shortly after he hooked up again and tagged a feisty 400 lb-er.  On the weekend, anglers on board REEL CHASE tagged & released a black marlin on Sunday November 11th.

Bottom of #10 seems to be where the action is at present.  With the weather now back to perfect and after a morning swim at the Cod Hole,  Capt Jim headed the boat southwards on Sunday November 4th and met up with several other boats fishing at the bottom end of #10 Ribbon Reef.   All boats raised fish and angler Mike on REEL CHASE had a nice big one on that put in a couple of great jumps before becoming unhooked.  However, later in the day he succesfully tagged & released a 600 lb-er.  On Nov 5th the fishing went quiet with several marked on the sounder but not much action on the baits.   Meanwhile all on REEL CHASE observed several sailfish, some even being chased by a territorial marlin.  A late bite saw Mike tag a 200 lb-er.

Fishing is still Slow and Patchy:  The weather again turned ugly for the first couple of days of this most recent trip.  However the angler did manage a marlin tagged on Wednesday Oct 31st.  While the weather was up, Capt Jim took the opportunity to troll northwards to Lizard Island again, marking a few fish along the way but raising none.   A slow day spent at nearby Day Reef saw just the 1 marlin tagged on Saturday Nov 3rd.

With the weather finally starting ever so slowly to abate, REEL CHASE headed out from Lizard Island on Sunday Oct 21st with Moose and his Kiwi mates aboard.  It took all day to make their way down #10 Ribbon Reef, however the anglers managed to get two black marlin of around 250 lbs each to the boat for tagging for the day's effort.   Then, on Tuesday 23rd, in keeping with trends of hooking some big fish set by this group of anglers in recent years, a 950 lb-er was succesfully brought it to the boat to be tagged and released.  Another fish raised soon after unfortunately did not hook up.  The next week was very slow going with just the one marlin tagged for the next group of anglers.  Luckily, both these fishing groups have seen some very good fishing action in previous years.

****************

Rough weather made for tough going at the 2007 LIBMC.  After last week's picture perfect days, the first day of fishing in the 2007 Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic was accompanied by 20+ knots of wind.  This made it difficult for all competing boats.  REEL CHASE managed to run to the top of #8 Ribbon Reef before putting the lines in there and heading southwards.   They managed to tag 2 black marlin and lost a third, but not before they boat took a greenie over the bow which washed through the flybridge.  The 2 marlin however did give REEL CHASE the lead in the competition on a generally slow fishing first day.  Day 2 saw Kanahoee shoot to the lead tagging 5 marlin for the day.  On board REEL CHASE, the anglers hooked up on a nice 600+ lb-er but she spat the hook just out of tagging range.  Day 3 saw REEL CHASE moving northwards looking for the fish, but Viking II found them first at #7 Ribbon Reef tagging 4 marlin by the first sked.  Then with the weather turning rougher, most boats headed north and fished out the tournament in the vicinity of Lizard Island.  Eventual Tournament Winner was Kanahoee from Maritimo.

SUNSET BITE:  It seems to be the season of late bites.  Capt Luke on Kekoa has tagged a few big fish after bites just before sunset in past weeks.  On Monday Oct 8th, Capt Jim on REEL CHASE went wide looking for fish further out and jumped off a blue marlin.   Meanwhile, back on the edge of the Reef where he had been fishing for days earlier, the black marlin turned up for a feed.  Several boats including Kekoa, Viking II & Ningaloo got amongst the action there.  So Capt Jim decided that on Tuesday, he was going to stay out late and see if there was another sunset bite.  The afternoon started about 3 o'clock when a 200 lb-er hooked up on the scad and was quickly tagged & released. Then, just on 6 o'clock, with the sun setting in the background, the big scaley bait disappeared down the throat of an 800 lb black marlin which put on an activie aerial display and was also quickly brought to the boat for tagging.  Wednesday followed up with the early tagging of another smaller black marlin for angler Chris on boad REEL CHASE.  Focus now shifts further north to the start of the Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic on Sunday October 14th.

REEL CHASE left Cooktown on Tuesday Oct 2nd and started trolling northwards from #3 Ribbon Reef.  However progress was halted when anglers on board hooked up and tagged two black marlin in succession.  The weather was still very lumpy but it has settled down to a more comfortable level.  Wednesday saw another 200 lb-er tagged and released.  On Thursday, Capt Jim decided to head further up the Ribbons as far as #8 however the fishing slowed the further north he went.  Today he will be returning to the other end as that is where the fish seem to be at present.

The Middle Ribbon Reefs seem to be where there is some action at present.  Capt Jim took his anglers down to Escape Reef and back on the weekend and finally tagged a 300lb black marlin for Adelaide angler Graham on Sunday at #2.  A few other boats went up to the top of the Ribbons, but are now in the middle where Ultimate Lady fishing at #5 also tagged an 800 lb-er on Saturday.  Meanwhile, Saturday also saw the landing of the first black marlin in excess of 1,000lbs at Myrmidon Reef off Townsville.  This 1109 lb-er is the biggest hooked there, despite the efforts of the local club members for over 20 years, since boat builder Peter O'Brien skippered Kirsten to capture a 900+ lb-er way back in the 1970s.

Working out of LIZARD ISLAND this week, the weather started out a bit rough.  This forced Capt Jim to work in the more weather friendly Hicks and Day Reefs areas.  Just the one 200lb black marlin was tagged on Tuesday.  Wednesday dawned calmer so REEL CHASE worked down #10 Ribbon Reef.  Capt Jim marked many marlin throughout the day including some big fish, however constantly working the area only managed to get one fish up very late in the day for a look.  And that just about sums up the action.  The fish are arriving, but thus far they seem to have their minds on 'other things'.  However Capt Luke on Kekoa tagged a 950 lb-er at Escape Reef on Thursday evening after a sunset bite.

SEASON 2007 is under way.    Anglers on board REEL CHASE, along with the crew of Captain Jim, deckhands Darren and Brad and Cook/Hostess Kelly, are now fishing in the northen regions of the Ribbon Reefs.    Along the way from Cairns, Capt Jim reports that the general fishing for yellowfin, wahoo and such has been good, however he has only had a couple of sightings of big marlin thus far.  One of these, which he described a one of the biggest black marlin he has ever seen, crashed the big bait but did not go on with it.  He circled the spot with the boat and she came up again but again did not go on with it.  Seems this big girl has probably had previous experience.

This shot of REEL CHASE  fighting a giant black marlin in 2005 was taken from VALKYRIE

****************

REEL CHASE is headed to Cairns.  The boat and crew have now left Townsville and are on their way further north to the Cairns area for the Giant Black Marlin Fishing Season which will run through until early December.  Along the way the crew will be fishing to stock up their bait supplies in readiness for the Season.  Yesterday, deckhand Darren got more than he bargained for when trolling a Laser Pro lure on a large Alvey winch hoping to catch some big baits such as scaley mackerel.  Instead, a 60 kilogram black marlin climbed aboard to give all on board an exciting display, and Darren a lesson in a very different way of catching marlin.

****************

REEL CHASE WINS AT TOWNSVILLE AGAIN.   The 2007 Townsville Billfish Challenge has been held for another year and the crew & anglers on board REEL CHASE once again took out many of the top honours in this prestigious light tackle tag & release tournament.  The team, consisting of Captain Jim Dalling, deckhand Darren Lewis and anglers Anne & Kelly Dalling, Colleen Gleeson and Ken Douglas, were awarded Champion Team, Champion Boat Over 8 Metres, Champion Skipper (Jim), Champion Deckhand tagging the most billfish (Darren), Champion Female Angler (Kelly), as well as two Champion Team of the Day awards and three First Marlin Tagged of the Day awards.  Fishing this year was made difficult by the incessant bad weather throughout and the unusually low numbers of juvenile black marlin at the Cape Bowling Green grounds.  The REEL CHASE team manged just 4 black marlin and 2 sailfish tagged & released in the event to win from Kanahoee with 4 marlin tagged.  Third was Maratimo and Kekoa fourth with 3 tagged fish each.  Captain Jim was quick to acknowledge the help of the Wesmar Sonar on board REEL CHASE in enabling him to keep track of the fast moving bait schools and to position the boat so that the trolling baits were nearby when the billfish came up to eat.   Champion Team and Boat in the Under 8 Metres category was again Sedative with one tagged fish in a countback from Viagra, the only two boats in that category to tag a billfish in the horific conditions for boats of that size.   Congratulations to all who competed and also to the organisers for another very well run event.

****************

Palm Island Sailfish:  With rough weather closing in, Captain Jim decided to head REEL CHASE north to the relative protection of the Palm Group of Islands for an overnight trip with Pierlite guests on board.  This move was rewarded with the tagging of a sailfish off Chilcott Rock, a nice walk on the beach at North East Bay and topped of by the landing of a nice 25lb narrow barred mackerel in the Curocoa Channel.  

Crabbing has its hazardous side!  While working in the Bowling Green area it is usual for Captain Jim, a guy who grew up on mud crabs from the Ross River in Townsville, to set a few crab pots in the Spit area for the occasional treat.  So he set four pots yesterday and on returning to check the pots, found that something BIG, presumably a groper or maybe even a crocodile, had also checked them out and in the process had gone through both ends of ALL of the pots robbing them of the bait and any luckless crabs that may also have been in the way.  Using all the spare bits, repairs could be made to make two of the pots serviceable again, and they were reset.  When checked this morning, four lovely big buck muddies were the result.  Whooeee!

REEL CHASE and crew arrived into Townsville on Sunday morning August 12th.  On their way through the Cape Bowling Green billfishing grounds on Saturday afternoon, the anglers jumped off a small black marlin and tagged a sailfish, all on lures before any baits were even put out.

****************

Fishing out of Yeppoon:  REEL CHASE and crew have been chartering out of Yeppoon for the past week or so and have had mixed fortunes with the fish and the weather.  However, on the good days, some very nice sized Red Emporer and Large Mouth Nannygai have come aboard much to the delight of the visiting anglers.  The boat is now on the move further northwards.

****************

ON THE MOVE.   REEL CHASE, with Captain Jim and Darren aboard, has left the Gold Coast on the annual northward trek heading first to Yeppoon on the Central Queensland Coast for a week or so, and then on to Townsville for the light tackle billfishing season at nearby Cape Bowling Green.

****************

Some days there just ain't no fish - After postponing this trip because of a windy front coming through on Saturday, Capt Jim took his anglers out on Sunday, another picture beautiful day off the Gold Coast.  Unfortunately though, he did not see any fish to put them onto.  The marlin fishing off the Gold Coast since has certainly been slow but as we know, the fish can turn up again at any time.  In stark contrast however, the sailfish and juvenile marlin have started to show up at Cape Bowling Green near Townsville in North Queensland - great news for those of us who will be fishing there a little later in the year.

ANZAC DAY 2007 - A great weather day out on the waters off the Gold Coast with Sydney Radio 2CH prize winners on board REEL CHASE.  It quickly turned into a good fishing day as well with the capture of a mahi mahi and a yellowfin tuna, capped off by the tagging & releasing of a 100 kilogram blue marlin which was hooked up after two blues rose from the depths to show interest in the teasers.

****************

Please visit this site regularly to find out how the fishing's going.

© Copyright Reel Chase Pty Ltd 2000-2008.