Finally we have a bit of consistent fishing action to report on. On the blue marlin front they are being seen by most boats on most days both off the Gold Coast and also off Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. A few boats have been lucky enough to get multiples. Watch Ya Problem and Ymer a couple of Black Watch boats from the Sunshine Coast have done just that and Lucky Strike a Gold Coast Black Watch and Barco a Caribbean from down there have also had good days. Boats like Murphys Law from the Surfers Paradise club have had their chances but are just not converting.
The good news is a couple of blacks were tagged over the course of the Mooloolaba Tournament and some others lost and seen. At the moment there is no consistent yakka or slimey schools, just random pilly schools moving about. Plenty of mahi mahi have turned up but surprisingly not many wahoo and the mahi mahi are not holding on the FADs. The Mooloolaba Billfish Bash was taken out by the MGFC 43’er Bring it On with the two tagged marlin on 8kg line. Runner’s up were the MGFC Black Watch Animal with weighed mahi mahi from the Redcliffe AMM plate boat Fido II. Rodney Howes won angler and Ryan McKinnon junior and this time Ryan was on The Animal.
Hervey Bay club didn’t end up running their tournament this year but quite a few of their boats still ventured up to Sandy Cape the weekend it was supposed to be held. KJ the local charter boat up there would have been the boat to beat as they ended up tagging four out of five blacks they had on that weekend. They were also small fish which is good sign for this summer in South East Queensland. Mixed in were lots of vermin including mahi mahi, yellowfin tuna and Spanish mackerel. Bribie Island held their tournament recently as well. Too Easy the 35’ Bertram came up trumps there with some weighed and tagged other species.
In my next article I should be able to report on the Gold Coast Gamefish Club’s Light Tackle Masters from the 19th to the 22nd of January 2012. I will probably have just finished it before the Sunshine Coast’s Gamefish Classic on the weekend of 2nd to the 5th of February 2012.
In the recently announced GFAA awards for the John Obrien trophy for champion club tag and release the Sunshine Coast Gamefish Club came in third beaten by a couple of Western Australian clubs who had great seasons on the sailfish. Dan Brookes of the SCGFC was named the top tagging junior for Queensland. Talking about juniors, mums and dads, make sure you get them signed up to the GFAA junior competition. There are lots of categories to be won including tag, capture, overall, state, small fry and also the equivalent QGFA trophies. In The Billfish Foundation awards for this year Brett Alty of the Gold Coast who skippers Barry Alty’s Mistress came in 5th for top release captain of Pacific blue marlin and Barry came in 4th for angler.
Give me a call at South Queensland Charter Services on 0407 574 868 or check out my website, (www.sqcs.com.au) to get into the summer pelagic action or the soft plastics snapper which are still hanging in there.