It is becoming a bit of a thing that we will have one day blown out and sure enough the “gale warning” expected was definitely in place at 4.45 on Saturday morning.  Because of this we had to cancel fishing for the day which was disappointing and a few boats still went out.  This is of course a worry as with a warning such as this I believe that all insurance is negated.  Anyway we still had our free barbecue on Saturday night with the marquee full to capacity.  It was a great night and everyone was confident that Sunday would be fishable.

The weather on Sunday looked good and we had the bulk of the fleet out on the water by 7.30. The first sked at 8.10 had a couple of boats fighting and a number of tagged fish.  It was looking good! Throughout the day there were reports of tagged fish and a few captures. The outstanding capture for the day went to a small fry angler, Mehmet Huseyin and this was a Striped Marlin of 128kg on 24kg which is a potential record.

Our Sunday night Tournament Dinner was again a resounding success with more food than we knew what to do with.  Everyone had their plates piled high and we had a marquee full of happy people having a terrific time.

Monday was again a good day and the majority of the boats were out there early.  There were a few late starters no doubt because of that “bad chop” that they consumed the night before. Our trophy presentation was again well attended with a full marquee which is very satisfying and a great night was had by all. Members of Wollongong did particularly well I both capture and tag and release as you will see from the results that follow.

We are of course indebted to our sponsors for their support and enthusiasm. There were a number of them who actually fished the tournament.  We also had the Managing Director of Honda Marine, Stuart Strickland with us and he drew the winner for the Honda motor. Stuart and Ante Cuk fished on “Strike Zone” with Alistair  for a couple of days and Ante caught his first Marlin which he has been rubbing in to all in Melbourne since his return.

Thank you to all who participated and helped make this such a success and I hope we see you  all again next year!

Sanchia Glaskin

Secretary Canberra GFC

Full results and some pictures are on our Tournament Page.

With the hard work of our diligent committee and the generous support of our fantastic sponsors all is in readiness for all our participants to have a great weekend. The season so far has been  unpredictable, however if last years results and some great early captures of Sydney are indicators of what we can expect the fishing should also be great.

We are expanding our marquee on the foreshore this year, giving us more room for tables at the tournament dinner as well as extra room to catch up each night to swap stories and tales of the days fishing.

All the details of prizes, rules and entry forms are on our Tournament Page.

Get your entries in early and don’t forget to book your seat at the tournament dinner it always sells out. We have sourced different jackets to last years one, which are warm and have ample sleeve length. These wil again sell out and sizing will be limited so get your order in to avoid disappointment.

We look forward to seeing you in Bermagui, catching up with old regulars and friends and meeting future ones.

            Monday saw us trolling for bait fish as we headed out to Ribbon no. 3 for our overnight anchorage. Gary started the day well with a good size GT and ratchets kept singing with 18 fish and 6 species by the end of the day with some good sized Spanish Mackerel, Scaly Mackerel and a couple of Northern Bluefin Tuna. A good days fishing even though our anchorage was in a green zone which curtailed our end of day relaxation.

Tuesday and it was decided as Ron and I had not caught a Big Black I was first on strike, Ron next with Gary to follow. Out to the shelf and 11am and we have a fish. Bill called it at 200lbs and on the 130 Penn it did not take line once I was in the chair. Tagged and released and Ron was on strike and ready to go. Promising start when we saw a fish that Bill called at 400 within the hour but it didn’t take a bait.

            At end of fishing Friday Ron was still on strike and over fishing for Big Blacks. Was it the fact that we had had a full moon on Wednesday? Or was it a particularly slow season? The fact that the other 6 or so boats working the area had not seen fish, in fact one had had a fishless fortnight doesn’t make it any less disappointing but then that’s Fishing full stop. You should have been here last week.

            In the mean time, the non Big Black time we had had some fun with the reef fish at No 5 Ribbon where we anchored at night. We caught lots of red Bass, some of good size, some good Flowery Cod, Gary catching a 15kg+ brute on the first night and I finished with a half Cod on the last with one of our toothy friends relieving the Cod instantly of all behind the pectoral fin. Gary got a decent shark and Ron gave the Spangled Emperors a caning and caught a Coral Trout on a piece of Bacon, the only Coral Trout mind you. Very pleasant evenings with a few beers… before retiring to the shoe box to sleep while someone throws buckets of water at the wall 2’’ from your head with the rapidity of a machine gun. To be honest I’d take a swag rolled out in the bush somewhere any day over a nights sleep in the bunks in the bow. Maybe that’s why we saw a lot of the smaller boats tying up besides mother ships (smaller boats being 43 footers). Half their luck.

            Our last day saw us forsake the Big Blacks for a day of bait fishing and an early return to Cooktown and once again we managed some good Spaniards and Scalys and another Northern Blue. The two Spaniards and a Scaly were packed in ice and joined our luggage for the trip home.

            Perhaps a bit of disappointment on the fish front but great company and being out on the edge of the reef for 5 nights is a great experience. If only Queensland could get the weather right.

            And I have to thank Gary for all the organization that is involved in a trip such as this. Makes the trip very easy when someone else does all the legwork.

And as for the Big Blacks ….there is always a next time………..

Greg Flowers

Albacore, Albacore, Albacore!!!  They have arrived.  This long weekend, despite the weather condition, the warmer waters moved in close to the continental shelf and so did the fish.  With reports of a couple of 50kg yellowfin tuna being caught in the week before and with a couple of Albacore thrown in for good measure, a couple of boats ventured out on Sunday.  RUMPUS ROOM from Batemans Bay managed 31 Albacore and were back at the marina by 1:00 o’clock!  Not a bad effort when you consider there was only two people on board. 

For GEMINI we tried our luck on the Snapper early in the morning on Sunday but the fishing proved slow with the strong current having moved in. So we decided to head out to where the action was out on the shelf.  As soon as we hit the shelf with the lures out the action came thick and fast.  Unfortunately, most of the fish were only in the 4 to 5 kilo range but still provided a great deal of fun for the clients who had never experienced game fishing before.  My deckie decided that given the size of the fish he wanted to put out some lighter gear so that the clients could experience the thrill of a more even contest between fisherman and fish, given that all the previous fish were caught on 15 and 24kg outfits.  Unfortunately the only lighter gear we had was what we using to catch snapper, so out went a seven foot 8kg threadline outfit.  Not what I would consider ‘game gear’.  As Murphy Law would have it, less than five minutes later the reel screamed and the rod bent over SOLID.  The poor client, John picked up the rod and just held on as the rod screamed. Our thoughts of a small Albacore faded as the fish continued to take line. After some coaching on the pump and wind approach we started to gain some line slowly.  At the 30 minute mark the deckie called colour and we looked down and about 4 metres below the boat was a huge yellowfin tuna well over 35 kilos with its bright yellow sickles curved well back doing circles in the current.  “You have got to be kidding” was my initial reaction however my reaction some what changed to “we don’t have a chance in hell” when the fish took off on another powerful run pushing the Penn Spinfisher reel’s drag system to the limit. The client’s back was aching and he just could not gain any line back.  He would gain 20cm of line and then lose 3 metres.  And this went on for another 40 minutes!! Then the inevitable happened, the line broke!  That’s fishing. 

The next day the fish were everywhere from about 70 fathoms out to the shelf.  The best method was trolling very small lures no bigger than six inches in any colour.  However, green and black proved the colour of choice.  So get out there, with these fish probably hanging around the bay for the next month or so.

See you on the water at Batemans Bay!

Steve Wearn

GEMINI FISHING CHARTERS

www.geminifishingcharters.com.au

See our Tournament page for a list of the results.

As you can see the site is still in it’s infancy but will grow quickly.

We are seeking contributions of articles, photo’s and fishing reports from members and guests. If you have something to contribute please feel free to send your contribution to admin@canberragamefishing.com