Oct 12 2010
I know, I know, been a little busy!!!
Day 4 and 5 with Peter and Lydie we fished up on Jewell, Hicks, Hilder, and Day Reefs, bait fishing was awesome, and we got a 54lb spanish mackeral as well.
Marlin fishing was a bit slow, but the water looked incredible, and we saw a few fish but didnt get any to the boat.
Day 6 was a ripper, I went back to No: 10 Ribbon and we had a great day, tagging a fast little 200lber on 50, and then at about 5pm we fought a real nice fish for a half hour. We tagged the fish, called her 600 lbs, a great 12:1 catch on 50lb line. Lyide did an awesome job in the chair as usual with some great coaching from Steve, she made fast work of a tough fish in 20 knots of trade wind. Of course the Tradition kept right on top of the fish and changing angles to make the fish react when she went down and got settled.
The last 2 days were very lazy, lots of snorkelling and exploring Lizard Island and a few hours fishing in the afternoons. saw a couple but nothing to report.
In 8 days with Peter and Lydie we saw 11 fish, had 8 bites, fought 7 and tagged 5 fish up to 600lb all on 50lb IGFA line, and had a shot at the one we wanted, a great trip overall and we are all looking forward to next years 10 day trip fishing 50lb again.
On Saturday Oct 9 we started a 5 day trip with Dean and George from Spraytime Marine, who painted my boat this year, and Les and his son Paul, also from the Gold Coast.
On Saturday, while baitfishing, George bested his biggest fish, a catfish!! With a 30 lb GT, and in the afternoon Paul tagged a fun fish about 300lb on #8, and we had a great dinner anchored behind #9 Ribbon Reef in the calm. Sunday we had a great snorkel and baitfish session, and then started our day fishing downsea up No: 10 Ribbon Reef from the bottom, the water looked good all along but it wasn’t untill we got back to 2nd corner that the day really livened up!!
The big scaley mackeral got destroyed by a BIG fish, she ate the bait from inside out, and with her mouth all over the bait, her tail was 3/4 out of the water, and struggling to gain traction against the water. She was just lit up from head to tail, the best bite we have seen for a while, well since the monster bite we had with the Russians last November.
We came tight and George did a great job in the chair on his first ever marlin, and what a fish it was. A bunch of big full airborn jumps tired her out quickly, and some great wiring by Steve a few times. A quick 15 minutes and she was at the boat and I decided to tag her and let her keep swimming out there in the Coral Sea. A perfect BIG fish, perfectly hooked and in excellent condition. We cut her off and watched her swim off downsea for a bit, before heading back down into the depths. There was no question she was a big fish, and I would call her somewhere around 1050 lbs, a huge head and perfect proportions, and when she was next to the boat and her dorsal stood up so tall, there was no question about how big she was. An awesome day, and a fish of a lifetime for any angler!!!! This fish was the first GRANDER of the 2010 Cairns season.
The tail end of the season is almost booked out, I can start a trip on Nov 21 out of Cairns to head back out to the edge, or even out to the tuna aggregation which should be in full swing then with the full moon.
Capt Tim Richardson
www.traditioncharters.com
