Thursday Sept 29 2005

Ran back from Lizard Island today, wind is finally starting to lay down a little bit.

Spent the last 2 days fishing up on No:10 Ribbon Reef where the bite had been a little slower than to the south. We started out with a nice little fish for our angler Amy on her 21st birthday of around 150lbs, and then went to the Cod Hole for lunch and a swim. Back out for the afternoon session and the water looked really good.

Fishing downsea from 2nd corner we raised a nice fish around 5-600 lb that wouldn’t eat, and then at the top of No:10 in the opening the big scaley mackerel disappeared in a big hole at around 4pm.

The 20/0 cirlce hook found its mark and the fish didn’t jump, just headed back in towards the reef!!!

A bit more drag and the big girl new she was hooked and made a big jump as she headed out to sea. Amy brother Daniel did a great job in the chair for the first time, and after about 35 minutes alan pulled her up for Glen to get a perfect tag shot in the shoulder. Just about to cut her off, she bolted for the horizon, and off TRADITION went hard after her.

A bit more drag and she came up jumping, we shot back grabbed the leader again and cut her off. I called her 950 lbs, a really healthy fat fish , but a tiny bit short to definitely be a GRANDER!!!!.

Ran back to the mothership for a great dinner and lots of looking at the photos from the day.

Wednesday we again spent a couple of hours swimming at the Cod Hole and spent the afternoon down on No: 10 but did not have any bites today.

Today we ran back to Cairns , and are now cleaning up the boat for an overnight trip and then start mothershipping on Monday back up to Lizard Island for the big tournament the week after. The bite has really improved over the last 2 days down here and we will be amongst it hard for the next 2 weeks. Most boats are getting 3-5 bites per day with a few really nice ones starting to make their presence known.

After a cancellation, I am open for October 16-26 inclusive for what is probably the best couple of weeks for the season.

Tight Lines,

Tim Richardson