Oct 29 2008
Donnie and Rob fished 3 days with us, and what a start to the trip, we found a small one tailing at the top of number 3 and did a few laps and raised a big fish that followed us for a while before committing itslef to the spanish mackeral skip bait.
She just exploded, with more than a dozen big long jumps and got her up to the boat fairly quickly. Chris grabbed the leader, and off she took, just like a blue marlin, ripping the topshot off the reel straight down sea towards the reef and into 100 feet of water in the opening.
After an hour plus with a ton of drag we had her close and the peg mark was on the reel for quite a while but she would not budge with the leader wrapped up on her somewhere. She ended up getting chased and all we got back was the wire all kinked up. Donnie had done a great job in the chair and there wasnt much more we could do.
While we were fighting this fish there were at least 4 other big fish caught right around us.
Later in the afternoon we tagged a feisty one for Rob.
The next 2 days saw me dodge the fish and have a ring side seat to quite a few fish, including more big ones.
Down on the Bank the fishing has been consistent, with lots of tailers and a number of fish over 800+, including a couple over 1000lb fought as well.
Back into Cooktown for changeover and we started yesterday with Richard and Kelly, and after a swim at the Agincourts and lunch we fished Opal ridge in the afternoon for 1 from 2 and saw another one.
Moana and Viking both caught 800 lb fish yesterday down here, and the other boats also had some good fishing.
Meanwhile back in the middle the fish decided to really snap, with over 20 fish caught, many giants over 1000, and one over 1200 lost at the boat.
The fishing has really improved over the last week, and our turn is coming to get amongst some big ones. We are having a dive at north Opal this morning then back out to the Ridge/Bank for the afternoon.
Have next week open, Nov 4-9 inclusive in and out of Cooktown
Let me kow if you can come.
Tim
