Sunday Oct 9 2011
Halfway between Lizard Island and Cooktown.
I last left off at the end of day 3 in the Lizard Island Classic after a shocker!!!! What a difference a day makes, I went down and fished No: 7 Ribbon Reef for the day and we ended up with 3 from 3 fish, for a great day, with a 350, 450 and 800 lb fish for Lydie. Lydie did a wonderful job on all the fish as usual, and was nice to finish the day with a nice one!!!
Next day we fished the same spot and were marking fish all day but only one bite. Meanwhile the rest of the fleet were catching pretty consistently, but some days you are watching others do all the catching.
Day 6 was so calm it was ridiculous!!! We left the Anchorage at #7 and trolled up the inside catching some baits and fished on No: 10 again for the day. The fish were marking real well and we stuck it out and were rewarded with a nice 400 lb fish for Lydie, and raised another 4 that didnt eat. 3 of these were all 500-600 lb fish that would come up on the big bait and then fade away time after time.
Next to us the Askari, which won this years Lizard Comp, hooked up a big one so I stood by and shot some great video from the tower. A real nice fish that Cory called 1100, and the photos never do them justice!!!
I trolled south for the anchorage and just after cease fishing we got piled on by a big one, 15 minutes too late to count in the comp!!!
Lydie fought a really tough hard mean fish, we had the leader after about 6 minutes, but there was no way she was slowing down yet, at the 45 minute mark we had the leader and Lydie decided she wanted to take the fish.
This is Lydies biggest fish to the boat in 6 seasons fishing with us, and about 40 fish tagged, so a well deserved big fish for her.
We weighed the fish the next morning and she weighed in at a very impressive 1103 lbs !!! A magical grander for sure, and the first one of the season for one of the GBRs favourite anglers!!!
The whole fleet fished down No: 10 back to Lizard on the last day and with flat calm conditions was really nice, even though the fishing was slower for everyone. We did get a bite at second corner late in the day, but didnt come tight. We ended up 11th out of 24 boats, and with a bit of luck there for a couple of days could have been much higher. But even so we got Lydie runner up lady angler in this years comp.
Today we are just trolling back to Cooktown to drop off Peter and Lydie and resupply for our next trip which starts in the morning. We have Stephan all the way from Germany , and also coming along for the trip is my good friend Scott Kerrigan who has been shooting photos for as long as I can remember. Going to be a great trip!!!
With just incredible fishing this week for the fleet of 25 boats , with at least 30 fish over 70, plus 5 or 6 over a 1000 lbs . The current is incredibly good this year and looks like continuing for a while. Come and grab your spot on the TRADITION, I have Oct 30 to Nov 10 inclusive available as a block or split up, so let me know if you are interested in coming and fishing the greatest place on earth, the Great Barrier Reef , where the monsters live !!!!!
Back in a few days!!!!
Capt Tim
