Australia

Australia 2018

Great Barrier Reef 2018

7th Attempt at Breaking the Officially Weighed Marlin Grander Slam Record

The plans for this trip envisaged 14 days fishing on the “Amokura” with skipper Brett Goetze (Australia) and his mates James Krascer (USA) and Lockie Warner (Australia). Jimmy Morrow (USA) was also on board – he was responsible for the video material.

Target fish: an officially weighed grander black marlin. The prospects looked quite promising. The conditions were optimal and the entire fleet was catching plenty of fish, including some serious heavyweights – surely we would succeed this time around.

Awesome days

We started as planned from Cooktown and spent the first 3 days fishing the reefs located to the north up to the legendary Ribbon Reef No. 10. We managed to catch a fish on all three days. However, as reports were coming in of an unexpectedly large number of marlins over the centrally located reefs we changed our position and on the 5^th day had 14 bites in the afternoon, including two double strikes – absolute magic. I have never experienced anything like it in all the years I have fished down under. On this particular day the fish were extremely hungry and aggressive.

We managed to catch 6 marlins weighing up to 700 lbs. that afternoon. Three big specimens failed to stay on our circle hooks after the strikes and a further heavyweight specimen was lost after a tough 20 minute fight when it frayed the leader.

Big Fish

The fishing was excellent for the following 4 days averaging 2 to 4 marlin a day. One large marlin was circle-hooked in the tail and it took over an hour of hard fighting to get it to the surface with the drag set at 65 lbs. and the reel in first gear the entire time. Regrettably it was dead when we got it to the boat. We estimated its weight at about 850 lbs. As we had to return to Cooktown for refuelling we decided to have this fish officially weighed the next morning. Although it was clearly not a grander we were surprised to see the calibrated scales shoot up to 908 lbs.

At the high of frustration

Over the following days the currents changed and the large numbers of fish disappeared completely – back to normal. On the 10^th day in calm conditions we had a take on our smallest bait, a scad. We were unable to see anything and suspected we had a wahoo on the other end of our line. When the fish felt the hook it spiralled out of the sea in slow motion revealing a marlin of grander size – which promptly threw the hook. What can I say? We were all so frustrated and depressed that nobody said a word until late in the evening – ahhhhhhhrggggggggg.

Big Smoker – Big Fish

As the fishing was very slow on the reefs we decided to try our lures in deep water on the last day but one. Towards lunchtime in calm conditions we had a massive strike on our “Big Smoker” lure. For the first 15 minutes the marlin stayed close to the boat just under the surface. Then it dove to the deeps and got itself tail-wrapped. After an hour we got it to the boat, unfortunately dead. It was a huge fish and the largest of our trip – regrettably it lacked a few inches in length and a couple of pounds to count as a grander – according to the estimate formula roughly 950 lbs.

Apart from on the last day we had contact with marlins on every outing and finished our trip with a terrific total of 24 marlins out of 42 strikes, with weights of 950, 906, 750, 700, 700, 600, 550, 500, 500, 450, 450, 400, 400, 350, 350, 300, 250, 200, 200, 200, 150, 120, 100 and 100 lbs.

Summary of the Results:

Day 01 – 1/2 Black Marlin
Day 02 – 1/1 Black Marlin
Day 03 – 1/1 Black Marlin
Day 04 – 3/5 Black Marlin
Day 05 – 6/14 Black Marlin
Day 06 – 2/2 Black Marlin
Day 07 – 2/2 Black Marlin
Day 08 – 4/5 Black Marlin
Day 09 – 2/4 Black Marlin
Day 10 – 0/1 Black Marlin
Day 11 – 1/2 Black Marlin
Day 12 – 0/1 Black Marlin
Day 13 – 1/1 Black Marlin
Day 14 – 0/0 Black Marlin

Popper Fishing

At the beginning of the trip in the north we discovered a large school of over 100 GTs on the reef. In just under an hour we caught seven of them on our poppers and stick-baits. We experienced pack attacks and finished up with sore arms – great fun.

Jigging

Only occasionally did we manage to try some jigging and frequently came off second best. It is fair to say that on average we had a bite on every second drop. The problem fishing the Great Barrier Reef are the many sharks. If you took more than 5 minutes to fight a fish the sharks were faster and you end up retrieving a loose end of line.

Summary

The chances of capturing the longed for grander were extremely high on this trip. To achieve this you must have the right amount of luck and ensure everything is done 100% correctly. The slightest mistake will mean a lost fish. The fishing area covers a length of 200 kilometres and during the season is visited by up to 25 charter boats and some 30 private boats a day. Fish weighing 1134, 1260, 1143, 1012 und 1098 lbs. were caught during our stay.