The Cairns Experience

In September every year skippers, crews and fishermen from all over the world congregate in Cairns for the giant black marlin season - a good 30 boats make up the professional marlin fleet. There's nowhere else in the world that you have a better chance of catching a 1000lb black marlin and for the marlin junkie, at this time of year, there's nowhere else to be!

Boats travelling from southern parts of Queensland, and even interstate, take advantage of the trip north to fish for bait - stocking the freezer for the season ahead. We catch all of our own bait and in 2009 this has been done in very close consultation with new bag and size limits.

The trip is a great chance for crews to bond and familiarise themselves (or for returning crew, re-familiarise themselves) with the boat and each other. After all, when the season gets underway, we're together 24/7 and working up to 80 days straight in a good year.

This year, we made our way north in great weather and enjoyed a raft up with the other boats heading north at night, on anchor in the calm water behind the reef. We also enjoyed some of the best sport fishing we've had in recent memory to the extent that the giant trevally and Spanish mackerel soon became a nuisance after the initial bit of fun.

Arriving in Cairns, the big rods are brought out of storage, reels serviced and spooled. Supplies are bought as the energy levels increase. The captains get together to discuss currents and water temperatures [it's already up and over 25 degrees and the current is pushing to the south - ideal conditions for the big females] and there's always a few ready to make predictions for the season ahead [after the warmer than usual winter, and with the full moon in early October, it could be action stations from the get-go].

This year, thanks to the global financial crisis, there are still a large number of boats in the Marlin Marina impatiently awaiting the arrival of their first guests. Boats still have days available and at short notice. If you ever wanted to fish the giant black marlin season in Cairns, this is your opportunity to do it!

Next week: an update on how the early season is progressing and a day in the life of your typical marlin charter on the Great Barrier Reef. If there's anything you particularly wanted to know, leave me a comment and I'll address it.

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