Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Lucky Dave bags a grander double

REGULAR readers may recall a report we ran last year on a quest by Canberran Dave Macpherson, aka Dave Bagwah, to catch a Cairns black marlin . Read the report HERE.

Last week Dave returned to Cairns to reacquaint himself with the marlin of Cairns during a four-day solo charter with legendary Cairns skipper Capt. Billy Billson on board Viking II.

Fisho today received the following account of the trip:

Fishing at No. 5 Ribbon Reef east of Cooktown on Day One, the weather was kind as the skipper made a course east from Cooktown. Dave soon got to flex his muscles on a few 20kg yellowfin tuna before accounting for a 400lb released black marlin. A great way to start the trip!

Day Two was slow with no bites coming at all, although a nice marlin appeared on a skip bait, but wouldn’t take. Resorting to pitching back a live rainbow runner unfortunately couldn’t entice the marlin to eat.

Things looked up on Day Three of Dave’s charter when he accounted for a nice marlin of over 400lb. 

The final day of Dave’s charter saw Billy Bilson steer Viking II down to the Middle Rainbows. A two knot southerly set pushed the boat there in no time flat to reach one of the skipper’s known big fish waypoints right on top of the tide. Just as the boat made the first turn, there was a spectacular bite and the ocean opened up. Thirty minutes of explosive jumps and a deep dogged fight ensued before the crew had its first 1000-pounder  released for the season. Understandably Dave was over the moon!

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To put the icing on an already great trip, a little more effort produced an, in comparison,  small 200-pounder. Dave had a grin from ear to ear.

As the skipper again steered Viking II over the site of the first large fish encounter, a monster appeared right on cue and engulfed the scaly mackerel bait! After a 45 minute hard fight another true giant appeared on the leader. Billy Billson called it, “one of the largest black marlin I have ever seen, definitely over 1200lbs”.

The second monster fish was released, and understandably Dave was exhausted. No doubt the post catch celebrations were epic….

For info on charters: www.australianmarlin.com

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