BRENT Morehouse is a client from North Carolina in the US who has fished with us for the last 12 years. Brent has caught marlin in excess of 1000 lbs and was the Champion Angler at the 2007 Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic on board Viking II.
Day one with Brent started out from Cairns, arriving at Linden Bank at 10am.
We trolled until 4pm when a marlin stole a scad bait with no hook up. Half an hour later we released a high jumping black marlin of around 250lb. We were in the middle of resetting the baits when a marlin crashed a skipping scaly mackerel. Ten minutes later a 300lb marlin was expertly released in mid air by the crew as it jumped across the boat’s transom.
Day two after chasing bait and some light tackle fishing, which we did every morning, we trolled baits until 3.45pm when a marlin stole a swimming scad. We knew from the start that this was no tiddler, as it broke the surface some hundred metres away. Within twenty minutes we had the fish close and I called it at 1000lbs plus. I also called to Brent to apply “sunset” (max) drag, which he expertly did – due to the possibility of sharks in the area, the call for a quick release was in the marlin’s best interest.
The traditional small party took place that night as boats rafted up to us to congratulate Brent.
Day three we ventured out into 20 plus knots of south east breeze and a three metre swell. It was like a washing machine out of control. Fortunately, after a couple of hours the wind eased and the sea went down. We returned to North Opal reef for the night with only one missed marlin hook up to talk about.
Day four and a high flying 300lb marlin was released at 11am. At 2pm another 300lb twin of the earlier fish was released. At 4pm the crew were watching the towcam on the wide screen when a big marlin stole a scad bait. I simultaneously called the strike from the tower, twenty minutes later our expert angler Brent had a 900lb plus marlin in a position to be released.
Day five was our last day of Brent’s charter, and by 11.30am we had released a 200lb fish. All went quite until 3.50 pm when we became hooked up to a 500lb plus fish, but unfortunately for Brent the hook pulled with the fish only 20m from the boat. That night Bret took the crew to the Cairns Game Fishing Club for dinner to celebrate the seven fish in five days, and another grander for Brent on Viking II.
