Then we have a full barra fishing season ahead fishing both north and south of Weipa on the Ducie, Wenlock and Archer Rivers for the mighty barramundi until late June when KEKOA will return to Cairns to gear up for the marlin season ahead. Last year we were lucky enough to get some bluewater fishing in in the gulf and caught several marlin and sailfish as well, so hopefully 2012 will be a repeat of that too.

Some shots from 2011 and the tenders in action in the gulf:

In August, KEKOA heads to Townsville for the light tackle marlin season and a chance to defend our title at the Townsville Billfish Challenge. Then we return to Cairns in September for some more light tackle marlin fishing before transitioning to heavy tackle giant black marlin fishing at the end of September through to December.

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

26th Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic
20-27 October 2012

• Calcutta Briefing Saturday 20th October
• Fish Sunday 21 October through Saturday 27 October
• Presentation Dinner Saturday 27 October, 2012.

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

Our Cairns Marlin Fishing – Giant Black Marlin Season 2011 DVD is now available. If you have fished with us, or are interested in fishing with us, please email Kelly with your mailing for your free copy of the DVD via the contact form on this page.

The DVD features 9 highlight clips from the 2011 Cairns marlin fishing season as well as 5 bonus clips from 2010. It is available in PAL and NTSC versions.

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

KEKOA has just returned from a wonderful four day trip on the reef. It was our first trip since December when the Cairns marlin fishing season ended, and what a great way to welcome the new year with a couple of marlin!

The weather conditions were perfect with the ocean like glass for most of the trip and we enjoyed some island hopping with lunch at Green Island on the way out and spent two days inshore sport fishing around the reefs – catching plenty of good eating fish such as Spanish mackerel, wahoo and yellowfin tuna. In the middle, we did an overnight trip out wide to Flora Reef and released two blue marlin for first time angler George.

More photos from our trip

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

We finished up our Cairns Giant Black Marlin season on December 21, a late season trip with Frank, Nathen, Daniel and Murphy from the UK. Although the marlin fishing was tough this late in the year, Frank was able to achieve his goal of a marlin just moments before cease fishing (the bite actually came as we were winding them in for the day).

This put us at 77 marlin for the 2011 season (which also included 5 blue marlin). By all accounts, 2011 was the best season in many years and we were happy to be able to catch quality fish for our clients all the way through. There were also a lot of big fish around this year with fish over 700lbs for each of our guests during the main season. And we also had several days of good numbers, (we had 8 four marlin days this year) which is a huge improvement on the conditions of the last couple of years.

So many highlights this year – to mention just a few:

• Firstly Jason Hassett, who marked our first grander black marlin of 2011 on October 10th (this is on the same day we raised two more quality fish, an 800lb-er and a 600lb-er for Jason’s mate Bomber who accompanied Jason to the reef for the first time in 2011). This fish was Jason’s third grander class black marlin in his 3 years of fishing with us. He is a machine in the chair and is awesome sight to watch, never giving up and putting in his best effort to get the fish to the boat and released as quickly as possible (the video is here).

  Jason also brought his son Josh along for his first marlin fishing experience a little later in the year and Josh was quick to mark his very first marlin too. Josh and Jason put together this video of the trip and Josh’s first marlin.
  

• Richard, Michael and Chase from North Carolina enjoyed one of the best week’s fishing of the year. They went home with wide smiles and as Richard says, ‘Had a very large time’ with 10 marlin in 6 days of fishing including some very big fish at 950lbs+, 900lbs, 800lbs and 650lbs as well as some energetic medium range fishing on standup tackle. Richard first fished with Luke when he was a youngster working on deck and it was great to have him on board with us again after such a long time!
• And who can forget the trip with Ja-ja, Jacques, Eric and Kevin from New Caledonia who released 4 marlin in a day twice during their trip including some spectacular double headers. These boys know how to have fun and were an absolute pleasure to have on board. And the fish seemed to have fun too. One of the more energetic and exciting fish has made it onto the cover of the January issue of BlueWater magazine – Kelly’s second KEKOA fish cover in the two years. Check it out here.
• One of our last trips of the season, with Scott and Ian from Brisbane, was a highlight for big fish but also for a spectacular bite and almost triple header (we successfully released two of the three including a 1000lb-er) that was watched in real time by everyone on board.  Big boil on the stinger, twang on the rigger as the scad comes out almost immediately after and then the massive out-of-the-water bite of a 1000lb fish on the big bait on the left — one that we’ll remember for a very long time!
• We also put many GBR first timers onto some big fish: Cas 800lbs, Colin 700lbs, Kevin 700lbs, Roger 800lbs, Chase 950 & 900lbs, as well as some  for some many-year veterans including Jason 1000lbs and 750lbs, Brendan 850lbs, Richard 800lbs, Scott 1000lbs & 850lbs, Kent 850lbs and KEKOA owner Scotty Taylor’s biggest fish to date at 950lbs+.
• Our light tackle tournament win in the Townsville Billfish Challenge was a particular highlight for Capt. Luke marking his first win in his hometown comp. What made the win even more special was the fact that tournament major sponsor Mike Carney, who has fished with Capt. Luke for many years, won also for the first time since he began sponsoring the event close to 25 years ago!

Goodbye 2011 – and here’s to another wonderful 2012! We’re putting together our calender for 2012 now. If you’d like to join us on the reef this year, please don’t hesitate to contact us – we’d love to welcome you on board!

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

Read the Article–>Heavy Tackle Fishing on the GBR

The Cairns marlin fishery is one of just a few locations around the world where giant black marlin are known to be present in numbers. In 2011, over 20 grander class black marlin were caught on this part of the reef by the entire charter boat fleet.

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

Ingredients:

• 1 freshly caught, reef fish
• fresh garlic, minced
• fresh ginger, finely grated
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 orange, sliced
• 2 shallots, sliced diagonally
• 1/3 cup light soy sauce
• 3 tbs peanut oil

1. Take the cleaned and de-scaled fish and place on a rack in a baking dish filled with 1 cm water for steaming.
2. Use the olive oil to lightly oil the skin and then season with salt and pepper.
3. Put the minced garlic and ginger inside the gut cavity.
4. Layer the slided citrus (alternate lemon/orange) inside the cavity all the way up inside the head.
5. Bake for around  45 mins in 180c oven. (When cooked, flesh should easily flake away. Slightly under-baking is better as the peanut oil will further cook the fish.)
6. Place fish on serving tray.
7. Sprinkle with shallots and pour over about one third cup light soy sauce.
8. As the finale pour over the very hot oil to blanche the skin.

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

600g boneless, skinless mackerel or barramundi fillets
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 small brown onion, grated
3/4 cup fresh wholegrain breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons baby capers, drained
olive oil cooking spray

Method
1. Preheat barbecue plate on medium heat. Place fish in a food processor. Use the pulse button to process until roughly chopped. Add parsley and pine nuts. Process until just combined.
2. Transfer fish mixture to a large bowl. Add onion, breadcrumbs, parmesan, egg and capers. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
3. Shape fish mixture into 12 patties and barbecue for 3 to 4 minutes each side or until cooked through.
Serve on freshly made wholegrain bread-buns with salad and home-made tartar sauce.

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

If you are interested in some time at the top end and would like some more information please contact us now. We’d love to have you join us on board!

Capt Luke's 130cm barra in the Gulf in 2008

Weipa is known as the barramundi capital of Queensland and will be our launching pad into the more remote areas of the Gulf including as far as the McDonald river to the north and the Kendall and Holroyd Rivers to the south, including the mighty Wenlock and Ducie rivers. This time of year, coming after the wet, is a truly magical time to fish this region. And the weather is mostly perfect.

In addition to the fabulous barramundi fishing, the rivers produce an array of other sportfish including, Mangrove Jack, Salmon, Fingermark, Estuary Cod, Tarpon, not to mention tasty mud crabs. The nearby reefs and shoals are an amazing light tackle sport fishery, home to tuna, mackeral, queenfish and large mouth nannygai and fingermark. Walk the beaches targeting Golden and Giant Trevally and the elusive Permit. The sailfishing potential is also mostly unexplored.

Fly-in, fly-out from Weipa – only a one hour flight from Cairns. Arrive on board in the afternoon for an evening departure which puts you on the best spot for a start to fishing the very first morning.

With KEKOA 56 providing fully airconditioned luxurious comfort as mothership, fishing is from two 4metre fiberglass tenders. Maximum of 4 anglers as groups or on a per person basis.

Some images from KEKOA’s 2011 Gulf Season

Some images from KEKOA’s 2010 Gulf Season

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.

The juvenile black marlin grounds off Townsville and the Gold Coast are great options for light tackle specialists or for novices looking for a lot of fun.  KEKOA spends the winter months, July through September, in sunny North Queensland chasing the juvenile black marlin, sailfish, as well as an abundance of other sport fish and pelagic species such as spanish mackerel.

Meanwhile, Port Stephens is recognised as one of Australia’s most picturesque and action packed fisheries. Blue, black and striped marlin are all prolific in these waters. And in the winter, the waters of the Gold Coast also offer good medium to heavy tackle fishing for striped and blue marlin.

For more details, see our charter options.

• Cairns/Cooktown/Lizard Island
• Townsville
• Gold Coast
• Port Stephens

Australian Marlin Fishing

KEKOA is custom built for the Cairns Giant Black Marlin heavy tackle season, KEKOA’s 56 foot design integrates luxury, quality and comfort to cater for all your individual charter experiences.

- Live aboard & Day Trips

• Cairns giant black marlin
• Heavy / Light tackle fishing East Coast of Australia
• Black, blue and striped marlin, sailfish, tuna, mahi mahi, wahoo and more
• Private and personalized charter specialists
• Swim and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef
• Holiday at some of Australia’ most picturesque and remote locations
• Corporate team building adventures

On KEKOA we offer anglers the ultimate in comfort and fishing platform combined to make your trip a truly memorable one.

The KEKOA experience:

Our cook/hostess Kelly offers our guests great meals that include the best local seafood and quality Australian beef. We trust you’ll enjoy the menu – and you certainly will not go home hungry!

During the Cairns Giant Black Marlin Season you can enjoy a snorkel or swim after breakfast and sport fishing for bait and the table, before heading out to the marlin grounds – a short trip of a matter of a few minutes.

At night, enjoy socialising and unwinding while reviewing the days footage over the selection of Australian beer, wine & soft drinks provided. KEKOA is fully equipped with cockpit and tow cameras to record all the fishing action on video. Kelly is an avid photographer and captures some truly awesome still photographs as well (see more of Kelly’s pictures in the photo galleries). You’ll leave with not only great memories of a fantastic trip, but some great video and photographic evidence as well all copied for you onto DVD.

© KEKOA Sports Fishing 2012. Content including images not to be reproduced in any form without permission.