Nov 26 – Dec 2
Day 1 dawned dark and dreary, windy and wet, just like the weather had plagued the fleet for the past week. So the decision was made to spend the day behind the reef and we ended up on anchor early enjoying a movie afternoon, over nibblies including fresh fish two ways (ceviche style mackerel and yellowfin carparccio). The next day with the weather coming down the plan was to move over to Flynn Reef before heading out wide to the tuna aggregation and beyond to Flora Reef.
And finally the weather cooperated and we enjoyed some of the best days on the water this year!
We caught a lot of everything (wahoo, dolphin fish, yellowfin, dogtooth), as well as marlin (four blacks and two blues). A highlight was a nice big one on dusk for Jason – which gave him a real tough fight for the almost hour and a half it took to get her to the back of the boat. He managed to get the peg mark onto the rod several times, but each time she managed to take it back again. But the last time, there was no giving in, taking it bit by bit, half turn by half turn, Jase finally got her to the back of the boat so that Dingo could retrieve his Oskie Rice made lure (I won’t even tell you what happened to another of his most precious lures!) at the side of the boat for the release. The boys were great backseat drivers (winders?) but I think each and every one of them was glad it was Jason in the chair for that fish. And the good news, he could still move pretty good the next day! Congratulations Jase!
Vic was our designated tuna man and Glen caught the beauty of the trip — flat calm seas, blue sky, cover shot material – and it will be with a one of Kelly’s photos of his fish featured on the cover of the January issue of BlueWater magazine (above – Glen’s cover fish!) And Scotty caught both blues, which in true blue style took off leaving him with a lot of winding to get them back to the boat. Lots of practice for blue marlin on the Gold Coast huh Scotty!
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