LOCATION:  Australia, QLD, Townsville, Cape Bowling Green & Wider Reefs. On board Reel Chase with Cpt. Jim Dalling. Angling team: Ken & Gary Douglas, John Polson and Coach Anne Dalling.

BACKGROUND…

A photo story written in late 2004 for a Fishing Website featuring game (black marlin) fishing.  There were three specific tasks within the story brief; test a new rod and reel combination - attempt to explain the scoring system used by game anglers – and attempt to catch a black marlin on a light tackle spinning rig…  We had sophisticated digital SLR cameras on board but (ironically) the three best marlin pictures of this trip were taken on a little Pentax ‘point and shoot’.

THE STORY…

It had long been my ambition - to catch a marlin on a spinning reel.  Light tackle – switch & pitch – all adds to the adrenalin rush of catching these wonderful fish… but I’m getting ahead of the story! Click any one of the thumbnails (below) to enlarge, then scroll. More photos under ‘Continue Reading’

In September of each year the Townsville Game Fishing Club holds its Billfish Challenge.  This is held in the reef areas east of Cape Bowling Green which, at this time of the year, has a world wide reputation for its numbers of juvenile black marlin and sailfish.

A few years ago Captain Jim Dalling (then skipper of Orca) created a world record catch of 32 black marlin tagged and released IN ONE DAY!  “Marlin come in waves” says Jim…  Huh? Really?  We left the Marina at 0700 on September 28 – headed east – where else?

Reel Chase is 18 metres or 55′ in length and cruises (!) at 32 knots – so – even with pausing to catch live bait we had set the teaser patterns and started trolling by 1100.

The plan was to run two “daisy chains” of teasers, skip baits off each rigger and hookless lures off each flat corner.  When the marlin enter the pattern – the teasers and hookless lures would be retrieved and whoever was on strike would grab a spin rod…

and pitch a pre-rigged live bait – according to JIm’s directions – over a loudspeaker from the tower.  Simple really… NOT!

This picture shows the two spin rods racked above the live bait wells on each beam gunnel – I’ll go into some detail here because one was the boat rig – and the other a rig I wanted to test.  The boat rig was a Penn SpinFisher 9500SS on a 7′ 10-15kg Ugly Stick – the test rig was an Okuma Epix EB80 on an OuterMark Topaz 7′ 8-12kg rod.  We had sold dozens of Epix in the previous 2 years – and fished with them often – but never really given the drag systems a serious work out.  The new Topaz rods had quickly earned a huge reputation – but were they really just like – or as good as – an Ugly Stick?

So – where was I?  11:00am and trolling – OK…
Somebody once said that game fishing is 95% boredom – and 5% sheer bedlam…

This day the bedlam started early – and to give you some feeling of the atmosphere on the back deck – I’m going to use some “team talk” – an international scoring system for game fishing based on 3 numbers – much like the Australian Football League – but easier to calculate!

1-1-1 means; 1 marlin raised into the pattern of lures, 1 marlin hooked, 1 marlin caught or (in our case) tagged & released – unharmed.

So – again… it’s 11:00am and trolling – OK…

I’m not going to subject you to the above level of detail for each of the following 4 days – a summary will have to do.

Day 2 started with a lot of promise – the first marlin into the pattern within half an hour of getting the teaser pattern set…  It checked out each of the hookless lures – and we got the pitch bait right on its nose – but nothing…

By 1100am we had raised 6 marlin and 1 sailfish – hooked up on 3 of them – and tagged NONE.  The score was now a much less impressive 21-12-7.

Someone had slipped a hooked Halco LaserPro into the pattern – and when a very impressive spanish mackeral nailed it – we decided to take the afternoon off – and ‘go fishin’.
Into the freezer went the ‘spaniard’ – 14 nannagai, 2 golden snapper – but not the large red emperor – which Anne served that night with her famous mango and chilli sauce.  Hard life really – 50 miles offshore – anchored up in a tranquil reef lagoon – and demolishing piles of 5 star food and very good wine!

But the score was still 21-12-7.

Day 3 was spent trolling for mackeral.  Lots of spaniards – straight into the food freezer – and lots of shark mackerel which make good skip baits for marlin – ready for next month’s heavy tackle season start at Lizard Island.

We had a very impressive production line working.  Deckie Wade cleaning and filleting – the rest of us bagging and packing into the freezer.

Day 4 – and we decided to tow lures as we returned to the marlin grounds.  The mackeral bite was so hot – they were belting the lures before we reset the pattern!  By the time we changed over to the teaser pattern we had 15 spanish mackeral and 8 shark mackeral in the freezer.

And very sore arms…

The pitch baiting began quite early – with 2 marlin coming up to look us over – we failed to hook either of them.  Things began to improve when we hooked each of the next 4 – and although Garry dropped his right at the boat – we managed to tag and release the other 3.

Not a bad score for the day at 6-4-3 – and as we returned to Cape Bowling Green for our final night – the total was 27-16-10.

Day 5 was to be our final day – and dawned very crappy.  Rain squalls and big seas – but we set the teaser pattern and got on with it.  At 1000am on the dot – the first marlin for the day raced into the pattern – jumped onto one of the skip baits – Ken set the hooks – and had the fish to the boat – tagged and released in less than 20 seconds!

The first marlin for the day?  Yes – well, it was also the last marlin for the day.  Ken would remind us (over and bloody over) that he had achieved the only perfect score for the day at 1-1-1.

We arrived back at Townsville with the score for the 3 (marlin) days at 28-18-11.

Nine of the marlin had been caught on spin – and 8 of them on my OuterMark Topaz rod and the Okuma Epix EB80 reel.  Both were very impressive – the rod performed every bit as well as the Ugly Stik next to it – and when the boys stripped down the Epix to check for drag damage – not a mark – they just changed the grease – and it’s back in action already.  There were two advantages to the Epix over the SpinFisher – the Epix was much faster in retrieve than the SpinFisher – but perhaps more importantly (given that we always use circle hooks) the Epix has very positive (infinite?) anti-reverse which resulted in much smoother hook-ups.  We never lost a marlin after hook-up on the Epix – whilst we pulled the hooks on several with the SpinFisher’s “clunky” back lash.

Ken now has the rod in his collection in Melbourne and has just sent me a cheque for his own Epix – so that would seem to be the ultimate test!

Personal scores?  3 each for Ken, Gavan and me – and Garry got 2 – no one was complaining – and we all needed new eskis to get the mackerel and reddies home – thanks Qantas!

Reel Chase and Captain Jim Dalling were – as always – 110% – and it was fantastic to have Anne out of retirement for the week.

Wade the deckie has settled in well – and now at just 18 is no longer the young tackle rat who used to hang around the shop – a very impressive young man.

The following week Reel Chase went on to win the Townsville Billfish Tournament – with 12 marlin tagged and released.  One lousy fish better than us!

Anne also won the Individual Award for Best Angler!

That’s our Coach!

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PRODUCTION NOTES:

It will come as no surprise that those three marlin pictures found their way onto my office wall – which also might explain the ridiculous ‘buff’ background colour!  There have been several of these produced – each with different background colours – and with a different set of cameo pictures at the bottom!  I know of four people claiming to have caught this particular marlin!  The frame size (on my version) is 100 cm tall x 58 cm wide – or 40″ x 23″ – but can be altered to fit any dimensions and any frame choice.  An enlargement of this Story Board can be viewed here. 

BACKGROUND…
A photo story that could have gone horribly wrong… A successful fishing story which was written in 2000 for Australia’s glossy Blue Water Magazine – and featured in several newspaper Lifestyle sections – but which ultimately depended on a collection of other peoples’ amateur photographs.  Be assured – we now use sophisticated digital SLRs (with back-up provisions!) but the point of this story is to illustrate how even amateur photographs can be used in attractive professionally designed displays.  More in production notes below…

THE STORY…

Sure – I’ve fished a bit over the last couple of years – and religiously carried my rod tube (on business trips – as you do) through all of the Asia Pacific region – caught a few – but nothing to write home about – until this one…

It was to be a “thank you” gesture to my son’s Year 6 teacher and Under 12 cricket coach – an impressive young bloke who went way beyond what even this “picky” parent would expect of anyone. Every kid should have an Andrew Philp in their lives…

Click any one of the thumbnails (below) to enlarge, then scroll. More photos under ‘Continue Reading’

Andrew had never been Marlin fishing before – and neither had Colin Dobbie (another TSS father – with an unfortunate Scots accent) and Chris Hurst (my children’s step-father).

Also along on the trip was Ken Douglas – a Melbourne Copper who has been my marlin fishing coach for 3 or 4 years – knows his subject well – but can’t be trusted in a double hookup – always ends up with the fish. Even the ones that start off on MY rod! He can get from the tuna tower to a screaming reel faster than me – with a full glass – and not spill a drop. And he’s bigger than me – much bigger than me.

s always we chartered Jim Dalling’s ORCA – at varying times of the year Jim works between Lizard Island and the Gold Coast – and he’s forgotten more about marlin fishing than most skippers will ever learn. His wife told me that – and any one who has fished with Anne knows better than to argue.

We left Marina Mirage at 0700 (which always seems a lot earlier than 7am) and headed South East from the Seaway to the 24 fathom line East of the Tweed bar – trolling a pattern of lures for bait – with no takers.

Finally found the bait schools and spent a couple of hours filling the tanks with some very large scalies and yellow tail – and then we went fishing.  Don’t know why – because it was only 0900 – and we’ve never caught a marlin before noon. Obviously the little TwinFisher near us lacked this level of experience – they had two (about 150 lbs) tagged and released – and their bait tanks replenished by 1130. Even the bottom basher cruise nearby had one on for quite a while… Just goes to show how stupid marlin are – a perfectly good game boat with all the latest gear in the vicinity – and they jump onto the paternosters! Go figure.

So we get the cameras ready. We had LOTS of cameras. Old reliable cameras.  I had previously carried my little “you beaut” compact Pentax – 70 to140 zoom – automatic everything – fits in the shirt pocket – no hassle to carry – little pain in the arse.  Fish jumping all over the horizon – point camera – press button – auto focus leaps into action – and 20 minutes later takes a perfectly focused picture of a hole in the ocean.  Roll after roll – trip after trip – holes in the @#$%ing ocean!

But this time was to be different.  I’d dusted off a trusty old Canon AE1 – cleaned the crap off the lenses – polished the UV filter – and chased a couple of spiders out of the winding mechanism.  It once spent a couple of hours at the bottom of St Hilda’s pool – so a little salt spray wasn’t going to worry it.  Uncoupled the motor drive and checked the “through the lens” metering – working like a bought one – loaded it. Manually set the ASA rating – and switched off ALL auto facilities – this time we were going “hands on.” Chris had the best long lens (he pays retail) so he was in charge of long shots – I was to do the wide stuff – standard, idiot proof 55mm.

Then it was time to set the strike roster.  With this particular group of egos and prima donnas – one had to be very careful. Andrew was the guest of honor – he goes first – no arguments.  Chris & Colin could toss a coin for 2nd & 3rd – Colin has the more dominant (read – pushy) personality so no need for a coin – a Scot with a coin?  Ken would go next – to allow me to take the pictures.  Everybody happy?  It’s nearly noon – time to get ready…

I helped Andrew into my harness and belt.  Not a difficult task?  Well – actually – yes.  We are different shapes you see – and considerable adjustments were required… he lacks the advantage of my lower centre of gravity!  I put my camera strap around my neck and headed for the ladder – honest!

And then – right on cue (well – actually 15 minutes late) Jim shouted “Marlin in the spread” – and Flat 3 went off – big time.  Andrew headed for the rod.  Jim (again) “…and there’s a shark after it.”  I kept heading for the ladder – trust me!  Two hands on the rail – one foot on the first step.  Left rigger goes off – right under my armpit…

So – what would YOU have done?  Andrew’s busy with his marlin – Chris and Colin are upstairs talking about whatever City Council executives talk about on their day off (not an awful lot presumably) – and (for once in his life) Ken was nowhere to be seen.

I ripped the camera off and shouted for someone to take it – someone did – I grabbed the rod – hit the lever – set the hook – and gave it plenty.  The toilet flushes – Ken emerges – “how come Andrew’s got your camera and you’ve got his fish?”  Andrew?  My camera? Oh – Shit!  Andrew says “We can swap – we can swap – the marlin’s gone – I’m all belted up…”  It’s a bit hard to explain IGFA rules when you’re tied on to the shaky end of a very pissed off hammerhead…  Ken was VERY helpful – announcing to the now gathered ship’s company that HE would take the photos – just in case it was the day’s only fish…

He also said some unkind things about me once (a while ago) taking a large chunk of a 5 day charter to subdue a 700lb bronze whaler – but I wasn’t listening.  It was actually 1.5 hours – but this one was only a baby – and 10 minutes later we tagged and released a 150lb hammerhead – and one (very) embarrassed host mumbled apologies to his guest – and exiled himself to the upper deck – swearing never to return until everyone else had caught a marlin.

Big call?

So – I settled in upstairs – checked the cameras – and wondered why Ken had only taken one picture of my struggle with the little shark – but Jim interrupts the thought process… “marlin in the spread – a good one.”  Deckie (Steve) lifts Flat 2 and points – freespool – freespool – gently eases up the drag – little more – little more – fish coming up – little more drag… It didn’t jump – it just oozed upwards – 20 meters back – up – up – then sideways – through the lines – knit 3 – perl 4 – 250/300 lbs skimming sideways.  MAGIC pictures – click – wind – click – wind…

Andrew’s clipped in and doing everything dead right – Ken by his side – coaching – cajoling.  Steve has the tag pole at port arms – lurking.  Jim backing down – walking sideways – black smoke – deisel fumes – click – wind – click – wind… and the marlin had read all the right magazines…  posed against the Gold Coast horizon – working the light angles like a super model.  MAGIC pictures – did I say that before?  And never more than 50 meters out – so I shouted to Chris to concentrate on Andrew – get the face shots – I had plenty of good fish pix.

Andrew, by now, had been at it for 45 minutes and was starting to look a lot unlike the fitness freak you would expect a private school sports master to be – decidedly shop soiled… Ken reaches over and eases up the drag – just a little – and calls for a big final effort – in VFL talk.  Two Melbournians together – one nearly dead – the other full of bullshit – and they’re talking football?  Or what they delude themselves with as football.

But it seems to work.  Steve lunges – tag in – Rob (2nd deckie) gets wraps – Ken leans over and eases off the drag – click – wind – everybody – click – wind – fish continues to pose – big smile – circle hook – nice and clean in the corner jaw.  Cut – splash – gone.  Andrew’s first marlin – 280lb!  High fives all round – slapped backs – huge rum and ginger beer – more dark than stormy – all that silly stuff…

While the 2 virgins and the newly converted game fisherman are doing all the emotional stuff inside – the two old hands (well… Ken and I) are knowingly sharing a rum on the deck – reliving our own first times (and emotions).  “Didja get the pitchers?” “Yup – magic ones – (checking) – 28 on a roll of 24 – pretty cool huh?”  “Better change the film now – shouldn’t push my luck.”

New baits out – rum stowed – I’m back “up top” changing the film – Chris is in the cabin also reloading – Colin is on strike – and Ken’s giving him some pre-race tips – confusing him no doubt… Jim calls “Marlin on right rigger – and Marlin on flat 2.”

Right rigger screams – Deckie grabs it and sets the hook – huge birdsnest! – sorts that out and buckles Colin in – rod pops out of bucket – and for a moment Colin forgets that it’s an overhead – can’t get it going with his left hand – finally gets it reseated right way up in the bucket – and gets a tight line back – and looks for help – help? – they’re all busy…

While Steve was introducing Colin to a little light bondage – Flat 2 went off – far too close to Ken. But Ken – being the most experienced of all of us – knew instinctively that this was a false alarm – one greedy fish taking two baits – right?  Crashed the drag all the way up to sunset – grabbed the rod – and whacked it several times – HARD – to break the line and give the fish back to Colin.  Always a generous soul, Ken. Smart too – he quickly figured out that the fish jumping madly towards him was probably not the same one that he could see galloping across the waves towards the Surfers skyline.

“Chris! Put down that (bleep) camera and get here – you’re on!”  Jim – of course – had figured all this out ages ago – and by the time Chris took up the slack line (and Ken got his bucket buckled) – Jim had Orca’s starboard aft quarter within 20 meters of the fish’s freckle.

Now – your photographer (he with plenty of pictures already – magic ones) was vaguely aware that he was the only one still holding a camera – but frankly I was enjoying the whole scene below far too much to want a view finder obscuring the view…

Oh sure – I did snap a couple of Chris’ marlin desperately trying to escape the demon Dalling reversing down on him – and a couple of Colin looking over his shoulder – trying to figure out why he was being ignored – and 1 or 2 of his fish trying to attract his captor’s attention with some quite amazing acrobatics – but I already had all that good stuff in the can. I did however start shooting again when things started to get REALLY funny.

The combined efforts of Chris on the reel and Jim on the helm had quickly closed the gap between fish and fisherman – Rob (2nd deckie) wanted to try his hand/s on the trace – Steve was arguing that point when he sunk the tag home – tag pole was a straight down vertical shot – fish came up to meet it – right up – and (just like in the song) shook itself about – and then down (where else?).

No problem with any of this – except that no one had told Chris that when the deckie “had wraps” – to back off the drag… It was a remarkably quick release! – and Steve went off at Chris almost as loud as the rod snapping – until he probably realised who had done the earlier first-timers’ briefing.  He quickly regained his composure – and moved over to see how Colin was going.  Chris was left holding a recently customised “2 piece” 24kg rod – and a tag card which told him he had just caught his first marlin – 150lbs in slightly less than 5 minutes.

How was Colin going? Colin wasn’t going anywhere.  By now he had about 100 meters out – straight down.  His fish – obviously miffed by the total lack of attention – went deep – and stayed there for quite a while. And – for a while Colin performed as the front row forward he recently was.  But – as the shoulders drooped and the knees buckled – he started to speak pure Orstrailian for the first time in his life.  He was still holding the rod when Jim managed to plane the fish back to the surface – but was quickly losing interest in the job at hand.

There followed an interesting joint venture between him and a still fresh – still belted up Chris – but Chris couldn’t have contributed much – because Colin got the tag card.  His first marlin – 200lbs – 25 mins.  According to Colin at the last brown ale – it took 2.5 hours!

So it’s 4-3-3 and Ken is on strike.  I put away the camera – we had already negotiated a quiet little deal (so long as I kept quiet about it) that he could use some of Andrew’s (magic) pictures. Hell – I’ve used some of Ken’s in the past – he gets better looking holes in the ocean than I do.  We’ve fished the back deck together many times – and know how to keep out of each others space – and I knew something no one else knew – he had his lucky underpants on… and marlin #4 was just around…

Flat 3 screamed – wrong – it purred – since Chris’s little accident it had turned into a beautiful Tiagra 50W on a new custom 24kg rod.  I had noticed Ken sneak it out of the private rack earlier – but said nothing – I was up next!  Back to the action.  No pansy harness for Ken – he’s a big lad – and he probably wouldn’t have bothered with a belt either – except that his underpants – whilst lucky – were also SILK – and very, very thin.  So I buckled him up – and left the master to his craft.  Actually Jim did all the work – positioned the boat beautifully – few lazy winds of the Tiagra – bit of encouragement from me – beautiful tag shot and wire work from Steve – and Ken had the gall to claim his 26th marlin. 200lbs in 10 mins.  Hah – big deal!

Now it’s 5.4.4 (and don’t forget the shark) – it’s also 1600 – and it’s my turn on strike.  I’m already in the harness – but it’s going to take a while to re-size the straps – quick check to see that the Tiagra is still there – he’s a sneaky bugger – and knows I hate Penns.  20 minutes pass – nothing.  Nada.  Zip. Quietest period of the day… “Think you’d better borrow my lucky underpants brother” – “No thanks, but a rum might do it” – as a waiter he makes a good policeman – but he did go and get 2 very serious rums.  While Ken was getting the drinks, I noticed that both deckies were starting their clean up routine – and were not watching me – I managed to reposition Flat 3 and slip in (my own) TLD2-30 rigged with 50 – and slide in a Pakula Cockroach – back about 25 meters.  Drinks arrive – one big gulp and back to adjusting the straps – never did get that finished…

My TLD went off first – big squeal – just started easing up the drag – and the Tiagra goes off – Jim yells, “Two bloody big Wahoo” – so I back off the drag – hoping mine would run wide – don’t know where that came from – never caught a Wahoo before.  Just started thinking about what I’d read of their hit and run ability – when CRACK!  Oh… Shit – no it’s OK – I’m still tight and still losing line fast.  Things have gone very quiet to my left however – with Ken holding the blunt end of an 80lb Sampo swivel – shattered at the bearings.  There IS a God – and I have his GPS location!

So – down to work – get this thing in – pull up the little lever – easy – slowed him right down – turn him round – done – start winding – jeeeez this is too easy.  Apart from swinging wide – hard – both sides – he behaves rather well – not at all like the books say.  The arcs decrease and pretty soon he’s just out of gaff range – which, when you think about it, is abso-bloody-lutely nowhere… Steve leans out to test the gaff length – the Wahoo catches on immediately – and in a poomteenth of a second is 105 meters due East.  That’s 100 meters of line – plus the beam of ORCA – I’m now sprawled – none too elegantly – over the opposite gunwale.  All that on 16lbs of drag?  The books are right – this is a serious fish.  10 minutes later – Steve pushed me (not too gently) aside – and lunged with the gaff.  It’s as well that he connected first swing – I couldn’t have got it back in – a third time. But I didn’t tell them that.  Ken administered last rites – the deckies got fresh baits out – and I finished the rum.  Then we fought about the size of the Wahoo – and I won – I’m writing this! 40 lb – wall to wall sashimi.

And when we cut the fillets up into five show bags – no one was arguing.  I then had the first mental block of the day – just as I threw the frame over the transom – I recalled the Malaysian lady I met a few weeks ago – at a wonderful Curried Fish Head dinner – Bugger!

We trolled for another 30 minutes – and then pulled the pin.  Hoisted four brag flags and headed North for the Seaway and back to Marina Mirage by 1800.  There WAS some mention – on the way back – about who caught what – and who was the only one not to catch a marlin – but they were quite restrained – they knew that I was the one with the photos – and they knew they were magic.  So we adjourned to the British Pub to discuss topics of common concern – the deckie’s consistent under-estimation of fish sizes – by as much as 50% (it was getting late – early!) – why they don’t have brag flags for shark and wahoo? – and how quickly could we get the photographs processed?

Chris and I put our films together and all 5 rolls went in at 1000 on Sunday – and I was there waiting at 1100 when 4 rolls came back.  “Mr Polson – you must have given us an unused roll by mistake – we didn’t notice it until we finished printing them.  If it was any one less experienced with a camera than you – we would suggest that they had missed the take-up spool completely”.

Ferchrissake don’t tell Ken – I’ve put these pictures up – just to save face.  The other 4 rolls had some reasonable shots – some almost excellent – but none of them magic…

Not even a hole in the @#$%ing ocean!

PRODUCTION NOTES…

Serious game fisherman – NEVER kill the marlin. They do however lust after that perfect photograph! On this trip we caught four marlin (a pretty good day -  even in this part of the world) but no photographs – except the scruffy efforts above… The only thing we could do, as a momento of the day, was to produce 5 photo-story boards – using smaller prints of the above ‘happy snaps.’ Those story boards measure (including frame) 1000mm x 600mm – or 40″ x 24″ (for you non-metric types.  A perfect compromise solution for an embarrassing problem, they look stunning on the wall. 

We have been asked to do many more of them since!  Prices vary depending on frame size and the numer of photos…