Great Barrier Reef 2024 Part One

Great Barrier Reef 2024 Part One:

Hey Sean,

There you go, the first one of the GBR trilogy!!!

This one has no video but the second one will, let me know when you post this and straight away will send other!

Cheers and all the best mate

Duarte

Great Barrier Reef 2024 Part One

As many of you know we have spent the last three weeks fishing Australia´s great Barrier Reef – a very unique area in the Marlin fishing with many similarities to the Bazaruto fishery, including unfortunately having the exact same season (how I wish we could do both every year) and having the biggest Black Marlin in the World.

This was our second tour to the GBR, during that first one we fished on the Tradition and experienced some glorious weather, which is a bit of a rarity on the reef and most of all some superb fishing – although we did not get any really big one the numbers where staggering on fish up to 800 pounds.

That time around Carl Jankowitz had joined us along Loutjie Nel for the last week but unfortunately had to leave after three days due to personal reasons, so we had always planned on a return trip and this was it – not in our wildest dreams could we have expected what was about to unfollow…

You can see pictures and reports from that first GBR trip in 2016 here;

From BAZARUTO to the Great Barrier Reef / Oct 2016 – Part 1

From BAZARUTO to the GBR / Nov 2016 – Part II

It’s a long flight from Vilankulos but after a few days with stopovers in JHB, Sydney and Cairns.

Having experienced the enormous jet lag I gave myself three chilling days in Cairns which I spent exercising (meaning long walks around town), beer drinking, eating some delicious meat and sleeping as much as I could!

How´s that Black Marlin mega sculpture in Cairns – any town that has got to have respect!!!

On the 14th Oct I met up with a Carl and the next morning we flew to Cooktown to board the beautiful 47ft O´Brien Aventum owned by Kevin Hogson who fished Bazaruto on his Big Bob / Quo Vadis operation for the last decade and who had invited is to fish with him on this first week.

A real immaculate fishing machine which was launched as soon as September 2018 and skippered since then by Captain Darren Haydon, better known as Biggles, a legend on the reef with 24 heavy tackle seasons on the GBR under his belt.

In its first season Kevin and Biggles had weighed a 1260-pound fish… we could hardly have known that another fish of such proportion was just a couple days away!!!

On the deck we had two well known South African deckies and good friends;

Divan Coetzee, who needs no introduction to those in the game, doing his 9th season on the reef is in my humble opinion at the very top of his game and with no detriment to so many excellent deckies amongst the very top I have seen in action.

Alongside him Christiaan Kruger from back home and who has been successfully running our second boat IBO at Bazaruto for a few years now and doing his first season on the reef.

Christiaan Kruger with a king mackerel skip bait about to be deployed in Australia´s GBR!!!

The weather was nasty the first day and we chugged out of Cooktown all the way to n.5 Ribbon Reef doing some bait fishing along the way. We did not get much Marlin fishing that afternoon but enough to miss one on the skip bait and raise another on the swim.

The next day, the 17th October dawn was much calmer and we had an epic bait session catching many game fish including some longtail / bluefin tuna, king mackerel, Mac tuna, a double GT strike – which of course not bait but good fun!

Carl and Divan with one of a GT double released while bait fishing…

As we started Marlin fishing, I remembered and was telling the guys that the 17th Oct marked 19 years since Carl had caught his first ever Marlin – that was a 400-pound Black caught on a Pulsator Lure aboard VAMIZI on the last day of the Bazaruto invitational. Since then, we have caught many fish together in Bazaruto and other parts of the World, including a few Granders and many great memories.

It was not long before we hooked one on the swim and Carl got in the chair to release and celebrate the day!

Carl Jankowitz with the first Marlin release for the 2024 GBR Marlin tour

Then the stars aligned and a true dinosaur crashed the short big skip longtail tuna bait – missing it the first time but inhaling it the second time round and we hooked up. Kevin got in the chair and the first time it jumped while looking through my camera and getting these shots I just heard Divan say – lets’ get the gaffs out!

Now let me pause here and mention that although Divan has many sea hours and great fish under his feet but had yet hung one over the mark and if anyone on that boat deserved one it was him!

Well, not even twenty minutes had elapsed and we had the fish next to the boat and what happened in the next few minutes was an experience neither of us will ever forget and once again the stars aligned in a big way for this catch!

Divan took the leader and as Christiaan took the first gaff shot, I put my camera down and went for the second but messed up big time – just then the hook pulled and as anyone knows this is a big disaster in these circumstances as you lose leverage and control over the fish’s head. She was now on our port side but we could not cleat the first gaff and she was just out of reach – eventually another 2 flying gaffs went in but still we could not cleat her and the chaos was insane, there was so much water being thrown around by that massive fish’s propeller that we had salt water all the way to the galley. One gaff come flying out which could have been a disaster but Divan masterclass caught it in the air and it went into the fish again – Biggles come down and also master acted a shot on a swinging hook and all of a sudden, after what seemed an eternity, we had her boat side.

This is what a 1245 lbs Black Marlin looks like, jumping out the water!!!

Loading her was another story altogether and by the time we were cruising all the way to N.9 ribbon reef everyone one was exhausted and adrenaline loaded for the experience of the last half an hour!

We all knew she was over the mark, she was a very long fish with big head and shoulders but it tapered down – hard to guess but a nice one…

Well say that AGAIN!!!

1245 lbs

Kevin Hogson with his 1245 lbs Black Marlin caught aboard the Adventum on the 17th October 2024…

2024 GBR tour Part I – 1245 lbs Black Marlin

Needless to say, the celebrations that night were quite wild and lasted for 2 days!

I also have to put in a word (otherwise I could write a whole book about it) on the meals we had on Adventum, by noon I was already craving whatever was going to come out for dinner seeing every single one was an experience in itself!!!

We had some epic bait fishing sessions for the week and although we caught a few other Marlin for the rest of the week, to be precise 6 to #400 out of 8 bites – it was not fireworks but no one was complaining!!!

…and the GBR tour was far from over!!!

A swim and snorkel on the World´s biggest coral reef before heading out to chase Giant Black Marlin – not a bad way to start the day and stretch those muscles!