Final Day Results from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Heres the 3rd & Final Days Stats from the Gilbert's in Mexico

Day 3 - LOTS-6-4

Overall Stats: 131-20-13

On the final day of the tournament Greg has reported that they saw in excess of 70 fish in which they hooked 6 & tagged 4 and although there were large amounts of fish seen, fishing was still very quiet compared to Mexican standards as the water temperature had been lower then usual.

Even though they didnt get a lot of fish, Greg said, that it was without question the most exciting marlin fishin he has ever done. You sight the fish's tails in the water, drive over to them and throw liveys at them!!

The winning team were all Cabo locals who finished the comp with a total of 57 fish for the 3 days

We look forward to the full report & photos upon there arrival back...Time to get into those $ 10.00 buckets of Corona's now!

Thanks also to Nikki Gilbert for sending through the updates!!

2008 World Championship Billfish Release Tournament Update

As everyone knows, well known TGFC Members & Sponsors, Jan & Greg Gilbert are currently fishing the 2008 World Championship Billfish Release Tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Thanks to there Daughter, Nikki please find following the first 2 days results:-

Day 1 Skeds - 25-0-0 - Greg advised that the first day was extremely slow & claimed that it was very frustrating seeing so many fish without results

Day 2 Skeds - 36-14-9 - Day 2 saw the Aussies put some points on the scoreboard with Greg advising that the Cabo Stiped Marlin are very different fighters compared to our North Queensland Black Marlin.

Greg also advised that they were having a fantastic time meeting the American & Mexican anglers and was also excited that they could buy a bucket of 10 x Corona's for the total amount of $10.00, BARGAIN!!!

Stay tuned for the 3rd & final days results as they come to hand

Good Weather + Bait = Billfish

With the offshore weather forecast predicting winds of 5-10 knots on Saturday, a few Townsville Game Fishing members did not hesitate to take advantage of the very unusually seen oily conditions and made the trip down to Bowling Green Bay in search of some early season Billfish. With boats welcomed by ‘football field’ sized pilchard and yakka’s schools it wasn’t long before that live bait tanks were fall and the lines were in the water. With the temperature gauge showing the water temp of 25.4 degrees and the water colour cleaner then what it has been all year, our
expectations were high and it wasn’t long before Anthony Florence aboard Flo-tation advised us that they had just raised a little 8-10kg Black Marlin but was not able to get a bite out of it. As you would imagine after that report of a sighting the excitement continued to build and it was only 30 mins later that we spotted a little black marlin cart wheeling at the back of Flo-tation and after a short fight Anthony’s fist punched the air a couple of times after successfully putting a tag into it.

Throughout the day we witnessed several free jumping marlins around the boat which all averaged between the 7-8 kg mark. With the fish being so small, we were finding it very difficult to hook them because of there size.

With a quiet period over lunch it was about 2pm before the bait started forming again as the Pilchard schools started glittering across the surface it wasn’t long before we noticed Mick Meiers aboard the 40ft Riviera ‘Rose Red’ reversing back on Roxanne Hislop fish and after a lengthy 2 hour fight, she successfully landed her first ever Billfish which was a 15-20kg Black Marlin. Congratulations Roxy!!

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend… It was great to finally see some good weather and with huge amounts of bait around and another 2 early season billfish tagged & released, its looking real promising for the up & coming season which is due to start in June/July

What to do when the weather is bad

With another weekend blown out, unfortunatley I have no fishing reports....So what do mad keen fisho's do when the weather is bad???

Heres a mad keen North Queensland fishing addict taking his passion for fishing to another level...This was a $ 385.00 21st Birthday present!

Crazy but nice!!!


With the weather forecast looking a little kinder for this weekend, I look forward to bringing you some exciting fishing reports soon

First two Billfish of the season tagged & release

With bait in plague proportions, it was only a matter of time before a couple of Billfish showed up, with the first two Billfish of the season tagged & released during last weekends Predators Tournament.

Ken Phipps couldn’t believe his luck when a small Black Marlin leaped out of the water early Sunday morning after taking a Gold Halco Pro mackerel lure while trolling near Lodestone Reef. Ken reported that they were trolling in between reef’s hoping to get a big mackerel and couldn’t believe there luck when the estimated 10kg Marlin greyhound out of the water. They successfully released the fish after a short fight & were ecstatic to take out the First Billfish prize at this years Predators Tournament Presentation.

Rose Red continued to prove that there boat is a billfish magnet with the crew experiencing some late Billfish action on Sunday afternoon near the Northern Bait Schools, not far from Cape Cleveland. Wade Hislop was the lucky angler who caught a another smaller then averaged size Black Marlin (pictures above) with this fish also taking a Halco Pro mackerel lure.

Another billfish report came from Leigh O’Brien who was aboard his new boat OB26. Leigh & his family were bottom fishing in shallow water on John Brewer Reef when a sailfish swam up to the back of the boat. Leigh said that everyone aboard couldn’t believe there eyes as the sailfish appeared in very shallow water. Unfortunately they couldn’t get a bait to it quick enough before it disappeared again.

With the 2007 Billfish Season one of the quietest in recent years, Club members can’t help to get a little excited about these early season billfish captures and with the conditions down on the grounds looking very promising, lets hope this is a start to a great year