Possible 3rd RECORD IN A ROW BROKEN ! !

Wild Turkey Charters is proud to be one of the major sponsors of the South Gippsland Game Fishing Club for their 24th All Victorian Gamefishing Tournament.

Report as follows:

"This event was held last weekend at Port Welshpool with 51 boats and 153 Anglers competing. This tournament marks the beginning of the fishing season, and allows fisherman to compete for limited species, in a safe environment, with radio skeds and coastal patrol on hand. Juniors and small fry are encouraged to be out on the water and are well supported by sponsors. Tag and release is promoted at this tournament and throughout the year.The most meritorious gamefish captured was a 222kg Mako shark caught by Tim Stockdale. The fish arrived at the weigh in station at 12:40am Sunday morning with a crowd of 100 people turning out to watch it be weighed. This fish is a pending Victorian record for 24kg line class. Other outstanding catches over the weekend were a 14.8kg gummy caught by Mark Daly, a 7.5kg Snapper caught by Garry Turner and a 1.95kg flathead caught by Charles Ward. Everyone that participated over the weekend had a great time with a social evening Saturday night and free cooked breakfast on both mornings. This event is growing in popularity every year."

Well done Tim on this great catch - Wild Turkey Charters looks forward to having you fish with us and bring in some other great catches...

Potential World Junior Fishing Record

Well Done to Cairns local Alex Johnston, 14, proud dad and skipper Graham and the Team from Shikari on setting a new world junior fishing record.

Weighing in at a great 1,093 pounds - 496kgs

This Giant Black Marlin was caught while fishing at Linden Bank 80 kms off Cairns.

CONGRATULATIONS - details via Cairns Post & New.com.au
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Qld-teen-nets-world-record-496kg-marlin/2006/11/27/1164476129686.html
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20833210-3102,00.html

Potential New WORLD RECORD on Fly ! !

A very quick and sketchy phone call has delivered the latest good news from our group in teh Coral Sea ! !

There is the potential of a NEW WORLD RECORD on Fly with the following fish being caught:

• 77 KG DOG TOOTH TUNA !
• Caught on 15 KG line
• Caught in the Coral Sea Between Holmes Reef and Willis Island

Unsure which boat the catch was on or who the angler was that caught it.. Was a bad line - I even had to confirm these details so that I haven't reported incorrectly.... These are photos I cant wait to see !

I guess when you take World Champions out to fish there is always the chance that a new World Record could be set. Hooray !

WELL DONE

WILD TURKEY, THE PIRATE & DONT ASK ME

It has to be one of you - Keep up the great fishing - I am sure all those reading are jealous ! ! Time to hear about the new World Record marlin I am thinking.

Weather Update - All getting better

TROPICAL CYCLONE OUTLOOK

for the Coral Sea West of Longitude 160 East Issued at 2:49pm on Saturday the 25th of November 2006

X-Tropical Cyclone YANI is continuing to weaken in the Solomon Sea was regionand the low-level circulation is drifting NW and weakening further. This system is not expected to redevelop in the forecast period.

All getting better in the cyclone world ! ! Weather at Willis Island is showing readings from 18 - 21 knots so just a little stronger than our coastal weather. It is believed that the 4 boats are situated around Holmes Reef - somewhere...

These are some pictures taken from Holmes Reef on a private trip last season

Heading EAST and EAST again!

Advise just through via a super quick Sat Phone call was to say that all the boats were heading out to the Sea Mount ( hope this is right ). This is EAST by EAST - straight out and more. All the boats will be travelling through the night and will be together. They were doing battle out there with the terrible seas - makes me sick just the thought of it!! They are heading closer to the awful weather but they must have a plan that taking it on is better than waiting till it comes to you - some would say MAD.

Totally forgot to ask about the fishing but did hear via Kelly from Reel Chase the following:

"Jim reported that The Pirate got one about 300lb on Opal today, Dont Ask Me got a big one at Linden Bank and poor old Wild Turkey got 0 from 3 - at least they are there - our time will come. Jim got a small one also on Linden with Reel Chase and Luke on Kekoa got at least one on Number 8. I love it when all the boys are catching fish :-)"

It is great having sources like this to report direct from the seas - Thanks Kelly.

Quick weather update shows the following

TROPICAL CYCLONE OUTLOOK - taken from 3 day forecast

for the Coral Sea West of Longitude 160 EastIssued at 3:12pm on Wednesday the 22nd of November 2006At noon, Wednesday 22/11/2006, the Fiji Met service named Tropical Cyclone Yani in the Solomon Sea near 12.3S 162.5E [995 hPa] some 1800km east of Cairns. All of our computer guidance in the long term shows that Tropical Cyclone Yani is no direct threat to Queensland owing to the lack of any strong steering current andthe static weather pattern in our hemisphere.

http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/cyclone/
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/tropic.html

Nasty weather in the Coral Sea

Eyes are at watch on the weather in the Coral Sea at present as there is a nasty Low that could turn the seas even rougher than have been. Hold on Wild Turkey.

TROPICAL CYCLONE OUTLOOK
for the Coral Sea West of Longitude 160 EastIssued at 2:30pm on Monday the 20th of November 2006
At noon, Monday 20/11/2006, a 1000 hPa tropical low was centred well out in the Coral Sea near 12.1S 161.6E and moving west southwest at 10 km/hr. The low has a moderate to high chance of developing into a tropical cyclone during the next few days. At the present time, the low is not influencing Queensland's weather.

Here are also a few pictures taken from Ben's camera before he left for you to enjoy. Photos have also been added into some later entries so scroll through to catch some of our action up to date.

1) Brad & Michael with one of there catch on the 3 days 2) Our Russian catch
3) One of Brad & Michaels that didnt come in 4) Bringing in the catch !

20 Day Marlin Hunt has begun

At a relaxed pace this morning, all four boats - Wild Turkey, The Boss, Dont Ask Me and The Pirate - battled out through the rolling white caps that were heading into Yorkey's Knob Marina. Destination being the Coral Sea in search of Giant Black Marlin.

There may be a chance that over this period that we receive updates via the Satellite Phone or we may receive the odd Fax updating us on details - so fingers crossed with that happening.

1) Getting ready to go 2) The Boss & Don't Ask Me

3) Wild Turkey & The Pirate 4) Wild Turkey heading out.

Calm Before the Storm

Wild Turkey is tucked up snug in the berth at Yorkeys and getting the last of the jobs done and things ticked off the endless lists before heading out into the Coral Sea Monday for 20 days once again in search of the Giant Black Marlin.

With seas back up to 25 - 30 knots again the next few days (the normal this season) we are not missing the pounding.

Since Wild Turkey will be heading a fair way out with definately no phone rang, Captain Ben has got strict instruction that while away to write a few lines about every day and this will be uploaded on his return about the 10th Dec for you all to read and see.

I should know more tomorrow; but the short tale is that we are one of 3 boats heading out and working with The Boss Mothership - on this Giant Black Marlin Fly Fishing Expedition. Also as part of the team will be Blue Water magazine and great photograher David Granville. Other boats with us will include Dont Ask Me & The Pirate.

Day 3 with the bite still on

Reports this morning are that there is a strong wind warning coming up for this afternoon and setting in for the next few days, this may make things a little lumpy this afternoon heading back.

It was a quiet morning as it has been with the bite happening later in the day, but once again there were marlins to be caught and Wild Turkey found them - Well done Ben. Reports have it that it was of a smaller size but VERY active.

Other catch reports are Tim on Calypso caught a couple of nice ones, Tim on Little Audrey caught one 1/2 hour out of Cairns, Kanahoee caught a good size one north at No 2 Ribbons - also in the action was Reel Ripe - known in our family as "The Apple Boat" and Kim on Diamond Girl. Good Fishing All.

Day 2 - in search of Black Marlins

Hopefully the crew and anglers are well rested and ready to take on battle with yet other Black Marlins out there in the wide ocean. I am also hoping that the nasty winds that were coming in late yesterday afternoon have swung around and making things a little better.

Very quite day today out wide - Wild Turkey saw a nice 900 ish pound Black Marlin get caught beside them but for them it has been steady.

With the shadows coming over the reef and the sun coming down - the bite came on - tagging a nice Black about 200 lbs. Catch also included a couple of good Spanish Mackerel both about 30 Ibs and about 7 Mac Tunas. Well done - nice way to end the day.

Ben has Wild Turkey anchored up with Tim Ryan on Little Audrey and Kim Andersen on Diamond Girl at North Opal for the night. A nice way to enjoy life on the Great Barrier Reef.

3 Day Charter in search of those Black Marlins ! ! * Updated

This morning Wild Turkey welcomes on board both Brad and Michael in the building industry from NSW. Their main aim is to relax and enjoy themselves on the wonderful Great Barrier Reef and if possibile pick up the odd Black Marlin or other species along the way.

Coverage may be a little limited as it quite often is on the reef but will do the best to keep you up dated.

They caught a few fish this morning on their way out - the most impressive of these being a 24 kg Spanish Mackerel - very nice size ! !

3.30 - Report from Captain Ben was that they had just hooked up and been fighting for the last 1/2 hour a very nice 800 - 900 pound Black Marlin - Go Wild Turkey! As fortune would have it - the sharks must of been on a late lunch and they soon helped our angler finish the battle..
:( Has to be more to come.

The plan for Wild Turkey tonight may be to catch up with the likes of Jimmy Dalling on Reel Chase and see how their season north has been. All dependant on the weather as there is a nasty wind out there causing a small amount of chop about. Kelly runs a blog site for Reel Chase keeping the entire fleet updated - Sometimes this is how we find out what Wild Turkey is actually doing and what the guys are catching when out of range - Well Done Kel - Worth a look www.blackmarlinfishingblog.com

Late this afternoon - our other angler - not sure in which order they did the catching - but they tagged a 250 pound Black ! How good it must be to be out there on these live aboards and not coming home when the bites are happening in the later afternoon hours.

Even later news - also tagged was a very nice 200 pound Black Marlin..

Well Done all ! Rest up in that nice new air- conditioning and lets see what tomorrow brings.

Japanese Group out on the Reef

After jetting into Cairns this morning at 4.15ish we had a keen Japanese group that headed to the great Barrier Reef today. Due to their schedule it was quite a brief trip how ever they did manage to pick up a few fish along the way.

Out to the Reef with the Russians today

A keen family of 7 on board today on holidays from Russia.

This will be the last of our day trips before heading back out to live on the reef and be among the Black Marlin action.

Will keep you updated on todays events as they come to hand.

Italians Head to the Reef

Heading out today is Rob with a group of family members from Italy.

In search of Black Marlin - so see what Ben can find.

Fishing report for the day was a little slow but found the following:
1 small Black Marlin but jumped him off
Tagged 1 Black Marlin about 150 pounds
1 1/2 good size Wahoos - 1 was sharked !

Well Done to Rob as these were his first of both species....



Great News to Kim Andersen on Diamond Girl weighing this seasons largest Black Marlin - 1291 pounds ! ! Kim uses our vessel Wild Turkey during the Light Tackle season.
Making todays front page of the Cairns Post.

5 Day Heavy Tackle Marlin Fishing Package for 2007

This is your chance to Book Now and Fish for Giant Black Marlin on the Ribbon Reefs, off Cooktown and Lizard Island – “Get Hooked” on the Ultimate Fishing Experience !

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All Heavy Tackle Marlin Bookings with 25% deposit taken prior to the end of February 2007 will be able to claim the following:

5 Days Live Aboard Black Marlin Fishing for the rate of $10,000 in total
No increase in price later in the year due to fuel costs
Saving of $1,000 to help get you here

Conditions:

Must be booked prior to 28th February 2007 with the accompanying deposit of 25% of total charter rate
Must be in the northern Cooktown or Lizard Island waters
Must be taken between the months of September – November 2007
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Will be subject to dates available
Charter payment is Non – Refundable unless cancelled by operator

If you would prefer to use a mothership with your charter we can organise the right one to suit your choice and budget, getting you the best 5 star accomadation and service on the Great Barrier Reef.

Call us on 0400 015902

New Zealand Team on Heavy Tackle Day trip

Heavy Tackle Day trip - out again

With Wild Turkey on another day trip - today we welcome aboard Marty & Kerry. Capt Ben will be heading to the Bank and hopefully be back in amonst them again today.

Yesterday's footage was great to see via Bens hat cam - and trust me very soon I will have to hold him down and get him to up date these posts with the great pictures that follow.

Good luck today Ben and Crew..

Today didnt show much luck a very slow day in fishing out on Linden Bank. You never can pick it sometimes - one day is good and the next brings up nothing... That's Fishing!

Heavy Tackle Day Trip

This morning we welcome day tripper Grant on board in search of the Giant Black Marlin.

With the bite on at present - fingers crossed that Captain Ben can get them hooked up today with a big one on ..

Todays report:
Great day today, weather was kind and the fishing slow but we did manage to catch the only marlin we saw - a fish of about 300 pounds on the 50 pound tackle.

We also caught a Spanish mackerel, a Wahoo and a 40 pound Yellow Fin Tuna. These being all first time fish caught by our angler.

Well Done Grant and well done Ben and crew.

Wild Turkey Collects 1000 Pound Marlin! !

Unconfirmed reports are as follows:

Heading south from Cooktown and fishing along Escape Reef it sounds like Wild Turkey with our great Capt. Ben hooked up and landed an estimated 1000lb-er. H O O R A Y ! Will find out more this afternoon - can't wait to see the hat camera footage of this one....

All true and confirmed - Giant Black Marlin was measured and recorded as being 1044 pounds. Well Done Team Wild Turkey what a nice way to come home - I do think that you are all a little selfish for keeping "Big Jules" to your selves and not letting any of our anglers share this great experience....