After 13 marlin fishing trips around the world, cricket legend and current selector Andrew Bichel finally gets his first Blue Marlin yesterday off Brisbane. Expectations were high and the pressure was on me to find Andy a Blue after the previous weekend when we got his good mate and fellow cricket legend Michael Kasprowicz his first Blue Marlin. The weather was absolutely perfect out on the Continental Shelf, which almost makes catching a Marlin a bonus. We decided to fish the grounds east of Cape Moreton and gradually work our way south, to give us a more pleasant ride with the predicted Northerlies. We spotted a free jumping Marlin early on in 180 metres of water and there were signs of bait schools down deep, however the water quality wasn’t that deep inky purple-blue that Blue Marlin like. Good mate and respected marlin captain Ken Brown was also out again fishing the grounds further south, and had already released a fish early. He said the water was excellent further south, prompting us to move down that way. As is often the way with Marlin fishing, action can be painfully slow and it wasn’t until 2pm that we got the bite. The fish ate the lumo coloured lure on the long left position, and turned the water into a wild ball of foam as it shook its head madly before a blistering run on the 80lb outfit. Bichel did a fantastic job in the chair, keeping maximum pressure on while we backed down hard on it, keeping it within range. The Blue put on a perfect show with some spectacular jumping towards the boat and going deep for a while. Once Bichel had the fish in range, crewman and Cabolito owner Tom ‘Stracho’ Strachan grabbed the leader. The fish was still pretty ‘green’ giving him a hard pull on the wire! The fish estimated at 350lbs was released in prefect condition after a 40 minute battle.
