A different kind of boating but we had a ball... the last charter in Cairns was good training for Rene in dealing with the conditions and the 2 of us fared better than most!!
A shot of the ship from the air while at port in Tauranga NZ
This boat makes Phantom look like a tender!!
Anyway - while the girls were away the boys went fishing - and on to the REAL report (care of the skipper)!!
The Phantom's charter was a 6 dayer with Johnno, Mikie, Arnie and Ron. Day 1 was spent running up the reef and collecting Spanish and shark mackerel from Evening and Morning reefs.
We stayed behind Ribbon 4 for the night and the boys got into the bottom fish, all species again and releasing them.
Next morning we collected bait (more scalies and tuna), threw some poppers in and had a jig and then moved out to chase the prime targets, Big Girls.
We have an announcement, Dogtooth Johnston, formally known as Johnno, caught his fist Dogtooth Tuna, changed his name, and claimed ownership of the reef, all in all a pretty momentous occasion.
Things only got better from there, putting Dogtooth's son Mike into the chair to capture and release his first GBR heavy tackle black at 350 lb.
We spent the next night in the mid reefs and set out for more marlin the next day but, even though we raised them and had them light up they wouldn’t eat.
The decision was made that night to move down the reef back to Linden Pressure Ridge so next morning out came the heavy tackle lures, out went another 2 130 outfits to make a set of 4 and off we set. What a fantastic change of plan, snaring a great 450 lb fish for Arnie, we are working on uploading the video.
We spent the rest of the time raising fish at Opal and Linden without any more captures.
Day 6 after spending a night behind Opal the boys voted to run into Cairns to watch the Melbourne cup and have lunch before their flight home.
Summary, great weather, couple of good fish, great company, top trip.
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