Latest News

Dec 7 2007

Mike, Michelle and I got into Yamba yesterday morning about 4 am, after coming straight thru from Lady Musgrave Island. The trip took about 44 hours and covered about 391 nm.

The water was cold off Fraser Island and down till we got south of the Cape Moreton Canyons, and once we got past Point Lookout on the Gold Coast the temp jumped up to 77.5 + and we raised a big blue on the rigger, really wide fish, about 600+, she never even looked like eating, so after a half hour in the same spot I kept Tradition towards home via a few other good spots.

Fished down past Jims seamount and then toward the Riv grounds, where we had a shot from a small fish, but no hookup.
Past the hump and heading towards the Tweed Canyons, we had a bite form a nice blue about 350lbs, which Michelle caught. This was her first Pacific Blue, and did a couple of nice jumps on the leader for Mike. We tagged the fish and will put up some pics when I get back to the boat in a few days.

Spent an hour or so in the Tweed Canyons just before dark, the sea was flat and the dolphins were everywhere.

It looked really good, but we didnt see any fish.

We kept heading south , now angling in to the coast for a straight run to Yamba.

With the boat home, cleaned up and now looking forward to chasing some blues in the canyons, as well as finding some good surf.

Thanks to Mike and Paul for a great season, not the best for numbers or size for us this year, although we did really well compared to a lot of big names. Everyone had a blast and we are already looking forward to huge season in 2008.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Dec 2 2007

Tradition left Cairns with a new angler David, and also Mikes partner Michelle arrived from Florida.

We fished Jenny Louise for a day woth no result and then went south the next day trolling outside the edge in about 800-1000 foot of water towards Myrmidon Reef (NE of Townsville).

We only had one bite, and tagged a nice feisty black for David about 550 lbs in flat calm conditions.
We kept going to Myrmidon for the night with 3 other boats, Castille who went 2 for 3 , Sweat and Tears came down from Cairns with us and tagged a nice 700 lb fish, and Mistress was also there on the way home to the Gold Coast.

The plan was to fish till early afternoon and then run into Townsville, but we had 4 bites, tagged a nice one about 800 lbs ealry afternoon, about 4 miles north of Myrmidon Reef.. Later in the afternoon we had adouble header, with a nice fish around 900 missing the shotgun , and a smaller fish missing the scaley on the right.

We spent the night there again and fished and swam our way back to Townsville by early afternoon.

We are currently in Gladstone, and heading to Lady Musgrave Island for tomorrow night, and then plan to fish wide all the way to the Gold Coast and then Yamba.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Nov 22 2007

SLAM fishing hots up!!

After a quick flight home and an afternoon with Thomas at the beach house.(Thomas is my nephew, he is almost 4)

We headed off on his first big fishing expedition to the famous Yamba river. With a stop at the tackel shop to pick up some fresh live beach worms and some prawns we headed down the beach to the secret spot.

After missing a couple the bite was on, Thomas got his first whiting, which was quickly followed by a flathead and bream. His first fish and an inshore SLAM as well !!!

Then Thomas bored so it was time for a swim.

A great day for all, and be back in Cairns on Sunday to start up again.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Nov 18 2007

Well thanks to the cyclone most of the fleet are back in Cairns and pretty much done for the season.

We fished 3 days with the My Way as mothership for friends of the owner. The wind was up, and the boys were keen.

Fished the top of 10 the first day down to the top of the marks and jumped one off at Heartbreak. A few were caught down at the bottom of 10 so that was the plan for Tuesday.
We punched our way down the inside of 10 catching a bunch of big baits on the way and came out the opening to be greeted by about a 10 foot swell with 25 + knots of wind.
Heading to the spot, we had a sneak attack on the scad and down and tight came a nice one about 400 lbs that went upsea into the waves for a while, then surfing downseas with Tradition going hard to keep up with the leader. A bunch of big going away downsea jumps for Mike and a clean release and we were on our way again. We had a couple more bites but did not come tight on either fish.

Wednesday was huge in the paddock between Lizard and the reef and we trolled out catching a couple of nice yellowfin tuna, and some more big baits. Once fishing off Day Reef the conditions were not too bad and the water was brilliant, life everywhere and good temp and colour, but no bites.
Due to the worsening conditions and 30+ knots of wind and 40 forecast we called a little early and trolled back to the Island.
The decision was to try to bail to Cairns the next day, and were not looking forward to it.
Cyclone Guba was intensifying, and due to be a cat 3 later on Thursday, so Russell on the 56 Viking Too Easy and I left Lizard just after am, and the plan was to get to the outer reef and then head south form there in the lee of the reef.
Coming around the corner I was relieved to find about 20 knots and 4-5 foot headsea, up to 1850rpm and off we headed. I had to slow down a couple of times for Russell , as he could not keep up in the short sharp sea. (These Dick Ward boats are the most underrated boats in Australia!!!)
We both made Cairns at about 1.45 pm, and took about an hour longer than if it was flat.

With charters cancelled for the week, I am off home for a few days, then back fishing on Monday next week.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Nov 11 2007

Been a pretty good bite at the top and bottom reaches of the reef, and a bit patchy in between. Jenny Louise way down south off Cairns has had a great bite with a bunch of BIG fish seen and caught. But again the bite has been for a couple of select boats while the others watched the action!!

A few nice ones in the middle Ribbons with some boats catching a couple and the other boats getting bites as well.
Up on No: 10 Ribbon the few boats fishing here had bites and we got one about 500 lbs down at Heartbreak from a couple of bites.

The opening was alive in the afternoon, with rainbow runners, bluefin tunas and small yellowfins.

We are back in Watsons Bay with the My Way for the next few days, and will be fishing No: 10.

The wind is back, and getting up to 30 knots over the next few days, so they should really start biting.
The fishing has been better and better each week, and late Nov and into Dec should still be firing down off Cairns.

We have a couple of openings after Nov 25 so come and catch a big one

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Nov 9 2007

No:10 is FIRING !!!!!!

At least 6 BIG fish bites on 10 yesterday between the 6 or 7 boats up here. We went 1 for 4 and jumped off a reasonable one (500 or so) and got a small one. We saw a couple of big ones hooked and either caught or lost, and Shaka had a bunch of bites for no end result. (we have all been there this season!!!)
Wind is 15-20 and really nice, with a bit more coming tomorrow, and thru to Tuesday afternoon.
Will be fishing the top end of 10 the next few days. Cant wait.

Tim, Paul and Mike

www.TraditionCharters.com

Nov 8 2007

Dateline No:10 Ribbon Reef

After a slower day yesterday with no releases from a few bites, today was better. With the fleet scattering back to the middle, Cooktown and out wide on the seamount off Cairns, it was much quieter up here today.

We fished up 10 thru the marks, and up to heartbreak where we had a bite from a nice big fish around 800-900 lbs on the shotgun, but she came off after a couple of minutes. We wandered back south to where have been fishing and got a small one in close, before we even got back to where I was headed!!!
Back to the spot and we had a bite from a small fish which dropped the bait, and then saw a free feeder a little wider on the tunas. As we wandered over we got ambused and got a feisty one of about 300 lbs. I marked a few there but did not raise any and we then fished back to the top of no 9 for the night.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Nov 7 2007

Some pics from yesterday.
Marked a bunch today, had a couple of bites, but no end result. A couple of really big ones at the top of No:10 today, will be there tomorrow.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Nov 6 2007

After a couple of days off in Cooktown we headed back out to the bottom of No: 10 Ribbon Reef where the fishing has been the most consistent the past few days. Some really nice fish have been caught, including an 1012lber for our Lizard Island angler Brandon , who is fishing with Sparrow on the Square Bear this week.

Yesterday , Dan and Glenn on Moana weighed an 1140lb black wide off Jenny Louise down off Cairns. A really nice fish for the boys, who have had a great season already!!!

We left Cooktown at about 9 am, baitfished to the bottom of No: 10 Ribbon, and put the baits in just outside the opening. We had a small fish eat the scad a couple of times and marked a nice one, but after and hour I headed up to join the 10 or so other boats on No: 10.

We saw most of the boats get bites or catching fish over the next hour, and waited for our turn.

I watched our sitership catch a nice one, and get another couple of bites, and saw the tunas on top about a mile offshore. As I got there, of course the birds took off out to sea and as I turned back inshore saw the yellowfins busting with no birds on them at all. As we got closer I marked a fish and had a bite from real big fish on the shotgun that ripped the tuna in half and went away.

Over the next 30 minutes, it was a bit hard to keep up with what happened, but I know we had 5 or 6 bites, 2 from BIG fish that we missed, and got a 550 and 600 lb ones that went wild on the leader for Mike. We had 5 or 6 fish up at once and we got the 600 out of this group.

As soon as we put the baits back out I marked 6 fish 100 feet down, but they did not come up again.

Everyone had bites and got soem fish, and I know Shaka got a real nice one as well. Everyone is happy that the fish are back!!!

The end of the season should fire, so email me for some open dates.

We trolled back to the bottom of No: 10 for the night.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Nov 2 2007

Here are some photos from the video of a nice fish on the Wild Turkey today. Has been pretty much hit or miss, have a good day and see a few, while everyone else sees nothing!!!

Very tough, but tomorrow is another day.
Peter B Wright broke off a real big one today for Al Hooper on 30lb.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Oct 29 2007

WHEW!!!

Relief at last!!! after a few days with no marlin action today we hit the jackpot with real nice one about 650lbs that put on an awesome show and give Paul a big stretch on the leader as the frames from todays videos will show.
The fish came up on the scad in front of the camera for nearly 40 seconds, then swam over and sucked down the scaley on the shotgun!!!

10 minutes later she swam off happy as can be!!!.
Anchored behind # 9 Ribbon Reef for the night, Wind has just picked up, and the fish will be here in numbers any day. Cant wait!!!

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Oct 25 2007

Well the weather the last few dasy has been outstanding, 10-15 knots and just wonderful after the big wind of the comp.

The fishing has been a bit slow, but we have been picking away catching 1 day.Day before yesterday we got a feisty one dor Dan about 250lbs on the scad, down and tight, got to love that!!!
And yesterday Ken got a nice fish about 500 that put on a greaet show behind the boat and also on the leader for Mike, who got stretched out good with Tradition in hot pursuit.

This morning we went for a swim and then headed out fishing. The only real news for the day was Sparrow on Square Bear weighed one that went 902 for their angler Fred, and there were a few other bites.
We went down tot he bottom of Lena, fished back to the top of No:4 Ribbon where we got Kens the day before, and then worked my way back to the middle of #3 where we got crash tackled by a nice fish about 900lb that dropped the bait. Winding it back up she followed it up and crashed the bait again while we freespooled her off the reel. Came tight and pulled drag for about 100 yards and came off again.

The boys cranked in what was left of the tuna and quickly put another one out and her she is again and eats just as Paul put the loop in the shotgun clip. Another big side on bite and after giving her plenty of time to eat the bait we set up again to have her pull drag agin and then let go of the bait to return to us a nice head and hook. The whole time she was just holding the bait in her mouth and running away from the boat.

All this action was after 6pm, and we fished for another 15 minutes before heading back to the Bali Hai which is anchored at #3 Ribbon.

Today is our last day with Ken and Dan, so we are all planning on a big one!!!

Ken is going to join me in Panama in Jan for a week, so if you want to come and fish Panama in the last week in Jan/first week in Feb let me know. I have 1 week available.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Sunday Oct 21 2007

Last night was a big night at the Marlin Barn on Lizard Island.

The place was jumping and we definately gave it our best.
We stuck to our gameplan and went south again to Lena and the lower Ribbons. We saw 2 straight away, but neither ate ,and one even swam right up to the transom lit up and having a good look at the back of the boat.

We fished hard and jumped off 2 fish, one a real nice one and the other about 250, both of which fell off for Brandon with the double out of the water, and both went away.
We saw a couple more, and heard our placing slipping away!!.
At the end of fishing at 4pm, we were at the top of #4 and fished up 5 to give us a shorter run home.
Of course Brandon caught 2 in the next 35 minutes!!!!, one about 250 and nice one about 550lbs.

Here are the final results, with us getting a daily.
Kanahoee won with 9 Tags. Maratimo with 8 Tags from other boats also on 8 Tags Calypso, Mistress, Viking II and Mauna Kea. We finished at 7th on 7 Tags.

We had enough bites to win, but lost 4 fish, so thats that.

Back out today, but did not see one. Heading back to the middle Ribbons tomorrow. Will get some pictures up in the next few days.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Oct 20 2007

Today is the last day of the Lizard Island comp, and yesterday we got off to a good start with Brandon catching one early to put us into 2nd ahead of Calypso and Maritimo, but even with Kanahoee.

Then we only saw one more fish all day!!!

Kanahoee caught 2 more for 9 total, and Maririmo got 3 to give him 8 as well, and calypso got one as well. So there are about 4 of us right up there with a shot.

We fished the bottom end again , and will head back to Lena and #1 this morning for another shot at some early fish. Yes it is rough!!!

Got to go, pulling the anchor and off we go!!!.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Thurs Oct 18 2007

Well we won the daily yesterday with 2 fish on time, and were equal 4th with a few other boats overall.

BIG NEWS -the weather forecast was right!!! Which is a big bummer as it is now 25-30 knots and bit choppy.

Bait fished most of the morning for a total of none!! Which was pretty disappointing after nearly 4 hours.
Started at the top of #3 and basically fished there and #4 all day. We saw 5 fish I think, had 3 bites, and tagged 2 , one each for Brandon and John, whose 400lber went nuts greyhounding downsea with us in hot pursuit.

I was marking fish most of the day, though no big ones, and picked off Brandons fish off a school of skipjacks just off the edge.

A few big ones today, with Mistress tagging one about 1100 and a couple of 800's, the balance were males and were steadily biting most of the day. Though a lot were falling off.

I am pretty sure Sharky on the new maritimo 55 won the day with 3 tags, and I think we are even on 6 fish.

Well thats about it for now from the anchorage at #5 Ribbon Reef, up early to find some small scaleys, and hope to find a couple more tomorrow to keep us in the top few boats.

Tim, Mike and Paul

www.TraditionCharters.com

Wed Oct 17 2007
Number 3 Ribbon Reef.

Yesterdays totals for the tournament was 20 fish tagged, from about 63 bites.

Today we bait fished south and put the baits in at the bottom of Lena Reef , and again tagged the first fish of the day, a feisty one on the scad for Brandon about 100 lbs, and thenslowly fished our way north and tagged another about 200 on No:1 Ribbon Reef.

There was still a slow pick all the way up, with Corey on Mauna Kea catching 2 or 3 from a bunch of bites. Billfish also had a good day, tagging a couple as well. The water got a bit funky around the top of #2, so I ran up to the top of #3, where a couple of other boats had both had good mornings and got soem nice big ones. I trolled around for about and hour and raised one on the shotgun that didnt eat. I spent the rest of the afternoon there and after marking fish for a few hours we had bit from a really nice one around 800 or so on the shotgun, but unfortunately came undone just after the bite while she was jumping.

The boys were pretty excited and with the wind picking up to a consistant 25-30 knots for the next few dasy the fish should be tailing in more and the bites have been very aggressive in the heavier weather.
We have 4 fish now, which puts us about 5th or so I think, but could be wrong. Looking forward to tomorrows fishing.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Tue Oct 16 2007

Day 3 of the Lizard Island Tournament and the fishing has picked up to match the weather!!

Good wind yesterday and today, 20+ knots from the SE have the fish up and tailing downsea into the edge.
Yesterday Brandon got his first GBR black, a nice feisty one about 250 lbs, and missed another one and saw 3 more. Anchored at No: 3 for the night. Not sure exactly how many caught yesterday, but I think around 20 fish.

Today the bite was more towards the morning to mid afternoon, with most boats getting a few bites today, form down where we started on Lena Reef, up to thru the middle Ribbons and up to the top end. Bill Billson got 4 early in a flurry on No: 7 and 6, but was all over by about 2pm.

We speared a few trout this morning and popped out at the bottom of Lena Reef for a nice day of downsea tacks.
had a bite form a small one on the scaley and John did a quick job and we tagged him at 11.38, and yesterdays was at 11.37.

Fished our way up thru No:1 to the middle of No:2 Ribbon where we got piled on by a real nice 800 lber to pull the hook soon after.
Another bite from a tailing fish and saw 3 more , 2 of which were lit up like a neon blue sign from head to tail.

Late in the day we were next to Shaka as they tagged a small one with 10 minutes to go.

Anchored at No: 5 for the night, with beautiful yellowfin tuna sashimi for appetizer and 2 nice lamb roasts for dinner.

There was a good pick all day around No: 5 to No: 8, but we didn't see a boat all day till we got to No: 3, so I think we will go back to where we fished today. The bite has definately started now, so come and fill in those Nov days I have open.

Tim, Mike and Paul

www.TraditionCharters.com

Mon Oct 15 2007

Night before last was the briefing for the 21st Lizard Island Tournament, and we arrived after running and fishing our way from Cooktown after resupplying and picking up RJ, John and Brandon, all good friends of ours from Florida.

The tournament briefing was a debacle as usual, with our anglers ordering and paying for 6 dinner tickets back in April, were told that we were only given 5!!!, Tough luck was what they were told.
So if you didn't have a ticket you couldn't get in and missed out on dinner and the 1 security guy was giving those without tickets a large amount of grief. Then the briefing and calcutta did not finish until after 11.30 pm, the result of which is once your boat was done , everyone from that boat went home.

Morning of day 1 saw the wind howling back to its normal 25 knots from the SE and the sailpast was fine, with a chopper taking footage of the 43 boats in the bay. Then the "Bimini Start" was the most dangerous thing I have ever seen!!!!
For some reason there were 2 rows of boats, all pointing to the same point to get around the island!!! I was waiting for everyone to take off and pull in behind somewhere for a nice ride south, but with another 10 boats coming at me had no choice but to take off and get caught up in the mess.

We ran south with Reel Chase, Viking 11, Maritimo, Shaka, Moana and few others who were running the inshore route.
The ride down was not too bad, running at around 18 - 20 knots was nice and comfy on the nose.

Shaka won the ride down, it is amazing what another 10 feet, extra 1000 hp and $3 million can do!!! Eating it up she was.

Fishing was overall slow, with a couple of boats catching 2 fish, including Reel Chase with small (200 lb) fish, Sharky on his new Maritimo had 3 bites and tagged 1 and a couple of non tournament boats had a few bites down on #2 and #3 which is where we will be today after swim.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Sat Oct 13 2007

With the most part of the fleet into Cooktown last night, about 20 boats are waiting to head up to Lizard Island for the start of the tournament tonight with the briefing.
Yesterday was our last day with Peter and Lydie, and the day started about 8 am with a nice long breakfast followed by another great swim at the top of No: 1 Ribbon.

The fleet was spread between Lena and the top of No: 5 Ribbon and there were fish marked, seen and caught pretty much all the way along.

After watching Kanahoee get a nice medium sized one on stand up 50, I marked a fish that came straight up and after teasiing the shotgun scaley for a minute or so finally committed to having a taste.
Peter was in the chair on a really feisty one about 500 lbs that also gave Mike a big stretch with about 6 big jumps on the leader while I chased her around the ocean.

Was really nice for it to be our turn for a change!!!!

We all had dinner last night at the RSL Club, and today the boys from Florida join us for 8 days of the comp.

The weather has been FLAT calm for 8 days now, and this afternoon will return to normal with 20+ SE coming, the bite should turn on just in time for the comp.

Tim, Mike and Paul.

www.TraditionCharters.com

Oct 8 2007
9 pm No 5 Ribbon Reef

Well after what can only be called a very disappointing start to the season, we finished 4 days with Jamie and the boys from Sydney with not even a fish seen!!! We had a blast swimming, jigging and catching lots of scaleys and bait.

On Sunday Peter and Lydie all the way from China joined us again under sunny skies and calm seas for the ride out from Cooktown.

We enjoyed some great bait fishing on the way our out with a dozen good scaleys, a huge barracuda, and nice GT as well.
The afternoons marlin fishing was uneventful, though we did see Capt Jim on the Reel Chase jump off a small one next to us.
The past few days we have been marking a lot of fish on the sounder off the middle of No 4 Ribbon, and have all been waiting patiently for our bite. Some of the fish marking have been BIG.

Today we had a nice lazy breakfast, went wahoo fishing for a while and lost a really big one at the back of the boat, about 70lbs for Lydie who again did a great job on the light 30lb tackle. Then went for a swim on the really pretty bombies at the bottom of No:3 Ribbon and had lunch.
Wandering out fishing at about 1pm to news of only one fish caught, a nice 600-700 lber for Iceman. I wandered up all the spots we had been marking fish for the last few days waiting for our bite.
And what BITE, here she comes sliding up behind the shotgun scaley, dorsal and tail out of the water. There seemed to be a lot of distance between the two!! She ate perfect, drop back came tight and started to pull drag from the reel at 45lbs. then she just swam casually back to the edge and headed south along the reef for a while before she realised something was not quite right with that last meal!!! And lit the afterburners for the horizon!!!!
Now the deal is Lydie catches all the small ones and Peter his big one, well being the nice guy he is, Lydie was in the chair on what we thought was a reasonable one. After about 10 minutes up she jumped way out the back and was a really nice one. Peter said if it was over a grand we would have a look at taking her. After we all saw her jump twice, I said to the boys to lay them out, as she was a definite GRANDER.

Well we hooked up at about 3pm and after a couple of really close shots, we had the big fish all but beat at 7 pm, way after dark and the big flood light was burning. She had been wrapped up for a couple of hours now and was not giving up easily, and would only react from one angle.
She was pinwheeling about 50 foot down and we had a shot at the double before she again pulled the topshot off the reel at 90lbs.

We were just expecting her to give up after the double was out of the water and really close, and Mike was reaching for the leader when she just took off, you could see the tail beats or more like flat out thumps as Lydie held on tight for what was almost a bucking bronco ride in the chair as she bolted again and this time the leader gave up.

Lydie had fought this big fish for 4.5 hours at maximum drag the tackle and she could give, had the double at the rod tip 3 times I think and had whipped this giant black into submission, but with a powerful run and a tail wrapped fish the big girl swam off into the deep to continue her life.
Everyone was happy she got away in good condition, sad we did not get to have a really good look at this big girl, but I think we were all pretty happy with the outcome!!!!.
Meanwhile the rest of the fleet fishing the same area while we were fighting our fish had a bunch of bites from BIG fish as well, including several really big ones tagged.

Nov will fire , so book those open days now as the bite has picked up in the last 2 days.

Tim, Mike and Paul.

www.TraditionCharters.com

Sept 30 2007

We have just finished 6 days with John, Benny, Jimmy and Bruno from the US. Whilst catching was slow for the whole fleet, we managed to see 6 fish, but only 2 lazy bites. But if you are not catching fish it is great to be calm!!! First day was normal 20 knots, then we had 10-15 for the rest of the week.

On Wednesday afternoon we ran out wide to where my buddy Dan on the Moana was mugging up the yellowfin and bigeye tunas. We got about 10 up to 70lbs, and even got a few on the popper rod. When you had a fish up at the boat, there were 20 more the same size waiting for something to eat!!

Even though the fishing for the entire fleet has been slow, there have been some ENORMOUS fish seen. Jim on the Reel Chase had one on for a while earlier in the week that he said was one of the biggest he has seen up here. Dan on the Moana trolling lures back in from out wide with the tunas had an absolute animal climb on and they broke the fish off on the leader. This fish was probably the biggest anyone has heard of up here in 40 years. And yesterday off Myrmidon Reef off Townsville a local boat fought a big fish for 4 hours that came up dead, it was weighed this morning and went 1109lbs!!!

With the wind up for a few days, and the warm body of water 40 miles offshore expected to arrive at the edge in the next 2-3 days, everyone is ready for the fishing to let loose!!

We are back into it on Wednesday solid till Nov 2nd.

Check our open dates to come down for Nov and Dec, with a late start, it should go well into Dec this year.

Tim, Paul and Mike.

www.TraditionCharters.com

Sept 18 2007

Arrived into Cairns last night after an eventful day on the high seas. Our Good friend Chris "Sharky" Miles and crew were bringing the new 55 Maritimo up from fishing the Hinchinbrook Tournament when she caught fire and burned to the water line and then sank near Beaver Cay, about 20nm offshore. All 5 people on board had to jump ship in lifejackets and were picked up by passing boats. Fortunately no one was hurt or injured and the whole fleet is relieved that everyone is safe. For some reason the boat (the factory show boat for Maritimo) did not have a life raft. If you have a boat with no raft, go buy one today!!!
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2007/09/18/6579_hpphoto.html

Back to fishing!!!
We spent a great few days out at Flora and Holmes Reefs , about 100nm off Cairns. We tangled with a bunch of Dog tooth tuna, wahoos and a few yellowfin tuna. We anchored behind the sand cay and had a great nights sleep.

Trolling back to Escape Reef we found the longliners and chatted to them for a while. They had found a couple of whale sharks and caught some nice tunas off them up to 80 lbs.

We were about 20 miles north of the whale sharks and found and nice flock of birds which we got a few tunas off. We were fighting on and the tow camera was sinking down and all the little yellowfins were swimming around looking at the camera. when we started up after catching that one we were puttig the lure back out and as it fell past the camera a nice fish around 60lbs grabbed the lure on the 30 in front of the camera. We ended up breaking this one off after a long fight on 30lb.

That night we stayed behind Escape Reef. We trolled into Cooktown and dropped off our bait. The next two days we trolled out to St Crispins Reef and yesterday into Cairns.

The marlin have started to come in, but not in any numbers yet. A nice 700 lb was caught up the top end a few days ago, and the couple of boats fishing in the middle have been seeing a couple of fish a day. With the wind picking up later in the week and the water being a whole degree warmer than this time last year. So everyone is keen to get started with their seasons over the next week.

Check out our openings for this season.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Sept 11 2007

Well we have had a couple of great days scad fishing, with over 200 in the freezer we are full to the brim!!!!

With wonderful weather we are heading out to the Cairns seamount, then Flora and Holmes Reefs for a few days.

Some reports from up on No: 10 have a couple of fish being tagged, so all signs are good for this year!!!

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Sept 8 2007

Well the Townsville Light Tackle Tournament is over for another year, with this weeks 5 days being somewhat different from last year!!!

The weather forecast had been pretty ordinary, and the fishing had been following suit. Last year the fishing off Cape Bowling Green was incredible with up to 17 fish a day and a slow day was 6 -8 fish. This year if you saw a couple you had a good day. After cancelling some charters due to lack of fish and constant 20-25 knot winds , 37 boats lined up for the run to the grounds.

With slow fishing you had to make the most of you shots, and this year I had 4 great anglers from the Surfers Paradise Sport and Gamefishing Club (which we are again top boat for this year for coastal waters).

The boys were super keen and we made the most of our chances, tagging one for Mike and breaking line on a really mad tail wrapped fish right at the boat. Last year we were getting around 10 bites per day, this year was 1-2 on a good day. Bait schools were a bit scarce and were moving really fast making staying on them really had. Stopping to jig bait and letting your baits sink would have the school 200 yrads away in no time, and you would turn around and see another boat hook up right where you had been 30 seconds ago!!! Really Frustrating.

It was really great to see all the big boats anchoring behind Cape Bowling Green , which made the run to the grounds about 15-30 minutes, rather than 2-3 hours from town. Our good friends Capt Jim on the Reel Chase won again with 6 fish for the 5 days, which was a top effort considering how slow it was.

Now with all the light tackle put away in storage for the rest of the year, we are heading out of Townsville to bait fish and heavy tackle fish our way north to Cairns or Cooktown.

Paul "Kiwi" Sharpe has joined me again for this season, and along with Mike Halle who arrives next week , I have two of the finest mates on the planet. These boys have fished about everywhere and we have all known each other for years. Wheres Glenn I hear you ask? He fished Townsville with me and is fishing with Daniel on the Moana III this season.

2007 Dates available:

Sept 17 - 22 inclusive Heavy tackle Cairns -Cairns Liveaboard or Mothership avaiable (or any number of days up to the 22nd).

Sept 29 - Oct 2 inclusive Heavy tackle Cooktown to Cooktown This was one the best weeks last season Mothership with Bali Hai or liveaboard with up to 3 guests. (4 days).

Nov 3 - Dec 15 inclusive Heavy Tackle liveaboard up to 3 guests and mothership available.

Dec 1-7 Cairns to Townsville heavy tackle out wide, seamounts, Flora and Flinders Reefs. AU$2000 per day up to 3 guests.

Dec 9-15 Townsville to Gold Coast AU$2000 per day up to 3 guests. light and heavy tackle depending on fishing.

please call Capt Tim for more info 0427 758768 or intl 61 427 758768 or email tim@traditioncharters.com

16th August 2007

Hi everyone from sunny north Queensland.
After a nice week run up the coast (770nm) to Townsville from the Gold Coast and some good bottom fishing it is time to get ready!!!

Light tackle is about to fire with a nice body of warm water moving in which should hopefully bring the little black marlin into the huge schools of biatfish just waiting to be devoured!!

Heavy tackle starts in about 4-6 weeks from Cairns, and we move to Cooktown for changeovers and fishing Lizard Island for most of October.

I have had a couple of cancellations which have opened up some great times for this season.
If you have always wanted to come and fish Townsville in August or heavy tackle in Sept/Oct or Nov now is the time to go!!!

Tight lines around the world.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

22nd May 2007

A big week here on the Gold Coast with the annual Sanctuary Cove Boat Show. This is our version of Miami or Ft Lauderdale and is also a pretty big social event as well.

Fishing has continued to be consistant with the few boats fishing all tagging one or two blues a day out off the whole coast form Brisbane down to Northern New South Wales. We are just doing some boat work and getting ready to head north in a couple of months , and going wide over the next 2 months for blues, stripies and also some deep dropping on the seamounts.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

April 23 2007

With a beautiful forcast for 3-8 knots of wind we headed north from the Gold Coast up towards the Cape Moreton Wide grounds off Brisbane. (About 50nm from Jumpinpin Bar to the bite)

Fishing north thru the Point Lookout area, where the bite had been during the week, did not result in much bait or condition so after some good reports further north I kept heading that way. Way out wide we came across a dead whale floating with nice yellowfin and dolphin fish in the area, we got a nice one of each and kept going as the smell was a bit rank!! There was one big tiger shark on it, and the next day when it had drifted in closer reports had a dozen big tigers and a 14 foot great white all having a good feed!!!

Late afternoon we tagged a big striped marlin about 330lbs, and nice 350 lb blue before running in behind Moreton Island for a flat glassy calm night at anchor.

Back out to the area we fished a few weeks ago we got 2 good blues by 10am and then started trolling south towards home. About 4 miles south we jumped off another stripy and that was about it for the day, the fish seemed to shut down from Moreton Canyon south, but a further 20-40 miles north the bite continued with a few fish an hour for the boats fishing the Mooloolabar Tournament. I heard on the radio there were 49 marlin in 2 days from around 20 boats.

Back home for the week till the next blow during the week blows through. The fish should be here for at least another month and with 10 marlin in 5 days it has been consistent to incredible. So jump on a plane and come and have a blast with us on Tradition.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

Fiji 2007 on Megumi with Capt Greg Edwards

Well it was back to the hard work of actually being a mate for a couple of weeks on my annual trip to Fiji to fish with my old captain Greg Edwards (from Assegai days and all over the world) on the Megumi.

After a nice and easy 4 hour flight direct from Brisbane to Nadi in Fiji we had an easy night catching up before heading out the next day with Garth the owner for a day on the water.

We ran up Viewa Island (about 46 nm northwest of Denaru where the boat lives behind the house) we spent the day chasing schools of Yellowfin tuna around and got 9 to 50lbs as well as a nice 40lb dogtooth tuna.

The next 2 days we fished out of one of the resorts where our friend Johnny from Brisbane, who fishes with us on the GBR, had his friends and families there for a week of fun. We had the kids out with their dads and managed to keep the rods bent pretty much solid for the 2 days. We kept 7 nice yellowfin up to 50 lbs and tagged a really nice blue of around 375 lbs with a nice Billfish Foundation tag. that night back at the resort the kids ran around cracking open coconuts, swimming the pool and eating fresh yellowfin for dinner.

Next day was back out and although a little slower still got 2 dolpin fish and 5 more nice yellowfin for the table and freezer for us!!!

April 4 we left Denaru with full tanks and ran up to Viewa and then fished the next 50 miles up to the Garth and Maggies resort www.yasawa.com for a week of fishing and fun in the sun.

Garth and Maggie got a nice bit of fresh fish for the resort sushi and sashimi menu of wahoo and yellowfin tuna. If you are looking for a beautiful getaway this is one place to put on your list. Beautiful food, beaches and the bure's are incredible. Let me know if you want to go , I can make sure you get taken care of. And we can also arrange for Megumi to be there for your time as well. The tuna will slow down a bit in the next month, and then the big wahoo and dogtooth tunas show up in force. For the next 5 days we fished the huge yellowfin schools, some up to 30 acres in area with big fish free feeding and jumping up to 10 feet in the air. Unfortunately they were a bit far away to get on film.

After a trip home we went sufing for a couple of days and although the camera man sucked!!! Got some really good surf, which was great after a slow summer here.

Well back to TRADITION this week for a new teak deck and paint the cockpit next month before getting ready for Cairns.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com

19 March 2007

After Some great reports from about 60 miles north of us, I headed up to Cape Moreton wide (about 40 nm form Brisbane) for a few days. Got there a bit late on Saturday and missed a couple, the other boats that were there tagged 3-6 fish each. We ran back to Bulwar at the top of Moreton Island for the night and was back out on the grounds on Sunday at 7am, fished all day and saw 10, had 7 bites and tagged 4 blues, all around 400 lbs. The other boats there also had a bunch of bites, one boat had 13 bites, and one of the private boats also tagged 4. Today we fished there till about 10am for only 1 zip on the teaser, and fished south to the Moreton Canyon where we got 2 more blues on the pitch rod.

The bite up there really turned on after lunch and Shikari had 7 bites in 90 minutes, ending up with 3 or 4 for the day.

Ran back and came in Jumpinpin and back to the marina for the next week or so.

Tim

www.TraditionCharters.com