Being a damn fine angler in the first place, Pilchy probably didn’t really need my Expert “back seat fishing” advice vis-à-vis when to pump and when to wind, but I administered the said advice regardless, and at +100 high decibels for that matter. Here we were: Our first attempt – after the season for that matter – and we had a 6-7 foot fish in the air! “HOW GOOD IT THIS,” we both thought and shouted as Steve made good progress and forgot to level-wind the line correctly onto my TLD reel (sorry mate – you deserved that!)

One dory landed on the southern most part of Kenn Reef, Boulder Cay, which has the remains of a long-liner on it. Boulder Cay registered as 335 miles from Gladstone, hence the northern end of the reef is about 340 miles from Gladstone - a long way indeed.

Then around 2.15 PM with Chris on strike a solid blue marlin of around 125kg smacks the long rigger and mayhem ensued. The fish charged straight at the boat and tried hard to impale us on its bill before charging past the side of the boat jumping frenetically the whole time. After a 20 minute battle on 37kg stand-up gear, the fish was subdued and brought alongside the boat for a tag and photo op.