Wow what a week just got back from the Halco Abrolhos Tournament.
I put together a fishing team of girls consisting of myself, Theresa, Liza and Bree, also had Chad skippering and Darren as the decky (don’t worry they had outfits to fit into the girls theme !!!) We were called Blue Lightning Billfish Babes.
The first day we made our way across to the Abrolhos Islands had a quick stop for Darren to get a couple of crays for lunch. This week we were eating like Queens even the boys!!
The first night was the briefing night to meet everyone and learn the rules for the tournament.
Day 1 we were up bright and early pretty excited to get the comp started. The girls were all excited when the first reel went screaming off, then the second and yes a third what excitement to realize we had a triple hook up. This made it very interesting for Theresa and myself to try and bring in, as they were chair rods and not an easy task to try stand up fish these but we were determined to get the fish in no matter what it took. It must have looked quite the sight. We had another few more double and triple hook ups ending the day with all us girls getting a total of 10 yellow fin tuna up to the 30kg range. It was a great way to start the trip to get everyone use to clearing the gear and getting use to fighting a fish in the chair, as this was Theresa, Liza and Bree’s first time fishing heavy tackle for marlin.
Day 2 of the comp we headed south. Fishing in the morning was very quiet. I decided to cook lunch, Theresa was on strike, I said to her “I am just going to sit in the game chair and eat my lunch if it goes off I’ll jump out”. Famous last words, well I literally just sat down in the chair and Chad yelled out “fish up”. My burger got tossed to the side, I jumped out of the chair and all the girls came running out of the cabin and we were all screaming, you could say pretty excited. The marlin by this stage was not even hooked up and we were screaming Chad said “SSSHHH GIRLS”, the marlin finally took a lure and she was hooked. Theresa raced over and grabbed her rod and took it to the chair, as she was doing this the marlin decided to do a few big jumps and tried to over take the boat, this is when we really noticed the size of her, she was an estimated a 300kg blue marlin.
Theresa fought this amazing fish staying deep for 30mins then leaving us all devastated when the hook pulled and she was gone. Even though we were not able to tag her it was still an amazing experience to see her come up in the spread all lit up, and take the lure, and do a few amazing jumps.
Day 3 A very quiet day for us on the water, didn’t stop the fun and laughs though.
Day 4 Unfortunately the wind decided to pick up and comp was cancelled, this did not stop us having fun. We decided to go for a bit of a reef fish and play around in the shallows, and Darren got us some more crays for dinner. We ended the day with baldchin groupers, coral trouts and cray’s. Before heading back to big Pigeon Island to meet the carrier boat for some more fuel.
Day 5 The wind decided to get worse and the comp was cancelled for the second time. We had a beautiful seal named Sam local resident cruising around the boats she was so very placid and gentle. We were lucky enough to get in the water with her and WOW what an experience. She is very use to people as the cray fisherman swim with her all the time. After our amazing experience with Sam we decided to go to Turtle bay for a snorkel. The Abrolhos Islands offer the most amazing reef system for snorkeling, which is also home to our fresh lunch each day the cray fish.
Day 6 The last day of the tournament we headed north. We had one hook up but only lasted a few seconds (this was our last marlin sighting). Liza and Chad saw a school of Dolphin fish but they decided they weren’t hungry.
The final night at the Abrolhos Islands we all headed up to the pub to find out the winners for sport fishing and marlin sections.
Congratulations to Mandalay for winning the light tackle section and Volkoista for winning the billfish section.
We did not get any fish tagged but the over all experience made up for it, and where else would you rather be than aboard Reely Black at the Abrolhos Islands.
A week I will remember and look forward to do it all again next year.
Thank you to my team members Theresa, Liza and Bree for entering this competition with me, and your help through the week and all the fun we had.
Bree there was never a dull moment when you were around. I think you are the only person that’s been to the Abrolhos Islands and come back with a tattoo.
Thanks to Chad and Darren for all there help during the week, us girls learnt a lot
We would like to thank Geraldton and Districts Offshore Fishing Club for hosting such a great event and the cray fishing community at the Abrolhos for making us feel so welcome.
I look forward to next year’s event.
Until next time
Leah
If you are interested in The Halco Abrolhos Tourtament 2017 contact the Geraldon and Districts Offshore Fishing Club on 0418939613 to find out details.
For more information on Blue Lightning Charters incredible Abrolhos Islands fishing adventures check out our Abrolhos Islands Destination page here or email us at info@bluelightningfishingcharters.com.au or phone 0400208118.
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