Real Magic aboard Reef Magic

[Secho]

Huge thanks to Mike and Damien for an awsome day out on Tuesday!

We boarded Reef Magic about 6:30am, as always we were greeted by Mike and Damo with all the usual spoils of a big boat, plenty of food, drink and comfort to be seen all over.

Had only been out the heads for about 40min when the band popped on the left outrigger and stripped what I think was about 1km of line off the Tiagra.. fought the fish for about 25 min all over the place.. Was nearly buggered when Mike called it for a large black from up in the tower - Damo rigged me up in a full harness to lighten the load and with new found strength and adrenalin the fight went on... at one stage we were travelling at 10knots to try and keep up with the fish, we drove forwards, backwards, circled left, circled right.. nothing we did could slow the fish up - at one stage we we could see the spindle and thought it was all over but then managed to gain a heap of line on him again only to see it all stripped back off and eventually after about 40 mins the fish managed to spool every inch of line off the reel! - exciting way to start to the day and I was left wondering if i'd even have the strenght left to pull in anything else we might come across!

After that we pulled up at a spot that Mike and Damo had fished during the interclub and jigged up some live slimies... quite deep down, but they came up 5 at a time on the jig so with that it didnt take long to fill the tanks.. Damo taught us how to sew up and rig the livies for skip baiting and pretty soon we were back into the action.. left outrigger band popped and before I knew it we were tagging a 65kg striped Marlin along side the boat... lots of high fives all round.

We continued skip baiting the live slimies at a relatively slow rate and kicked back to enjoy Reef Magic's hospitality over a generous lunch spread.. soon after that Damo called that there was a stripey back behind one of the skip baits and we were all attention... sure enough a Striped Marlin was swiming up to the bait and then up to the teasers, then back to the bait again.. we all waited in great anticipation and sure enough the reel screamed, line peeled but the fish spat the bait..

Our next encounter was relatively similar to the last.. a Marlin was spotted behing the baits, this one not interested in snipping at the teasers though.. straight to the slimey and whacked it.. the fish took plenty of line and Damo did a great job coaching me through the fight. Mike was manouvering the boat back and forth on the fish and I was winding like there was no tomorrow. The fish put on one of the best big air displays i've ever seen and luckily my old man was there beside me to take plenty of shots with his new camera (Will add them to the post as soon as I get the disc off him).. The fish put up a great fight and was pretty tired when he got to the boat so Damo tagged and released him with great speed and professionalism - Mike called it for an 80kg Striped Marlin - another great Reef Magic effort!

The day was getting old by now and a big storm front was moving in so we had almost decided to call it a day when sure enough - Pop! Right outrigger band busts and another reel starts screaming - this time I coach the old man into having a go and no sooner had we gotten the gimble onto him the fish spat the bait back out.. all in all we had a fantastic day, a big black which got the better of us, two stripies tagged 60kg and 80kg and two others which gave us plenty of adrenalin and excitment.

Thanks Mike and Damo - catch up with you again reel soon!

Cheers

Marty and Doc

[REEF MAGIC CHARTERS]

Hi Marty,

Thanks for the kind words. It was great to have yourself and your father on board and we are really happy that you enjoyed yourself and that could put you onto some fish for some great action. Your dad took some great photos and im looking forward to seeing them in a larger size. That was also one hell of a storm we ran into that made the trip home very interesting.

Mate we you have a great time in Fiji and enjoy yourself & look forward to fishing with you again.

Cheers

Mike

[Yarraone]

that sounds like a great day.. I cant wait till I get abosrd Reef Magic again.. well done

[kajiki008]

Great fun guys -Mike has one of the best boats and he skippers it well. Got my nice yellowfin with him on a little talica 8 but what really impressed me was the fact that he travelled a LONG LONG WAY to find the fish - something that most captains would not do as my past experiences have shown. Great to see some flags flying. Wished that i could come out again Mike - just a little bit caught up in a new work role so hard to find the time. Definitely will come out again with you....

[sanger]

Damn fine day on the water by the sounds of it guys!!!! Well done!

[boonga]

Cheers Marty it was another great day out on the water and it was good to meet yourself and your father. Can't wait to see the photos. Hope to see you both again soon.

Damien