Heavy Tackle Marlin Fishing

Simon pulling in his Marlin Heavy Tackle Marlin Fishing season is from August to January each year.

The very best way to experience incredible marlin fishing is to book a 4–10 day charter. This can be done either as a Live–On–Board or with the extra comfort of a luxurious mothership for your ultimate dining and accommodation. We also do 1–3 day trips if you are a little constrained for time.

These can be conducted from Cairns, Port Douglas, Cooktown or Lizard Island. (Marlin fishing capital of Australia!) Best variety of deep sea fishing and heavy tackle fishing.. We've just taken out the Biggest Marlin title in the Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic! See the news & pictures...

Extended heavy tackle marlin fishing charter aboard Moana is a fine balance of a wonderfully relaxing morning and a physical afternoon. As most Large Black Marlin are caught in the afternoon you have some other options for the morning. These include swimming and snorkelling around the beautiful coral gardens after enjoying the most gorgeous sunrise or maybe you would prefer a sleep-in followed by a casual brunch.

Black Marlin jumping Either way these activities are followed by some light tackle sport fishing to catch some fresh bait before we head out to the edge of the continental shelf where we put the 130lb outfits in the water and track down those huge creatures of the deep, the magnificent Giant Black Marlin.

The waiting game then begins. We generally troll a combination of small and large baits. The small baits are generally about 1-5lb and normally rigged to swim just below the surface of the water. The big baits can be any type of mackerel or tuna (amongst other things) up to about 50lb and we rig them to skip and flap along the top of the water to attracted the Black Marlin's attention.

You then sit back, relax, have a snooze if you like, while the captain goes to work to hunt down that big fish. It is then only a matter of time (sometimes only minutes) before that big aggressive black marlin shows up and you go one-on-one as the fight of your life begins with that spectacular strike!

All our trips offer spectacular fishing, and we would love to have you on board to share it with us. Please enquire if you're interested in knowing more about our fishing trips, our boat, or our current prices.

Booking Dates

2008 Heavy Tackle Season from September to December is filling fast. Contact us now to reserve your time slot.

Fishing Testimonials

Dear Daniel,

Joe with his Tuna WOW!!! What a great time we all had fishing with you and your crew on 'Moana'. You certainly put us onto some good fish, especially that black marlin estimated at 1200lb, what a sight seeing such a fish leaping out of the sea. We also fully enjoyed our morning session casting surface poppers into schools of bait fish and watching Giant Trevally exploding on the surface fighting over them.

It was good to see how passionate you are with your fishing, and how excited you get to see some action, especially when you spotted that awesome Whale Shark and brought us up along side it. I never imagined what an awesome sight the Great BarrierReef was until you gave us the opportunity to snorkel on it. All the bright colours of coral and fish has been imprinted in my mind, as is the sight of viewing reef sharks and dolphins swimming under the sea. This was not just a fishing trip, but an ultimate adventure which I would highly recommend to novice and experienced heavy tackle anglers.

Please pass on my thanks to your hard working deck hand Michael who I thought tried every trick in the book to entice marlin onto his well presented baits, and also Ross who did a fantastic job keeping us well fed. Baking muffins and cooking souffles was a real surprise and greatly appreciated.

I sincerely hope that we will meet again and do it all over in the very near future.

With sincere thanks
Joe Zammit