The Land of Dreams and Giants
Fishing for black marlin on the Great Barrier Reef offers one of the most exhilarating big-game experiences in the world, with peak action typically from September to December. Renowned for their power and size—with some fish exceeding 1,000 pounds—these majestic marlin attract anglers from all over the globe. Join the Pelagic Team as we head out of Cooktown, Australia for an epic week of big game fishing on the GBR!
Chasing 1,000lb Black Marlin on the Great Barrier Reef
Story and Photos by Kevin Voegtlin
DAY 1: Might As Well Start Where the Fish Are
We’re a few thousand feet above the coastline, having just cleared Cairns' regulated airspace—heading north toward Cooktown. My headset crackles as it clicks on, and the pilot asks if I get motion sickness. As I say no, we bank hard left and drop quickly, leveling off below the mountains, bringing the vibrant intricacies of Australia’s northeastern coastline into clear view.
Cooktown wasn’t always on the itinerary, but it's the closest harbor to where the fish are. So, that's where our boats are, and now, two planes full of gear and crew later, that’s where we are.
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has a storied history of marlin fishing. It can be assumed that not long after the first inhabitants of this northern zone whittled away at a fallen tree, one of them paddled out to the ribbons and hooked into some sort of beast. But it was in the early 20th century that marlin fishing, as we know it, really came into the limelight on the GBR. It boomed in the '40s and '50s, and with the help of conservation efforts and regulations starting in the '70s, it has remained one of the premier zones for targeting giant black marlin—and that’s why we’re here.
By any means necessary. It’s not every day you're loading rods into a bush plane, but the flight from Cairns to Cooktown is one of the most scenic ones you'll ever take, and a great opportunity to take in the vastness of the Great Barrier Reef-and dream of what’s swimming below.
If you’re going to invest in traveling across the world to land a grander, you better be on the boat that gives you the best opportunity to get it done. Our homes for the next five days would be aboard the famed Kekoa, a 56 foot O’Brien Boatworks gameboat custom built for marlin fishing captained by Luke Fallon, and Bounty Hunter, the first ever 43 ft O’Brien captained by Craig “Sparra” Denham. In a way that can only happen through decades of sun and salt—nearly 40 years each on the reef—each captain's personality seems to have melded with their boat.
Luke is professional. His game is tight. He greets us already wearing the current season’s Pelagic gear, his crew outfitted in fresh Kekoa shirts made by Pelagic. The boat is freshly hosed, scrubbed, and squeegeed down—a testament to his meticulous upkeep, but also a necessity with the amount of fish caught on it. Inside the salon, everything has its place, the AC is cranked, and life is comfortable.
Sparra? Well, if Hollywood were to cast someone to play an Australian fishing captain who had spent 40 of his 50-some-odd years fishing the Reef, they might as well just get Sparra to play himself, with Bounty Hunter as his trusty steed. Sparra was rarely seen wearing a shirt, his trunks had probably put in more seasons than any of his crew, and if he wasn’t up in the tower, he was spinning stories on the stern, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. Bounty Hunter matched her captain’s feel—lacking a few creature comforts, but fishy as hell.
With over 80 years on the reef between the two of them, and countless granders, these captains are the guys you want to trust to get the job done.
We left Cooktown with the kind of optimism that can only be found in the first hour of a fishing trip. The esky was opened, and beers were handed out—two options: the local Great Northern and VB. A few days in, we questioned why we were all drinking the captain’s Great Northerns when we had asked for VBs. We all looked around, unsure of who had made that ill-informed call—until we saw Kevin Hibbard’s sheepish grin. “Hibby” had once worked as a mate for Sparra, and it was evident his 20-year hiatus from the Reef had left him ignorant of Australia’s newer—and finer—beer choices. The rest of the trip, every reach into the cooler was a gamble: risk depleting the captain’s stock or endure another VB.
The day wound down without a strike, but spirits were high.
Randy and Hibby, casting votes on the trip’s VB vs Great Northern debate.
Day Two: Putting Pelagic Gear, and ourselves, to the test.
Mornings on the reef are slow—coffee, a quick dive off the back of the boat to poke around some high spots, then trolling the inside of the reef to make bait (bait here being 15-pound tuna and Scaley Mackerel). We knew conditions this day were going to be sporty, but as we rounded the corner to the outside of the reef, it was nothing but a back and forth view of waves, clouds, waves, clouds. I wasn’t sure how my answer to the pilot’s motion sickness question would hold up.
There’s a reason—beyond chasing 1,000-pound black marlin—that a brand would travel across the world to fish the Reef. If we’re going to make the best fishing gear on the planet, we better be putting it to the test in real-deal conditions, and day two gave us just that. Spray was constant, the horizon ever disappearing, and with every other tack of the boat, the sun beat down with all its equatorial might. The only reprieve? The hood of our Exo-Tech and facemask—and the knowledge that in a few minutes, we’d be taking the opposite direction with a few minutes of shade.
By midday, the heat finally broke as squalls blacked out the horizon. Chubasco jacket on, hoods zipped tight—grin and enjoy it. By afternoon, the wind had laid down. Unfortunately, lines hadn’t gone tight on Kekoa, but Pelagic Co Founder and CEO Beth Kawaja landed a 700-pound black on Bounty Hunter. The beating we took working our way north earned us a night anchored at the legendary Lizard Island and a few rounds at its Marlin Bar—with plenty to celebrate.
After fishing all the way up to Ribbon 10, there was no way we weren’t going to anchor up at Lizard Island and have a few at the famous Marlin Bar, the place where it all started.
Day Three: Groupers, GT’s, and a first look at Black Marlin
On our way out, we stopped for a swim at the Cod Hole—a spot on the reef known for, well, its giant grouper. It was an incredible swim and a fun way to experience the non-game-fish draw of the Great Barrier Reef. Afterward, we still had some time to kill before the marlin bite, so Luke told us to grab the spinning gear and start casting.
Being that close to breaking waves on a big boat, casting poppers into near-dry coral and ripping them through was a blast. After just one fight with a 40-pound GT, it was easy to see why anglers come here just for those. But that was enough of that—we had two days left to get a marlin to Kekoa.
Only on the Great Barrier Reef is chucking poppers to 40lb GT considered killing time
A few hours later, we finally got our shot. Hibby was up in the chair and made easy work of a 350-pound fish. A Pelagic Pro Team member and top marlin captain out of Kona, Hibbard half-joked that he was glad his turn was used on a small fish. Having caught a grander himself before, he wanted no part of pulling on another. Regardless of size, seeing a black marlin go airborne right off the boat’s corner while on leader is enough to excite even the saltiest of fishermen.
The day closed with that single fish. Bounty Hunter had landed one of similar size. Stories were told, beers were shared, and we took turns jigging for reef fish off the stern in the dark.
Kevin Hibbard, hooked up and in the splash zone. “Small” carries a different meaning on the Reef
Last day. Last chance for a giant Black Marlin
We had a hard stop at 3 p.m. to make it back to Cooktown in time for our bush planes to reach Cairns before dark. The wind was down, the ocean calm—the calmest it had been all trip. Almost too calm for marlin fishing. But we were going to make the most of it.
You can’t talk about a trip like this without crediting the guys who really do it all—the mates and wiremen. These guys work nonstop: prepping gear, making bait, rigging bait, swapping baits (seemingly constantly), cleaning the boat, and on and on. We said the reef was the best place to test gear, but really, it's because these guys are the best gear testers on the planet. Want to see if your product is tough? Throw it on one of these fellas and check back in a few days. Hence the name of our Leaderman boardshort.
If you want to make the best gear, you’ve got to put it to the test. Kekoa wireman, Josh Allwood, putting this season’s gear through the ringer.
By 2:00, optimism had faded. We had come to terms with a tough stretch of fishing—one fish for us, four for Bounty Hunter. No complaints. After all, we were here to test products and shoot content—and we did that in droves.
Then, at 2:30, Luke’s hanging over the bridge yelling “GET READY!”
By 2:31, we were on.
There’s nothing that can prepare you for the first sight of a 900-pound black marlin launching itself out of the water. The sheer size is hard to comprehend. The fish made a few runs before Randy got it close. Then, there it was—nearly 1,000 pounds of black marlin on leader, jumping mere feet from the boat.
Long travel, rough seas, brutal sun, days without a bite-it all gets forgotten after that first jump.
Josh, the wireman, wrangled the fish as it made a few more runs before coming alongside the port rail. Within seconds, he cut the line, feeling the fish preparing to run deep again.
And just like that—the reef provided.
Was it a grander? No. But when you’re pushing four-digit weights, a hundred pounds or so is pretty damn close.
What it all comes down to. 30 Minutes left on the trip, and 900lbs of Black Marlin on leader mere feet from the boat.