Tag In on Rick Moulton's 900lb Black Marlin. Charles Perry on the wire with young gun Elliot Muller on the tag pole.


Strick Mays, Rick Moulton and Ronald Davis from the USA joined us for our charter out of Cooktown, all in search of their first Black Marlin. The weather was perfect at 10 to 15kts predicted for the next four days and there were reports of big fish all over the reef.

We ran out to No 5 Ribbon Reef and around 4 o'clock Rick hooked up to a nice one. It was Rick's first Black Marlin and it gave him a hell of a fight over the hour it took to tag and release.

We called it at 900lb. Watch the Video



Next day the fishing on No. 5 was hot, hot, hot. We got four, including another nice one for Strick Mays we called 900lb. Strick's first Black Marlin that day marked the completion of his all-species billfish slam. Ron's fish was his first Black Marlin.

Days three and four saw us reach the ultimate milestones, granders for both Rick and Ron.

We picked up a smaller one early on day three. Rick's fish came late in the day and involved a two hour fight to bring her to the boat. The shot shows the hook wrapped around her bill, so she was able to put all her energy into the fight.

The scenario was the same on day four, a smaller one early in the day followed by the big one late in the day. Amazingly, Ron's fish was also wrapped around the bill and took an hour to tag and release.

Over the four days we saw 17, hooked 12 and caught 9 with four over 900lb. With winds in the 10 to 20kt range and smooth seas, it was just like the brochure!