InTheBite

Au-Struck: A Journey Along the East Australian Current

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The coast of Port Stephens.

By Kelly Dalling Fallon

If there were to be a national billfish of Australia, it would certainly have to be the black marlin. But our famed east coast has so much more to offer beyond the Great Barrier Reef heavy tackle fishery that immediately springs to mind when anglers fantasize about traveling to the other side of the globe. World-class numbers of blues, stripes and juvenile black marlin exist, as well as a flourishing broadbill fishery. Realistically, visiting anglers can experience stunning action every month of the year.

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Old Salt: Capt. James “Bubba” Carter

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Capt. Bubba's boat, the Tijereta, a 43' Island Boat Works yacht, in a harbor

Photo: Pepper Ailor

By Carol M. Bareuther, R.D.

Captain James “Bubba” Carter’s father didn’t want his son to become a sportfishing captain. No way. “No money in it,” Eddie Carter told his 18-year-old son, who by then already had his captain’s license. So the two shook hands on an agreement: Bubba could run his dad’s boat for the summer if he’d do a year of college. So come fall, off Bubba went to the University of South Carolina.

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No Worries Mate: Working a Season on the Great Barrier Reef

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Photo courtesy Dave Ferrell

By Dave Ferrell

Grander marlin popped up like ants at a summer picnic this past November on the Great Barrier Reef, providing lucky anglers and crews with some of the best black marlin fishing they’ve seen here for some time. According to Granderwatch.com, boats took or released 15 fish over 1,000 pounds this year, with two weighing over 1,200 and one topping 1,400! (And the way they routinely let go of 900-pluses on the Reef, you can rest assured crews caught plenty more). The 1,431-pounder, caught on the Too Easy II on November 29 with Capt. Russel Gage at the helm, narrowly missed Capt. Peter Wright’s Australian-record fish weighing 1,442-pounds caught way back in 1973!

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