# FNQ: Another Expedition in Paradise



## gonetroppo (Jan 29, 2011)

Hi All, 
Off the back of my last trip to Hitchinbrook earlier this year, our next adventure took place last week, paddling out to the Franklin Islands and then making our way up the coast to Cairns over 5 days.
It was another amazing piece of this awesome place I'm lucky enough to call home explored, and again I cant wait to get back out there again.

Day 1:
Bramston Beach To Russel Island.

We all set off first thing in the morning, our group of 5 kayaks this time consisted of my mates in 2 malibu x-13's, a Pittarak, Cetus, and me and my Catch 420. 2hrs later we pulled into our first stop of the Franklin Islands, Russel Island. Crystal clear aqua coloured water, fringing reefs, craggy rock peaks and dense tropical jungle, absolute paradise.





We spent the afternoon in hammocks, snorkeling and exploring. The island has a lighthouse we managed to find the trail to, and we arrived at the top on sunset, standing above the jungle canopy watching the sun go down, and surveying the trip from the highest place for miles, spectacular, I only wish I took my camera there. 
We also did some fishing here, and didn't manage to catch much, though with more time I know the island would have produced. The snorkeling was top notch however.



Day 2:
Russel Island to High Island.

We set off just before lunch after enjoying more of the island, as we only had a short paddle of 12km up to High Island, we stayed a little longer and made the most of our time at Russel. With the wind behind us we set sail through the lagoons to the north before dropping into Normanby Island for lunch. I chose to go wide off the drop off and green zone, trolling in about 35m of awesome deep blue water, as I had other plans...

This trip I was trolling for a billfish, a goal of mine has always been to land one from the kayak, and this is the one area they are known to hang out at inside of the reef. So I prepared a rig for this trip, knowing this goal will take a whole life time of paddling around and a huge amount of luck to achieve, if at all, so I had to get started.

We pulled into Normanby for a quick lunch and look around, then set off again for the last leg of the day. Once clear of the green zone and into the big water, I put out the lures again. We had about 20-25kt of wind (luckily on the tail!) and 1m seas which made it a bit unsettling at times, but gave us good speed.

After a while I hooked up on a few sharks, and then dinner, a nice sized mackerel big enough for us all to enjoy that night:


Then about halfway into the leg, my heavy rig got hit, I spun round, grabbed it, and then to my utter disbelief, a bloody huge Billfish launched itself straight out of the water just behind me. 
I was on! and after a few more aerial displays that I watched dumbfound in my seat, I looked down to see the last of my 300m of braid leaving the spool.Cringing as I tightened up on drag, I slowed him, and he set off east with me in tow. (My mate clocked me at 3kts! powerful fish considering that with all the gear, there was close to 150kg on the kayak)

I managed to get back onto the braid after a while, and slowly but surely I was winning the tug of war. I must have had nearly all of the 15kg of drag wound on and I felt every bit of it, I don't know about the fish though!
After 2 hours I was completely buggered (and had been towed about 5km) but I finally raised him from the depths, and got him alongside for a few photos and a good appreciation of this awesome fish. After a while he got a new lease of life and took off again, so I cut the line and sent him on his way, content that I'd 'bagged' him as best I could.

Now to the I.D... initially I thought sailfish, it was dark on top and olive green/gold to silver, however I didn't see the sail up once at all, just a smallish dorsal fin, which leads me to think I had a Blue Marlin. Looking at a size chart, that agrees with our estimates of a 2.2m/80kg fish. can anyone tell from the photos?





We took some video too which is being worked on at the moment, if anyone is interested in seeing that also ill put it up when its done.

Day 3
High Island to Turtle Bay.
A long day of paddling in bad conditions, big winds and swell and some rain and storms, but we all managed to knock over the grueling 35km trip. I managed a nice sized shark again.

Day 4
Fitzroy Island.
We took a day trip over to Fitzroy for a few well deserved cold ones and a fresh meal, and to take in the sights and do some snorkeling. Another top place.

Day 5
Turtle Bay to Cairns
Set off early for False Cape, our intermission before the last push home. On arriving I hooked a nice 50cm Blue Salmon which was a lot of fun. We arrived and found a squatter on the beach, he told us the history of the Cape and how it had Gun emplacements here in the war to protect the Port of Cairns, we went exploring and found lots of old ruins from that time, very interesting.



All up the trip was about 100km and loads of fun, we all cant wait for the next one. Obviously the Marlin was the highlight for me, what luck!


----------



## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Congratulations and thanks!

You'd recognize a sail. Their dorsal, even when down is really floppy. I'm voting black.


----------



## MrFaulty (May 15, 2008)

Not sure if it was the marlin or the location but one of the best trip reports in ages, so envious!


----------



## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Awesome stuff!!


----------



## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Major jealousy! What a great report too, lots of info, not too much reading, nice pics to go with it.


----------



## carnster (May 27, 2008)

Crazy epic stuff mate.


----------



## captaincoochin (Nov 11, 2012)

Congrats on that monster fish. I'm jealous..


----------



## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Amazing


----------



## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Fantastic report and trip.
I presume both the shots show the tail and not the dorsal, what was the dorsal like ?
How about a spearfish ?

http://dennisalbert.com/FISH/billfishspecies.htm


----------



## actionsurf (Jul 8, 2010)

Brilliant report. I'm going with a little black marlin also.


----------



## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

What a great report Gonetroppo (= GT  )

Having done a few Whitsunday trips, I was with you all the way, though definitely not the marlin. That is the stuff of dreams.

NQ is fantastic (*not* the crocs)! Thanks for sharing a great adventure.


----------



## wokka1 (Jan 31, 2011)

Brilliant, thanks for sharing.


----------



## gonetroppo (Jan 29, 2011)

Thanks all, so looks like the consensus is a Black Marlin then. Whitsundays is certainly on the to do list, as well as up to Cooktown, hopefully more good times to come.


----------



## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

> We took some video too which is being worked on at the moment, if anyone is interested in seeing that also ill put it up when its done.


Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. :shock:


----------



## AJD (Jul 10, 2007)

Epic! Top story and congrats on the Marlin!


----------



## Geoffw (Jan 23, 2011)

Have to agree with the rest...... great report and jealous. What a great place to live and fantastic to be out enjoying it.


----------



## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

What a great trip report
Thanks


----------

