Statistics
(1997-2004) | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011
2011
A decided lack of fish & a La Nina can explain a poor season in Broome and why most of our warm water & fish are still on there way back from Perth. The first half of our season was void of our usual mobs of Sails, Mackerel & pretty much anything that had gills and only got slightly better towards the end.
After last years Wintery Broome Sailfish Tournament the weather & fish Gods decided to play ball. Reasonable numbers of Sails started to appear for the tournament, better late than never. Our team of locals fished there way to the top of the pack with consistency, best day fishing bagged them 9 out of 13 Sails but at the end of the day had to settle for third place overall, still a great effort.
Murphy's law was the case with a 20kg Northern Bluefin Tuna coming to the boat and with pics taken and congratulating all round we slid the fish back into the water to swim another day. The next day found us in the record books finding the WA State record on 10kg was 13 odd Kilo's mmm.
Crystal Ball for 2012; well after last years prediction falling short, we're hopefully looking forward to our fish stocks & warm water returning from their holiday down south. Woodside isn't going away and the Greens have decided to get into the picture, this could see a major effect on our very well maintained and sustainable Sailfishery.
Days @ Sea 77
| Sailfish Raised (behind boat) | 440 |
| Sailfish Strikes | 236 |
| Sailfish Released | 188 |
| Marlin Raised | 14 |
| Marlin Strikes | 8 |
| Marlin Released | 8 |
| Spanish Mackerel | 102 |
| Tuna | 18 |
| Queenfish | 110 |
2010
Well what a year! Big numbers of Sails inundated Barred Ck early in the season with pods of up to 15 Sails numerous.
2010 has definitely been one of the most extreme years I can remember; fishing has been fantastic, weather average.
We conducted the 1st ever successful Satellite Tagging program on Sailfish with Dr Julian Pepperell.
Finally (after 21yrs) we Won the Broome Sailfish Tournament; in what could only be described as crap weather (30-40knt cold winds possibly the worst for 21yrs).
The final day saw our team down by three fish but with high spirit's and with a hot two hour bite on the tide change that earned us 3 Marlin & 3 Sails we found ourselves three fish in front of the tournament leader "The Boss".
Sailfish ranged from 8kg to 40kg in size & best day was 20 tagged with 64 fish released in 6 days.
Crystal Ball for 2011 subject to opinion, I'd be surprised if we get a big wet so probably much the same as 2010 with fish numbers up earlier in the year and fading in late Oct /Nov. Woodside are still surveying James Prices Point as the world's largest LNG plant hub and intend on dredging a turn around area equivalent size as Ayres Rk, this is of course if it goes ahead??
Days @ Sea 83
| Sailfish Raised (behind boat) | 707 |
| Sailfish Strikes | 320 |
| Sailfish Released | 249 |
| Marlin Raised | 14 |
| Marlin Strikes | 7 |
| Marlin Released | 7 |
| Spanish Mackerel | 142 |
| Tuna | 11 |
| Queenfish | 72 |
| Cobia | 3 |
2009
2009 fished well early in the season with the Sails very close to Barred Ck, you could have cast to them from the rocks (Billistic was even getting gravel rash it was so close). Mid season saw the fish move Nth for a short while and then settle around the Peanut (28Nm Nth of Broome), where they remained for the duration of the season. Fishing slowed down towards Sept/Oct/Nov which was unusual and hence all numbers of both Sailfish & Marlin were down accordingly.
Mackerel & Tuna were around in good numbers and we managed to avoid most big schools, as our target species were Sailfish & Marlin. You'd be amazed at how much damage a few Mac's can do to a set of teasers. Best results for the year was in the tournament with 17 Sails for one day and a total of 38 Sailfish, 1 Marlin and second place. Watch out 2010
2010 crystal ball. Well so far it's been an average wet season, so a late season should be on the cards. As a rule, the bigger the wet, the more bait is around which means lots of Sails!!
*** Did you know that Woodside, pushed by the W.A. state government, is looking at digging a channel right thru the middle of the Peanut, a favourite fishing spot for sailfish. This should be great for Australia's Number One Sailfish destination!! This is to accommodate the SUPER TANKERS that need access to the 10 Hectare Liquid Natural Gas( LNG) plant with an overall 2400 Hectare exclusion zone that is going to (DIS)grace the beautiful coastline south of Prices Point. They call this progress!!
Stay tunes for more updates.
Here are the stats for 2009.
Fishing days at Sea 56
Sailfish Raised 537
(behind the boat)
Sailfish Strikes 244
Sailfish Releases 187
Marlin Raised 22
Marlin Strikes 8
Marlin Released 8
Spanish Mackerel 44
Northern Bluefin Tuna 9
Queenfish 8
2008
2008 started off well for Mackerel & Tuna fisho's that is, but a las the Sailfish/Marlin I'd rather not talk about them; it was't until September that the bulk of Sailfish/Marlin turning up. There was some exceptional days fishing from Sept to November with the best bite coming in October with some local's doing a great job of 21 Sails in 4.5hrs fishing Yes there was a lot of encouragement from up top.
The best weeks fishing nailed some of my regular fisho's from Perth some excellent fishing with an average daily catch of around 13 Sails with a best day of 18 & a couple of Marlin, not bad!!
On the Marlin front numbers and size with down on 2007 with 24 raised & 11 released which isn't a bad conversion rate, average size being 40kg, and largest fish was 130kg ish.
Spanish Mackerel were good for the first half of the year with 159 captures but petted out towards the end average being 10kg. Tuna weren't to be seen all yr, must have gone some where but not Broome with only 17 finding the hook.
As for the excuses for the bad start to the Sailfish/Marlin season I think Global warming is starting to have an effect.
We're hoping for a good wet season in 2009 which should even out the years fishing, fingers crossed and coupled with some serious preying to the fish gods we should have a good 2009 season.
Fishing days @ sea = 69
Sailfish Raised 623
Sailfish Strikes 339
Sailfish Released 221
Marlin Raised 24
Marlin Strikes 11
Marlin Released 11
Spanish Mackerel captures 159
Tuna 17
2007
2007 started off slowly with Sailfish/Marlin not turning up in any significant numbers till later in the year, total Sails/Marlin raised was 754 with 270 released out of 66 days.
Best results came in September, October & early November with a Hot bite in October seeing 128 Sails released out of 385 over a 5 day period.
The best day was 40 Sails out of 95 behind the boat, not bad!!
Marlin were definitely down in both numbers and size with only 31 raised & 8 released average size being 30kg, some larger fish were sighted up to 150kg
Spanish Mackerel were constant through out the year with 207 captures some good fish weighing up to 30kg and the average being 10kg. Tuna were not in great abundance with only 71 finding the hook. Large bait schools contributed to the slow start to the Sailfish/Marlin season. Good arches and marks were prevalent but most were on the bottom; it wasn't till later in the year when the bait came to the surface that the fishing improved.
Fishing days @ sea = 66
Sailfish Raised 723
Sailfish Strikes 345
Sailfish Released 262
Marlin Raised 31
Marlin Strikes 9
Marlin Released 8
Spanish Mackerel captures 207
Tuna 71 & Cobia 4
2006
SAILFISH Statistics for the year 2006
2006 fished well with an overall 653 billfish raised
187 Sails & 16 Marlin up to 220kg being released also good catches of Spanish Mackerel early in the year
Sailfish Charters = 82 days
Sailfish Raised 603
Sailfish Strikes 224
Sailfish Released 187
Marlin Raised 50
Marlin Strikes 22
Marlin Released 16
Spanish Mackerel Captures 118
Tuna Northern Blue's 76
Cobia 2
Queenfish 12
2005
SAILFISH Statistics for the year 2005
Sailfish Charters = 72 days
Sailfish Raised & sighted 847
Sailfish Strikes 359
Sailfish Hook ups 291
Sailfish Released 245
Marlin Raised 21
Marlin Strikes 9
Marlin Hook ups 8
Marlin Released 7
Spanish Mackerel Captures 364
Tuna Northern Blue's 118
Cobia 11