Me with Black Marlin

I started fishing when I was about 8 years old in the local creeks around the north suburbs of Melbourne and when I started working expanded my range to Port Phillip Bay on day charters from St. Kilda for flathead and the occasional snapper. I finally purchased a boat and over the years updated and started to fish for snapper and whiting exclusively. By 1990 I had friends who fished Bermagui and told me how great it was so I worked hard for 6 months and traded my boat for a belmont (5.3mt) and had a couple of custom made short strokers made and along with lever drag reels and accessories planned a trip.

44lb Cobia

That first year produced a marlin of 53kg and after several lean years we did have success and over a 4 year period hooked up over 40 marlin. By then I had traded up to a streaker 585 and my call sign was Red Hunter. At the end of 2000 I Moved to redcliffe and fished outside Moreton Island with some great fish taken, a long tail tuna of 50lb, good bags of snapper, spotty mackeral to 8lb, Cobia to 44lb and my prize catch was a sailfish of 30kg.

50lb Tuna

At the end of 2006 I moved back to Victoria and am now residing in Bairnsdale, near the Gippsland lakes, the fishing is a bit more laid back there with bream, flathead and whiting the main catches.