Black marlin are much more rare and tend to be seen right up close to the reef. In fact quite a few have been seen by guests diving from the lodge.

Presumed to be migrating back and forth to the Great Barrier Reef off Australia, the best times for black marlin seem to support this with blacks usually seen July to September and December - March.

We usually run four bent butt 80Ws and troll 12"-22" skirted lures for blues until we find a school of tuna. Then we usually switch to tuna skip-baits if we believe a marlin is in the area.

In fine weather on the Kadavu seamount we sometimes stop over a tuna school and livebait. A very effective method of marlin fishing, it does however have its draw-backs when the occasional hammerhead or tiger shark pinches a bait.

For blue marlin, January - March is when we target the big girls.

Bite Me has boated blues to 500lbs but fought and lost blues in excess of 800lbs.

During the rest of the year, most blues range from 150lbs to 400lbs though the occasional really big blue is still encountered year round.

We normally troll a spread of 4 lures until we find yellowfin or skipjack tuna.

We then generally switch to two tuna skip-baits with a light tackle pitch bait ready to go if a sailfish or short billed spearfish comes up behind the boat.