ELITE fishers are prowling Fraser Coast waters in pursuit of records as marlin continue to be tagged in numbers that identify Hervey Bay as a world-class game fishing destination.

On one amazing October day, fisherman tagged 43 marlin in our waters.

News travelled fast in the tight knit game fishing circles and a few days later a boat out of Mooloolaba called Kamikaze headed north.

Fortune favoured the brave and the fishers were rewarded by tagging 68 marlin in three days.

Brad Rocke, president and founding member of the Hervey Bay Game Fishing Club, said he had never seen marlin on the boil to this extent in his 18 years of hunting the big fish.

"Fourteen years ago I tagged 22 fish in a day," he said. "I've never seen marlin this prolific.

"There are a couple of boats headed here to go after the Australian record of 32 tagged in a single day."

The marlin frenzy began on October 10 when the Hervey Bay vessel KJ took out new members of the Hervey Bay Game Fishing Club who were chasing marlin for the first time.

They had 45 marlin strikes and tagged 11 in a couple of hours. Black and Blue, out of Bundaberg, got 12 strikes and tagged 11 in two hours of fishing. Another vessel, Moistie, out of Hervey Bay had 12 strikes for 11 marlin tagged.

In the bay, a fishing guide boat had six strikes for four tagged fish.

Off Wathumba Ck, a father and son team caught two marlin.

A game boat fishing wide of Burrum Eight Mile Reef caught three marlin there. A reef fishing boat even caught a marlin in Gatakers Bay.

Now, big gun Migaloo, out of Cairns, is coming to fish for marlin and records for a couple of weeks.

It all bodes well for the 2012 Hervey Bay Boat Club Tournament from November 8-11.

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