Cairns celebrates six decades since the 1,064lb marlin that built its fishery, as the 60th Anniversary tournament fishes this September and the same migration reaches NZ waters every summer.
On 25 September 1966, angler Richard Obach, fishing as deckhand for skipper Capt. George Bransford, landed a 1,064lb (482.6kg) black marlin aboard their 9.8m (32ft) boat, Sea Baby, on 80lb line. It was the first 1,000lb black marlin recorded off Cairns and established a new world record on 80lb tackle. That single fish is widely credited with putting Cairns on the map as the world’s black marlin capital, and this September marks 60 years since it happened.
The 60th Anniversary Cairns Black Marlin Tournament runs 21-26 September 2026, hosted by the Cairns Professional Game Fishing Association with major sponsors Short Marine and Viking Yachts. It’s a strictly tag-and-release event, and the fleet fishes the grounds between #6 Ribbon Reef and Jenny Louise Shoal Reef, the same stretch of reef where Obach and Bransford made history six decades ago on a very different set of rules.
The tournament proper opens on 22 September with a 7:15am sail past as boats head out for four days of fishing. It wraps with a dock party on the 25th and a Presentation Gala and Hall of Fame Ceremony at the Cairns Convention Centre on the 26th. Twin Disc Pacific and Seakeeper Pacific are among the tournament’s supporting sponsors.
Black marlin are among the rarest billfish caught in New Zealand waters, with only around two dozen caught here even in a good year, generally between December and May. Tagging data shows Great Barrier Reef black marlin are capable of covering enormous distances, including recaptures thousands of nautical miles from where they were tagged, in the Pacific as far afield as Costa Rica and Hawaii. It’s a reminder that the fish gathering off Cairns each spring belong to a highly mobile population, one that occasionally puts a black marlin within reach of a lucky Kiwi angler.
Cairns comes into its 60th year off the back of a strong 2025 season. Sheriff, Shore Thing, Calypso and OB1 all posted notable tallies, while Shore Thing and OB1 recorded fish comfortably beyond the 1,000lb mark. The wider gamefishing community has also spent the off-season debating rule adherence after social media clips of questionable releases circulated widely, prompting the International Game Fish Association, the Game Fishing Association of Australia and the IGFA Oceania Regional Council to collaborate on an ethics video, according to Marlin magazine.
Six decades after Obach’s fish changed the sport, the fleet sails past again on 22 September, chasing the same reef that made Cairns famous. Next summer, when a black marlin does turn up off our coast, it’ll belong to the same restless Pacific population Obach’s fish did.
