The old nickname “Big Julie” came from a comedy sketch many years ago in the ‘70s called, “Rinse the Blood off my Toga”. Two Canadian comedians, Frank Shuster and Johnny Wayne, wrote and played this sketch that eventually became a hit worldwide. Off Cairns during the heavy tackle black marlin season this old nickname gets mentioned quite often, even today!
THE BEAST
When an angler hooks a real beast of a black marlin and spends untold hours trying to catch it and loses it, the talk over the radio after the tragic loss usually goes something like this. “Big Julie just broke us off after a ten-hour fight” or “it was the biggest black marlin we have ever seen in all our years on the reef. When Big Julie jumped, “she looked like a bloody whale”.
It’s hard to believe that any size fish could withstand the pressure of 60kg (130lb) tackle in the hands of a good H/T angler with 30kgs (70lbs) or more of drag on the reel for hours on end? I’ll never forget the 9-hour battle I witnessed with the biggest black marlin I ever saw in all my years of heavy tackle seasons
