A Life Chasing Marlin

Interviewer: Kelly, you’re one of the few women in Australia with such an extensive background chartering and chasing marlin. Can you tell us how it all started?

Kelly Dalling Fallon: I grew up on boats and my father Jim started charter fishing when I was just 8 years old. But even before that we fished socially all the time and were gamefishing club members from a very young age.

Both of my parents were instrumental in the development of the light tackle black marlin fishery in North Queensland. In fact my mother Anne was the first woman to catch a black marlin on 1kg and 2kg line. (And she still holds the 2kg world record!)

Then Dad did his first big marlin season (incidentally Luke was his crewman!) and the giant black marlin fishery has been in the family ever since – Mum also worked on board with Dad for 10 seasons!

We spent a lot of time when not on the water, at the marina – in fact I was a marina rat with none other than O’Brien Boatwork’s Leigh O’Brien as a kid.  I was even his sidekick in a TV show about fishing as a pre-teen!

But it wasn’t until I returned from working overseas – stressed and overworked and looking for a lifestyle change – that I started actually working in the industry with my Dad, and then I really fell in love with marlin fishing.

Luke and I had also met as teens through the sport. And  before long I was spending every season on the water and switching teams to work with him and learning as much as I could as we went along!

Interviewer: What’s it like being part of the Cairns giant black marlin season?

Kelly: It’s just an amazing all-round experience year after year. There’s nothing quite like seeing a giant black marlin launch out of the water and for me being there and being a part of the crew is to be a part of the excitement. But also as a lover of photography, to be in such a photo rich environment is a life highlight as well. There is always something to take a photo of not in the least the marlin themselves which is an absolute favourite of mine.

The Cairns black marlin fishery is still the best place in the world to catch giant black marlin. I’ve been part of close to 20 seasons now (one more! I missed last season after breaking my foot!), and each one brings something new or different.

You never stop learning and meeting new people and its particularly rewarding to be a part of a crew’s first season on the reef and potentially the start of their career. We’ve had the pleasure of fishing alongside some truly awesome humans over the years and stay in touch with all of our crew who are like part of the family to us now!

Interviewer: What roles have you taken on during your time chasing marlin?

Kelly: I’ve done a bit of everything—a little on deck on smaller fish (although I much prefer to be behind the camera on the big fish), managing logistics, coordinating charters and our guests as well as marketing and documenting the season. When we are traveling or boat relocating I do my time behind the wheel as well as I have my ticket.

Behind the scenes I also manage the endless paperwork including our licenses and compliance etc. I also wrote the Black Marlin Blog, which in its heyday was a hub for news, reports, and stories from the marlin fishing world so I feel like I’ve been a deep part of the industry for quite some time now.

Interviewer: What is one of your most memorable experiences?

Kelly: There are so many, but one that stands out is to be a part of two absolutely amazing weeks fishing back to back with the original owner of the 56. First came 7 days chasing marlin at Fraser Island when we released 25 marlin, mostly blue marlin with a few stripies thrown in. Scotty was fishing with his mate Glen just the two of them so that was a pretty epic week fishing heavy tackle for two anglers. We never thought we’d repeat that one but we did the very next trip for them. This time it was up at Cairns when we caught 25 black marlin – and several of them were really big fish – in 7 days on the reef again with Scotty and his mate Glen.

I’ve heard a lot of stories about the good ol’ days from the guys over the years and to be honest I never thought I would be a part of such epic fishing. 9 big black marlin in a day is just something to experience for sure!

But that is the beauty of the reef too, that you’re luck can change in a moment and seeing a client catch the fish of a lifetime and being part of that moment is always incredibly rewarding.

As an angler I’m particularly fond of light tackle and have won several Townsville Billfish Challenges fishing alongside Mum. You have to be quick to beat her to a rod so I had to stay poised to pounce to get there first! And Luke and I have had some great fishing just the two off us. One morning in 4.5 hours we released 23 little blacks just the two of us on board in our little boat. In fact we were fishing among the big gameboats and since hardly anyone knew it was us we were left pretty much alone! Such great fun!

Interviewer: How do you see your role in the industry today?

Kelly: I’ve always aimed to bring visibility to the sport and the fishery and I feel like that’s been not only my biggest but my most successful role to date. And by being a woman on the reef its been great to see so many other women do the same thing and a lot of times in more hands on crew roles!

More broadly, I want as many people to be able to experience this fishery as they can – crew and anglers – while they can!

Interviewer: Any advice for someone—especially women—wanting to get into the sport?

Kelly: Don’t be afraid to just jump in. Learn everything you can, ask questions, and spend as much time on the water as you can, in any role you can. You don’t need to know it all straight away. People often forget that everyone starts somewhere and we all learn and grow as we go along.

Respect the fish, and the people who’ve been doing this for a long time and you’ll find a place for yourself.

Interviewer: Final thoughts?

Kelly: Being a part of the Australian marlin industry has probably shaped my life in ways that I don’t even consider. It can be very tough (and rough!) and when the fishing slow can be quite stressful as we want everyone on board to have such a great trip, but its also very rewarding and such a beautiful backdrop that very few people get to see let alone spend months in every year.

I wouldn’t trade the long days, rough seas, or incredible moments for anything!