The final day’s fishing was once again quick to get started with Capt. Chris “Sharky” Miles’ Levante kicking off the fishing reports at just 6 minutes into fishing. And it seems like there was a hot little bite with Bounty Hunter, Black Magic, Saltaire and Askari all adding fish in that same grid reference early before the first sked. For boats who elected to fish a bit closer to the island on the last day as well, it started off well with boats such as Gavin Goodwin’s Above Grade (who were unlucky not to convert two early fish) Black Pearl, Cgirl, Done Deal, Hardline, Hellraiser, Que Sera and Sea-nami also encountering fish in the grids around Fitzroy.
But once again it was the grounds to the north that remained most consistent through the day and the overnight leaders only added to their scores to keep them in front.
Capt. Brett Goetze’s junior team on board Amokura (the Sandy family kids) put in an awesome effort to add three more tags on the final day to bring their total to 8 giving them the Champion Boat and Champion Team award. Followed up by Capt. Damian Collette’s Saltaire who also added three to bring them to a total of 7 in Runners’ Up position.
In the Under 7.5m category, Tony Wilson’s Hardline who had done the hard yards all comp in some less than perfect conditions (good for most of the day with the south-easterly really kicking in each PM) took the gong with 5 tags.
A special mention was made to the 16 juniors who took part – an awesome turnout for the young anglers who in many cases, showed the adults how it was done!
The tournament trophy list looks like this (from my notes – not official results):
First Billfish Day 1 – Shane Sipthorp / Askari
Last Billfish Day 1 – Col Moon / Chestoo
First Billfish Day 2 – Emily Griffin / Hellraiser 2
Last Billfish Day 2 – Stuart Craig / Levante
First Billfish Day 3 – Stuart Craig / Levante
Last Billfish Day 3 – Braden Grieve / Mind Trick
Junior Champion – Mathew Sandy / Amokura
Junior R/U – Tia Pickering / Done Deal
Champion Female – Emily Griffin / Hellraiser
R/U Female – Brenda Pecl / On Strike
Champion Male – Anthony Wold / Saltaire
R/U Male – Tom Bartlett / Black Magic
Champion Boat/Team >7.5m – Amokura 8 tags
Champion Boat/Team – Hardline 5 tags
Amanda Haines on Zulu took the above pic of the sailpast in front of the island.
