Reports from Cairns continue to trickle in. Capt. Ross Finlayson on Bounty Hunter gave me a catch up from his first trips on the reef. Ross said they are averaging 2-3 bites a day. While they’ve had no big ones of late, the previous charter they had some great fishing with a 950, 900, 800, 650 and 4 other smaller ones!
And Capt. Luke Fallon’s KEKOA also kicked off his season yesterday with a 2 from 5 while Capt. Tim Richardson’s Tradition released one as well.
More to come.
2018 Weipa Billfish Tournament Official Results
In total there were 46 nominated anglers including 7 juniors, 13 ladies and 13 visiting anglers. Unfortunately, wheelie bin green was the official colour of the water facing the competition and it was great to hear of some boats still getting 4 or 5 shots a day in the conditions.
And the results are a testament to the resilience of the fishery with a total of 40 bites, 30 hookups and 20 fish tagged – 4 black marlin and 16 sailfish among 9 boats.
Champion Team – Freak Show 6300pts
R/Up team – True Blue 4070pts
3rd team Last Cast 2300pts
4th team Wine Down 2170pts
5th team Striper 1000pts
6th team Get N Any 1000pts
7th team Shipfaced 1000 pts
8th team Justeasin’ 1000pts
9th team Halfway 900pts
Champion Senior male – Rhys Moore 4300pts
R/up Senior male – Ben Wilson 2170pts
3rd Senior male – Jack Moore 2000pts
4th Senior male – Riley Wilson 1900pts
5th Senior male – Gaven Roberts 1000pts
6th Senior male – Brendan Rolt 1000 pts
7th Senior male – Brett Young 1000pts
8th Senior male – Bruce Watkinson – 1000pts
9th Senior male – Kurt Lynch 900pts
Champion Senior Female – Amy Jenner 2170pts
R/Up Senior Female – Theona Down 1000pts
Champion Junior Angler – Daniel Griffin – 1300pts
Heaviest Other Gamefish – Vesa Hyytinen 4.91kg Spanish Mackerel
Most Meritorious Capture – 13 y/o Daniel Griffin, successfully tagging his first black marlin of about 65kg on 10kg line after just over 2 hours, fishing aboard Last Cast.
Hard Luck award – Team Small Fry who battled a marlin of around 60kg on a spin rod for over 2 hours only to have the handle break off the reel – Check out the photos attached to this post taken from Last Cast at top!
