A great come from behind victory for Chris “Sharky” Miles’ team on board Katana the brand new 51 Assegai with 5 fish on the last day to rocket into the lead to win with 7 tags giving him the win for his 4th year in a row!
Sharky tells me they fished the first two days tough only tagging one on both days 1 and 2 along with the bulk of the tournament fleet fishing off Fitzroy Island.
On day 3 they made the decision to seek new ground and it paid off big time. A double of sails converted from three raised (but only two anglers!) to start them off as well as a single sail after. They also converted two marlin including a bigger model that Sharky put at 25kg!
Capt. Corey Hard’s Askari came second in the ‘Professional division with 4 tags being unable to convert on the final day.
In the private boat category, Mackay’s Emma Kate were on a winning run adding two tags on the first sked of the final day to take their total to 6 before unfortunately having to stop fishing early. Still the 6 tags was enough to give them the win in the private boats as well as three daily awards for first and last billfish.
In the Under 7.5m category, Steve Leptig’s The Edge won with three tags.
Previous reports:
Day two wrap up: 12 tags Day 2 with Askari adding another one and Emma Kate adding another two have them tussling at the top of the leaderboard with four each.
Day one wrap up: 12 marlin and 2 sails with Askari in the lead on 3.
FINAL RESULTS
2019 Telstra Business Centre Cairns Bluewater Billfish Tournament
Champion Male – Stewart Craig – Katana
Champion Female – Gina Cleaver – Ofishal
Champion Junior – Aleysha Yates – Absolute
Champion Runner Up Male – Steve Colborne – Emma Kate
Champion Runner Up Female – Terri Morgan – The Edge
Champion Runner Up Junior – Damian Sandy
Champion Team 7.5m & Over Professional – Katana
Champion Team 7.5m & Over – Emma Kate
Champion Team 7.5m & under – The Edge
Champion Team Runner Up 7.5m & Over Professional – Askari
Champion Team Runner Up 7.5m & Over – Escape
Champion Team Runner Up 7.5m & Under – Ofishal
Champion Team 3rd Place 7.5m & Over Professional – Zulu
Champion Team 3rd Place 7.5m & Over – Pleiades
Champion Team 3rd Place 7.5m & under – Vacant
Junior Encouragement Award went to Kirsten Sandy – Amokura
First Billfish Tagged Day One – Greg Jones on Emma Kate
Last Billfish Tagged Day One – Stephen Hamblyn On Zulu
First Billfish Tagged Day Two – Terri Morgan on The Edge
Last Billfish Tagged Day Two – Steve Colboune on Emma Kate
First Billfish Tagged Day Three – Steve Colboune on Emma Kate
Last Billfish Tagged Day Three – David Edmondson on Katana
Heaviest Game Fish Weighed Day One – Ben Bergamo on Livin the Dream
Heaviest Game Fish Weighed Day Two – Lily Sims on Bounty Hunter
Heaviest Game Fish Weighed Day Three – Tyson Palmer on Playing Hard.
We had A total of 77 Anglers compete – 62 Male; 10 Female & 5 Juniors. 34 Billfish Tagged – 28 Black Marlin & 6 Sailfish A very big thank you to Robby Erskine from Erskine’s Tackle World for the amazing job he did being our MC for the prevention
