The future of the Weipa Billfish Club appears to be bright if the results from the club’s annual major tournament are any indication.
Young anglers Emmi Roberts and Tom Hockey were crowned as champions of their respective gender divisions in a coup for the annual October long weekend event.
The 2022 Hastings Deering Weipa Billfish Tournament attracted 54 anglers in 16 boats, comprising five juniors, 10 women and 39 men.
There were also 19 visitors.
Conditions were perfect for those out on the water and there were no shortage of fish to target.
Across the three days, the teams reported 218 bites, with 153 hook-ups and 103 tagged fish (19 black marlins and 84 sailfish).
Seven fish were tagged by juniors, 36 by women and 60 by men with a lot of first billfish tags recorded.
There was also a recapture, with Emmi Roberts raising a sailfish that was tagged by Ben Bright back in August last year.
It was estimated to have grown 1kg in that period.
The competition was the closest in the tournament’s 11-year history with three boats ending on 11 tags with the winners decided on a countback.
The raft up in Boyd Bay each night was once again a highlight.
Tournament results
- Champion Boat
No Bull: 11,600 points - Runner-up boat
Wine Down: 11,600 points - Third Boat
Happy Ours: 11,000 points - Champion Male
Tom Hockey: 9600 points - Runner-up male
Nathan Billing: 5000 points - Third place male
Dave Cordukes: 4600 points - Champion female
Emmi Roberts: 11000 points - Runner up female
Theona Down: 7300 points - Third place female
Lorinda Billing: 6600 points - Champion junior
Tobee Torenbeek-White: 2070pts - Runner-up junior
Isaac Griffin: 1800 points - Third place junior
Amy Torenbeek-White: 1800pts - Champion visiting angler
Lorinda Billing: 6600 points - Most meritorious
Murray Harcus: 100kg black marlin on 10kg line - Heaviest mackerel
Simon Milevskiy: 9.2kg - Heaviest long tail tuna
Tom Hockey: 3.18kg
See all the pictures in the issue.
This article appeared in Cape York Weekly, 11 October 2022.
