Young Owen Brooks gets some early runs on the board for his team during the 2025 Carpentaria Marine Services Weipa Billfish Tournament. Photo: Supplied.
Anglers are renowned for telling a tall tale or two, but those battling in the 2025 Carpentaria Marine Services Weipa Billfish Tournament would be lying if they said it was all about bragging rights.
About 14 boats have spent the past four days (3-6 October) contesting the annual Western Cape York billfish showdown as perfect weather on day one quickly abandoned fishers in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Weipa Billfish Club president Gaven Roberts said this year’s event had been one of the best yet.
“We had similar numbers to last year and there were still a few out-of-town people who came up for it,” he said when teams returned to the Port of Weipa on Sunday afternoon.
“There was good participation from out-of-towners and locals.
“We started in absolute glamour weather (on Friday) – it was nearly a milk pond all day and fish were biting. So it was a pretty good first day for the competition.”
Mr Roberts said the appeal of the tournament for local and visiting anglers was the event’s format, which promoted camaraderie in the heat of competition.
“The beauty about this competition is we have a houseboat and mothership. Our fishing is generally about 30 miles south and we all use the mothership for our base for things like fuel and beer,” he said.
“There’s a camaraderie at nighttime when we tell stories and talk about what we saw and what went on for the day.”
Winners of the 2025 Carpentaria Marine Services Weipa Billfish Tournament will be announced at the presentation night on 7 October.
Keep watch on the Cape York Weekly site for who takes home bragging rights and the silverware after catches are put on the judges’ scale.
