Young guns shine at Weipa Billfish Tournament

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 was 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