More prizes are up for grabs at this year’s Ladies Gamefish Day, including best-dressed boat.
Approximately 20 boats are predicted to participate in the 11th Weipa Billfish Club Annual Ladies Gamefish Day, which will be the first tournament with a naming rights sponsor in the quest to rally women against breast cancer.
Titled the Clearwater Ladies Gamefish Day this year, the tournament has gained the support of Clearwater Law, as well as several local and out-of-town sponsorships.
Tournament organiser Darryl French said the support they receive from the community every year was overwhelming.
“It’s really great that we’ve got sponsorships from a lot of local businesses that get hit up for sponsorship by a whole lot of events in town every year and they still come forward,” he said.
“We’ve also got sponsorships from outside of town from the likes of Cairns and the Brisbane area, so it’s pretty widespread this year and we’ve been able to get some really good prizes.”
There will be 22 prize categories, awarding teams for heaviest gamefish, heaviest billfish, best-dressed boat, champion anglers and raffle draws.
This year, they hope to beat the $8000 raised at the last tournament.
Though dependent on weather, Mr French said they are predicting to match their record participation numbers, which was 20 boats at last year’s competition.
“It’s always a bit of a lottery because everyone sort of waits to see what the weather will be like, but we’re thinking it should be about the same,” he said.
With almost 45 sponsors this year rallying around for a good cause, he encouraged lady anglers across the community to get involved.
“It’s about getting women together in an event all about them and raising money for a really important cause.”
The tournament fundraises for the McGrath Foundation, an organisation that places breast cancer nurses into remote communities at no cost.
“It’s important to the residents because they’ve all had friends or family that have been affected by breast cancer so it hits close to home,” he explained.
Registrations for the Clearwater Ladies Gamefish Day are now open, with chance to win the early bird raffle draw for teams entered by 30 October.
Nominations should be emailed to [email protected] with the nomination form available on the club’s Facebook page. Fishing will take place on Friday, 4 November and weigh-in will follow at the Evans Landing Boat Ramp.
For more information and rules, see the Weipa Billfish Club Facebook page.
