Gav Roberts presents the prize for champion female angler to his daughter Emmi Roberts.
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.
The father and son combination of Duncan and Tom Hockey claimed champion boat honours.
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
