Billfish Classic a hit

The winners of the 2016 Tackleworld Billfish Classic competition were announced last Friday at a windswept Broome Fishing Club meeting.

Fifteen teams had been angling throughout the week from 6.30am on Sunday, July 10, in pursuit of local billfish species with a tagged sailfish awarding 500 points and a black marlin worth 1000.

Team Billistic claimed ultimate victory in the Champion Boat Overall category with 4000 points, also securing the Champion Team Over 7m trophy.

BFC president Jig Albert said although fish counts were down from last year, there was great camaraderie shown between teams.

“It was a little quieter than we would have liked, but a lot of that had to do with the weather forecast; the weather was really bad and to the Bureau of Meteorology’s credit ,they got it right — it was windy and it was really hard work,” he said.

“We are looking at what we can do because it’s very hard for people to fish a five-day tournament — it’s not cheap.

“Whether we do shorter tournaments or just spontaneous tournament with the help of social media, the world’s changing and we will flex with it.”

The Champion Team Below 7m was taken out by Corteaser who safeguarded the win with just one sailfish, the first of the competition caught by Digby Vaughan at 8.27am on the first day.

Geoff Ellens, of Team Makaira, took home a swag of awards, winning the Champion Angler Overall with 1500 points and recognition for tagging the first marlin of the competition.

Fiona Crane won the Champion Female Angler with 1000 points, while Glenn Datsun lured the first billfish aboard Big Red.

Exciting notes from the competition included team Mercury Pro’s Kelly Locke sighting a Whale Shark and Jason Bull winning the BFC auction of a decorative wooden Barramundi bar top with a bid of $3500.

For more information, visit the Broome Fishing Club Facebook page or attend the next AGM on August 26.