Action aplenty at Billfish event

With 55 offshore boats lined up for the start, the recent Luhrs Billfish Shootout at Port Stephens was all go from the start with many boats heading to the continental shelf and the local hotspot known as The Carpark.

There had been excellent fishing in the weeks leading up to shootout (on the weekend of February 20-21) and anglers were keen to keep the action going.

Askari recorded the first tag of the shootout within an hour of the start and shortly after Born Free tagged both a black and a striped marlin. By the end of the day most of the fleet had tagged at least one fish but Born Free was a clear leader with seven fish, ahead of Calypso with five.

On the second day Born Free tagged just 12 minutes after starting to fish but Calypso wasn’t letting them get ahead and tagged two fish. When fishing stopped at 3pm, Born Free won by just one fish from Calypso with 11 tags for the weekend.

Born Free’s George Trinker won a start in the IGFA World Championships in Cabo San Lucus in May. He also picked up the winner’s cheque of $10,000 from Luhrs Australian distributor Tony Poole.

The boats fishing in the capture category didn’t do as well and no fish weighing more than the 150kg minimum were boated. The prize money for the category will jackpot to $20,000 next year when the event will be run on February 19 and 20.