Australian marlin fishing icon Billy Billson dies

Billson, who died yesterday after a long illness, was skipper of the Viking and later the Viking II, and had established himself as one of Australia’s top marlin fishers.

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He had been game fishing professionally for more than three decades, building up his Australian Marlin Charters business to include sports fishing and bluewater fly fishing, and based out of Cairns, the Gold Coast and Port Stephens.

Throughout his life, Billson was responsible for a number of game and sports fishing achievements, including as a five-time winner of the Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic, and a four-time winner of the NSW interclub tournament.

Other records his boats have held include the largest blue marlin weighed (836lb), the largest game fish on a saltwater fly, a 289lb blue marlin caught on a 20lb tippet, and the largest striped marlin on fly, weighing in at 231lb, on a 16lb tippet.

Billson was known to chase the big fish. Other catches logged on his watch include 11 marlin weighing more than 1000lb, with two of those tipping the scales at 1200lb.

Over one season out of Cairns, Viking II twice caught more than 100 fish for a single black marlin season using a new technique he had developed.

His latest boat, the 46-foot Viking II, was commissioned in 1995 and built by Frank Woodnutt as a liveaboard charter boat with an extra-large cockpit built to handle black marlin.

Ian Bladin, president of the Game Fishing Association of Australia, said the nation’s game fishers were mourning the passing “of one of the legends of marlin fishing in Australia”.

“Billy Billson was larger than life, his contribution to our sport was incredible and there are many skippers out there who learned so much working the deck for the big fella on their way up in the world,” Bladin said in a post on social media announcing Billson’s death.

“So many anglers over so many years, so many stories, those that knew him will never forget.”