AIBT Update

Well the 2008 Australian International Billfish Tournament is over with for another year and even though the beautiful Sunshine Coast provided us with Perfect Weather Conditions unfortunately the fishing on the weekend was extremely slow. A total of 29 Boats participated in the event with Teams coming from Dampier in the west, Cairns in the North & Port Stephens in the South. The tournament gave teams the option either to fish Light Tackle or Heavy Tackle and Team TGFC who were aboard well known Townsville Boat Reel Chase decided to fish Light Tackle. With 5-10knots conditions on Saturday morning, we were quick to arrive on the grounds (which mine you are only 19 miles offshore) to find huge schools of yakka's and dolphins and with start fishing called as you would imagine our expectations were high. Leigh O'Brien caught a 9.6kg Wahoo on 8kg which put Townsville on the scorers board and it wasn't long after that we raised a couple of little Black Marlin which weren't interested in taking the beautiful Live Yakka that we presented them. On day one, there was only 3 Blue Marlin tagged & 1 Sailfish.

Day two & the weather had increase to 15 knots and with a Strong Wind Warning forecasted for later in the day, most boats fished the inshore grounds. Once again the fishing was very slow with only a handful of Billfish tagged

The Champion Boat went to Diversion from Port Stephens who successfully tagged & released 2 Blue Marlin.

Even though the fishing was slow, great times were had by everyone & on behalf of the TGFC team we would like to thank Jim, Kelly & Brenton aboard Reel Chase for a fantastic weekend!!

Please stay tuned for the full report, including photos & exact stats which will be posted later in the week