Meetings  first Thursday of every month  7 pm at the Townsville Motor Boat & Yacht Club.
Next general meeting 4th March, 2010. New members welcome.

Visitors are Welcome!  Click for 2008/2009 TGFC Membership Form  
 

 

 


NEXT  COMP
 


6th and 7th
March, 2010
 

    

There will be some tidying,
sorting and archiving of stories, pics and info on these pages.
This will result in a less cluttered splash page with material (older stuff archived) still accessible.
 


 

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Send fishing reports, photos and stories to stav@townsvillemarine.com.au

   

   
17.04.2010    Workshop on Fish Handling Seminar will be held at the Townsville Motor Boat & Yacht Club commencing at 17.00hrs on the 17th April 2010.  To ensure your place please R.S.V.P. Mick Meiers on 4780 4719.  Refreshments will be available at venue. Click for more info.

·              Tournaments & Coming Events:

      Peter Faust 13/14th March 2010  Click for info on booking.            2010 Billfish Challenge 4th-8th September 2010.

 

Current News 

February Comp a successful weekend

February Comp was very successful. A total of 12 boats fished with 9 returning to Nelly Bay for a very socialable evening. Many thanks to Tom Hatrick for the use of his luxurious pontoon. Well Done to Zac Ryan, again. Who fished with his father on Far Cry along with his partner in crime Ron Stephen. Zac tagged and released his first sailfish and weighed  a number of other game fish. Unlucky to the boys  onboard Elle who also tagged a Sailfish.
 

   
   

 Submitted 8/02/2010

 Sailfish are out and about!

 Submitted 19/01/2010

Not many fish on the T.G.F.C scoreboard at the moment so " ya best get up em ".

Junior angler Zac Ryan was introducing mates Harrison and Craig into the ways of gamefishing last weekend on the good ship FARCRY. A slow morning of bottom bouncing with only one top quality trout caught by young Harrison and it was out with the trolling gear. An enquiry on the port outrigger had a large sail pick up and drop the skirted lure several times over 500 meters. Each time it was presented the picky sail would crash and drop again eventually switching to eat the starboard lure. It was not to be for young Zac, as the fish become unstuck before lines were cleared.! Hate to say it but it all turned out the same way 10 minutes later when a 50kg sail eluded Zac. Not an easy task on 6 kg line class, by the way these fish were in secret spot 30 best ask captain Tim.  
Regards all,
VEARO            

PS    DON'T FORGET MEETING FIRST THURSDAY OF EACH MONTH.   BRING A MATE.

TIM RYAN WITH THE CATCH OF THE DAY
His 70KG braid out-fit was to much for this beast of the sea, the shark was released .

Marlin & Sails Still Around Over The Xmas Break

 
After the very quiet fishing experienced during the Port Hinchinbrook Tournament last year, Tom Hatrick was surprised to hook up a nice sailfish within 15 minutes of running into one of his fishing areas off Britomart Reef on Dec 27th. Things did get a little hectic with only Tom and Kaye onboard Utopia who were just cruising along enjoying a bit of R&R. Both lines were running back off the fly bridge, no tag in the pole and the clears were all zipped up with the air-cond running.

Tom fought the fish from the fly bridge whilst also driving the boat, an easy task when there's pressure on the line but when the fish from time to time started running hard straight back at the boat Kaye had to abandon the tag poll to race up stairs to grab the levers, all fun with a little colourful language. After a few interesting moments the tag went in and the Sailfish was released. Next morning after staying out at the reef the whole event duplicated itself only this time on a bigger scale as they trolled their way back to Hinchinbrook Island hooking a nice 200 lb plus Marlin which nearly spooled the reel twice. Eventually as with the Sail this fish after a very exhilarating fight was also tagged.

 


MESSAGE FROM ASHLEY RE PETER FAUST WEEKEND

As you know that i have made bookings for Faust on the 26-27th of March.
 
The weekend is fully laid on with food supplied and cooked by the camp Kanga.
 
Price for the weekend is now $70 and that includes 2 nites accom, BBQ dinner on Friday nite, Sat morning breakfast, Sat nite dinner and Sunday morining breakfast. We will be cooking the Friday nite dinner.
 
Kids will be cheaper, now all I need is numbers and members can get back to me via my email.

Please let me know numbers ASAP - cotterashley@hotmail.com
 

 

3rd and 4th October Billfish Bonanza 2009

The tournament couldn't have been better timed with dead flat waters and Myrmidon firing at the moment with around 20 big Marlin hooked up on the weekend during the club comp and impressive catches of yellow fin, dolphin fish and Wahoo had by all.

 

This Monster Wahoo caught by Ron Stephen on Utopia was some compensation for the 8-900lb Black Marlin he dropped earlier in the day.

Lew Haines caught his 1st Marlin, a 600 pounder whilst fishing on his own boat Burgundy Lady and young Jack Nicolosi had a 3 hour battle with another almost 1000 lb Marlin before succumbing to fatigue and handing the rod over to his dad Sam.
(More pics below)

Hopefully the good weather remains and we all get a number of trips out wide to make up for the uneventful light tackle season experienced right up the coast this year. All the best- good luck.


 

9 boats made the trip to Myrmidon
with socialising one of the highlights.
Sam actually got a turn on the rod
and produced this 20 kg mackeral.
Alex hooked up to a nice tuna. Donna's 11 kg Mahi Mahi.
Alex's nice tuna. Jack harnessed in for the fight of his life.
Shots of the big marlin during the contest.
800-1000 lb marlin so close to the boat! And there she goes!

 

 

2009 Mike Carney Toyota Billfish Challenge

The fishing was perhaps the slowest in the tournaments almost 30 year history but the weather was perfect and a great time had by all. Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks to our numerous sponsors anglers and crew who supported and attended the event, we look forward to seeing you all again next year. To all our organising committee and other club members who stepped in and helped, well done and many thanks, this great event would never have been possible without you.
Club President Tom Hatrick

 Some Pics from the Mike Carney Toyota Billfish Challenge 2009 Presentation Night

1st boat over 8 metres - Sea Baby IV 2nd boat over 8 metres - Mauna Kea
3rd boat over 8 metres - Utopia 1st boat 8 metres and under - Oi Bud
2nd boat 8 metres and under - Bad Company 3rd boat 8 metres and under - Mates Rates
Alby Albery - 1st marlin at 82 years -
meritorious encouragement award
Champion angler over 8m - Toni Williams -Utopia
Champion angler under 8m - Marcus Belcher  - Bad Company Champion skipper over 8 metres - Sea Baby IV
Rod Mathisen with wife, Kaylene
Champion skipper under 8 metres - Tood O'Shaughnessy - Oi Bud
 

 
2009 Updates to be Added

Weekend Fishing 9th August
 


The forecast weather of 15 to 20 never materialised which unfortunately kept most at home. Utopia did a pre booked corporate charter to Bowling Green Southern Grounds Saturday, in what turned out to be 12 knot winds and mild seas. Fishing the grounds for 2 1/2 to 3 hours in the morning they raised and hooked four Marlin getting two to the boat, then ventured off for a bit of Mackerel mayhem with hours of all lines loaded with 6-8 kg fish. The mainly first time anglers lost way more than they landed but still all went home pretty well bagged out with sore arms and big smiles. Good news is the Marlin are definitely rolling into the area.


TGFC 08/09 Presentation Night.

A fantastic crowd of more than 100 members and sponsors gathered at the Townsville Motor Boat and Yacht Club on Friday night to celebrate another great year of Game Fishing. It was great to see such close competition throughout the year and we all look forward to great fishing in the next year. Congratulations to the winners listed in the pics below.

Click for all pics.

Scoreboard updated 8th June 2009:

Get the up to date stats by clicking this link or hitting the Score Board button LHS of screen
.

July Monthly Comp
 

 
 
 
The monthly comp was a blow out with unfortunately nearly all members believing the weather forecast and staying home. "Unbelievable" was the only boat to venture down to the grounds and found the fishing slow in what Trevor and Sue Albury along with Mick Meiers described as moderate but green waters. Trevor reported a number of shots from both Sails and Marlin but unfortunately none stayed stuck on the line.
A large number of other club boats did though venture out onto the bay Sunday, all fully loaded with spectators and some rafting up to watch the power boat racing, what a great day track side. It's just like going to the drags but all the noise ain't over in seven seconds. 

Show Holiday Weekend Fishing - Success shows promise for the 2009 season!
 

       
 

2009 season off to a slow start. Any time now she's going to go off with a bang!
With bait schools thick, the first Marlin for the year are slowly turning up but we're still waiting for the big influx. A number of club boats fished the show day long weekend which was also the last for the club year. After Cheeky Blue and O'Brien 26 both tagging a Marlin each on the Southern grounds the previous weekend, hopes were high that the usual large numbers would have turned up during the week.
The Mackerel were relentless all weekend with Princess C returning to port Saturday arvo with overflowing eskies and a serious ice shortage, but unfortunately no billfish. Saturday night O'Brien 26, EnVee, Utopia, Glass Cutter and Bounty Hunter all rafted up behind the cape. The kids fished for hours Saturday evening catching a real mixed bag including the shovel nosed shark pictured.
The real Action though started Sunday morning with a hot bite early, most boats raised Marlin and Sails resulting in O'Brien 26 putting away their first tag for the weekend and the first Marlin ever for yet another Tilley, young Alex (pictured).
Utopia missed the early bite arriving on the grounds for the first time this season after 10 am Sunday. By then the bait had flattened out and they along with most of the other boats moved off after a good hammering from the Mackerel. Early afternoon Utopia raised two Marlin off some old marks of Tom's with Ron Steven (pictured) tagging his first for the season and also the first for Tom's recently acquired 50 foot Riviera Charter boat ( www.utopiagamefishing.com.au ). Kaye tagged a nice 15kg Yellow Fin Tuna.
This weekend will be the first comp for the new year, plus the big power boat racing in the bay Sunday.

Pics from Presentation Night 2009                Click for same pics full size

2 Gary, Trevor Albury and Anthony 3 MC and Weighmaster- Anthony Florence 4 MCs Anthony Florence and Gary Powis
5 Runner up skipper- Mick Meirs 6 Champion Skipper- Rod Mathiesen 7 Anthony, Rod and Gary
8 Champion Skipper- Sea Baby IV- Rod Mathiesen 9 Runner- up Champion Small Fry- Alex Nicolosi 10 Cassie Powis- Champion small fry
11 Champion Small Fry- Cassie Powis 12 Runner-up Junior- Jack Nicolosi 13 Balls up Award- Tim Ryan- just ask him.
14 Zac Ryan- Champion Junior I5 Zac Ryan- Champion Junior (2) 16 Champion most other game fish tagged- Jack Nicolosi
17 Most other game fish tagged- Jack Nicolosi 18 Bridie Florence- Champion Female 19 Champion Female- Bride Florence
20 Ben Mathiesen- Runner up Champion senior male 21 Champion Senior Male- Ron Stephen 22 Ron Stephen- Champion Senior Male
24 Most meritorious Capture- Zac Ryan- junior Australian Record- wahoo 25 Club Person of the Year- Donna Nicolosi 27 Greg Gilbert   Most Billfish Tagged
   
  26 A great crowd enjoyed presentation night  
June Monthly Comp
 

The June Monthly two day comp held over the Queens Birthday long week end couldn't have been fished in better conditions with absolute dead calm seas. Unfortunately the early run of Marlin haven't yet turned up with boats unsuccessfully scanning the waters from Brittomart Reef in the North to the Southern Grounds off Cape Bowling Green and right on out to the shelf at Myrmidon Reef.

Schools of Mackerel kept most boats busy though but were generally smaller fish only qualifying for a tag rather than the eskie. Trevor Albury took out the heaviest other game fish catagorie with this 16kg plus Wahoo pictured, Utopia accumulated over 1400 points to take out champion boat, Cassie Powis was the champion small fry and also had the heaviest mackerel for the comp, Bronte Florence won Junior and Kaye Hatrick had the heaviest Tuna.

Due to the club comp finishing Sunday arvo, we had two weigh ins, one one the Sunday Evening and the second on the Monday so as to allow boats to stay out at sea and enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Around thirty members turned up for the Sunday weigh in to check out the capturers , scores and to have one of the very tastey meals from the new Motor Boat Club Restaurant. Best of luck for the final weekends of the club year. 


 

Back to back wins for TGFC/Kekoa at NSW Interclub

Well-known Townsville skipper, Captain Luke Fallon continued to prove that he is one of Australia’s most prominent Skippers as he led the Townsville Game Fishing Club Team to back to back “Champion Visiting Teams Awards” at this year’s NSW Interclub Tournament held at Port Stephens. Click here for more

              

Team TGFC/Kekoa Celebrate - From left, Shane Flynn, Anthony Richardson, Captain Luke Fallon, Theona Maguire, Decky Tim Ryan and Talina O'Brien

 
   

2009 Predators Tournament roars to life

 With the move to a bigger & better venue & tens of thousands of dollars in prizes up for grabs including a Boat, motor & trailer package donated by Townsville Marine, the 2009 Townsville Game Fishing Club’s “Predators Tournament” is shaping up to be the biggest and best tournaments in the events short history. At last year’s event, 20 - 25 knot winds prevailed and still over 550 anglers competed...Click Here for more

 
*Myrmidon Continues to produce Magic (including a record Wahoo)

*Myrmidon reef itself is a Marine Park Green Zone (no  fishing allowed within the zoned area), any reference made in this or any other story published on this website in regards to fishing at Myrmidon refers to fishing the immediate or surrounding areas out side the green zone, not within.

With the last monthly comp of the year fast approaching (this weekend) Club members would be crazy not to polish off there heavy tackle gear & head out to Myrmidon Reef to get amongst some of the spectacular fishing action that anglers have been experiencing in the past 4 weeks 

With good weather predictions forecasted & some awesome “Big Fish reports” I have a feeling that the Myrmidon Lagoon might be a little busy on Saturday Evening. 

If you haven’t heard through the grape vine, Team on ‘Oi Bud’ experienced a Big Marlin bite of a life time back on the 15th & 16th of November, with 6 Fish raised, 5 bites, 1 tagged & another big fish lost after a epic 4 hour battle into the darkness of the night.  All fish were between the 80lb – 500lb mark…..To check out Oi Bud's Report Click Here

Mean while, last weekend, Team Far Cry mad the trip out to Myrmidon & found immediate success with Club Junior, Zac Ryan successfully tagging an Estimated 500lb Black Marlin as well as a monster 40kg Wahoo, which is now a Pending Australian Junior Record, Congratulations Zac!!!!… For Far Cry's Report Click Here

Therehas also been reports (www.blackmarlinfishingblog.com) that  Captain Luke Fallon onboard well known Townsville boat Kekoa who is fishing his way back through the area from Cairns. The guys got 2 from 3 Black Marlin on Monday & another 2 on Tuesday including an estimated 600lber.

If you’re keen to be apart of some Myrmidon Heavy Tackle Action, now’s the time to do it!!! 

See you out there!!                                   Above: Zac Ryan with his Pending Australian Junior Record

 
TGFC Triumphs at Lucinda

The 2008 Pro Tackle Lucinda Light Tackle Tournament was held over the weekend of 1st 2nd & 3rd of November and even though there was only 3 Billfish tagged (1 x Black Marlin & 2 Sailfish) for the tournament, as usual everyone who attended had a fantastic time

Once again the tournament was generously sponsored by Peter & Elizabeth Hazard from Pro Tackle Townsville who once again donated some absolutely fantastic prizes and together with the organization of the Ingham Rod & Reel Club and the hospitality of the Lucinda Point Hotel the weekend continued lived up to it’s reputation of being one of the best social game fish tournaments in the region. 

Out of the 13 Boats who fished 7 TGFC Boats made the trip North for the weekend & like last year it was the Townsville members who found success, especially for Team ELE which consisted of Anthony Richardson, Todd O’Shaughnessy & Talina O’Brien who were lucky enough to successfully tag a Black Marlin on Saturday Afternoon & took out the Prestigious Malcolm Florence Perpetual Trophy for Champion Team.  Last Years winners Levende came Runner Up with Theona McGuire following up last years form by tagging a Sailfish on Day 2. Other winners were Bronte Florence who took out Champion Junior.  Congratulations to everyone involved!!

 

 
Mark Hislop takes out 07/08 GFAA Award

On behalf of our President Tom Hatrick, the Committee & all our members I'd like to Congratulate Mark Hislop for taking out the prestigious Tom Bell Trophy for the heaviest Game Fish weighed (excluding sharks) in Australian waters in 2007/2008.  This was rewarded o Mark after his history making 1109lb Black Marlin capture in September last year at Myrmidon Reef off Townsville. This was not only Mark's first ever Billfish but the first 1000lb Black Marlin ever caught off Townsville & the first ever caught in waters South of Cairns.  I would also like to advise that this is the first time in 5 Years that a Black Marlin has taken out the title as the previous 4 years have been Blue Marlin.  Congratulations Mark!!

 

Photo Right:  The prestigious Tom Bell Trophy

 

Discounted Tournament Shirts

These magnificent Karen Foley designed Tournament Polo's & T-Shirts are still available in all sizes for a absolute bargain price of only

Polo Shirts - $ 22.00

T-Shirts - $ 15.00

 

Contact Tom Hatrick-Mobile:0427 581194 Work: 07 47712677  

Email tdh@mikunioz.com
 

 

2008/2009 Annual General Meeting Info

 Well for those of you who didn't attend the AGM on Thursday 16th, this an update on the night's proceedings.  

Only about 30 people attended the AGM and no nominations were received for either the President or Secretary positions so Tom Hatrick & Jan Gilbert will stay on in caretaker roles until those positions are filled. 

Anthony Florence has expanded his job role on the committee by taking on the Vice President role as well as the senior Weigh master.  He will be capably assisted by new weigh masters Gary Powis & Ken Phipps. 

Kelly O'Shaughnessy has put her hand up to take over the books as Treasurer and will relieve Kaye after six years. 

The other committee positions were filled by re-standing committee members, Mick Meiers, Donna Nicolosi and Russell O'Brien and there were four new committee members nominated.  These new committee members are Rob Vearing and Lew Haines with Mark Parkes and Talina O'Brien rejoining for this term.

On behalf of Tom & the previous committee, we would like to thank and welcome all the new faces who have joined our progressive committee and we welcome some fresh ideas for the management of this great club.

 We would also like to thank those hard working members of the previous committee for their support and commitment over the last year. 

We wish the new TGFC committee all the best and we trust you will enjoy your time on the committee.

 
 
Kanahoee Does it again

I'm proud to announce that local Boat Kanahoee has once again taken out the prestigious Lizard Island Black Marlin Classic for the second year running.  Townsville Skipper Dave Pemberton together with TGFC Members Rod Mathiesen, Lindsey Pemberton & boat owner Robert Drane came from behind on the last day tagging 2 fish to finish the Tournament with a total of 6 tags. Congratulations!!!

For all the final stats & photos go to http://www.lizardislandgfc.asn.au/

 
TGFC Continue to find Success Away                 Greg Gilbert (Left) & Rob Vearing hold Greg's Sailfish

Only one day after the Gilbert Group NQ Mining Industry Billfish Challenge had finished a small group of TGFC Members including our Tournament's Major Sponsors, Greg & Jan Gilbert, made the trip up to fish the 2008 Innisfail Billfish Tournament and ended up cleaning up most of the major awards.  Team Captain Greg Gilbert was wonderful enough to share some of his time & let us in on what a wonderful weekend that was experienced:-

"Our team aboard our boat G'd Up consisted of Mick Mears (Skipper) Rob Vearing (decky and angler) Craig Fitzsimmons (angler) Jan Gilbert (angler) and myself (angler and team captain) all TGFC members.

We had perfect conditions all through the three days from Saturday through to Monday afternoon. We caught a sailfish and a small black marlin and were coming second on count back at the end of on day one, the second day condition were fantastic but we failed to land one sail fish and two black marlin that failed to hook up, this saw us going into day three in fourth position with Mauna Kea leading, and Iona and Kanahoee second and third respectfully,

We got a strike by a large black marlin just after start fishing but did not hook him up, shortly after a nice sail fish took the shotgun lure and we had him at the boat in about fifteen minutes tagged photographed (see attached) and released, soon after the sail fish was released a small black marlin took a swimming scad and we had it tagged and released in five minutes, this brought us back into contention as none of the lead boat scored any fish on the first sked's. Not long after the first sked was finished a nice black marlin took another swimming scad and after about ten minutes we had a tag in him and let him on his way. We now were leading the tournament and held the lead with no other lead boats tagging any bill fish on day three, this saw us win the event by one billfish. Our team won the champion team, Mick Mears won champion skipper, Rob Vearing won Champion Decky and I won Champion angler days one and three and also won champion angler and champion visiting angler.

We all had a great weekend at Innisfail with twenty four boats competing, it was great to win a large tournament against some of the best boats and skipper in the country and in our own boat. The event was very well run and was the best in it long history"

A very big Congratulations to all involved!!!

 

TGFC Life Members recognised     

Recently at the 2008 Gilbert Group NQ Mining Billfish Challenge Presentation Night which was held at Gala Ballroom's of Jupiter Casino, the Townsville Game Fishing Club paid tribute to it's Clubs Life Members and presented them with a magnificent custom made Gold Ring to show there appreciation for all the hard work, commitment, dedication & participation that they have shown to our wonderful Club over the past 2 decades. The 6 Gentlemen in question were (from left to right) Mark Parkes, Mick Meiers, Russell O'Brien, Calvin Tilley, Jim Dalling & Peter O'Brien

Upon Presentation a member of the Audience also summed up how respected these guys are within the Australian Game Fishing Community by announcing that "These guys are some of the best ever skippers in Australia" & this is just one of the reasons why we are so very proud to have them apart of our Club and look forward to seeing there very popular faces for many many years to come.

 

 

 

Above - The magnificent Gold Custom Made Life Member Ring

Photo (Top) Courtesy of Kelly Dalling-http://www.blackmarlinfishingblog.com

 

Oh what a magnificent week!!!

Well this years  Gilbert Group NQ Mining Billfish Challenge continued to prove that it is one of the most successful Game Fishing Tournaments on the East Coast Australia with these years event turning out to be the largest ever held in the Tournament’s 26 Year History. 

With a over $100,000 worth of Cash & Prizes up for grabs as well as some awesome fishing action experienced in the lead up to the Tournament it wasn’t hard to see why over 40 Boats & 142 anglers made the trip North to be apart of this Spectacular Fishing event. 

With anglers experiencing Good & bad weather conditions throughout the Tournament the World Renowned Billfish Grounds continued to live up to International Standards with   408 Billfish seen, 318 Hooked & 183 Tagged throughout the 5 Day Event. 

Local Boat ‘MOJO’ skippered by well known local Game Fishing Identity Mark Parkes took out the 8m & Under Category with a total of 9 Billfish & Gold Coast Boat ‘GAMETIME’ took out the 8m & Over Category with a total of 16 Billfish. 

On behalf of Club President, Tom Hatrick & the Organizing Committee I would like to personally thank all the Sponsors, Volunteers & everyone who participated as without you all it would not have been the success it was.  We look forward to seeing you all in 2009.

Stay tuned for all the Award winners, photos & more

 
Bowling Green Continues to Fire as Tournament fever hits Townsville

With Southern Boats starting to arrive for some pre-tournament fishing the Billfish continue to fire down at the World renowned grounds of Cape Bowling Green. With local & interstate boats averaging 6-8 shots a day and 2 boats this season receiving a massive 19 & 20 shots in a session the Billfish Season off Townsville this year is turning out to be nothing but spectacular. 

With the up & coming 2008 Gilbert Group NQ Mining Industry Billfish Challenge being the largest & most prestigious Light Tackle Billfish events in Northern Australia due to commence on the 5th September & run through til the 11th, Skippers, crew, anglers & everyone involved are finding it difficult to contain there excitement as its building to be the largest & most successful events in the Tournaments 26 year history 

If you are interested in participating in this magnificent event the Townsville Game Fishing Club would like to advise that there are still seats on boats available so if you are interested please contact Tom Hatrick on 0427 581194 or Mick Meiers 0427 804719

 

 
TGFC Continues to Support Local Community

Story by Eddie Riddle - Townsville Bulletin

The TGFC committee representing at least 200 or so of the region's keenest fishers donating a whopping $7500 to the Jerona Citizens Association

The money will help with significant widening of the Barrattas Creek boat ramp and installation of a new floating pontoon.

The upgrade comes in the wake of several accidents in recent years and it is hoped the renovation will alleviate congestion at crucial times for the general fishing public.

Townsville Game Fishing Club president Tom Hatrick said the money was well spent because plenty of the club's small boat anglers use the Barrattas Creek system for easy and weather-protected access to the world-renowned Bowling Green Bay billfish waters.

Photo Above: TGFC President, Tom Hatrick presents a Jeroma Representative with a $ 7,500.00 Cheque

 

 
TGFC Members find Success in Cairns

While local members enjoyed there Presentation Night on Friday and then a superb weekend of Bill fishing action down at Bowling Green, well known Life Member, Mick Meier's traveled up to the Cairns Bluewater Light Tackle Tournament and fished aboard Sue & Ted Crocker's new Cairns Custom Craft, Seduca.

There team consisted of Cairns based TGFC Members, Sue & Ted, Mick and Roger Kuhnel.  With Cairns experiencing similar fishing action to Townsville, it turned out to be a very successful weekend with over 20 Billfish tagged for the 2 day Tournament.  Local Boat, Wild Turkey went on to take out Champion Boat Honors, with 5 Tags, mean while Sue was able to christen Seduca with it's first ever Billfish which ensured she went on to take out Champion Female, with 2 Black Marlin and a tuna.

Mick reported that he carefully transported some Bowling Green Yakka's up to Cairns which turned out to be a huge hit amongst the Cairns Billfish, as all marlin hooked on Seaduca were  caught on the CBG yakka's.  Mick joked "Once we ran out of the yakka's, we didn't see another marlin"

Congratulations to Team Seduca for a very successful weekend and a very special thank you to Mick Meier's and super baby sitter Cathy Bambling for making the effort to travel the 4hrs North

 

 
TGFC 2008 Presentation Night

On Friday the 1st of August over 80 Club Members gathered at the Townsville Motor Boat & Yacht Club to celebrate the past 2007/2008 Season.

Once again everyone was entertained by the fantastic 'Year in Review' DVD and although it didn't have much Bill fishing action due to the disappointing Billfish Season experienced, the DVD clearly showed that it was the Annual Social events that made up for it!!

Once all the official proceedings finished, everyone enjoyed a fantastic night which continued into the early hours of Saturday Morning.

A special thanks goes to Russell O'Brien for once again organising a great night , to Karen Foley for organising some of her amazing framed art work for prizes & to everyone who attended as it truly was a night to remember

To get your copy of this years TGFC Year in Review, please contact Talina O'Brien at tobrien@rlsde.com.au and you can purchase your copy for $ 10.00.  Talina will also have copies available at the September Meeting

Please Click here to check out all the 2007/2008 Winners

 

 

Bowling Green ON FIRE!!!

With some good weather last weekend a contingent of Club boats hit the waters of Bowling Green Bay hoping to get amongst some 2008 Billfish action & boy was there some action.

With bait schools the size of football fields, gannets all over the place like they were 10 years ago, there were packs of 5-6 Billfish at a time terrorizing baits with multiple hook-ups not uncommon. Every boat experienced action sometime throughout the weekend but it was the stand outs such as Rose Red who had a massive 19 hits on one morning, Leigh O’Brien on his new boat OB26 who tagged 4 fish & Mark & Jan Parkes aboard there new Boat, Mojo with 3 tags. All fish have grown slightly compared to the early season captures with most fish up around the 15kg-20kg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The crew aboard OB26 show off one of four  little Black Marlin tagged last weekend

 
Townsville Game Fishing Club supports Coastguard

The TGFC proudly donated $ 1,000.00 to the Ingham Coast Guard recently to help repair Ingham's channel 81 repeater tower, which has has fallen over on Orpheus Island

The tower is an integral part of marine safety in North Queensland waters and is going to cost a total of  $4,000.00 to repair.  The Club's started the ball rolling with club representative Todd O'Shaughnessy presenting the Cheque recently in hope to spark generosity and assistance from other local fishing Clubs

Club Life member Mick Meires stated:-

"I would like to urge any other generous interested parties to assist the Ingham Coast Guard with this worthy cause.  It's in all boaties best interests," Meiers said "It's about marine safety and it's a long way from a taxi rank out there when you break down."

 

Todd O'Shaughnessy (Centre) presents the Cheque of $ 1,000.00 recently

 

2008 Predators Tournament Success

The Townsville Game Fishing Clubs Annual Predators Tournament was once again a huge success and even with a 15/20 knot offshore wind forecasted it still didn’t deter an estimated 400 Townsville anglers to participate in what is becoming one of North Queensland’s major fishing events. 

On Monday afternoon, the Townsville Game Fishing Club together with the Oonoonba Hotel welcomed hundreds of anglers, sponsors, & spectators to witness some outstanding captures which were made during the long weekend.  Although each of the 16 prize categories were won with some awesome fish, it was the  24.6kg Spanish Mackerel, a 14.1kg Barramundi and a monster (have to be seen to be believed) 2.175kg Mud Crab which received the loudest cheers from the excited crowed. 

This year the Club focused on encouraging families and especially the junior anglers to participate, with the first 100 juniors to sign up receiving a complimentary Tackle box which included over 300 pieces of tackle, and come weigh in time, it certainly proved that they put there new gear to good use, with some fantastic captures made. 

More exciting news to arise from the weekend was that 2 early season Black Marlin were tagged & released by Townsville Game Fishing Club Members.  Both were hooked on Halco Laser Pro Mackerel lures and both fish were smaller then average and were estimated between the 10-12kg mark.  

On behalf of the Townsville Game Fishing Club tournament organizing committee we would like to thank all the Sponsors, volunteers, the Oonoonba Hotel Staff and all the anglers involved for once again making the 2008 Predators Tournament a huge success. 

Please Click here to view all the Weekends Prize Winners

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Its all about the juniors"

Reece & Jordan O'Brien prove that Game Fishing runs in the family with Reece claiming the junior award for the heaviest Mackerel with this 6.44kg beauty

"Bring on the 2008 Billfish"

Wade Hislop with  one of the first Marlin Tagged & Released for 2008 and by the smile on Wade's face, you can tell he's looking forward to the up & coming Billfish Season

 
2008 AIBT Results

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 increased 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 not even 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!!

Above Image Courtesy of Kelly Dalling of www.blackmarlinfishingblog.com

 

 

TGFC Thanks the Sponsors

Sponsors, business owners and members of TGFC gathered at the Townsville Motor Boat Club on Thursday evening to reflect on the wonderful work and valuable contributions these people and companies have made to the club.  It was a way of saying “thank you” to these people, and in return, the club has become a place where business and pleasure could be combined. 

Guest speaker and major sponsor, Greg Gilbert, explained how the club was a place where he could bring valued suppliers and customers and mix business and pleasure.  As a result, he has bought on board many new and valuable sponsors to the club.  Whether it was to invite them to fish a weekend competition or our major tournament in September, suppliers and customers enjoyed the opportunity to see how the club was run.  Many have made valuable contributions towards our tournaments and fishing competitions after experiencing the TGFC hospitality. 

 

Potential sponsors have also commented on the professional manner in which the club is run and the continued high standard of presentation of competitions, presentation nights and club videos. 

 

The TGFC committee would again like to thank our sponsors for their continued support and to business owners/managers for their efforts to introduce new sponsors to the club.  A great night was enjoyed by all.

(Story and photos Courtesy of Donna Nicolosi)

 

Gilbert's Take on the World

In February 2007, I asked newly joined Club Members and Sponsors Greg & Jan Gilbert to complete a Member Profile for our Monthly Newsletter and for those of you who can remember, one of the questions asked was “What’s your dream fishing destination?” There answer was “Ribbon’s Reef off Cairns”…Little did they know at the time, that 15 months later they would make the trip across the world to represent Australia in one of the World richest and most prestigious billfish tournaments ever held.

On May 16th, the Gilberts together with good friends Ralph Czabayaski and Susan Mahoney of Adelaide will travel to what’s considered by bluewater anglers as the Striped Marlin Capital of the World, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in which they will fish for more then $1,850,000 in prize money in the 2008 World Championship Billfish Release Tournament.  Click here for more

 

 

Currents + Water Temperature = Billfish

Thomas Bridge, a Marine Biologist specialising in pelagic species was the guest speaker at our April club meeting.  

Over 40 club members attended the evening to listen and hopefully get a better understanding on the Billfish migration, water temperature and currents within our Bowling Green Bay fishery. Even with statistics and research going back to the early 1970’s, Thomas explained that there are still many unanswered questions relating to the migration patterns of the Black Marlin but can advise that the Eastern Australia Currents as well as the Water temperature do play a very important part. 

Over the past 2 decades scientists have studied the capture statistics of our Billfish and have compared them to the current patterns and water temperatures within the Bowling Green Bay area and have come to a conclusion that the Marlin follow the Eastern Australian Current into the region between the months of May – October but only if the average water temperature is between 25 degrees – 27 degrees. 

With the anticipation building amongst the club, Thomas was asked “So how is it looking for this year” he was unable to confirm or deny whether we were going to have a good season, but did advise a member after the meeting that all was looking good so far, and with reports of early season bait schools forming within the region, he is quietly confident that we will experience a great season…Let’s hope he’s right!! 

We would like to thank Thomas a very interesting night & look forward to working with him more in the near future

 

 

Townsville Game Fishing Videos on YouTube

After several requests from Club Members, family & friends I have now added some of my video highlights on the website You Tube which now can be accessed at any time at your own leisure.

For those of you who don’t know what YouTube is, it’s an online service that allows users to upload there videos for free, which then are able to be viewed by an international audience 

Some of the highlights include Utopia’s 900lb Black Marlin at Bowling Green, Glen Nutter’s 400lb Black Marlin which earnt him the GFAA Most Meritorious Award as well as the 2008 Gilbert Group NQ Mining Billfish Challenge Intro Video 

So when the weather is bad please don’t hesitate to here & check it out…make sure you add it to your favorites so you can visit regularly, as I will be adding videos on a regular basis

 

 
Tag & Release Report

The Townsville Game Fishing Club is proud to promote and support Tag & Release to ensure the conservation of our fantastic fishery. Please find the recent Game fish Tagging Report here received from our QGFA and GFAA zone representative Mick Meiers

      

 




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NOTE:  A lot of club information on this site is available as PDF documents. You will need Adobe Reader to view these. This program is available as a free download from the Adobe website. Click here or on the logo below.

 

 

 

  Copyright © Townsville Game Fishing Club     - Contacts as follow:
Email: Stav Bogiatzis - stav@townsvillemarine.com.au
  
Original website by
Speedybug with updates by Brian Christensen, Speedybug Web Design