November 17, 2008 on 2:11 pm | In Fishing Report | No Comments
Darwin has am emerging and exciting Billfishery and will more anglers successfully targeting these Marlin and Sailfish the Darwin Game Fishing Club put together the Billfish Classic. Held for the first time in November 2008 with 22 teams out to specifically target billfish this was going to give a great indication of what sort of fishery is on our door step.
With a small taste of Bill fishing having a small Black in my boat a few months before the comp I was more that keen to give the comp a try, I have had a case of Barra Fever before but Billfish fever is a new one and I have got it bad. This fever has seen me hammer the Escapin Tackle website http://www.escapin.com.au/ to get up to speed with all the teasers under the sun, lures and assorted tackle, I just wonder if they will work for Barra fishing. Â
Our team “Send me the Bill”was put together, consisting of Kurt from Top End Barra Fishing, Mark from Untamed Fishing Safaris, my mate Mick and myself from Fish The Top End. With a combined knowledge of bill fishing that could be written on the back of a postage stamp we were in for a good laugh and hopefully a fish or two but did not take it too seriously.
Day 1- saw 27 fish raised, 13 hooked and 6 tagged, we raised 1 fish on day one but after feeding a heap of line to him came up with nothing. We saw an all girls team tag a nice sail not far from us and figured that they may walk away with the prize for the first fish tagged but they were pipped at the post by Josh Kerr, present of Darwin Game. Carolyn Forrest was hooked up to a nice black on 10kg for 3.5 hours in the end time was against them so they had to give up on it.
Day 2 – saw 22 fish raised 7 hooked and 2 tagged, we came up trumps on day 2 when a top sail hit a skipping gar, Mick released the line from the outrigger and the sail came back on it free spooling for a while he came up tight with the sail jumping in the other side of the boat. For a short while we thought we had another fish on. We went pretty easy on the fish not wanting to blow it and after the tag went in boat side we had to bring her onboard for a few shots. It was the first Sail that any of us had seen onboard and from here on I really didn’t matter what happened.
We raised another Billfish later on the day which came up on a chain of Escapin Bowling Pin teasers, this teaser was a hit with the mackerel also on day 2 one launched itself clear out of the water leaving some nice that marks on the teaser on the way through and on the last day it got a touch up with a few more teath marks added also.
Day 3 – saw 23 fish raised 6 hooked and 4 tagged several teams leaving ot till the last minute to get on the board. We had a pretty quite day on day 3 all the time knowing that a small black w as going to put us in a good position to win the comp, but it wasn’t to be. We witnessed an estimated 300lb Black hooked around lunch time on day 3 the fish went belistic clearing the water on 3 occasions parting company with the angler on the first jump the second two where just to rub it in.
Final stats were:
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Total
Raised 27 22 23 72
Hooked 13 7 6 26
Tagged 6 2 4 12
Winners were:
Champion Team Billfish- Pot Luck (Bob Witcombe and Dean Hall) Champion Angler Billfish – Bob Witcombe First Billfish Tagged – Josh Ker
Champion Team Genetag – Tackle World (Shane Compain, Bryce Neal, Jamps Gregory) Champion Angler Genetag – Bryce Neal
All in all the comp was a great success with good numbers of fish being raised it all looks good for Darwin Bill fishing. We finished equal 3rd with 6 other teams and will be back for more next year.
Just have to get a few more bits and pieces from Escapin Tackle before the next Billfish trip.
