Once revered Townsville Sportfishing challenge no more

Once the city’s pinnacle of sportfishing tournaments, organisers have made the call to wrap up the competition. SEE WHY.

Townsville Barramundi Restocking Group president Rhyce Bullimore accept a generous donation by Townsville Saltwater Sportman's Club president Jeff Hopkins – right.

THE TOWNSVILLE SPORTFISHING CHALLENGE, once the city’s pinnacle of sportfishing tournaments, is no more with organisers drawing the curtains on the one-time revered light-line fishing competition.

The face of sportfishing has undergone gradual and dramatic changes in recent decades with the ultralight and light line component of competition fishing, in stark decline since the advent of braided or gel spun polyethylene lines in the early 90s.

The almost no-stretch and comparably fine and super-strong properties of the gel spun lines stood the sportfishing world on its head.

Small black marlin like this one caught and released by Andrew Lilley are exciting the regions game fishers

Light monofilament or nylon lines fell out-of-favour with anglers who were quick to take advantage of the increased sensitivity and fine diameters offered by the gel spun lines.

Throughout the 90s, the Townsville Sportfishing Challenge remained fiercely competitive with a several local and regional sportfishing clubs battling for honours, the largest fish subdued on the lightest line – as fine as 1-kilogram breaking strain, going a long way to winning the interclub competition.

Last weekend, the custodians of the Townsville Challenge – the Townsville Saltwater Sportsman’s Club, officially closed the chapter on the once popular fishing tournament relegating tales of fish hooked, fought, sometimes lost and occasionally in equal parts landed, to yarns of Townsville’s rich fishing history.

The Salties club donated surplus Townsville Sportfishing Challenge funds of $2,500 to the Townsville Barramundi Restocking Group.

TBRG president Rhyce Bullimore accepted the donation from the Salties club president Jeff Hopkins and said the much-appreciated funds will be used to stock barramundi fingerlings in Alligator Creek, the Ross River weirs and Ross Dam.

THE REGIONS KEENEST FLYFISHERS might want to pencil dates 25 to 28 August in their fishing diaries.

That’s when the AFO Hinchinbrook Fly Fishing Challenge is set to be contested.

The tournament continues to grow in reputation among the elite in the world of fly fishing and is now regarded by many as Australia’s premier fly-fishing competition.

Competitors will be out to unseat 2023 Champion Angler Brad Morris and Champion Team Martin Brennan and Jason Quirk when they cast fur and feathers among the shallow waters that flood the myriad of creeks, gutters, drains and flats that compose the Hinchinbrook Channel.

Team nominations are accepted from June 30 while more information can be found on Facebook page AFO Hinchinbrook Challenge.

Daniel Coleman used a Squidtrex lure to pin this fat and tasty 75cm cod

GLORIOUS INSHORE COASTAL conditions this week were of the kind that it didn’t really matter whether or not one might have caught a fish.

That was the general consensus at local and regional boat ramps and probably just as well, because some told of plentiful fish while others would bend your ear with tales of the one that got away.

Kurt Plummer and father John stretched their arms while fishing shoals wide of Cape Cleveland on Wednesday.

Conditions were described as near-on perfect, water clarity that would excite divers and just the slightest of seas.

The Plummers had little trouble hooking big fish when allowing baits to plummet to the bottom 30 metres deep, yet pulling on of the hooked beasts, presumably nannygai and emperor, was a fishless task.

Kurt said he counted at least ten hookups where he and his father lifted red fish from the bottom only for each to be devoured by the grey coats.

Meanwhile, Spanish mackerel are for the taking at most inshore and shoal hotspots, although sharks remain an ever-present hurdle if fish are to be landed.

Kobie Darlington recalled a similar story to that of the Plummer’s when he fished near Salamander Reef early this week.

Darlington told how he lost 4 good size Spanish mackerel to sharks, along with the expensive wolf herring rigs he used to fool the fish.

Chin guard rigs, carefully pinned to the herring baits, were trolled by the keen angler as the sun pushed above the horizon, his first strike a double hookup.

Warren Rowe let son-in-law Daniel Coleman heave his big gold spot cod for a pic before giving the fish its freedom

Darlington said he was fishing solo and while fighting an obviously large mackerel that he’d hooked on the first rod that he’d picked up, he watched as a second mackerel leapt from the water with a big bull shark in hot pursuit.

The rod, still in the portside holder, went slack only moments before another shark claimed the fish being fought.

The Heatley resident said he lost that fish as well, along with another 2 before regarding himself fortunate when he managed to steer a smaller 95cm bag-limit Spanish mackerel past the hungry sharks.

Warren Rowe and son-in-law Daniel Coleman had fewer issues with sharks when they fished near Magnetic Island on Tuesday morning.

The pair happily caught and released both black tip reef sharks and a sizeable hammerhead when live herring baits failed to attract more desirable predators.

A trevally and large military or sergeant’s barracuda provided only slightly more excitement for the morning until Coleman tied on a Nomad brand lure, a Squidtrex.

Coleman methodically searched waters close to Middle Reef and the shipping channel for a fish and he knew he needed a little patience if he was to catch a keeper.

The experienced fisherman acknowledged the ‘no run-no fun’ theory of anglers who had gone before him, neap tides offering clear waters and few bites, before he struck violently at what was a significantly better take.

Coleman’s rod bucked and he set the hooks into a solid fish that pulled a bit of string before being eased to the surface.

A well-conditioned gold spot estuary cod had fallen to the soft plastic vibe style lure and the assist hooks had pinned the 75cm fish perfectly.

A first-class table fish at up to 80-odd-centimetres long, Coleman happily stowed his fish in the icebox before his father-in-law’s rod double over.

The fight was as good as any and Rowe hung on for fear of being pulled in, such was the sturdy drag set on the big Spinfisher reel.

Like Coleman, Rowe was a patient man and eventually steered a much larger gold spot cod to the surface.

It was a fish too large to keep, although it didn’t exceed the maximum 120cm size limit for the species, but would have surely been inferior eating.

However, Rowe wasn’t letting the fish go without a photograph and trusted Coleman to hold his prize catch for a pic before cradling the fish boatside prior to release.

Rowe, a former Townsville resident and living in Cardwell, said the cod was his biggest catch to date.

And GAME FISHING MINDED anglers might be excited with several billfish, both marlin and sailfish, sighted within Townsville waters this week.

Small marlin were seen hunting near the Mack Patches wide of Cape Cleveland where small schools of flying fish were doing their thing, while another angler told of at least a pair of marlin doing the same at hotspot Bunnings, just a few miles wide of the Mack Patches.

A sailfish was sighted close to the surface and finning just a handful of miles north of Horseshoe Bay by a couple who were hoping to find the season’s first humpback whales.

The Townsville Game Fishing Club’s Val O’Brien recently hooked, fought, tagged and released a larger- than-usual marlin for Townsville inshore standards to win the Townsville Ladies Day game fishing tournament.

Originally published as Once revered Townsville Sportfishing challenge no more