Teams competing in last weekends ProTackle Lucinda Billfish comp raised a hand full of sails on the reef edges.

But lonely only one sail was successfully tagged by TGFC’s Stav Bogiatzis aboard the goodship Flotation skippered by Anthony Florence.

Congrats Stav!

Thank goodness for the west! With no reports from either of tournaments held in NQ over the weekend come in yet, Broome has come to the rescue once again.

• Jeff reports that things are heating up in Broome as they usually do at this time of year. Billistic caught 20 sails on Saturday, following on from 16 on Friday. Fish Broome Charters has also been in the action with a double digit day on Saturday.  Jeff went out Sunday with a bunch first timers managing to catch 8 from a progression of double hookups.  He found jigging for bait didn’t work too well though as every time the jig hooked up on bait there would be a bunch of sails marauding it back up to the surface   (UPDATE: Billistic (Broome Fishing Charters) has released 62 sails in the last 6 days!)

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With the election coming up in less than 9 days, Australians fishos everywhere are getting nervous. This election is far too important for us to take lightly and so I asked industry stalwart Capt. Tim Dean to break down the issues for me.  He kindly took the time to answer my questions. If you fish and you vote, I encourage you to give this your utmost consideration come election day.

Kelly: What are the basics of the policies/stance of the major parties (Labour and Liberal/National Coalition) as well as the Greens Party as they relate to recreational fishing in Australia?

T.D.: The major policy which will affect us is the further implementation of the National Marine Representative System which will take a minimum of 30% of all bio-regions around Australia as no-fishing zones. This is what the Greens want by 2012. Read the rest of this entry »

• Townsville GFC have called the snap election tournament, with the announcement last night that the Billfish Bonanza will go ahead this weekend.  To enter you must be a current financial member of the club and pay your entry fee by start fishing on Sat.
• Other tournaments sneaking up include the Cairns BlueWater 6kg Billfish Tournament which starts next week.  Townsville’s big tournament, the Mike Carney Toyota Billfish Challenge is September 3-8 and Yorkey’s Knob’s rescheduled (due to the election) Norship Marine Light Tackle Slam is September 10-12.  See the tournament calendar for more info.
• A few pictures from Castille III’s days at Hamo and into Townsville. They grow the mackerel big up there!
  
  

  

  

Something different to inspire you for your fishing and the seasons ahead, a free desktop wallpaper, this first one celebrating the start of the little black marlin season.

The wallpaper includes a calendar to see us through the season. (Isn’t it easier to check your fabulous desktop wallpaper calendar instead of launching some application?)  Look out for more wallpapers to come – the next one will of course be celebrating NQ’s Giant Black Marlin season’s start in September.  If none of the below fit your screen, use your image editor to refine its dimensions or choose “Stretch to fit”.

Read on for instructions and links for download.

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