THE MORETON Bay Billfish Challenge, run over the Australia Day weekend by the Moreton Bay Boat Club-Game and Sportsfish Section and the Moreton Bay Gamefish Club, was a weekend of great weather for the 110 anglers who fished from 28 boats over the two days.

With little bait in close at the usual billfish grounds of The Trench and Hutchies, most of the anglers decided to fish wide of Cape Moreton in 100-150m of water. Seventeen billfish were tagged and released and several were lost after lengthy fights on the regulation 8kg line. There were several other gamefish species weighed in, including cobia, spangled emperor and snapper. Five yellowfin tuna were also tagged and released.

The Champion Team category was taken out by Team Nightmare, Lesley Patterson won Champion Angler Overall and Jed Nielson was the Champion Junior Angler. The rest of the results are listed in the table below.

The Moreton Bay Boat Club-Game and Sportfish Section and the Moreton Bay Game Fish Club would like to thank all the sponsors who helped to make this event such a success again this year. – Gordon Macdonald