THE WEIPA Sportsfishing Club Competition held over the first weekend in February saw Peter McCulkin land a pending Australian record 6.86kg tripletail, taken at the Weipa Leads on a Raider slice, using a 4kg outfit. Peter has two Australian records pending – one for Lure Casting and one in the open All Tackle section.

Trevor Head landed a 2.2kg Spanish mackerel on 2kg and older brother Gary boated a 10.4kg Spaniard on 4kg. Both fish are also pending Australian records in the Junior Lure Casting divisions.

Casting live mullet into the bait schools in the shipping channel proved extremely fruitful for Anne Wust who landed a very notable 9kg cobia on a 4kg outfit – a workout her sore arms will remember for some time to come. Husband Gavin balked at opening the stomach pouch after feeling a long, thin bony object inside the fish's gut when cleaning it for the weigh-in.

Big, big, big grouper around beacons two, five and six kept most ice boxes empty and, in typical form after taking a fingermark from right beneath my eyes, one turned its nose up at the tea-leaf trevally that followed next. Fussy bugger! - Lance Jarrett, Weipa